THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED! / Clover Productions - 1957

On Monday I 'sploded the sky, now, I'm gonna finish the job by 'sploding the world! This is a flick my dad took me to see in 1957, can't remember what it was paired with though, must be getting old...

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the atomic exploding cigar, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED!

Here's William Leslie as Dr. Conway, Kathryn Grant as Laura 'Hutch' Hutchinson and Tristram Coffin as Dr. Morton in their lab where they monitor earthquakes. Dr. Conway has invented a machine that can actually predict earthquakes! We remember William from MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE, Kathryn was in THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD and Tristram was Jeff King in KING OF THE ROCKET MEN. Tristram is one of the weirdest names I've heard, kinda hard to pronounce, then, adding Coffin to it doesn't help.

The machine predicts massive earthquakes but no one believes the doctor until it's too late, especially in Texas!

In 1955 Post cereals offered a small collection of plastic 1955 Fords that my parents got for me, this model was one of them. The motorcycle cop's checkin' it out!

The doctors decide to take the machine underground, thinking it would predict with more accuracy there.

In a scene right out of THE MONOLITH MONSTERS, this unsuspecting scientist has taken a sample of some unknown element they found in deep pools of water in the cave. When he takes one of the rocks out of the water, it dries out, expands and explodes with a violent blast! Just the opposite of the rocks in Monolith Monsters that grow when they get wet and turn the victims to stone from a vapor they emit.

I was in basic training at Fort Lewis, WA, in June and July of 1968, one day after a 10 mile hike in the mountains with full gear (50+ lbs.) we had to go to a ceremony where we stood at parade rest. I blacked out for a moment from the heat and being at parade rest along with about 50 others... Fun.

Dr. Conway tries to convince the military of the danger of the new element, and, that the rocks are causing the earthquakes! He demonstrates as they watch the rock catch on fire and burn a hole through the table, it falls into a pail of water, reverting it back to harmless.

This is about the only part I remember from originally seeing it, where the doctor shows the exploding power of the element. He puts a small piece of the rock called Element "112" inside the world globe, they drive a good distance away and watch it explode mightily. My question is, why didn't it burn throught that cheap globe first?.. Whatever.

Dr. Conway heads up an effort to flood the area where the rocks are slowly being exposed to the air underground. Here he is testing his rainmaking equipment.

I love this part where the TV announcer has to duck under his desk when an earthquake hits and demolishes the studio while on air!

Then, this volcane appears out of nowhere!

They finally figure that they need a huge amount of water to accomplish the task, so, they take their supply of Element "112" to the dam and blow the Hell out of it. The water floods the undergroud cavern and the night is saved!!

Verification of my last statement.

Here's another fake looking sky for your eyeballs to gander at.

13 DEMON STREET - MURDER IN THE MIRROR (1959)

The name of the show was "13 Demon Street"

You may or may not know that the actual name of this site is " 13 "

"13 Demon Street" is a strange little place in Sweden! "Murder In The Mirror" was an unreleased episode! When the show failed to go anywhere, they took three episodes, and two years later turned them into a movie called "The Devil"s Messenger!"

They dug up the late great Lon Chaney Jr. to be the host! Of course, at this point in his career, Lon was apt to show up almost anywhere, and everybody knows Sweden makes good vodka!

Curt Siodmak was a terribly prolific writer and he also directed this series! Curt was of course responsible for an incomparable run of classic films like "Black Friday," "The Wolfman," "The Invisible Man Returns," "The Invisible Woman," "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man," "I Walked With A Zombie," "Son Of Dracula," "The Lady And The Monster," "House Of Frankenstein," "The Beast With Five Fingers, "Donovan's Brain," "Riders To The Stars," and "Earth Vs.The Flying Saucers!" What possibly would the history of  horror movies been without him? But that's not to say that "13 Demon Street" was his finest hour, that's for sure!

It looks like they spent about 57 cents on Lon's makeup and hair stylist, and possibly another 43 cents on his costume! The biggest expense was probably paying somebody to turn the burlap sacks inside out so you couldn't read the names of the potato growers on them!

It all begins with this happy but down on their luck couple having their life disrupted by some freaky-deaky weirdo!

Freaky dude offers out of work guy some easy cash if he will just track down an olde mirror for him! Sounds simple enough!

It just so turns out that an antique collector friend of his has the mirror! What a stroke of luck!!

But that's where the good luck ends. He sees history and murder in the mirror that upsets him to no end, and then of course he has to try and convince other people that's he's not nuts!

There's nothing quite as macho as the hands on the hips pose!

"NO, You're shitting me, that is totally freakin' unbelievable!!" (Well, that's what you could imagine he SHOULD be saying!)

"I want you to witness a crime of utmost cruelty, of loathsome savage hatred of fiendish jealousy!"

Lon says he can be released from this crappy job, if he finds someone who is a worse person than himself!

Sorry Lon, they might find a worse person, but they're not going to find a worse dresser! "13 Demon Street - Murder In The Mirror" streams on Creepster TV, and at $4.99 a month, just might be the bargain of the century!

THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED / Compagnie Cinématographique de France, Lux Film, Royal Film SA - 1958

It's Meteor Monday Redo with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's a wild 'n' weird French-Italian sci-fi doomsday production from 1958, director of photography was the great horror director Mario (CALTIKI) Bava, his last name is spelled "Baja" in the English dub credits.

Eegah!! sent over a grainy lil' soundclip (much like the stills) from the beginning of the flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the Snark Missile, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED!

As far as I know, the Alpha Video print I used is the only one available..

The story's about some European scientists that discover a large group of meteors in space hurtling on a collison course with Earth, and if they hit, the planet will be destroyed!!!.. I like most fifties sci-fi because of the interesting ideas, miniatures, futuristic architecture, space hardware and the like.

Not sure what's going on here, but, it don't look good!

It's just a shot of an instrument panel, that's all...

When the citizens figure out it's pretty much the end of the world, they go freakin' berserk!

The meteors demolish the Moon, causing this scientist to lose his mind! When these kinds of things happen in horror movies, I like to imagine a coo coo clock going off to accompany it.

Destruction of the Moon causes vast earthquakes on Earth, part of the science lab gets totally destroyed as mom tries to comfort the kid!

The insane scientist tries to prevent the others from commanding the launch of thousands of missiles from around the world to combat the oncoming meteors, but, he gets electrically fried instead!

Three.. two.. one! The missiles make it to their target and end up saving the day!.. Hurrah!!

The head scientist takes a big slug o' relief!

STARK FEAR - Lawrence V. Fisher & John Williams - "I Ain't Gonna Hurt You...I Just Want Company (1962)

Welcome to the Saturday Watchamacallit Chingadero Feature down in The Dungeon! I'm not really quite sure what to make of this movie, but one thing I know is that I have had root canals more interesting and less painful! It's said that even Berverly Garland never wanted to have anything to do with this film after it was made! I didn't believe it until I saw it, but now I know why she might have felt that way!

First off, why is this film called "Stark Fear?"  "Too Much Inane Talk And Not Enough Action" would have been a much better suited title! The music in "Stark Fear" presents a real dichotomy! The insipidly cretinous music called the soundtrack was created by Lawrence V. Fisher in his sole outing, but the swingin' music from the brief party scene was created by the master Maestro Mr. John (Star Wars, Harry Potter) Williams! How much something weirder can you get than that! Here's a real short sample of what the Hell I'm talking about! You'll get the idea!

I cannot imagine for the life of me why they needed a psychological consultant, unless it was just to keep the actors involved from going insane!

Now there is no possible way I'm ever going to say anything bad about Dungeon Queen Beverly Garland! For the uninitiated, let me just mention some of the classic films Bev was in! "D.O.A.," "The Neanderthal Man," "The Rocket Man," "It Conquered The World," "Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon," "Not Of This Earth," "The Alligator People," & "Twice Told Tales!"

Wow, where'd they get those curtains?

Bev's husband is a big loser played by Skip Homeier! Skip has been on "The Outer Limits," "The Addams Family," "Star Trek" and a ton of cowboy TV shows!

Wow, where'd they get that chair and matching ottoman?

To show his undying love and devotion for Beverly, Skip pours his drink on her head!

Beverly goes to a swingin' party where she meets The Chief, Cortez Ewing in his one and only acting credit! You'll hear a sample of his talent in the little sound clip!

Beverly Garland's back!

Beverly heads on over to the sprawling metropolis of Quehada, Oklahoma in search of her man, but she finds nothing but trouble!

I couldn't quite make up my mind which part of nothing to not tell you about this film!

In Quehada, you could buy off the Sheriff off for five bucks!

If there's anything close to a hero in this soap opera, it's Kenneth Tobey as Bev's boss!  Like Beverly Garland, Kenneth Tobey also had a nice run of monster movies to his credit! I'm talking major classics like "The Thing From Another World," "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," and "It Came From Beneath The Sea!"

Beverly Garland is really good at acting like she's drunk!

All the trouble climaxes at the "El Nora Motel," but at least they had air conditioning!

Wipe that smile off your face Beverly, there is absolutely no hope for this relationship! "Stark Fear" is one of the six movies on the Something Weird "Weird-Noir" set. It is without a doubt not the best film in the set, but is worth it for any diehard Beverly Garland fans, and no matter how bad it might be, it's still a bargain!!