SSSSSSS! - "The Year Of The Snake" (1973)

Before we get any further into this year of 2013, it's time to take note that this is the year of the SNAKE! That bit of information coupled with the fact that I just bought myself a brand new Amp Cobra Driver says it all! "Sssssss!!!!!!!"

The director of "Sssssss" was Dungeon hero, the late Bernard Kowalski! I was lucky enuf to meet Bernie on a couple of occasions because he was one of my father-in-law's Army buddies. We never had a chance to speak much, but if I knew then what I know now,  I would have asked him a few questions about this production like "Why?" Bernie was also the director of such cult favourites as "Night Of The Blood Beast," and "Attack Of The Leech Monsters" before going on to have a long and lucrative career as a TV director!

As the movie opens we find a weird cage being loaded up onto an old pickup truck with the driver telling another guy that he's a freakin' genius!

That genius guy happens to be Ssssstrother (TARGET ZERO) Martin as the kindly Dr. Karl Ssssstoner! And what a stoner he has to be to think he's going to get away with this crap for very long!

And I quote: "We wish to thank the cast and crew for their courageous efforts while being exposed to extremely hazardous conditions." Cobras? No Ssssshit!!

The Doctor puts on snake shows for the stinkin' massive hordes on the weekend while they drink King Cobra malt liquor!

Dr. Stoner's last assistant left mysteriously in that cage, and so he recruits a new student from the local college, Dirk (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) Benedict as David Blake! The Doctor is shooting David up with various snake potions, and what do you know, imagine that, he's starting to shed his skin!

If you're under 20, you probably don't know what this is, and if you're over 20, you're probably feeling  kind of nostalgic right about now!

The carnival comes to town!

Imagine that, one of the main attractions is the living snake boy, now where do you suppose he came from?

In the old "If it doesn't work the first time, try it again department," "Sssssss" was released a second time with a new tagline as "Sssssnake!"

Dr. Stoner gives the local bully a tassssste of his own medicine! That little toe proves you don't have to be prefect to work in Hollyweird!

For all you reptile lovers, there are plenty of sssssnakes in this movie!!!

Actually quite weird, the Doctor's life and his experiments have totally gone to the dark side! At this point there is virtually no room left for any shred of hope!

Rikky-Tikky-Tavi! Everybody knows mongooses kick cobra's asses on a regular basis, so the fact that there is a caged mongoose in this story kind of predicts that somewhere along the line the snakes are going to lose somehow, no matter what!

Can you spell FUSTERCLUCK? As in all wrapped up and no place to go!! WAZZZZ!!!!!!! Sometime before the year of the snake is over,  we'll get around to "Rattlers!"

ALIEN PREY aka PREY / Tymar Film Productions - 1978

It's Friday Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a story about an alien invasion, the alien kills and takes over a body, assuming the identity of a young man. He's invited to stay with a lesbian couple after he pretends to be hurt, one girl becomes suspicious of her lover and starts to rely more on the alien for support, causing big problems. Shot in 10 days in England, most of the script was written during the filming and the majority of the footage was shot with a hand-held camera!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of some cool music from the film for our approval, soooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by the ejector pod, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... ALIEN PREY!

This is the invader, he goes on to kill and take over a body but gets absolutely no credit for working on this movie!

This is Barry Stokes as Anders, the transformed alien, he goes into the woods to look for some of that there, you know... Prey! Barry did mostly British TV including working on the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR series.

Barry kept the alien teeth after the shoot!

Those teeth are pretty damn sharp, you can ask that dead copper there!!

When he's not hungry, Anders appears to be fairly normal. Here, he's out for a walk in the woods with Josephine and Jessica, his new best friends who have invited him to stay with them for a while. Sally (THE BODY STEALERS) Faulkner plays Josephine and Glory (SUPERGIRL) Annen plays Jessica.

He does have some strange alien phobias which come into play at times.

What the heck, there's never a bad time to show a shot like this...

They get dressed up and get Anders loaded! Hell, he's an alien, he don't know the difference anyway! Main actors used their own clothes for the shoot, really Barry?!

