ISLAND OF TERROR - Malcolm Lockyer - "Isotopes" (1966)

Unless you really start thinking about it, you just don't really realize how many 'Island Monster/Voodoo/Jungle Out Of Control' movies were really made back in the good old days!! We still haven't counted them all either, but for now, here's one more!! This time it's a UK Planet Productions film from 1966 called "Island Of Terror" and it's a fun, but silly little romp! 

 

The love affair between Edward Judd and Carole Gray was just heating up, but as luck would have it, it would have to be postponed, or we got a completely different story!! The Doc does have a cool bachelor pad though!! Composer Malcolm Lockyer is the gentleman responsible for the music, having also composed the music for "Dr. Who and the Daleks" and many other non-horror films. To show you his ability to swing, he also conducted The Million Airs Orchestra in 26 Glenn Miller tribute concerts before his death in 1976. A very talented man without a doubt! 

 

I never get this part, the door says "Keep Out Radiation Danger" and they act like it says "Welcome!! Please come in! 

 

It's not like they didn't really a have a warning!! 

 

Then the really stupid looking killer mutant cancer cell disgustingly splits open and spills out it's chicken noodle soup guts to the world! 

 

He's killed a number a of vampires in his career, but it looks like Peter Cushing has finally met his match!! Screams for Kreng in the background! 

 

"Thunderbirds" composer Barry Gray is credited for any electronic sound effects you might hear in this man with no bones or any number of the other scary scenes! 

 

What is it anyhow, are people just inherently stupid? I distinctly heard the man say, "Stay Away From The Windows!!" See where not listening gets you, kids??

MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE / Hugo Grimaldi 1965 / Gordon Zahler music supervisor

Time for 'nother Tabonga Tuesday! Tonight is cool sci-fi flick MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE. Dumb title! Really not much to do with mutiny, more about screeching fungus from Moon!! What gives?!.. Okay, Gordon Zahler was supervisor, but, use stock music by Leith Stevens, Hans J. Salter and Walter Greene!! 

 

So, blast off into... Outer Space infected with screeching fungus!

 Everybloody want to hang out with Faith Montaine, including Tabonga!! 

 

Whoa!.. Look at meteors whizzing by space station!!

 YUCK!!.. This actually dude's head after he touch space fungus! So, kids!!.. Keep away from space fungus, even if uncle Fred say okay!! 

 

Tabonga like this still, look like Russians! 

 

Most sexy wearing glasses and looking through big microscope!.. HOT!!

 Oh, look! Germans expose Dick Cheney, but, you never gonna hear about it here in US!.. 

 

Stupid fungus can ruin whole day!!

 Doctor barely touch fungus, so, they put him in big jar?! 

 

This pic is boss!! General none other than Glenn Langan, aka, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN!

 

Bad idea to try and carpet space station!

GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW - Ron Stein - "The Challenge" (1959)

So it must be time to add the final piece of the musical puzzle we know as "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow", and.........as you can plainly see, there really was a ghost!! 

 

Sadly, this was master monster-maker and all-around cool guy Paul Blaisdell's last movie! 

 

You see, they didn't need Paul anymore when they had cool new makeup and special effects like this!! To keep the party moving, some of the most rocking swing he's ever written is served up by Ronald Stein one more time! What A Guy!!! Just keep those twin and triplet saxes coming and you'll have a winner every time, throw in some hot guitar licks, and just jump back and watch!! The in-house band "The Renegades" manage to mime their way through the whole thing! 

 

In the end of this film, there's a costume party where the girls have one final meeting at which a challenge to a final drag race is decided. The gauntlet is thrown down, the party goes on, and ........Hey, what happened? The movie is over! Weren't they supposed to have one more race?? They go to a place that is so nice and quiet, it doesn't even exist! Director William J. Hole Jr. should have let them pull hair and scratch instead!!! 

 

Don't worry, it will all be over soon!!!

R.I.P. BO DIDDLEY - The Gunslinger Is Gone!

Today is indeed a sad day with the passing of a true musical giant, another one of our heroes, Mr. Bo Diddley. In the Vietnam era, who did you run cadence with in basic training? It was "Hey Bo Diddley!" He was an innovative guitarist and songwriter with a great spirit and a keen sense of humor! And in Bo's own words, "You can kill my body, but you cannot kill my spirit! Still, we're going to miss him!

Just in case you missed it the first time, from his 1973 London Sessions LP, here's the now immortal Bo Diddley with "You Can Kill My Body !!!

VOODOO ISLAND / Bel-Air Studios 1957 / Les Baxter & Dr. Samuel (our hero) Hoffman

Finally, they bring in some muscle!! Sheesh! Looks like Rodan'll be doing Sunday Classics now, giving those two other weaklings a little break!! Remember, Rodan can knock over buildings by just flapping his wings!!.. So, my first assignment is this little island paradise called VOODOO ISLAND, with Boris and the 'incredible diminishing' gang! 

 

Welcome to VOODOO ISLAND... Here's a Creepy Exotic Island Mixture by Les and Sam. 

