BUD ABBOTT and LOU COSTELLO meet FRANKENSTEIN / Universal - 1948 / Music by Frank Skinner

Well, looks like Rodan will be breaking some rules tonight!.. First, a movie from 1948, and then, a record number of great stills for your most satisfying viewing pleasure!!

The Dungeon felt it necessary to include this super classic Universal film in it's archive for more than a few reasons! Abbott and Costello were my very favorite comedians when I was a kid, just to start with!

Mr. Frank Skinner does the honors for tonight's sound clip. He ended his career in 1967 with 319 composing credits!! Here are a few of the titles he worked on: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE, MAN MADE MONSTER, INVISIBLE AGENT, THE MUMMY'S TOMB, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, SON OF DRACULA, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF HORRORS, THE BRUTE MAN, THE BLACK CASTLE, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, THE LEECH WOMAN...

It seems like the Mexicans may be the only ones to have kept this sort of artistic tradition alive after the early fifties!

Lou is listening to Lon snarl and growl on the other end!

HEEEY, BAAAAA-BIT!!..

Come here! Look, you see, there's nothing for you to be afraid of!..

...Except for these guys!!!

No monster movie is complete without a spooky castle and girlie ghoulies!!!

What's it going to take for Lon to convince everyone that he's a werewolf?!

Classic comedy scene here, where, Lou sits down by Frankie, thinking its Bud!

Getting ready for the costume party, as the boys' boss lays into Lou!

Here's a few stills that show why Universal ruled the world back in the day!.. Look what you got for your money!!

KER-RASH!!!

Glenn Strange really did make an awesome Frankenstein Monster!!!

And, the great little surprise at the end is Vincent Price delivering his lines as The Invisible Man!!

RAT PFINK A BOO BOO Part II - Ron Haydock - "I Stand Alone Go Go Party" (1966)

So the story goes something like this, at this point in the filming, Ray Dennis decided the movie wasn't really going anywhere, so rather than quit, he just finished it off as fast and cheaply as he could by suddenly adding the appearance of our two masked heroes! So let's get going with "Bullets To The End"

Consequently, the rest of the movie is nothing but a bunch of chasing around in L.A. with music, and not a whole lot of anything else going on!

Lonnie just keeps on singing! This time it's "Big Boss Go Go Party"!!!

This shot has all the elements you need to make a perfect motion picture! Nothing and a dumpster!!

"I Stand Alone"!! Yeah, he really did!!! Ron Haydock was a massive talent who, like many others, styled his brand of music after Gene Vincent. He was also a writer of soft-core novels, worked for Forrest J. Ackerman on "Famous Monsters Of Filmland" and went on to be editor of his own magazine, my second favorite monster mag, "Fantastic Monsters Of The Films" with Paul Blasisdell and Bob Burns! And that is one more completely different story! In 1977 Ron Haydock was hit by a semi truck, while he was hitch hiking, and killed instantly!!! Damn!!!

All right, get everybody to head on over to the beach! Roll camera! That's a wrap, kids!!!!

Speaking of Bob Burns, here he is as Kogar The Gorilla, which always brings to mind my favorite quote from "Famous Monsters" in an article about Bob Burns! "Bob be nimble, Bob be quick, Bob jump over the candlestick, Bob Burns!!!

For more information that I could ever dredge up for you, here's a link to a killer article written just about a year ago on Ray Dennis Steckler by Greg Goodsell! "Steckler For Details"!!! There's a great box set that is readily available that Ray Dennis Steckler put out, that includes this film, "The Thrill Killers", "The Lemon Grove Kids" and of course the Steckler monsterpiece, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies!" What are you waiting for???

RAT PFINK A BOO BOO - Henry Price/Ron Haydock - "Homage To Ray Dennis Steckler!" (1966)

HOMAGE: Old French from the 13th century meaning a formal public acknowledgment of allegiance on the part of a vassal towards a feudal lord!! Right On!!