Anders falls into the pond but doesn't know how to swim. As he fights the fear and the girls try and save him, the water churns up some real fuckin' muck 'n' sludge!! Get this... In order to film in that pond, the actors had to have injections before they went in as the water was a dumping ground!

Anders ends up in bed with Jessica, so, what else, he chews on her neck!! One keyword for this flick is cannibalism...

Bzzzt, Bzzt, Crackle... Kator calling command ship, send advance parties immediately. I've now established humans high in protein... and, easy prey!

HOT-ROD GIRL - Alexander Courage "All Hopped Up" (1956)

Welcome to the Wednesday Night Drags! Tonight's real gone flick is "Hot-Rod Girl!" I didn't realize it when I rented it from Netflix, but this film can be downloaded for free at the good ole Internet Archive! Once again,  The Archive never ceases to amaze me!!

Lori (REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, DAY THE WORLD ENDED) Nelson IS Lisa Vernon, the "Hot-Rod Girl!" The funny thing is that this movie isn't really about her that much!!

"Hot-Rod Girl" literally screams 1956, and no matter what, I still like 1950's movies the best!!

Is that an MG  she's smoking on the line? I don't think that import stood a chance in the quarter mile versus her souped up Thunderbird!

For me, it's hard to tell since it's a convertible whether this is a 1952, 53, 54, or 55 T-Bird! I'm sure one of you purists will let me know! They didn't really change much through those years! Beautiful car no matter what the year!

Chuck (THE RIFLEMAN) Connors is the local cop in charge of trying to keep the crazy kids in line!

One of the best impressionists of all time, Frank (THE RIDDLER) Gorshin is allowed to do some of his schtick in his role as Flat Top! One of the funniest things I ever saw on The Ed Sullivan Show was Frank Gorshin doing his impersonation of Frankenstein bowling!!

One of the gang, Del Erikson as Steve Northrup gets goaded into a street race! The final straw was when the guy in the white hot rod got in front of him and purposely backed his car into Steve's! Do people still do that kind of crap? I had a car full of weirdos run into me at a stoplight one time when I was in high school just looking for a fight, but that was back when we had metal bumpers!! Try that today, and you might total your car!

Steve dies in an accident and his brother Jeff is ruined since he was the mechanic responsible for hopping up his brother's rod! Jeff was played by John Smith who had a nice career in TV westerns as Deputy Lane Temple in 26 episodes of "Cimmaron City," and as Slim Sherman in 126 episodes of "Laramie!"

Speaking of hopped up, the killer music in "Hot-Rod Girl" was played by an all-star band of L.A. jazz and studio musicians that included names like Bud Shank, Dave Pell, Pete Candoli, Maynard Ferguson, Frank Rosolino, Barney Kessel, and Milt Holland!!! And speaking of stars, the music in "Hot-Rod Girl" was composed by the none other than Alexander Courage, the man who composed the theme for "Star Trek!!!"

And while we're on the subject of music, this gal was known as L.P. as in long-playing record, because every time she says something, she totally runs off at the mouth! The lovely L.P. was played by Roxanne (SON OF SINBAD, THE LOVED ONE) Arlen!

Every time L.P. comes up with some brilliant statement, it has this kind of effect on the other kids!

The new kid in town, Mark (CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT) Andrews as Bronc Talbott is a troublemaker! What is he, like 24?

Bronc immediately tries to make a play for Lisa, but she's holding out for Jeff to pull out of his blue funk!

So when Flat Top tries to tell Bronc to cool down, Bronc challenges him to a game of 'Chicken!'

Tough guy Bronc prevails and Flat Top gets the crap scared out of him, and swears he'll never play 'chicken' again, but the local authorities find out about the game and start putting pressure on the kids again!

In a fit of jealousy, Bronc runs Jeff and Lisa off the road, and a kid on a bicycle gets hit, and the blame goes on Jeff even though he's innocent!

When Chuck Connors presses Bronc for the truth after finding some paint off the kid's bicycle on Bronc's bumper, Bronc conks him on the head with a bottle and tries to escape, but Jeff shows up and kicks Bronc's ass, and saves his own in the process!! It's the perfect ending for a perfect movie!!