 

Boris is having some trouble communicating with this zombified guy. Then, the guy stands up and falls flat on his face, so, they pick him up. 

 

Hey, did anyone ever notice that lamp sticking out of his head?! 

 

Now, some good stuff!.. The girls in this movie seem to attract big rubber things!! It looks like Jean is actually topless there! 

 

Here's a still from a weird little scene where it looks like the crazy plant is trying to suckle Beverly's breast! Its strange to watch, she has to hold it so it looks like its stuck to her or something. 

 

Ain't latex rubber cool?! 

 

Here's a close-up of one of those plant's suction mouth! They sway around and hit you when you're not looking! Mean little creeps related to Tabonga, I believe! 

 

This scene is great! Murvyn is sleeping only to wake up and open his eyes just as one of the swaying plants dips down to within inches of his face!! YOW!!

 Murvyn is totally shaken and takes off blindlessly into the jungle. After awhile, he stops and sees two girls playing. Still dazed, he watches as the smaller girl falls onto one the the odd looking plants... 

 

Gripped in horror, he then sees the plant quickly ball up and trap the helpless girl inside!!.. Daaaaammn!!!

 He keeps watching as the girl's piece of dress slowly disappears into the plant!! Man, that was brutal in 1957!!.. A year earlier, though, a boy dies from radiation poisoning in Hammer's X: THE UNKNOWN!

 Anyways, that was enough to drive Murvyn permanently into Coocoosburg! 

 

So, here's the ones who make it this far! That's Rhodes Reason, one-time bro-in-law of Sanita Pelkey and there's Elisha Cook, Jr. (Elisha then gets it good just a few moments later!) 

 

THIS CRAP IS ALWAYS SUPER COOL!!

 Oh, Tabonga asked (nicely) and I said okay, to say... GOODNIGHT, EVERYBLOODY!

THE TIME TRAVELERS - Richard La Salle - "Lost In Time" (1964)

Just like last night's film, this movie, "The Time Travelers" had an outstandingly odd cast of characters that is almost beyond Pop Culture belief. For some reason, you don't hear much about this film, and it's also very hard to find a copy!!! The music by composer Richard La Salle is literally all over the place, including space. What you're going to hear here is the main theme followed by something very akin to cartoon music crossed with some off the wall sitcom, as we tour the android assembly facilities! 

 

This crazy film starred Preston Foster, who was more known for his tough guy western roles. Merry Anders was in "Hypnotic Eye" and a couple of other scary features. John Hoyt we know from his roles in "Attack Of The Puppet People", "Curse Of The Undead" and "X." If you combined all the TV appearances from this troupe in the 50's and 60's, it would probably be a number around 1000. 

 

Steve Franken's face will always stand out as the guy who played rich kid Chatsworth

 Osborne Jr. in 29 episodes of "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis" TV show! 

 

Reena was played by June, 1960 Playmate of The Month, Delores Wells!! 

 

Then you have Phillip Carey, a face easily recognized in TV commercials as Granny Goose. "I got your bag right here!!" 

 

After Reena invites Danny up to her cubicle, she plays her "Lumichord" for him as part of her seduction plan. It's 1960's bachelor pad space age lounge music at it's best!!! 

 

Now what shall we do?? 

 

The space spa scene is pretty racy as Merry Anders stands strategically behind the luminescent bars of a future tanning booth, as Reena and the other gals lounge around! 

 

This movie has a lot of tongue in cheek action going on, so it's a perfect place and a perfect role for our hero, Forrest J. Ackerman to do his bit as the Square-Frame Technician. 

 

Right about the time you get ready to write off the whole thing as just a campy space opera, all hell breaks loose into a giant melee of ugly bloody mutants and androids slamdance!! 

 

The writer and director of "The Time Travelers" was none other than IB Melchior, the man responsible for "The Angry Red Planet", "Reptilicus", "Journey To The Seventh Planet" and "Robinson Crusoe On Mars" among a mess of other things!! Thanx IB!!! And you can also thank not one, but two other mighty magnificent names for the way this film looks. Those would be the eyes of László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond. From working with Arch Hall, Al Adamson and Ray Dennis Steckler, all the way to winning Oscars, these two guys have done cinematography and camera work on more incredible movies than almost anybody, no matter what the budget, and have made some of the cheapest movies look fantastic. This was a very early effort for both of them!! Speaking of Ray Dennis Steckler, don't forget to go out and grab the latest issue of "Screem" magazine, issue #16. There's an very intriguing article in it called "Ray Dennis Steckler: One More Time" written by our favorite heckler and commenteer, Greg Goodsell. You owe it to yourself to read it!! Starting tomorrow, our "Classic Sunday Night Feature" is going to have a new host, everybody's hero, and all around nice guy, our best buddy, Rodan!!! We've known Rodan a long time and even though he's a mutant pterosaur, he's got a lot of knowledge up in that petrified cranium of his to share with you, and even better, I get another night off!! Get the popcorn and the Margaritas ready!! I'm going to watch a movie!!