THE CROOKED CIRCLE / Sono Art-World Wide Pictures - 1932

It's Friday Night Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a fun little flick from 1932, it's all about a group of amateur detectives who set out to expose a secretive group of hooded occultists that call themselves The Crooked Circle. Get this... The first television broadcast of this film was on June 18, 1940 over WCBS in New York and was also remade in 1957!

Eegah!! has given us a nice staticy lil' soundclip for our listening pressure! Funny, the sound recordings were done by the Western Electric Noiseless Recording company!!.. Anywho, letz git 'dis potty goin'... Sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there in front of you, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's some noise from... THE CROOKED CIRCLE!

Here're the hooded members of The Crooked Circle, convening their weekly meeting...

That's where they plot their next round of mischief and murder! In the soundclip, you can hear them pledge their allegiance. Notice, one is a woman.

It looks like a band of amateur sleuths, The Sphinx Club, have matched wits with The Crooked Circle and come out on top!

What a face!! The very distinctive looking C. Henry Gordon plays the mystic Yoganda, member of The Sphinx Club. In most of Gordon's roles he played greasy villains, which is easy to visualize with a mush like that!

Love those cryptic clues!

Here're top billed James Gleason with bottom billed Tom Kennedy playing motorcycle driving police officers, Arthur and Mike. The familiar looking James Gleason was in movies like DUMBELLS IN ERMINE, THE DEVIL IS DRIVING, THE MEANEST GIRL IN TOWN, HELLDORADO, HOT TIP, FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS, TANKS A MILLION, A DATE WITH THE FALCON, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, HOLLYWOOD THRILL-MAKERS and ROCK-A-BYE BABY.

What a great interior shot of the old dark house!

Ben Lyon plays family friend Brand Osborne. Here, he explores the 'haunted' parts of the old house!

Arthur searches for clues in the cemetary. The headstone on the left says 'died of fright' and the one on the right says 'murdered!'

This coffin is actually a secret entrance into the house.

Here's pretty Irene Purcell, who plays Brand's girlfriend Thelma Parker.

The lady in the back is Zasu Pitts, she had 217 acting credits and her last movie was IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. Mae Questel caricatured Zasu's voice for her Olive Oyl character at Fleischer Studios.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! Drum roll please!....... Ta da! Roobie, Roobie Doo!!

It turns out that freakin' Thelma works for the Department of Justice, so, justice gets served!! James and Ben seem to be curious about Thelma's chestalogical area. This is a good little flick, catch it if you can!

UN OMBRA NELL'OMBRA - "Ring Of Darkness" - "SATAN'S WIFE" (1979)

"Un Ombra Nell'Ombra" or in English, "Satan's Wife" is an interesting gal, but she just ain't that much fun!! The music for this feature was written by a well known name deep down here, Stelvio Cipriani!!! Where to start and where to stop? Stelvio has over 200 insane titles to his composing credit like "12 + 1," "Overrun," "Whirlpool," "The Beast," "The Lickerish Quartet," "The Devil Has Seven Faces," etc etc. The list goes on and on!

Here's an intimate moment from the wedding ceremony!

The Devil's gang signs!! This looks like one of those awkward moments when you go to shake somebody's hand and you don't know which kind of hand shake they are going to use!

The 13 year old actress Lara Wendel as Daria Rhodes is the only thing that makes this movie even remotely interesting! You know what they say about if looks could kill! Lara's got that look down pat!!

"Satan's Wife" is not a film without talent, "Miss Great Britain," 1950, Anne Heywood, towards the end of her career plays Daria's Mother, Carlotta Rhodes! Anne Heywood's name at birth was Violet Pretty, but after her first film in 1951, "Bikini Baby," she changed it! Anne played The Brain's wife in "The Brain" and had the role of Fulvia in "Carthage In Flames!" Back in the day, she even posed for Playboy!

The priest summoned to do the exorcism is played by none other than John Phillip Law who we know from "Barbarella" and "Danger: Diabolik!"

My, my, that is quite a headdress she has on!!

If you have some kind of insane burning desire to see every devil worshiping "Exorcist" wannabe flick ever made, then put this one on your list for sure!! Not at the top, but on there somewhere!!