So, without further delay, tonight we present a small homage to madman film maker, Ray Dennis Steckler, who just passed away last week and was the epitome of 60's cheap film making. I'm going to tell you right out front that this film, "Rat Pfink A Boo Boo" is not an easy film to watch, in fact, it's right up there with Arch Hall's "Nasty Rabbit" in the "I've seen it once, and that was enough" category, but again, just like "Nasty Rabbit," the music is completely and utterly fantastic! If Dennis couldn't take it seriously, then I sure as Hell can't, but give the man some credit for marketing!! A film as crappy as this is plenty available today, and yet, there's a bunch of 'real' classic monster movies, that you can't even find a copy of, to save your soul!! He'd go by Ray or Sven, or Wolfgang, Cash, Max or Cindy Lou, but whatever you call him, make sure you also call Ray Dennis Steckler a genius!! Thanx for the good times Buddy!!!

It's pretty easy to get sucked in at the start of the film, and it's lookin' all kinda film noirish, but it doesn't last for long, and the gang characters look like they are in their 20's but act like they are 13! It sure looks good, though, so give a big hand to Cinematographer, that's right, Ray Dennis Steckler!!!

This is Lonnie Lord played by Ron Haywood! "Lonnie is a Rock & Roll singer!!" Ron wrote and performed most of the actual songs in this movie, like this one: "You're Running Wild"!

As far as the rest of the great score goes, the theme music was written by Henry Price, aka André Brummer, who also did the music for Ray's "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?" and what is possibly the best movie ever made, "Eegah!!" The credits on the movie itself say the theme and the motorcycle scene are by Charles B. Tranum! More credits at the end of the film go to Ben Ralleigh and Bob Halley! All these people used so many different names, who really knows who did what!!

The ultra stunning Carolyn Brandt as Cee Bee Beaumont put in what should have been only one, of her many Academy Award winning performances in Ray's films, and she was in "Eegah!!" too! That makes her an automatic winner in our world!!

If nothing else, just a cool page out of history!! When's the last time you got any 'blue chip stamps?' How many people out there even know what 'blue chip stamps' were??

The band is finally warmed up, so here's what you've been waiting for, once again composed and performed by Ron Haydock as Lonnie Lord, you is a "Rat Pfink!" !!!

Guys like Ray Dennis Steckler and Jerry Warren were 'Green' way before their time, recycling everything they could get their grubby hands on!!

Come back tomorrow night for Part 02 of this story, of the less than dynamic duo, if you dare!!!

El Imperio de Drácula aka EMPIRE OF DRACULA / Mexico - 1967 / Music by Gustavo César Carrión

Tonight The Dungeon present super color-saturated still and chalk board scratching soundclip from 'nother Mex Vampire Mix Flick... Hey, and Bram Stoker get writing credit!! Pretty damn good for dead guy!

Big time monster music man Gustavo César Carrión have 319 composing credit and include these fine flick: EL MONSTRUO EN LA SOMBRA, LA ADULTERA, EL VAMPIRO, MISTERIOS DE ULTRATUMBA, EL HOMBRE Y EL MONSTRUO, EL GRITO DE LA MUERTE, FRANKESTEIN: EL VAMPIRO Y COMPANIA, EL BARON DEL TERROR and too many more!!!

Ready, set, go to!.. DRAC'S PLACE 1967!

Bat ring let you know who big boss around here is!!

Ever'bloody like to scream in tonight' flick!!

Mexican monster flick always have interesting transformation scene!.. Here is tonight' version.

Drac live in pretty fancy pad but it also have creepy underground rooms! Second photo is cool!!

Bone head 'n' tooth enamel!

To save gurlie' soul, dude chase down other dude, have big fight, put gurlie' coffin on the earth, put cross on gurlie and that all it take to save from eternal damnation!!.... Go figure!

THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER - Chuck Sagle - "The End" (1961)

It's time to get back to the roots! This is a very short, but iconoclastic piece from the end of "The Beach Girls And The Monster" that we've had hanging around for a long time, that is just too good to get left behind, so without further delay, from one of the all-time Monster Movie classics, here's "The End"!!!!! I love this little soundbite, as we all come that much closer to the inevitable!!

I was saving this for when we got to the end of this blog, but I guess we're not ready to drive off the edge of the cliff yet, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight!!

There's nothing else I have to say about this Fresno born, Jon Hall masterpiece of trashy monster culture except "That's all, folks!!" Enjoy!