THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS - Johnny Douglas or Ron Goodwin - "Convict Party" (1962)

So you see, that's one of the problems with these films. You've got a composer, and or some uncredited guy adding additional music, and it can get pretty hard trying to pinpoint who did what if you don't have some super inside info. Like in this film, the soundtrack is largely orchestrated except for this part where the convicts are making the girls party with them, so of course the music has to be different too, it has to be dirty, it has to swing! It's gotta be the other guy composing at that point. To quote "The IMDB" "Although credited with "additional music", composer Johnny Douglas actually supplied more music than the main composer, Ron Goodwin. According to the official music cue sheets, Douglas wrote 26 mins, Goodwin 19 minutes." Who did what? Probably only Tabonga's 7th cousins know, and if you've ever partied with those space vegetables, you know it's not even worth discussing! 

 

The oldest trick in the book, take advantage of people's curiosity, of course all the rubberneckers are going to look! 

 

"Day Of The Triffids" is one of our favorite movies, and Howard Keel does a fantastic job in what was his only real horror role! 

 

Cinematographer Ted Moore was working overtime on some of these shots. This one through the dancing girl's legs to the drunk with his head on the table, and the zombified drunk girl on the left is too much! 

 

What a scene!!!! These girls are being held captive, but the one dancing on the table seems to be having a pretty good time! One thing's for sure, the music is hot!!! 

 

Then the stupid giant plants from outer space decide to literally crash the party, crash through the windows, crash through the walls! 

 

As the movie goes on, you'll see that you can burn or electrocute or melt the triffids, but shooting doesn't work very well, and who gave this guy the bright idea to try and hit it with a chair? 

 

Why didn't they use the same method we use to keep all the plants in line? Eat them!! Steamed or boiled, with a bunch of butter and some black pepper, maybe some soy sauce! I'll bet those triffids would be at least as good as brussel sprouts or scallop squash, probably better!! 

 

"The Day Of The Triffids" is a brilliant movie, and everybody should go out of their way to see it. The acting is great, the colour is beautiful, and it's just a very solid film on a lot of different levels, and I definitely believe Stephen King saw this movie as a kid!

THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (The Crawling Eye) - Stanley Black - " All The Jars And Bottles You Got" (1958)

Tabonga says this is music, but I'm not so sure he doesn't have termites in that hollow log of his! Sometimes there's a fine line between "space music" and merely just "sound effects", but either way, here's some neat stuff from a weird and very creepy movie, from 1958, "The Crawling Eye." (Actually, the more I listen to this, the more I like it too!) 

 

Forrest Tucker didn't make a lot of horror films, but oddly enough, he made two 'crawling' ones. Besides "The Crawling Eye," he was also in a film called "The Crawling Terror," but other than that he was mostly noted for being in TV westerns! Remember "F Troop"? Now, isn't that funny? You probably couldn't name a show that today considering the present day connotation of the letter 'F'!!! You might note how casual Forrest is throughout this film, like, okay, circle up the wagons again, it's a Big Eye with tentacles this time, okay, get me something to throw at it! 

 

This film is dead serious, No jokes, No gags! No goofing around or somebody's going to get hurt!!!

 All kidding aside, The Big Eye choking this guy will get under your skin! I hope he got paid good for this scene! 

 

Here's the real "Crawling Eye" itself!!! Yow!!!!

THE DUNWICH HORROR - Les Baxter - "Theme & Freak-Out" (1970)

Pushing the edges just a bit, not because we have to, but because we want to, Here's " The Dunwich Horror" which was released January 14, 1970, so that means it was essentially made in 1969. It's based on a short story by the master of the macabre, H.P. Lovecraft, and is driven by a super cool Les Baxter soundtrack! If you are not familiar with the work of Les Baxter, then just search this blog, and you will be! 

 

It stars 1960's Pop Icon Sandra Dee (Can you say Gidget?). 

 

And kind of like another 1960's Pop Icon, Frankie Avalon, it's always weird to see beach perfect people in horror movies, and it always adds that extra special element of Yeecchh!!!! 

 

Who's got the acid? Gimme, gimme, gimme! Now, kiss me! 

 

Sandra looks Great even with this Hellish psycho nightmare going on! 

 

Okay, ugly dream guy, can you get just a little closer?? 

 

It's a Paycheckdelic Freak-Out !!!

CURSE OF THE FLY - Bert Shefter - "Title Credits" (1965)

It's not often you get to see a woman in her bra and panties running across the screen as the opening credits are being rolled, well, at least not in 60's horror movies anyway, but indeed, in "Curse Of The Fly," that's exactly what you get, but of course, she's nuts!! We've written about Bert Shefter a lot because of his work on so many cool films, but he also wrote the music for, count 'em, 133 "Hawaiian Eye" TV episodes, the film "Faster, PussyCat! Kill! Kill!" and much more! 