Flaming pitchforks almighty, it's the God Damn Devil his self!!

A more than generous portion of this film is dedicated to ceremonies conducted in the altogether, and nudity is not necessarily a worthwhile substitution for a good script in my humble opinion!

I think I read that the producers of this film stirred themselves up a bit of controversy because Lara Wendel briefly appeared nude in a couple of scenes!

I don't quite get it, but Lara Wendel is a hard one to find information about! Born Daniela Rachele Barnes, her parents were both actors. Her Mother was Britta (Wendel) Barnes who was in two Italian flicks, and her father was former professional football player turned actor, Walter Barnes! Walter was a big man and was in "Captain Sinbad" as Rolf, and many of the western TV shows of the 60's, like "Maverick," and "Gunsmoke!"

This looks like a shot from a lost "Married With Children" episode titled something like "Al Goes To Hell!"

Lara's name was a combination of the last two letters of her first name Daniela, and the first two letters of her middle name Rachele! Here's that look again, notched up a gear!!

So I guess you probably figured it out, if Daria's Mom is "Satan's Wife," that makes Daria the daughter of The Devil, and not one to be trifled with!!

Among Lara Wendel's credits are "Fellini's Intervista" and Dario Argento's "Tenebre!" I have no idea where she is or what she's doing these days, but we'd love to do an interview with her!!

That's one cab fare you should have probably skipped, Amigo!! How ironic, today is 6-6-12..........

CALTIKI The Immortal Monster / Climax Pictures - 1959

Wow, here's a crazy little flick that Eegah!! and I saw back in 1960 at our favorite fun place, the Sierra Theater. We loved it because it had a freakin' blob, the weirdest of all movie monsters! The original director, Riccardo Freda, later claimed that he abandoned the project so that Mario Bava would have a chance to direct because he knew Mario could be a good director and he wanted him to have the chance.

Eegah!! has given us a very cool soundclip from this classic creepfest, so, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the purple ejection seat, NOW, Ralphie the Tarantula! Here's some of... CALTIKI The Immortal Monster!

This lucky guy actually got to meet Caltiki! Now, here's a real story of how monster movies could influence kids in 1960... One night when Eegah!! and I were visiting my cousin in the country, we went out to the Mad Trailer and mixed up a batch of 'Caltiki' to put on door knobs, car door handles and to scare kids with! Then, here's a great story from our pal, TedMo... One night, him and a friend stuffed a shirt and pants to look like a person and dropped it out of an overhanging tree onto a car that was whizzing down the street. The pissed-off guy threatened to kill them!!

Seriously, this native dance scene at the beginning has got to be one of the hottest pre-nude routines in film history!.. Her dress is ripped because a bunch of the guys were pulling at it, ejole!!

When the greedy explorers go treasure hunting in this pool in a sacred cave, it brings the terrifying creature out of it's slumber!

The look on the doctor's face really captures the sheer horror as the thing grabs and starts absorbing Max's arm! Is that a dent in the doc's forehead?

The flick's all about Max, it just wouldn't be the same without him! The weird looking Gérard Herter plays the demented pervert, this was his second of 34 acting credits.

Max escapes from the hospital after killing his nurse, then, tries to elude authorities as he makes his way across the countryside. He has basically turned into an animal, the photo of him drinking water is always a disturbing sight!

The lab is nearly destroyed when one of the things starts growing and breaks out of it's tank!

A cosmic connection is finally made linking the comet present in the night sky to the ancient growing mass of doom.

Max somehow makes it to the doc's house, and, he's in love with the the doc's wife so he harasses her in her nightie! The second photo shows Max shooting his loyal girlfriend, Linda, point blank, in cold blood!! Max is a disgusting excuse for a person, you can hear the rat shoot her in the soundclip, and, after she brought him a sandwich!!

In the meantime, the sample of the monster the doctor brought to his home to study has broken out of the lab and is dividing and growing like crazy!

A very satisfying moment is when Max gets what's coming to him yet again!

The Army finally shows up with their tanks and flame throwers to put an end to the terror what once was... CALTIKI, The Immortal Monster!!

A typical Italian horror card, emphasis on sex!.. Is that a dent in the doc's forehead?