THE UNDYING MONSTER / 20th Century Fox - 1942

Tabonga saw this title a few times in the late fifties, early sixties, and remembers that there was something special about it, even if he couldn't recall much else. THE WOLFMAN was released just a year earlier, so, obviously, Fox was trying to capitalize on the Werewolf scare, and, was a perfect escape from the news and worries of WWII.

The story's about a werewolf that prowls at night, but, only seems to kill members of one family. The inspector finds out that this has been going on for generations and tries to find a link between the monster and the family.

It's odd, but 20th Century Fox has had some very interesting obscure titles that got little notoriety or even airtime on TV. Those titles are SPACEMASTER X-7, HAND OF DEATH and DARK INTRUDER. SPACEMASTER X-7 has a blob invasion from space and the makeup in HAND OF DEATH is considered a unique creation! If you haven't seen these titles, you're in for a treat because they also have cameos by Moe Howard and Joe Besser, and, Joe gets killed by the HAND OF DEATH!

The music is credited to four composers, Emil Newman, David Raksin, Arthur Lange and Cyril J. Mockridge. David Raskin just passed away in 2004 at the age of 92! Together, those composers worked tons of classics like NIGHT KEY, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, DANTE'S INFERNO, SH! THE OCTOPUS, THE MALTESE FALCON, A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO, THE MAGNIFICENT DOPE, GIRL CRAZY, PIN UP GIRL, DRESSED TO KILL, THE CANTERVILLE GHOST, THE DEATH KISS, ATOM MAN vs SUPERMAN, ISLAND IN THE SKY, EARTH vs THE FLYING SAUCERS, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, HOUND-DOG MAN and NORTH TO ALASKA.

Okay then, let's bring in our little Dungeon helper, Ralphie The Tarantula, to push his first big red 'GO' button of 2011... He's all excited and nervous, but there he goes! Push the button, NOW... THE UNDYING MONSTER!

You can tell from this shot that there's going to be some great looking scenes. Art direction was by Lewis H. Creber and Richard Day, set decoration by Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott, cinematography by Lucien Ballard.

Here's Heather Angel as Helga Hammond and Halliwell Hobbes as Walton, the Butler, but, we'll just call him.. Catherwood! Helga is another strong woman character like the ones we've been showcasing lately, here at The Dungeon!

Hmmm, I wonder if Catherwood could be the monster?! He sure looks like one when creeping around in the shadows, don't he?! So, you can be sure he's not the killer.

When she hears that there has been an accident, Helga grabs the reigns and races along the dangerous road!

She ends up saving the life of her brother, Oliver, played by John Howard.

Here's James Ellison as Robert Curtis, smoking his pipe and doing science! James was also in movies like PLAY-GIRL, HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY, THE PLAINSMAN, HOTEL FOR WOMEN, 5TH AVE. GIRL, ANNE OF WINDY POPLARS, CALENDAR GIRL, THE GHOST GOES WILD, THE TEXAN MEETS CALAMITY JANE and WHEN THE GIRLS TAKE OVER!

His assiatant, played by Heather Thatcher, eats something she shouldn't have and has to spit it out fast!

Catherwood's still trying to get you to believe that he's the werewolf...

Here's another stunning outdoor scene!

This excursion to the family crypt leads to a fist fight.

Using the scientific method, the nerds come up with a match!

Oliver discovers some interesting things on his smoke break.

The mystery dude likes the cherry-flavored werewolf serum!

This is my favorite part, the werewolf is strong as crap, he has just lept from the second floor, carrying Helga, and lands on his feet, no prob!!

The creature carries the limp Helga over hill, over dell!

Every still a painting!

Great transformation scene at the end, never seen the technique before, see for yourself, because, you can get this title on Netflix!!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!

MANIAC - Stanley Black - "That's Life" (1963)

This is going to be a weird year, I can just feel it, and "MANIAC" kinda just sets the scene! It's a Hammer Movie that is much more thriller than horror, and it's still put together by Hammer stalwarts, writer/producer Jimmy Sangster, and director Michael Carreras, but the real difference lies in the music! Most classic Hammer films were devoid of any quasi-mandatory club scene that made the composers stand up and swing, sure, there was almost always a pub scene with a little piano, or a rowdy drunken sing along, but most Hammer horror music was quite classically orchestrated! But over on the other side, the music by Stanley Black in "Maniac" swings like the best of Ron Stein, and is really cool for a 1963 Hammer production, I guarantee!

Forgive my ignorance, but I really didn't realize that France looked like Texas, but I guess they've got this place called "The Camargue" out there in Southern France! Paris, Texas doesn't seem like such an obscure concept anymore!

The old "Camargue" where men are men, and livestock and little girls aren't safe!

Ya'll shouldn't of had done that to my daughter!!!

Probably the stupidest thing a member of the human race could possibly do, would be to rape the daughter of a maniacal French welder! Darwin award winner circa 1963! Listen for the scream!

