PHANTOM FROM SPACE In Color / Planet Filmplays - 1953

Welcome everbloody to another Friday Night Drive-In here at the Dungeon, with host Tabonga and little Dungeon hunchback helper pal, Ralphie The Tarantula! Tonight we gots a colorized version of that early fifties sci-fi classic, PHANTOM FROM SPACE! This flick has excellent special effects and was produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, who also brought us KILLERS FROM SPACE, THE SNOW CREATURE, MANFISH, THE MAN WITHOUT A BODY and SPY IN THE SKY!

The music is by the awesome Mr. William Lava and includes the theramin! Get ready for this!.. William had a mind boggling 520 composing credits starting in 1937!! One of his last credits was for Al Adamson's DRACULA vs FRANKENSTEIN...

So, wif'out any further adieu, here's Ralphie to push that big red 'GO' button and start our Eariffic Earclip on it's journey to the center of your mind!.. Here's that PHANTOM FROM SPACE!

We skipped all the stock footage at the beginning, sorry about that. So anyway, a UFO has been sighted over Morro Bay and has now crash landed/disappeared near Santa Monica! Bottom pic shows the boys at 'Central' as they direct 'Mobile 1' and 'Mobile 7' in trying to track down the object.

Here's a shot of 'Mobile 1' which we refer to as a 'Radar Ford' around here!

This lady's husband was attacked and killed by what seemed to be a spaceman!

Dungeon pal Michael (THE WASP WOMAN) Mark plays a watchman, he verifies that the guy in the drawing was responsible for another death and a fire where he works. Funny thing too, there was no head in the helmet, thus making him, ta-da, a phantom!

Great shot of Harry (TALES OF TOMORROW) Landers, James (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS) Seay and Rudolph (SHE DEMONS) Anders! Check out Harry's cool socks!!

'Mobile 7' hiding behind a branch!

The Phantom gets cornered in an industrial complex, so there's lots of 'cat and mouse' chases going on...

To allude his stalkers, the Phantom sheds his suit!

Back at the lab, they experiment with the Phantom's spacesuit. It won't burn, they can't cut it and there's no weave when inspected under a microscope!

This is Noreen (GIANT) Nash, she plays Barbara Randall, a classic hot science chick of the fifties. Looks like she just got a Toni!!

She figures out a way to get a peek at the invisible nude stranger!

During a confrontation, the Phantom drops and destroys the helmet he needs to breathe with!

They finally locate the invisible spaceman with their ultraviolet lamps.

Dick Sands plays the Phantom and had a total of 5 acting credits. Here, Dick evaporates right in front of your eyes! It's fairly certain that THE THING had a big influence on the look of the Phantom...

Goodnight, sweet Prince Of Space!

KULAY DUGO ANG GABI - Arevalo/Marqueses - "The Blood Drinkers" (1964)

Another title for tonight's Wednesday WTF!? Feature is "Blood Is The Color Of The Night, aka "The Vampire People" and I am here tonight to tell you that this is one strange freakin' flick for 1964, or any other year! And just to start off, I'll tell you there are no musical credits for this movie, only Tito Arevalo as musical director, and Vic Marqueses as music arranger!

Half Russian, half Filipino, Ronald Remy is Dr. Marco, the vampire pelon, the last of the crazy baldheads they didn't chase outta town! He has a vendatta, and a bunch of freaky amigos to help him accomplish his mad goal of bringing his home girl back to life by getting her a new heart, but in the meantime, she needs blood to keep her in Limbo!

 

Early on in the film, this gal is being serenaded Romeo and Juliet style by her loving suitor.....

 

....and then not only does the viewer get the treat of hearing some very cool romantic island music, but the extra treat, and my favorite part of the movie is, that they brought a water buffalo along, because what screams love louder than the sight of a water buffalo? Break out the adobo Mama, cause I'm coming home tonight!

Then freakin' Dr. Marco and his Vampire People come around, start changing the colours all around, and just generally putting a damper on the whole scene with their blood-suckin' bad attitudes!!

It's like a travelin' freakshow of blood, and no one is safe!!!

Always striving to take it to another level, in The Philippines, just being a vampire isn't enough, you have to be a hunchback vampire!! Always trying to up the ante in one way or another!

Just when you think you know all the rules of the vampire games, mirrors, crosses, garlic, when you get to The Philippines, all the rules have changed, and trust me, you have no idea what you're in for!

