THE ASTRAL FACTOR aka INVISIBLE STRANGLER - 1976/1984

Welcome everbloody to the Dungeon, and Tabonga' first post of 2010! Today we have flick filmed in 1976, then released in 1984 with added music!

Oh yeah, an' welcome to California, too... Have fun!

Wha' choo'all lookin' at, fool?!!

Anything I want, jackass!!

SEE?!..

Tagline sez: A Criminally Insane Murderer Escapes From The Institution -- By Becoming Invisible!

Wow, Eegah!! sure give us a super-soundclip for this posting, one of his best!

Original music by Bill Marx, music added in 1984 by Richard Hieronymus and Alan Oldfield. Bill Marx have a total of 10 composing credit and include COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE, RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, DEATHMASTER, TERROR HOUSE and SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM! Richard Hieronymus work on ANGELS DIE HARD, THE LOVE BUTCHER, SWEATER GIRLS, TEEN LUST, GARAGE GIRLS, AUNT PEG'S FULFILLMENT, etc. And, Alan Oldfield work on DOGS, KING KUNG FU and DEEP SPACE.

So, let's roll the soundclip! Here's Ralphie the Tarantula to do the honors, press that big red 'GO' button to start a new year, here at the Dungeon!.. UP YOUR ASTRAL FACTOR!

Whoa!.. Other kind of astral factor!!

Nice soothing bath interrupted by trip to morgue!.. All these guy show up because they hear on radio that she naked!!

Who remember this dude besides Tabonga? Kind of poor man' Toody. Nice calendar!

You can see for self that something not quite right with fingerprint on left!

For Tabonga, this flick is dated time capsule with classic mid-seventies status quo imagery! Story is freakin' ridiculous, too!

Here is Elke Sommers entertaining Robert Foxworth in latest poolside attire! Notice that Robert having a smoke while he taking it all in. He one foxy cat!

To break up monotany, flick include wild an' freaky dance number at local LA dance theater!

Believe it or not, choreographer not gay!

As a bump, Robert get to order his lunch at popular new fast food joint at the time, so, they film it!!

When you have hot gurlfiend like Stephanie Powers and she run around in just mini-fur an' nuthin' else, well, expect plenty of cheap TV dinner!! Robert already know, that why he eat at Der Weinerschnitzel first!

For budget flick, sure look cheap at times!

Hmmm, I wonder what this came off of?!

No, you not hallucinating, that Stephanie Powers' ass! And, Tabonga not even show the good shots!!

Okay, okay, even if this is only as good as Stephanie can make coffee, who cares?!

Robert go to psychic research center to find out about the psychic scene. Guy at bottom right is moving ball around with mind!

Funny part as Robert stop moving 'hypnotic eye' machine because it stealing the scene!!

Elke strum and sing a popular folk song with artsy-fartsy camera composition...

Back at dance theater, they working on new Banana Splits number!

Cool it, you idiots! She's dead!!

At murder scene on yacht, guys find lots of loose change on rug!

Check it out, Ford Courier GTE service truck!! Tabonga used to have POS Ford Courier and all Tabonga can say is... 'ef'fing timing chain tensioner!'

Boobs and booze, always the perfect combo!

Better be careful, Invisible Strangler can pop up anywhere, any time, any how!.. But, why try to explain to this dude?

Robert have hunch that sub machine gun might be answer to problem!..

And, WTF!.. He right?!.. Go figure!

Whoa, wha'!

Goodbye jerk, we not gonna miss you!!

We end this interesting post with classic seventies 'gurlfiend in nightie' pose! The way we lik'em here at the Dungeon!!

O LUCKY MAN - Alan Price - "Sell Sell Sell" (1973)

Well, we ended the year in the Red, so we might as well start this new one with the Blues! I'm thinkin' we should all be feeling pretty lucky just to be alive on this 01-01-10 day of days, so to celebrate, today's special feature, is going to be "O Lucky Man," a UK jewel of a film filled with dry wit that most people wouldn't consider a 'monster movie,' but has a sequence in it that is just about as horrifying as it gets for me! That added to the fact that it's based on a concept by the star of the film, another Dungeon hero, Malcolm McDowell, and what more do you want? The prefect beginning to eine Jahre Neue, a Feliz Año Nuevo!, and hopefully at least one more year of stuff you need to know about!!!! So! Let's Rock!

