KRONOS / Regal Films -1957

Welcome to another Halloween Countdown Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. I was lucky enough to see this sci-fi gem when it came out, I had just turned nine. I absolutely loved the movie, it had it all!! This is a special Halloween widescreen redo of an earlier post.

In our soundclip, we hear the pickup driver whistling to a tune on the radio, and, that tune happens to be by the legendary Johnny Mercer!

Okay then, lettuce bring in our fuzzy little Dungeon helper and button pusher, of course, it's Ralphie The Tarantula! Ralphie's here to start our show by pushing that big red 'GO' button over there by the nukeular washing machine, so, push the button, now, Ralphie!! Here's the driving scene from... KRONOS!

Kenneth Alton plays the pickup driver in this opening scene, who's attacked/possessed, whatever you want to call it, to perfection. Here's yet another guy who just had that look, so, besides pickup driver, he was the guy you'd choose when you needed an Apache kid, a Hun warrior, Russian sentry, cowboy, policeman or boxer!

The driver pays a visit to the head of the scientific project, Dr. Eliot, and proceeds to transfer the alien force into him. The doctor is played by John Emery, John was in ROCKETSHIP X-M and THE MAD MAGICIAN and did an episode in each of these TV series... LIGHTS OUT, SUSPENSE, CLIMAX!, I LOVE LUCY, HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL, THRILLER, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and WAGON TRAIN.

Dr. Eliot goes to the dark side and starts communicating with the alien craft.

Here's George (BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO) O'Hanlon as Dr. Culver and Barbara (HERE COMES THE NELSONS/OKLAHOMA!) Lawrence as Vera Hunter. Dr. Culver explains to Vera how the super computer got the name SUSIE.

The military decides to hit the 'asteroid' with a bevy of missiles armed with nuclear war heads.

They hit!!..

The 'asteroid' plunges into the ocean off the coast of Mexico, so, Dr. Culver and Dr. Gaskell rent out a casa nearby. Jeff Morrow plays Dr. Gaskell. We love Jeff here at The Dungeon because of movies like THIS ISLAND EARTH, THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US, THE GIANT CLAW and an upcoming Halloween Countdown Friday Night Drive-In post, OCTAMAN!!

In the meantime, Dr. Eliot has fallen into a coma and his mind is completely melded with the alien force.

The next morning, a weird looking giant robot rises from the ocean and moves itself to the shoreline.

The gang take a helicopter and go exploring on the top of the thing.

Dr. Eliot's out of the hospital now, so, decides to deep six his fellow scientist, Dr. Stern, played by Morris Ankrum. Morris had a monster movie resume second to none!

Dr. Eliot gives the thing the coordinates of an atomic facility, and, well, see for yourself what happened!

KRONOS locks in on the B-47 and pulls it in for an atomic bomb snack!

KRONOS now has everything it needs to depleat the Earth of it's energy resources and has grown to mammoth proportions. The doctor's no longer needed and is drained of his life forces!

Good thing this is a widescreen print!

This F-100 pilot drops a canister of negative... whatever, to see if they can trick KRONOS into swallowing it!

It does, and, Kronos starts to implode from feeding off itself! Great special effects!!

KA-EFFIN-BLEWIE!!

We can all give a big sigh of relief, now... It atchally woiked!! Phew!..

Two very nice posters, also known as... KRONOS, DESTROYER OF THE UNIVERSE!

In fact, I liked KRONOS so much that my 8 page comic story, "The Devil Robots," published in VORTEX Comics #12 in 1986, was modelled after it. My robots were also energy vampires that went from solar system to solar system exploiting any developed civilizations! To top it all off, I think that THE IRON GIANT story may have been inspired by my Devil Robots, there are a few weird coincidences. I also did the cover art shown here.

Happy Halloweenie, Everbloody!!

U MAKE ME PARANOID / Hermanos Guzanos - 1987

Here's a little tune by the un-pigeon-holeable Dungeon house band, Hermanos Guzanos! From 1987, it's... U MAKE ME PARANOID!

CURSE OF THE UNDEAD - Irving Gertz - "Mark Of The West" (1959)

Tonight we've got a real treat for you on this Halloween Countdown Saturday Night Special, and the only film in our header splash we've never reviewed yet, from 1959, "Curse Of The Undead"!!

The composer for the music in "Curse Of The Undead" is another one of the workhorses of uncredited stock music, Irving Gertz! You might not know him by name, but his music has helped create the scary scene in films ranging from "Monster On The Campus" to "The Leech Woman," and "The Alligator People!" Irving was also known for creating concert and popular music! Irving passed away in 2008 after living to be 93!

I have no idea why, but for the longest time I thought this film was what I always thought was a much cooler title, from one year earlier, "The Fiend Who Walked The West," but it isn't! The two movies have nothing hardly in common at all! "Curse Of The Undead" just might be the greatest crossover film of it's era! It's a straight out western movie except it's about a vampire, and that's pretty weird for 1959!!

