HAND OF DEATH - Sonny Burke - "Big Problems In The Lab" (1962)

Composer, conductor, arranger Sonny Burke does an amazing job on the music for "Hand Of Death," and this lab scene gone wrong is the pièce de résistance! It's utterly fascinating from start to finish, with eerie organ and bongo drums, and then it builds and builds and builds until it turns into an explosive nightmare of bottles and beakers with piano and even eerier organ and horn blasts from Hell. 

Have fun!! 

 

John Alonzo as Carlos, the lab assistant, had a distinguished acting career going back further than his role as Tomas in "The Magnificent Seven," and then right about 1967, he decided to be on the other side of the camera, and had another long and distinguished career as an Oscar nominated and Emmy winning cinematographer before passing away in 2001! 

 

John Agar looks like he is in complete control right about here! 

 

Uh,Oh, Remember, Carlos said, "Maybe it isn't possible to mix a hypnotic drug with nerve gas!" and I'm thinking I've got to agree with him because, I'm sorry, that just sounds like a bad idea!!!! 

 

Ow, That really hurts!!!! 

 

Alex Marsh falls asleep at this point, having breathed in way too many nasty vapors!! 

 

Although the music is above reproach, it would have been nice to have some scarier imagery than bottles swirling about! How about something like the gargoyles from "The Wizard Of Oz?" 

 

Okay, this has been a public service announcement, kids, under no circumstances are you ever to mix hypnotic drugs and nerve gas, let this be a warning to you!!! You can avoid Big Problems like this!!

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN - Ron Stein - "50 Foot Rock(and Roll)" Part II (1958)

I don't know what I was thinking back when we started this thing last year, but we only gave you half of the song and scene in "Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman." So, here's where we left off... 

 

Harry's wife, the voluptuous Allison Hayes as Nancy, comes back after having an encounter from outer space, and the sheriff tells her, "I'll be your friend, Mrs. Archer." I'll bet he will! 

 

Deputy Charlie goes to find Harry and Honey in the cafe, who don't see to be very concerned about not being real subtle about their affair! 

 

Right about here, Charlie is told by Sheriff Dubbitt, "There's a flying satellite and a 30 foot giant a few miles out on 66," and Charlie after a long pause of thinking, responds in a most serious tone with, "A 30 foot giant? Oh, No!" You just gotta see it to really appreciate it!! The same truly great Ron Stein tune, "50 Foot Rock" continues to play in the background on the jukebox!

THE TIME MACHINE - Russell Garcia - "13 Years Had Passed" (1960)

Tonight's all-time classic feature is quite literally just that, H.G. Wells "The Time Machine." Now as great as this movie is, and it really is fun to watch, it doesn't have any rockin' or swingin' music, but the opening clock sequence is neat in a "Woody Woodpecker" kinda way!

 "Speed Shifting, Sliding And Drifting" through time in my Time Sled, with narration and more cartoon music! 

 

Rod's best friend doesn't age through time, but she does change clothes a lot!! 

 

"13 years had passed!" Red oatmeal and model cars!!! We're talking big money and good lighting!

 The man responsible for the soundtrack is Russ Garcia, a very talented composer and arranger, who has worked with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and many more. Mr. Garcia and his wife Gina, are members of the Bahá'í Faith and in 1966, at the height of his career they sold everything, bought a boat, and sailed off. They were forced to return by Hurricane Alma after two days. Almost a year later, they tried it again and made it, and now reside in New Zealand! 

 

Ok, Yvette, I know you're new at this and everything, but the cameraman fell in this hole and we really need to get him out! You got any suggestions? 

 

You know guys, can we take a break, I really ain't feeling that great!! Can you just get me outta here? 

 Maybe it was this 1959 LP, "Fantastica(Music From Outer Space)" that made them choose Russ Garcia for the job!!

CEREBRO DEL MAL (Santo Vs The Evil Brain) - Trio Servando Diaz - "Enmascarado" (1961)

Pretty tough to find a decent copy of "Cerebro Del Mal" these days, but anyway, this 1961 film shot in Cuba back to back with "Santo Contra Hombres Infernales" was basically Santo's primero feature film. 

 

He's not even a Santo character per se, but instead, a mere detective called Enmascarado, who is joined in the on screen action by El Incognito. 

 

El Incognito was played by wrestler/writer Fernando Oses, who continued working on these movies for many years. 

 

Drivers, start your motors!!! Very nice line-up of Mercury cop cars!!! 

 

The main music in the film was by Salvador Espinosa in his first and only job as composer in the movies, and in an attempt to always keep it lively, we have a poolside appearance by Trio Servando Diaz . We don't know exactly what the title is because Tabonga's copy is so bad, you can't read the names of the songs in the title credits, and it's the best one he could find, but at least they cut out the commercials this time! 

