KAIJÛ DAISENSO - Akira Ifukube - "Monster Zero This Time" (1965)

Wow!! Well, that was tricky, I just figgered out, we already did this movie! About two years ago, Rodan wrote this review: "Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero", but rather than waste all the time I've put into it already, I'm going to forge ahead anyway! If you want the basic storyline, go read the other review, and besides, looking at the screencaps I've got, it looks like a completely different movie anyway!

See, here's the problem, when you're working in English, "Kaijû Daisenso" has a multitude of different names, besides "Monster Zero" and "Godzilla Vs Monster Zero" there is also "Invasion Of Astro Monster," "Invasion Of The Astros," "Battle Of The Astros" and the literal translation is "War Of The Monsters" which is a completely different flick!

The moral of this tale is, if aliens from another planet want to borrow your giant monsters, you might want to suspect something fishy is going on! Good thinkin'!!!

Welcome to the past's vision of the future!

Nick Adams as Astronut Glenn Amer, and Akira Takarada as Astronut K. Fuji, got some "Bevis and Butthead" going on, if you ask me!!

This would be Planet X!!

Akira Takarada, or as he was also known, Mr. Handsome, starred in six Godzilla movies, and the interesting thing is, he played a different character in each and every one of them! He has a daughter by the name of Michiru Kojima, who is a Pop singer!!

Planet X is quite an organic place!!

Nick's love interest is Kumi Mizuno as Miss Namikawa! Kumi is a jewel and is in at least four of our favorite movies, "Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster," Mantango," "The War Of The Gargantuas," and the Woody Allen classic, "What's Up Tiger Lilly?"

I just love this shot!!

You gotta love the guys from Planet X, in the center photo, I think you can get a pretty good idea of what command central would look like inside an anthill if you had an x-ray microscope!!

The music in this Ishirô Honda classic is once again created by the prolific Akira Ifukube, a man with an amazing 269 composing credits under his belt!!

Nick and Akira remain in the spotlight, they actually did all the choreographed dance numbers from "West Side Story" but they were left on the cutting room floor!

It's the Gojira and Rodan Show, come and get some!!!

Gojira does his impersonation of Rodin's "The Thinker" but Rodan is not impressed!!

In the end, King Ghidorah gets his ass kicked again!

SUPERBEAST / A & S Productions - 1972

Here's the double bill poster for this and DAUGHTERS OF SATAN. Probably a good way to to explain this flick is like... Dr. Moreau meets the Most Dangerous Game, but this time it all takes place in the Phillipines! Dungeon Pal Harry (THE WEREWOLF) Lauter plays Stewart Victor, the man with the rifle.

These two movies are the only ones ever produced by A & S Productions! And, SUPERBEAST doesn't even involve that infamous Filipino location... Blood Island!

The music is great! It's by the very talented Richard LaSalle, Richard also composed the music for HANDS OF A STRANGER, THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, TWICE-TOLD TALES, THE TIME TRAVELERS, PIRANHA, DAUGHTERS OF SATAN, DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS and THE THIRSTY DEAD!

Awrat then!.. Looks like Ralphie, The Lil' 4-Eyed Freak Hunchback Tarantula Dungeon Helper, is at the big red 'GO' button with digit erect, ready to roll tonight's Eariffic Earclip for you'se listening pleasure! Push that button, Ralphie!!.. SUPERBEAST!

Here's Harry being rude to the snoopy Dr. Alix Pardee, she heard that another doctor in the Phillipines invented a serum that makes humans revert to a "prehistoric" state and she wants to investigate. Little does she know that Harry's involved in the sleazy activity!

After the plane ride, it's off on a cruise ship to the island.

We'd never pass up a chance to show the world famous... (ta da...) Cosmos Restaurant, where you can get Coke, no Pepsi!

Speaking of colas, here's a great little story! I used to work with a guy who, at one time, worked for Pepsi Cola in Fresno. He said that during a company party one year, they hired a skywriter to write 'PEPSI' real big in the sky above them, as the final icing on the party cake. They watch as the knucklehead spells out... 'P-E-S-P-I!'

Dick... Cheney!..

She has to take a river canoe to their final destination, but ends up going over the falls!

She gets rescued and ends up at Dr. Bill Fleming's place, and that's the guy she went there to find!.. How convenient. The doctor's played by Craig Littler, Craig was Jason Of Star Command!

Antoinette Bower plays Dr. Pardee, she did a ton of TV series that include THE AQUANAUTS, HAVE GUN - WILL TARVEL, THRILLER, KRAFT MYSTERY THEATER, PERRY MASON, TWILIGHT ZONE, THE WILD WILD WEST, I SPY, THE FUGITIVE, THE INVADERS, STAR TREK, THE BIG VALLEY, BONANZA, GET SMART, HOGAN'S HEROES, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, IRONSIDE, COLUMBO and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN!

Dude, jeez, c'mon!.. I said you're just gonna have to wait a freakin' minute, I gotta take a leak, now!! Okay??!

Yow, they're dressed alike! And, how I hate those tight white pants with them idiotic looking pockets!!

My favorite shot of Antoinette in this flick!

The doc shows slides of his early experiments...

There are some very nice locations.

Okay everbloody, time out!.. Here's your fruity treat, so dig in!! Just don't slice off a finger!!!

Finally, the antidote the doctor has been using on himself fails to work and he starts reverting back into a primitive! The convincing makeup was by John (PLANET OF THE APES) Chambers.

At the very end, Harry gets his and the doc wanders back into the jungle where he belongs!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..

LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO - Carlo Rustichelli - "Grab That Whip" (1963)

Well, here ya go! WTF?! I'll just come right out and say it, in my humble opinion, "La Frusta e il Corpo" is not the best Mario Bava film ever made, or is it even that great of a flick, period, and I'm sure that's not a popular opinion, but it's just too much, too much, I tell you, Too High-Brow, Too Dramatic, and Too Much Whips, at least in this version, anyway!

The great Christopher Lee is freakin' Kurt! Christopher Lee's voice is dubbed in for some Godforsaken reason, even though the film was originally shot in English, so it's got some Scooby-Doo going on right from the get go! That doesn't help!

Daliah Lavi is Kurt's kousin and lover, Nevenka Menliff! Among other accomplishments, Daliah was 'The Detainer' in the Peter Sellers romp "Casino Royale," and after she quit acting, she had a successful singing career with a couple of hits in Germany in the 70's!

Kurt has a whip, and he knows how to use it!

Kurt whips the crap out of Nevenka!

Then they make love! And maybe this is part of it, personally, I think Kurt and Nevenka have a fucked up relationship!

Is it any wonder that this film was also released in the U.S. as "What?" All they forgot was the T and the F! Even the music by master composer and Bava regular Carlo Rustichelli, this time out, working as Jim Murphy, is stale and overburdening, and there's not a bar or a club to be found anywhere!

Kurt's back again.....

.......and he's such an ass, nobody's happy about it!

Gorgeous Bavalicious Cinematography is the saving grace, of course!

Kurt gets killed by a kurtain!!

Nevenka mourns and ......

....is haunted by Kurt's ghost!!!

No matter what Mario Bava does, one thing you always get is, you know it's going to look good!!

AAAAaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Although Kurt ain't lookin' that swell towards the end!

But don't worry, just like those Flying Saucers, he's always still around somewhere!

Me, I'd rather watch Devo's "Whip It" video 20 times in a row than watch this film's other alternate title, "The Whip And The Body" again, but I'm sure the rest of you will like it just fine!! "Whip It Good!!"