THE CRAWLING EYE / Tempean Films - 1958

Gut eefning everbloody, and, welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite, we gots a reprise of a 5 pic post we did way back on March 1, 2008!

I always thought the poster art was weak, because, imagining what they could have come up with seems much scarier than what they used! Sometimes they do this to confuse the viewer, so, that when you do finally see the things, you get a hit squarely between the eyes with brass knuckles!

In case you forgot, or, don't know, the story's about a remote mountain resort in Switzerland invaded by horrible alien creatures that like to decapitate humans! They inhabit a mysterious, radioactive cloud that clings to the Trollenberg mountain.

My favorite screenwriter is Jimmy Sangster. There's a part in X- THE UNKNOWN that shows clearly how shrewd and sadistic he can be. Watch the scene in the hospital where the kid who had encountered the radioactive mud pie dies. It starts with the doctor pulling the sheet over the boy's face, his mom and dad are there in the room. Okay, notice what happens in the next 5 minutes!!!.. Now, that's good writing. Also, killing a kid with a monster in 1956 was absolutely taboo! As a reminder, here are a few other classics penned by Jimmy!.. THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, JACK THE RIPPER, THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH, THE MUMMY, THE BRIDES OF DRACULA and THE NANNY.

Eegah!! inadverntently chose my title with Saturday's post, because, the music composer was also... Stanley Black!! Go figure. Luckily, I had this one waiting in the Pod, for just such an occassion! Stanley, though, probably didn't have much to do with the stuff we showcase in our soundclip.

So, lettuce bring in our littlest Dungeon helper and palsy-walsy... yessir... it's... yes... Rufus The Gnat!! HOO-RAY for Rufus! Okay, now that the informalites are over with, it's time to start the show! Push the 'GO' button Rufus, here's our psychotronicsoundclip for!.. THE CRAWLING EYE!

The Dungeon Dudes love Forrest Tucker, and are always glad when he makes an appearance!

Holy crap, this is weird!! I just noticed this on IMDb... I had a part in his last movie, TIMESTALKERS!! I got to play a drunk cowboy! Also, I was on the set with Klaus Kinski, and, he was actually nuts, but, a master horseman!

Anyway, Forrest plays American scientist, Alan Brooks. He's been asked to come and visit his buddy, Prof. Crevett, about a strange radioactive cloud on Trollenberg mountain.

Beautiful Janet Munro plays psychic medium, Anne Pilgrim. In the middle of a show she's giving for the people at the inn, she gets a deadly vision!..

The fat one is in danger!!

By the time Alan, Philip and the Mayor climb to the camp, it's too late, and, the fat one's already lost a few pounds!

The creepiest things keep happening! Again, confusing the viewer...

Andrew Faulds plays Brett, who's dead and possessed by the creatures. He's now a murdering zombie that prefers the freezing temperatures outside.

As a scientist, Alan's seen this disoriented characteristic before, in a similar case a few years earlier.

This is about the last thing a cute girl would want to find in her bedroom late at night!!

After Brett's shot and killed, he starts to quickly decompose!

This miniature set gives me vertigo the same way some of the sets do in THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.

Finally, we're introduced to a true nightmare from Hell!! One of the very best things about the monsters is when their eyeballs look around!

It's a very tense moment when everyone's trying to make it to safety on the tram as the freezing cloud almost causes the equipment to fail before they can reach the laboratory.

Another zombie dude gets through to Anne, she's the target because of her psychic abilities, the crawlers perceive her as a danger to their plans.

This thing was playing on local TV by 1960 and that's when I caught it for the first time.

This is how we watch movies, here at The Dungeon!

Looks like Alan and Philip are just having a ton o' fun!!

....HELP, MR. WIZARD!!

Here's our hero, the B-57 B Canberra attack bomber, ready to drop those firebombs on the icy eyeballs below! I built the original Revell plastic model probably this same year.

For all you model buffs out there.

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!.. Hot, cha cha cha cha!!

THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS - Stanley Black - "It's All About Money, Willie" (1960)

Well, according to some, the world is going to end today, so I guess I really should be doing something else, but just in case it doesn't, we've got another chance to contemplate the dark past, and this movie, "The Flesh And The Fiends" is a real good place to start, and I just found out this very second that you can watch in for free right HERE!!! What a deal! If you want to see an uninterrupted better copy, it's available on Netflix!

Nice double feature, a Dungeon dream come true, and you must agree, "The Fiendish Ghouls" is a much better sounding title! Another alternate title was "Mania." Child prodigy and bandleader Stanley Black was the man responsible for the music, just as he was for "The Monkey's Paw," "Blood Of The Vampire," "The Crawling Eye," and the musical Cliff Richards' films "Wonderful To Be Young," and "Swinger's Paradise!" Stanley also composed the music for a film in 1963 called "Maniac." I think the title "Mania Maniacs" has yet to be exploited!

This is indeed a true story that happened around 1827 in Edinburgh, Scotland, about two murderous bastards named William Burke and William Hare!!

In 1827 doctors were in need of cadavers in order to further scientific breakthroughs, and their efforts to make life better for all of us! Just like today, the word legal was open to interpretation! As he has done over and over again, Peter Cushing has the lead role, this time as a certain Dr. Knox, who runs a medical school of hard knocks!

Cut to the local pub, and center of excitement in this burg, "The Merry Duke!" In the 1800's, life was a freakin' party, and these people were getting down each and every night!

The two Bills contemplate why everybody's having more fun than them, when they hear two grave robbers explain how they sell bodies to the local Dr. Knox for some decent change. The funky lookin' cat on the left is George Rose as William Burke, and on the right is the amazing Donald Pleasence as William Hare. What a pair of dogs!

Welcome to the weekly meeting of the "Pull My Finger Society!" Everybody gets a tug!!

John Cairney is Chris Jackson, the failing medical student at Dr. Knox's facility who has fallen in love with the bar maiden wench Mary Patterson, who was portrayed by the splendid Billie Whitelaw! Billie has 113 credits to her name including "The Omen" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy!" John was in "Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space" and "Jason And The Argonauts" among other things!


The two Williams put the grave diggers out of business by snatching up bodies before they get buried. They're much fresher and command a much better price!!

Consummate professionals Pleasence and Rose work together seamlessly, and while it looks a bit comedic, this is a very serious flick!

This old dude doesn't look like he died as much as it looks like he was killed, and it starts raising eyebrows! Supposedly he died of natural causes, but he's covered with bruises like he was beat to death!

Meanwhile, back at "The Merry Duke," it's girls gone wild, 1827 style!

Chris goes out looking for Mary, and this is how he finds her! She won't change, she loves him, but she can't be tied down to one man, and he really needs to be studying anatomy and can't devote all his time to her like she needs!

So a very drunken Mary ends up with the likes of Hare and Burke!

The lovemaking doesn't progress very far until the Bill's true desires are revealed. For them it's a completely different kind of business proposition!

When Mary's corpse shows up at the school, Chris completely loses it....

.....and when he tries to take matters into his own hands, he too becomes a victim, but now the two Bills have a problem! They can't sell an obviously murdered student's body back to the school, so they have to find another way to dispose of it!

The next victim is Daft Jamie, the local harmless weirdo played by Melvyn Hayes. Melvyn's career runs the gamut from "Quatermass II" in 1955 all the way to today, where he is Blinky in the 2011 TV series "The Legend OF Dick And Dom."

The people have had enough, and finally take matters into their own hands to stop this killing spree!

William Hare as the brains of the outfit does just what one would expect, the dirty bastard rats out his best friend and business partner William Burke, and convinces the court to set himself free!

Burke on the other hand gets the death sentence which is immediately enforced! They didn't waste time back in 1827! The gavel comes down and the noose goes on!

Even though Hare escapes the judicial system, the people know what kind of a backstabbin' murderin' rat he really is, and take it into their own hands to burn his eyes out! The end sets up a real ethical quagmire, as Dr. Knox also has to admit that he knew some of the cadavers had been murder victims, but God Damn It, in the name of science, it was worth it!

The book that was based on the film, that was based on the true story!!! Seems a little basackwards, doesn't it?

Have a nice eternity!