 Santo is still in the background as the bad guy tries to steal the show with his dieing act, but good will prevail over evil, and Santo, not the evil brain will go on to have an awesome career!!!

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL - Richard Kayne and Richard Loring - "Theme Music" (1959)

A classic if there ever was one, "House On Haunted Hill" scared the crap outta most people when it came out! This William Castle production starts off just like another one of his works, "13 Ghosts." There's moaning, groaning, screaming, and a guy laughing that I swear to you, sounds like a dead Ricky Ricardo, before the theme written by the songwriting team of Richard Kayne and Richard Loring takes over. Born in 1928, wine connoisseur Richard Kayne is still believed to be living and writing in London today. Richard Loring passed away in 2005 after a long songwriting career. This theme song is quite a moody piece. Horns start swirling with an organ, before the build-up to lounge piano probably played by Richard Kayne, and eerie haunting female vocalise. Originally the theme song had lyrics written by Richard Kayne that went like this: "There's a House on Haunted Hill, where everything's lonely and still, Lonely and still, and the ghost of a sigh, when we whispered good-bye, Lingers on, and each night gives a heart broken cry, There's a House on Haunted Hill, where love walked there's a strange silent chill, strange silent chill, There are memories that yearn, for our hearts to return, and a promise we failed to fulfill, but we'll never go back, No, we'll never go back, to the House on Haunted Hill!" 

 And no matter how you look at it, Vincent Price is the master of the sinister. The "House" exterior was actually the Ennis Brown House in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright! 

 

My favorite part is when Frederic is aiming the champagne bottle at Annabelle and he says something like, "I can see the headlines tomorrow, man kills wife with champagne cork" and she is just bored by his droll humour, but in reality, he is really planning to kill her, and she just gives him the look!! Oh, yeah! This movie is so readily available, what are you waiting for?? You could be watching it right now!!!

CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION - Max Lipscomb - "Bat Man" (1967)

Born in Dallas, Texas, 1937, Max Lipscomb started off his career playing guitar as one of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps, and Max recorded with tons of people on all kinds of labels in the deep South, and Nawlins' where he recorded a version of "Sea Cruise" using some of Frankie Ford's original tracks, and his version of "Little Liza Jane" is above reproach! He recorded one single, the quite political, "I Can't Make Your Way", that included a killer Jeff Beck solo, with The Yardbirds. He wrote songs with some mild success and recorded under various band names like "The Shut Downs," Max K. Lipscomb With The Bobby Rambeau Orchestra, and/or Scotty McKay's Bolero Band! He fronted the world famous Texas band "Tommy & The Tom Toms," and in 1966 he appeared in the movie "The Black Cat" as a singer, and then by 1967, his career was pretty much shot, literally, and he was working with Larry Buchanan, case closed! He never was able to grasp the real fame and fortune he desired and deserved, before passing away in 1991!(The closest thing to the Apocalypse that really never happened that year!) 

 Max Lipscomb's name was changed to Scotty McKay when Bob Crewe Productions tried to market him as a teen idol. 

 

This is a version of "Batman" unlike any other you've ever heard. I can't quite figure it out, it's like "Batman" crossed with Gary Puckett and "Blood Sweat And Tears" or something equally strange, you people tell me! Most of the rest of the movie sucks, once again filmed in contractual 16mm, with the same monster again! Scotty's appearance in this film almost brings it's star quality rating up to that of "Horror Of Party Beach!" Mercy, is there no end?? Raise your glasses high and let's all give a gigantic toast to the memory of Scotty McKay!!!! Thanks for the memories buddy, Cheers!!!!! This is Rockin' Music from the Monster Movies!!!!!!! 

 

Then there's an acoustic like folk song on the beach probably called something like "Lonely People" before Max gets creamed, and it's got to be some kind of cruel joke, because the applause after his song is from some crowded auditorium, and yet there are only a handful of kids on the beach listening. 

 

The horrible monster does Max in when he can't get his motorcycle stuck outta the sand!!! "Something terrible is going to happen on the beach tonight!" Right! 

 

This stupid, overused sea monster actually looks pretty scary if you blur it enough!!!! Every horror movie or rock music aficionado should definitely have this film in their collection to impress the chicks and their doubting family members!

CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION - Scotty McKay - "Grits Ain't Groceries" (1967)

For a number of reasons, I'm out of time tonight, but since there's three good songs in this movie, rather than leave you hanging, there just won't be a lot of information right now, but here's one great song from "Creature Of Destruction" by Scotty McKay. 

 

Tomorrow, we'll delve deeper into the astounding saga of Scotty McKay, and how his career had plummeted down low enough for him to appear in this film. Here's one of the best songs from any 1960's monster movie, "Grits Ain't Groceries" by Scotty McKay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!! What a story!