Enter man about town, the suave and debonair, Kerwin Matthews as Paul Farrell! I did not count them, but if you take out the time when Kerwin was smoking a cigarette, this movie would be about 15 or 20 minutes long!

About the time Kerwin is smoking his second cigarette, he goes into the local "Bar Camarguais" where he meets up with the rape victim all growed up now, Liliane Brousse as Annette Beynat. Liliane also had the role of Françoise in another Hammer Freddie Francis classic from the same year, "Paranoiac!"

Right about the time Kerwin has his third coffin nail, Annette's Mom shows up, and it's none other than Nadia Gray as Eve Beynat!! Among all the parts this Russian-Romanian beauty has had, she will always be remembered most for her small role toward the end of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" as a bored and wealthy socialite who celebrates her divorce, by performing a mink-coated striptease.

This rig looks like one part jukebox, one part R2D2, and one part space heater, and it blasts out some hot music by Stanley Black for the locals to rock out to! Stanley's been in these pages 3 times before for his outstanding work on "The Crawling Eye," "The Day The Earth Caught Fire," and "War Gods Of The Deep!" Stanley was one of Britain's most famous bandleaders, and sometimes worked using his real name, Solomon Schwartz!

Annette finds a couple of free seconds in between smokes to ask Paul to dance!

"Well, they got a new dance and it goes like this......."

Have you ever seen a finer lookin' bar crowd than this?? Yeehaw!!

"Won't you please crawl out your window, use your arms and legs, it won't ruin you!" - Bobby Dylan

Hell, what better time to have another smoke and get to know Annette a little better!!

Damn, Mom showed up!!

Guess a guy's got no other choice, Mom, daughter, or another cigarette?

Later, at dinner, just to break things up a bit, Paul has a cigarello!!

Even though he was gay, Kerwin Matthews still had more women than all the straight guys!

Kerwin gets conned into helping Nadia's husband escape from the mental hospital!!

Time to reflect, was it worth it, was ANY of it really worth it, how do I get myself into situations like this?? WTF!???

So instead of guns, French cowboys carry mop handles, is that correct Tom?

"Tell Saint Peter at the Golden Gate, that you hates to make him wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette!" - Merle Travis

Must be nice to have places like this at your disposal! "Maniac" is a smokin' hot killer thriller with a kickin' score for all fans of the genre, and Kerwin Mathews puts in another fine performance. It won't scare you out of your seat, but it should at least keep you in suspense for a while!

ELECTRA WOMAN And DYNA GIRL / The World Of Sid And Marty Krofft - 1976

Electra Woman And Dyna Girl are gorgeous superheroes who battle a bevy of costumed villains, and wear skintight outfits themselves. They operate out of their secret Electra Base, which is run by Frank Heflin, he creates the girl's sophisticated crime fighting equipment. Yes, that's how you write a storyline, it's that simple...

Welcome to Mondo Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! So, how many of you out there remember this Saturday morning TV series from 1976?

The unaired pilot had Electra Woman as an oversexed alcoholic, and Dyna Girl had stolen away her husband!.. WTF?!

It's amazing, but, Tabonga hasn't got a clue as to who wrote this hot little theme, if you know, leave a comment! But, this theme rocks out! In fact, when I was in Those Beasleys, we were going to add it to our playlist because it's so cool, so, enjoy!!

Okay, here's lil' Rufus The Gnat to perform his first duty of 2011, and, that is, pushin' that big old red 'GO' button over there, in the corner. Hit the button, Rufus.. ELECTRA WOMAN And DYNA GIRL!

Wow, those were state of the art special effects 35 years ago! Nowadays, there's so much special effects constantly going on, you don't even know what to be looking at, and have to watch something 17 times to know what just happened! Explain how that's progress, please...

Here's inventor Frank Heflin, hard at work in Electra Base, fighting crime for the betterment of mankind everywhere! (He just installed a hidden camera in the girl's shower room and is testing it out!)

Wowzers, it's Adam Chance himself, the AGENT FOR H.A.R.M. This time, Mark Richman hams it up as... The Pharoah! We also saw Mark with Leslie Nielsen in DARK INTRUDER.

Here's Jane Elliot as Princess Cleopatra, Jane is still acting on TV in GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Here's some of the special equipment Frank has created for communicating.

The Pharoah plays around with his stolen pyramid until a secret door opens up and gives him a magical jewel he needs to defeat Electra Woman and Dyna Girl...

The girls feel fresh and are ready to go after their long, hot, moist, steamy showers.

A special spray starts turning our girls into... Mummies!!

But, our brave girls fight back!

Then, they find out The Pharoah has stolen the jewel from the pyramid. Uh-oh, now what?

Here's Mark, still serving up the baked ham! He lets the demon out of the jewel to do his evil bidding.

The girls are helpless against the surrealistic raspberry-vanilla swirl of death!

Frank could have helped, but was watching his tapes...

So, tune in next Saturday morning for the exciting conclusion of... ELECTRA WOMAN And DYNA GIRL!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!