 

Another interesting sidenote is that the father of modern Nigerian Art Music, composer Fela Sowande also shared some of the musical composition credits, and I think it shows! Fela is probably the most internationally known African composer of classical music, and this basically is the only film he ever composed music for! 

 

"Judith?!" "Judith!?" 

 

Stan Simmons as the 'big ugly guy' had a cool career in film as prison guard, thug, warrant officer and Rag "n" Bone Man, and is creepy as all get out!

GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW - Ronald Stein - "Theme and Intro" (1959)

Okay, "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow" might be a stinkball of a movie, but the soundtrack is top notch from start to finish, and music's what we're here for! Stripped of the visuals and the dialogue, listen to what's playing during the opening credits and the intro to the movie, and marvel at the quality. Sure, the opening theme is a little hokey in a TV kind of way, but the arrangement and choice of instruments is bizarre, and then out of nowhere it has that great rockin' sax solo break toward the end! 

There is no way you can possibly go wrong with Girls in Hot Rods!!! 

The Race Is On 

  It's the maestro Ron Stein all the way, with a drivin' draggin' intro where you wish there were no sound effects so you could enjoy the total coolness of this song!! We've written about him so many times it's redundant, but what can we say? Ronald Stein was a genius!!! Period! Turn it up!!! 

Great Cast!! Killer Soundtrack! Get One! Make Popcorn! Have A Slumber Party! Rock Out!!!

DUNGEON OF HARROW - Pat Boyette - "Lepers" (1962)

Well, here's yet another fascinating story! "Dungeon Of Harrow" was written and directed by Pat Boyette! Pat also wrote the music, and I'm sure this tune was helped along by musical supervisor Patrick Aron. It's really hard to know exactly what is going on with this music because of the tremendous amount of reverb they added to the whole thing to make it scarier, I guess! Texas born Pat Boyette was a comic book artist of some repute, and had done some pencils for DC in the late 50's, then after trying his hand at movies in the 1960's, he returned to what he did best, and basically became the 'go to' guy at Charlton Comics for about 20 years. He developed the character "The Peacemaker" and wrote and drew hundreds of stories before Charlton's demise in the 1980's! He also did some work with Warren on some "Creepy" and "Eerie" issues. Unfortunately, Pat passed away in 2000, but he left us a legacy of work! Cheers to another great overachiever!!! 

 

So, yeah, "Dungeon Of Harrow" really does have a timeless Charlton Comics feel to it, and even though it was made in Texas, it seems more like it was made in Europe! 

 

Comic characters all the way! Dungeons are us!! 

 

I'm sorry but, there's just something about lepers I don't like! Maybe it's prejudice, but I just don't like being around them!! 

 

Again, in classic comics style, at the end, as a new group stumbles upon the island, we all find out, "They're Lepers!!!"

THE BLOB - DEMENTIA - "In The Theatre"

So, when John Parker couldn't do anything with his film "Dementia" and producer Jack Harris got his hands on it, and couldn't really get anything out of it either, even after the changes, somebody finally got some good from the film when Jack Harris decided to use "Dementia" or "Daughter Of Horror" as it would be known in it's new incarnation, with chopped scenes of chopped hands and added narration by the ever spooky Ed McMahon, as the film that would be playing when "The Blob" oozes into the theatre! 

 

The music is probably by George Antheil, but the names of Ernest Gold and Shorty Rogers also come into play. Nobody came to see "Daughter Of Horror" when it finally came out, but this theatre is packed and the people are laughing out loud, they're roaring and guffawing like they're watching a "Francis The Talking Mule" or an "Abbott & Costello" movie, and this movie is not even close to being a comedy. 

 

The insanity, the laughter and taunts in "Dementia" are like the plague, and easily passed on to the uninformed participants who are also about to fall into their own whirlpool of despair and madness! 

 The kids leave the theatre and go outside, and in the front of the theatre there's a poster for the movie that's playing with a picture of Robby The Robot from "Forbidden Planet" and it says something about a vampire in the title on the poster. See, you just can't trust these people making movies, they try and trick you all the time! 

 

They've been tricking us for years!! 

 

The music from "The Blob" shifts from the movie theatre and the music from "Dementia" to the kids trying to spread the warning. Oops, too bad they came to a pad with a bunch of drunk party-goers listening to some swinging music by composer Jack Carmichael and then a place where the barkeep tells them... 

 

"We get monsters in here all the time" before shifting back to the theatre to finish up! Obviously, you need to get both films, but everyone should own copies anyway!! 

 

The music from "Dementia" is brilliant, like a supercharged nightmare, and it was perfect the way they recycled it in "The Blob"!! And, how many more inside jokes are there anyway???