"O Lucky Man" is about 3 hours long and filled to the brim with music by Alan Price, a man with many, many accomplishments, but will always be known as being the founding member and organist for the legendary iconic 60's band, The Animals! The Animals basically only released 3 albums, so you have no reason not to listen to each and every one of them!!

There's a whole lot of story here, so let's just get started!

This is a tale of a meager coffee salesman, and his quest for a decent day's earnings! With 9 films currently in some kind of production, Malcolm McDowell himself might be just as much of an overachiever as the character he portrays in this film, Michael Arnold Travis!

Rookie Michael has been given a big chance due to the untimely demise of another salesman, and on one of his first sales calls on his new route, before you know it, it starts getting weird, and he ends up in a private club, getting soused with the Mayor of the local township!!

They watch a few dirty movies, and then the chant goes out for everybody's fave routine, "Chocolate Sandwich!!" We, in turn, get the treat of hearing how cool and sleazy a Wurlitzer can really sound, thanks to Mr. Price!

There's just too much that happens in this film for me to try and describe it adequately with a couple of minutes of music and a handful of stills, so I'm gonna try to hit some of the high points!!

Michael innocently gets a little off course, which in turn, gets him into a whole lot of big-time trouble!! Here we have Michael being interrogated, and tortured a bit by Phillip Stone on the right and Michael Bangerter on the left! Almost all the actors in this film uniquely have at least 2 or 3 roles! I.E. Phillip Stone was also the character Jenkins, and the Salvation Army Major, and Mr. Bangerter also played William, one of the Assistants, and one of the prisoners!!

The whole damn compound blows to Hell, without the viewer ever knowing or even needing to know what was going on, and Michael barely escapes in all the confusion!!!

Michael then gets picked up hitchhiking and volunteers for some medical testing! That series of wires and cables on his head really looks like a crown of thorns to me, and I doubt it's a coincidence!

What's next is the part that really scared the living crap out of me the first time my young and impressionable mind saw it. Crossing animals and people is pretty damn horrifying and even more so, because Michael was going to be the next in line!!

Michael jumps out a window to escape that madhouse, and gets picked up again, this time by a traveling rock band! Enter Alan Price and the rest of the band, some of the few players with a solo role in this film!

The remarkable Helen Mirren is the free-spirited Patricia, the band's groupie and also the daughter of one of the richest men in the world! Helen began her career in the surreal 1967 film "Herostratus," and has made quite a career out of portraying herself, having over 100 TV appearances as Helen Mirren!! She also has a number of films in production today! What a Gal!!

Michael takes the lead, and goes to see Patricia's father to get his career jumpstarted again!

At that point, a commissioned scientist can't take the madness anymore and leaps out a window taking Patricia's Dad's assistant with him! Can you say instant job opening?

Patricia's Dad, Sir James Burgess is none other than Sir Ralph Richardson, a very fine actor whose career dates all the way back to the 1933 Boris Karloff film, "The Ghoul" (A film we're going to get around to one of these days) and also included another 1933 film, "Friday The 13th!" He was Bulldog Drummond in a couple of films, and played 'The Boss' in "Things To Come," but this might be the best still of him ever!!

A eulogy is delivered by Sir James to the under staff members and associates, and then it's back to work!!

And the band just keeps on playing!!! Here we have guitarist Colin Green, who went on to play with Tom Jones and Elton John etc, and bassist Dave Markee who has played with Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Joan Armatrading and more, and still gigs today as the Dave Markee Jazz Collective, and promotes the Croydon Jazz & Blues Festival!!! He's not in this picture, but the band was filled out by a marvelous jazz drummer, Clive Thacker, who has worked with Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger for years!

As Capitalist Fate would have it, Michael gets pinned with yet another crime, that he has no knowledge of!!

Director Lindsay Anderson assures you that there is no chance of acquittal with this jury of peers!

Michael takes the fall, and does his time! Is this freakin' classic or what???

And after he's served his time........nice juxtaposition of Malcolm and Marc Bolan!!

In a moment of reassurance, the guy holding the sign is the same man who was part pork earlier in the movie!

Malcom/Michael gets the part, everything goes full circle, and there's one big cast party!! Life is a paártee, with you, or without you!!!!!!!!
Happy Freakin' New Year! Thanx to all you readers, may Bela and Boris watch over each and every one of you!!