DIARY OF A MADMAN / Admiral Pictures - 1963

Welcome everbloody to Friday Frights with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. In keeping with the 'mad' theme I have going this week, here's a real creepy flick that doesn't seem to get the credit it deserves. And, it stars our favorite madman, Mr. Vincent Price!

Richard LaSalle composed the excellent music for tonite's offering, he also worked on SPEED CRAZY, WILD YOUTH, HANDS OF A STRANGER, MERMAIDS OF TIBURON, THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, TWICE-TOLD TALES, THE TIME TRAVELERS, PIRANHA, DAUGHTERS OF SATAN, SUPERBEAST and THE THIRSTY DEAD!

Awrat, then!... Here's our lil' fuzzy Dungeon fiend and 'GO' button pushing maniac... Ralphie The Tarantula! He's here for one reason, to start our Eariffic Earclip, so, hit the button, Ralphie!.. DIARY OF A MADMAN!

It's always good to start a horror tale at the old graveyard!

Vinnie plays Simon Cordier, a well-respected magistrate. He visits a condemned prisoner just before his execution, where, the man pleads for mercy. He insists he has been taken over by an evil spirit and that it forces him to commit crimes.

Cordier doesn't believe the story, it's fantastic! The man's eyes get a mysterious glow and he attacks the magistrate, then dies suddenly while trying to strangle him. Soon after the weird occurrence happens, he starts hearing an eerie voice and begins to wonder if he's losing his sanity.

His doctor recommends that he take up sculpting, which he once had an interest in, to get his mind off of all the strange things that seem to be happening. By chance, he develops a friendly relationship with Odette Mallotte, a gold digger married to a struggling artist played by Chris Warfield.

Nancy Kovack plays Odetta, she was a student at the University of Michigan at 15, a radio deejay at 16, a college grad at 19, and the holder of eight beauty titles by the age of 20!! She can also be seen in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD, THE SILENCERS and MAROONED, plus these great TV series... VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, BATMAN (played Queenie), THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., I SPY, THE INVADERS, STAR TREK, GET SMART, BEWITCHED, HAWAII FIVE-O, LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE, MANNIX, THE INVISIBLE MAN and CANNON!

As he admires his work in clay, it gets a big frown on it's face. A great, freaky hallucinogenic scene!

Then, naturally, he gets an unwelcomed visit from the evil, invisible intruder!

Here are two great shots of Vinnie, see in the lower one how he can convincingly look like a shell of himself!

The headline sez it all... 'Nuf said?

Pretty good stuff for 1963!

The thing tells him to take the head out and place it in a hole it has prepared. Cordier watches as the invisible monster covers the head over with soil!

He can't take much more of this crap! Earlier, it made him kill his canary!

Before he knows it, though, he's on his next assignment, kill that snoopy Jeanne D'Arville!

As he pulls the knife, he sees in a store window some religious items including a cross. He temporarily breaks the spell and runs to the church, where, he devises a plan to get rid of the monster, once and for all!

The magistrate's able to lock the spirit in the library and starts a fire, the only way to completely destroy the menace. So, the angry, unseen thing tosses a chair at him.

The spirit gets it's evil ass toasted, but, unfortunately, our dear Vinnie has to die too, since he actually carried out the gruesome murders...

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..

SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS -Laurence Rosenthal - "A Perfect 666" (1973)

In reality "Satan's Skool For Girls" is not much better than "Guru The Mad Monk," and that's really sad, but at least it's somewhat easier on the eyes!

I swear that this is the old gas station that sits along side of the road outside of Maricopa, on the way to Cuyama!!

Before we go any further, and so that you don't have any false expectations, I would like to say without a doubt, this shot of this telephone booth could just very well be the most exciting and terrifying thing in this whole movie!

Terry Lumley is Martha Sayers, and her scene opens the film, and is the epitome of what happened in the 70's. Terry's career consists of shows that are all the reasons I stopped watching televison. Hate me if you want to, but I just never could get into "Little House On The Praire," "Starsky and Hutch," or "Barnaby Jones." Evidently it was one of two things, either I wasn't young enough or I wasn't old enough!

I was way too busy still trying to figure out the meaning of Vanilla Fudge's version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On!"

So Martha's sister, the diminutive Pamela Franklin as Elizabeth Sayers enrolls in the school her sister was in to find out what in the literal Hell was going on! Pamela Franklin had an awesome career up to this point, and as one of many a Dungeon fave, she had been in "The Innocents", and "The Nanny" among her many accomplishments!

Elizabeth is immediately confronted by future angels Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd as Roberta Lockhart and Jody Keller respectively! In this early performance, Cheryl Ladd was billed as Cheryl Stoppelmoor!

Roy Thinnes is the rogue art teacher Dr. Joseph Clampett (probably Jed's nephew, Jethro's cousin, and Bob's half-brother) who has Miss Stoppelmoor and the other girl's rapt attention! Although he's done a lot, Roy will always be remembered in this redneck of the woods for his 43 episodes of the 1967-68 TV show, "The Invaders!"

Looks like a fun place, and how old are the girls in this school anyway, like 25?

The music for this less than festive 70's death party is brought to you by an extremely talented man we've never discussed here before, mainly because his work is very mainstream, the Master Laurence Rosenthal! Laurence is a big time cat, and has composed scores for some heady flicks like "A Raisin in the Sun", "Becket", and "The Miracle Worker."

It's that liquor influenced stream of consciousness bullshit that is exuded at parties that makes me stay home more than anything! Thank the Lord that dogs and cats don't talk!

Did I tell you that Cheryl Ladd was in this movie??

"Hey does anybody know anything, or have any information concerning any Satanists that killed my sister?" Oops, wrong question!!

Credit where credit is due, this is a pretty good shot for a TV movie!

Okay, somebody bring in that big papier-mâché head left over from that last "Cannon" episode so that it makes this scene look more surreal!!

The long legged Kate Jackson at 5'9" pretty much towers over the 5' Pamela Franklin, and the 5'4" Cheryl Stoppelmoor! Cheryl's first gig was the voice of Melody Valentine in the 1970 cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats!"

All you vampire lovers should know that Kate's first role was as Daphne Harridge on the "Dark Shadows" TV series!

Hey, how bout that, another good shot? I had more good shots of tequila while watching this than there were in the whole flick!

Here's a group of gals you don't want to be on the short end of the stick with!!

Look, it's Charlie's Angels, wait a minute, Satan and angels, it's all starting to make sense how deep it all is, and what was Kate's name on "Charlie's Angels?" Sabrina, of course!! All the signs are starting to point to the fact that just maybe the whole "Charlie's Angels" show was nothing more than a front for a group of Satanists!!

Roy is a lookin' like one happy camper, and why not, he's got it made!

How stupid can you be? You can't burn Satan, that would be like trying to freeze ice cubes!! Sorry Charlie, no cigar!!