But let's get back to the beginning! This is a familiar tale about land grabbin' leeches out in the middle of nowhere! Jimmy Murphy is Tim Carter, and he's just about had enough of his family getting pushed around! Jimmy is a tough little guy who actually boxed professionally back in the day! Jimmy's still around, and hopefully doing well these days!

I said I want another drink!! Talk about the good old days when you could demand some decent service!!!

Now drunken Tim gets badgered into a gunfight with Buffer, the dude he's accusing of moving fence lines etc. Buffer gives him the benefit of the doubt, but gets the better shot off, and Jimmy's role in this movie is over!

The dark stranger just kind of lurks around taking it all in!!

Tim's sister Kathleen Crowley as Dolores Carter, puts a hit out on the killer of her brother!!! Kathleen Crowley is a familiar face to any classic horror and/or western fans because of her appearances in films like "Target Earth," "The Flame Barrier," and TV shows like "Maverick" and "Bronco." Kathleen was also Sophia Starr in two episodes of the "Batman" TV series!

This is what is commonly referred to as swagger!!

The marvelous Michael Pate is the man known as Drake Robey! Because of his dark look, and even though he was from Australia, he was often cast as an Indian in western films! Michael was in something like a million movies and TV shows, besides the recently reviewed "The Strange Door," there's titles like "The Black Castle," and "The Maze," and TV shows from "Adventures In Paradise" to "Zorro!" Michael was also in two episodes of "Batman" as Second Hand Three! The man exudes cool!!

Michael's foe in this story is a story unto himself, Eric Fleming as the Preacher Dan Young! Eric Fleming's story is as amazing as it is sad! Eric ran away from home at 8 years old to get away from an abusive father! If his familiar face looks a little too perfect, it's due to the fact that in 1942 when he was serving with the Seabees, a hoist broke and dropped a 200 pound piece of steel on his face. He had to have at least 4 plastic surgery procedures! His distinctive look and manners led him to star in 202 episodes of the TV series "Rawhide" from 1959 to 1965! You can thank Frankie Lane for that exuberant little number!! Sadly Eric Fleming drowned while filming a movie in Peru in 1966! He jumped into some turbulent water from a dugout canoe, and his body was found three days later!!!

Michael Pate has got one of the biggest almost puppet-like mouths I've ever seen, and he damn sure puts it to good use in this movie!!


Drake Robey has a real mental conflict to deal with, he's a blood-thirsty vampire killer, but deep down inside he's kind of soft-hearted pushover of a guy too!! He seems pretty sincere in his offers to help Dolores even as he's slowly sucking out her blood every night!

Flashback to decades earlier and Michael Pate as Don Drago Robles, and the origin of this vampire's tale!

I get one of these every once in a while, and that's just a great shot of Michael Pate!!

They took a lot of liberties with the commonly accepted rules of vampire actions in this film! A cross bugs the vampire, but he is able to come out during the day in full sunshine!

Eric Fleming was no one hit cowboy wonder, he was also a 50's space captain hero in "Conquest Of Space," and "Queen Of Outer Space!"

Another major underlying problem, and point of contention is that both Preacher Dan and Vampire Drake are in love with Dolores Carter! A cowboy vampire love story; almost makes me want to go out and get a tatoo!!

Yeah, I'll tell you what you can do with your stinkin' cross, F You, Man!!

Every guy, at some time in their life has to deal with the futility of trying to explain to the gal they love, that the other guy she's interested in, is a vampire, and it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you're jealous, but just the truth! It's tough!!

When talking doesn't work, it's time for physical proof, in this case.............

.........an EMPTY COFFIN!!!!!!

Forget all that vampire business, now it's time for Drake the gunfighter to step in and claim that reward!! Drake always has the upper hand, because even if he's slow on the draw, his opponent's bullets can't hurt him!! What a great concept!! Proving that bad can also be pretty good, Bruce Gordon as Buffer just passed away at the beginning of this year at the age of 94!! Most of Bruce's long career was on TV, but he was in a few films like this one and "Tower Of London" with Michael Pate once again and Vincent Price!

Even though Buffer knows he got off the first shot, he somehow loses the battle!!

Time for the normally God fearing and peace loving Preacher Dan to strap on a gun, and take care of business with or without God's help!! He knows what he has to do!!

Drake Robey has no fear of any man, and in a duel boldly turns his back on Preacher Dan, but this time, things are just a little different......

.......and Drake Robey aka Don Drago Robles goes down for the final count!

Normally, this story should have been continued since Drake was continually sucking on Dolores's neck for nights on end! Normal vampire logic would tell you that she's a vampire too by now, but I guess not!

What was Preacher Dan's secret weapon? A bullet fashioned out of the cross on a pin that he always wore on his lapel! Merry X-Mas!