INVADERS FROM MARS / National Pictures Corporation - 1953

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at the Halloween Countdown Dungeon 2011!.. Tonite's feature is an all-time favorite of kids from the fifties and sixties. I was lucky enough to miss this one during it's original release because I was only 5. The worst experience I had with a movie, though, was when my dad took me to see THE BLOB in '58 at age 10, it took me years to recover from that!

The awesome music is by Raoul Kraushaar and an uncredited Mort Glickman. Raoul had 122 composing credits that includes films like STORK BITES MAN, UNKNOWN ISLAND, HIGHWAY 13, WILD WEED, PREHISTORIC WOMEN, BRIDE OF THE GORILLA, UNTAMED WOMEN, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD, CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON, THE UNKNOWN TERROR, BACK FROM THE DEAD, ISLAND OF LOST WOMEN, THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK, JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, BILLY THE KID vs. DRACULA and THE BAMBOO SAUCER. Mort had 196 composing credits and worked with Raoul on many projects.

Lettuce bring in our fuzziest Dungeon helper and button pusher, what else, it's... Ralphie The Tarantula! Hooray for Ralphie!.. The lil' varmint is here to get our show rolling by pushing that button over there. So, push the big red 'GO' button and start our soundclip, now, Ralphie!! Here's... INVADERS FROM MARS!

Jimmy Hunt plays David MacLean, son of scientist George MacLean, dad's working on a secret space program. David witnessed the saucer land in the sand pits behind the house, and, a few other interesting things. Jimmy also played the police chief in Hooper's 1986 remake! Coincidently, my oldest son is one of the 6th graders at the beginning in that one.

This is actually the most frightening part of the movie, when dad turns against David and his mom. Leif Erickson plays the dad, if you watch closely here you will see him actually pummel Jimmy when he slaps him so hard! Would remind you of the OUR GANG techniques for getting authentic reactions of kids on camera.

We find out pretty quickly that even the Police Chief has a mind control implant!

Helena Carter plays Dr. Blake, she saves David from being taken to the sand pits by his parents. Even though she has top billing, this would be Helena's last acting role.

Arthur Franz is always a welcome sight, here at The Dungeon, because of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN, FLIGHT TO MARS, INVADERS FROM MARS, THE FLAME BARRIER, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS and THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE!.. Here, he plays Dr. Kelston and is the narrator we hear in the soundclip.

With the observatory's telescope, they get a good look at the government's top-secret rocket and then they watch David's dad lure another victim to that eerie hole in the sand!

Hey, there's Morris Ankrum again!

Sergeant Rinaldi disobeys orders and gets sucked under as he empties his rifle on... Something quite terrifying!!

A good look at the control device they took out of a victim's neck.

When the General and his aide are caught stealing secret explosives for the Martians, they get blown to Hell after a soldier's bullet hits the case they're being carried in!

The Mutants put a hole under David and Dr. Blake...

Bob Herron plays the Martian, he was a stuntman with 239 credits.

hup hup hup hup hup hup...

These alien sets were teriffic for 1953! Coincidently, our family got a new Ford and our first TV that year!

I love these two photos of the Mutants, bottom shot is good for showing the facial features!

David confronts the Martian Intelligence as Dr. Blake is positioned to be implanted with a control unit!

David saves the day by melting an escape hole to the surface!

SCATTER!!..

As everyone sprints away from the sand pits, some of the recent bad memories run through David's mind.

The bomb the military planted in the saucer detonates!

David wakes up from his nightmare to then see that damn saucer land in the sand pits, just like in the dream! This part would always leave you with that sickening, uneasy feeling.

Great newspaper ad!

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor - "Give Me Your Heart!"

It's not every day you get a chance to combine the two holidays of love, Valentine's Day and Halloween!

LEVIATÀN - Alice Cooper - "Identity Crisis" (1984)

Here we go, just about halfway through the Halloween Countdown, and time to start getting down on it! If nothing else, The Dungeon is all about monsters and music, and what better personifies all that bullshit than the hard to find "MONSTER DAWG", featuring one of the month of October's favourite sons, the man himself, Mr. Alice Cooper!! 

Born Vincent Damon Furnier, Alice Cooper will always remain heads and cut throats above the rest, if but for no other reason than that anarchistic and thematic lyric, "School's out FOREVER!" What kid in his right mind can't identify with that concept?

"MONSTER DOG," on the other hand is something completely different, but then that's why you're here, right?

Alice Cooper is a rock icon, no doubt, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame this very year, but I can't still believe that Steve Miller, along with the originator of the barre chord, Link Wray, have still never even been nominated! 

As a three minute music video, this film is top notch, probably better than 97 1/3% of the rest of the stuff out there! 

Alice Cooper is a good actor, and I'm certain "Monster Dog" is searchin' for something a little further bit out on the edge, but it just never manages to quite find it! Sometimes he feels like Sherlock Holmes! 

Sometimes he feels like Jack The Ripper!!

Alice Cooper wasn't always doom and gloom, in the beginning, it was all about wham and glam, as the back picture on the first album "Pretties For You" so deftly illustrates! 

Spanish Director Claudio Fragasso is also responsible for stuff like "Troll 2," "Zombi 3," "Zombie 4: After Death," and "La Casa 5," and is so proud of his work, that he is often credited as Clyde Anderson or Drake Floyd! 

The title song is so joking around pop that when the whole thing goes south, it's almost surprising! 

Alice is feeling pretty sick, and he looks it!! His character has a lot of very deep-seated problemos! 

Alice's girlfriend in this film is Victoria Vera, a spectacular woman who just last month posed in the 35th anniversary issue of Interviú magazine at the age of 55! Victoria created quite a stir in 1974 when she appeared on stage naked in the play "Why Do You Run, Ulysses?" which was quite scandalous at the time, and the premiere was marred with the boot from the opposition!

"Monster Dog" is a perfect example of why our tastes in film pretty much comes to a screaming halt in the 60's or 70's, but I'm sure it's a lot of freak's favourite film, and if you really want to see it, then head on over to The Web Of Mystery and see if you can rip a copy out of their bony old decrepit dying hands!