On the island, when vampires come around, and it can be day or night since we're in The Philippines, you know they're coming because all the colours change, that's right, everything turns blue, or red, or green or whatever colour is handy.

Here comes one now!!!

Time to double the pleasure with tag-team grandma and grandpa vampires!

Just a portrait of a lonely vampire and his whip. Dr. Marco likes to keep his whip around just in case biting big holes in his victim's neck wasn't effective enough!

It's said because colour film was so expensive, that they found it cheaper and easier to shoot most of the movie in black and white, and then tint the film different colours for different scenes! A novel approach, but it looks to me like somebody took something akin to asthmador and watched "Angry Red Planet" one too many times!

This is Dr. Marco's other main squeeze, and #1 follower. Now she's the one I want to follow!! Evil, but who cares, we'll even let Eva Montes as Tanya, Dr. Marco's dead girlfriend, come along too, just for fun!!

Gotta have the token little person to add to the weirdness quotient!

Toward the end, Marco and Tanya, his vampire bride, really try and make a go of it without being all bloodthirsty and evil, and the colours all change back to normal as they stroll through the garden of happiness together......

 

.....Before everything goes straight to Hell again!

 

 

Marco and Tanya do get to spend eternity together, just like they wanted, there's only one problem, they're really dead! Great movie, and for some reason, you can get it on Netflix, or at least you used to be able to.

STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP / PRC - 1946

Welcome to Moldie Oldie Monday here at the Dungeon, with host Tabonga and little Dungeon helper, Rufus the Gnat! We have another PRC cheapie, considered to be one of their best productions and clocks in at a whopping 59 minutes!..

Tagline for this horror-mystery reads... "He was hanged for a crime he didn't commit, and now he's the... [Strangler of the Swamp]"

Story is basically... A number of local men have died by strangulation and the inhabitants believe that an innocent man they hanged is now seeking revenge on all of the descendants of those responsible for his death.

Flick stars Rosemary La Planche, who was Miss America in 1941, Blake Edwards, who went on to direct some of our favorite movies like OPERATION PETTICOAT, THE PINK PANTHER and THE GREAT RACE and Charles Middleton, who played Ming the Merciless in the original FLASH GORDON serials!

Original uncredited music is by Alexander Steinert. He had 11 composing credits which include DEVIL BAT'S DAUGHTER, THE UNKNOWN, BLONDIE KNOWS BEST, LITTLE IODINE and KING OF THE WILD HORSES! He was also a conductor for Disney's BAMBI.

Now it's time to present our latest Eariffic Earclip to your audio senses, via our lil' pet pal, Rufus The Gnat's hairy paw, as he pushes hard wonst again, that big red 'GO' button right there, which sets the tumblers turnin' which then opens the vault door to... Rufus, hit it!!.. STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP!

It's really hard to believe that anyone would ever choose to live in such a desolate, creepy place like that!! Well, it definitely gots atmosphere!

Ahhh... The glorious life of the dedicated ferryman...

Oh hey, and don't fergit 'bout all that hot swamp-chick tail! I guess if I had to choose, I'd take the one in the middle...

Ferryboy meets The Strangler, and the outcome ain't that great! Charles Middleton plays The Strangler, Charles was also in a flick called THE EVIL DEAD in 1922!! The Strangler is a real ghost!!

Rosemary La Planche plays Maria, granddaughter of the dude that just got killed by The Strangler. She's here to take over grandpaw's lucrative swamp ferrying business!!

Courteous service is the name of the game!

Believe it or don't, Maria lays down on some musty brush to catch a few winks between ferryings... Now, that's a country girl for ya!

Here, lovers do a bit of quarrelling. That's Blake Edwards there, who looks totally out of place in a suit and tie!!

This is just one beautiful still!

The Strangler can pop up just about anywhere, and he likes to give a back-breaker before he strangles you!!

Even though The Strangler wants to kill the relatives of the cursed people, he sees goodness in Maria and decides to end all the mayhem by destroying himself instead, so, you know, it's kinda sad...

~ TABONGA MAD LAFF #34 - When your breath stinks real bad after throwing up, you have vomitosis!

And now, get ready for this... The next 3 postings by Tabonga will be colorized versions of b/w classics!! This Friday... PHANTOM FROM SPACE! Next Monday... THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME! The following Friday... CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA!