FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH / Hammer Film Productions - 1967

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a great movie to check out this time, one that I saw when it came out. The Quatermass series is one of my favorites, there are four titles... THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT aka THE CREEPING UNKNOWN, QUATERMASS II aka ENEMY FROM SPACE, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT aka FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH and QUATERMASS, all written by Nigel Kneale. Three of the titles were also TV mini-series. Interesting, the TV versions are 4 hours in length, over twice as long as the movies, so, in QUATERMASS II Professor Quatermass has time to go into space! QUATERMASS (takes place after a nuclear war) was never made into a movie.

The story's about a mysterious object unearthed during work on a London underground subway station, the authorities try to explain it away as an unexploded German weapon from WWII, but, Professors Quatermass & Dr. Rowney discover that it's actually of very ancient origin and has a threatening potential.

Eegah!! sent us over a very cool lil' soundclip for our listening satisfaction, soooo, go ahead and push the big red 'GO' button located directly across from the thingamajigger, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's music and more from... FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH!

This is where all the trouble starts, Hobbs End, a place with a long history of weird events and happenings...

During the digging, a worker uncovers a freakin' skeleton!

James Donald plays Dr. Mathew Roney, expert on prehistoric man, here he is commenting on the find. We remember James from THE GREAT ESCAPE.

The Army takes over the digging operation and the troopers come across a five million year old spaceship with dead Martians inside! Not that that's what they think it is, though.

They quickly take the creatures back to the lab to try and save as much as they can, but, they're turning into a big pile o' yetch! You'd probably hurl if you actually imagined what that putrid stench must smell like!.. Green fluids, eek!

Julian (BLOOD FIEND) Glover plays Colonel 'by the book' Breen, he's convinced it's a 'terror weapon' used by the Nazis near the end of the war, and, the Martian insects are fake. Andrew Keir plays Professor Quatermass, he was also in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS and DALEKS INVASION EARTH: 2150 A. D., Brian Donlevy will always be the professor for me.

They find out that the doctor's helper, Barbara, is the most receptive so they hook her up to the mental image recorder. Later, they play a tape of what she had recorded, that's so cool! Barbara (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE) Shelley plays the helper.

The images show thousands of marching insects as they appeared on Mars five million years ago! The viewers are totally bewildered.

Back at the ranch the ship's starting to glow and all Hell's breaking loose!! Just check out old Colonel Breen, there.

Then, the image of a huge Martian devil demon appears in the sky, causing most people to go totally insane, running aimlessly through the streets as the gate to Hell seems to have been thrown open!

Dr. Roney is one of the few people that are not affected by the monster, so, he comes up with a clever plan to end the insanity...

He gives his life as he careens the crane into the thing, short circuiting it and ending it's evil influence!

THE PSYCHOPATH - Ron Wood - "How Can It Be?" (1966)

I'd like to just take a second and thank all of you that read this blog on a regular basis, it's nice to know we're not the only krazy people in the world! Tonight's Saturday Night Special is dedicated to each and every one of you, and it's an obscure little Freddie Francis romp called "The Psychopath," or as it was released in Germany, "Der Puppen-Mörder."

"The Psychopath" starts off with this cat John (X:THE UNKNOWN, CURSE OF THE DEMON) Harvey as Reinhardt Klermer, getting pinned down by this red car in this dead end alley!

Inside of the violin case that he was carrying, was this weird doll that looked like either Reinhardt or a Presidential candidate, one of the two, you decide! VOODOO? Not quite!! More like just crazy!!

The string quartet is missing it's fourth tonight!

This is our next door neighbor's pad!

Patrick (CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED, THE SKULL) Wymark is the guy in charge of figuring the whole thing out, Inspector Holloway! Seeking clues he heads on over to the house of a known, but eccentric doll collector, a certain Mrs. Von Sturm, and this is what he finds!

"The Psychopath" is directed by Dungeon fave-a-roonie, the freakin' fantastic Freddie Francis! Using the keen eye he developed during his years as a Cinematographer, almost all of Freddie's flicks bring something special to the table, like hanging doll parts for instance! London stage actress Margaret (BURN WITCH BURN) Johnston as Mrs. Von Sturm, brings her own special brand of insanity to the party!

Sir John (TORTURE GARDEN) Standing has the role of Mrs. Von Sturm's son, Mark! Sir John has had a very active career, and was in a short, a TV series, and a movie released just this year! Mark seems to have a few issues of his own!

"It was THIS big!!" The Touchable Judy Huxtable is Louise Saville, the daughter of one of the men in the string quartet!

Judy was also in "Die Screaming Marianne" and "Scream And Scream Again!!!"

A doll is delivered to Louise's Dad, Alexander (THE SON OF DR. JEKYLL) Knox as Frank Saville, and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to visualize mentally what happens next! The former string quartet trimmed down to a trio, is now only a duet!

IF you're one of those kind of people that doesn't like dolls, then this is the prefect movie for you, because even the gal who sells cigarettes in the bar, Greta (THE DEADLY BEES) Farrer has one for you! "Cigars, cigarettes, freaky little weird dolls, cigars, cigarettes............"

One of the two remaining members is an accomplished artiste, Robert (BLOOD BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE) Crewdson as Victor Ledoux! Here's a look at Victor's model compared to his actual work!

Did I fail to mention that "The Psychopath" was written by famed "Psycho" author, Robert Bloch!?!

Besides painting, Victor Ledoux was also a sculptor! His studio also included a car junkyard where he salvages metal for his scuptures. Victor admits to The Inspector that he doesn't even like his own work, but it sells, and that was all that really mattered! The lower shot is more Freddie Francis madness!!

Thorley (PETTICOAT PIRATES, TROG, VAMPIRE CIRCUS) Walters as the nervous Marin Roth, gets pretty upset when he finds a doll in his own image!

And then the quartet was no more, and you would think that would be the end of the story, but.........

......during further investigation at Victor's junkyard studio, Inspector Holloway finds a doll that looks like HIM in one of the old cars right before it blows to Hell!!

How come these bars where you could go and sketch aren't popular anymore? I guess there's just not enough of you guys out there drawing! See all the fun you're missing out on watching TV!!

Even the gal who worked at the doll factory, Gina (THE DEADLY BEES) Gianelli as Gina, gets her own doll after she goes out on a date with Mark Von Sturm. During the rolling credits at the end of the film, the Von Sturms are listed as having the last name Maugham!

The main music from "THE PSYCHOPATH" was composed by Elisabeth (PARANOIAC) Lutyens, and some of it was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and arranged by Elizabeth, but the rockin' song from the club scene was written and performed by Faces and/or Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood!!

Unless somebody releases "The Psychopath" on DVD like they should, you're going to play Hell finding a copy, but I'll be damned if I'm going to tell you the ending, because that's something you need to discover for yourself! "The Psychopath" is a real jewel, and it's well worth mucking around trying to find a copy!! Good luck on your journey!

SCARED TO DEATH / Golden Gate Pictures - 1947

Itz Friday Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a post war color movie starring two of our favorite scary guys, Bela Lugosi and George Zucco, and, has Angelo Rossitto as Bela's lil' helper. The story's about a dead young woman who tells the bizarre tale from a slab in the morgue of how she ended up there. She tells a tale of murder involving a doctor, a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a blue mask. It was directed by the prolific Christy (THE MUMMY'S HAND) Cabanne, who also had 58 acting and 46 writing credits.

Hey!!.. Eegah!! sent us over a nice soundclip for us to enjoy, sooooo, you might as well go ahead and push that there big red 'GO' button catty corner from the normal-sized atomic stairwell, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here are some spooky sounds from... SCARED TO DEATH!

Molly Lamont plays the girl on the morgue slab, she begins to tell the weird story about how she got there. So, it basically starts at the end...

She plays two parts, Laura Van Ee and Laurette La Valle. One of her is married to Dr. Joseph Van Ee, played by George.

Bela plays hypnotist, Professor Leonoid, and Angelo plays helper, Indigo. They show up unannounced, making for an interesting mix of characters. Nat Pendleton plays detective, Bill Raymond, he sits around a house waiting for someone to be murdered so that he can impress his superiors at the police station!

Laurette gets a little present from an unknown friend, her own head!!

Douglas Fowley plays family friend Terry Lee, we remember him from CATWOMEN OF THE MOON and MACUMBA LOVE and he ended up with a staggering 326 acting credits! Also, indy Hollywood record producer Kim Fowley is his son. Here he is, discussing weird theories about the mind with the professor in the green room.

Joyce Compton plays Jane Cornell, she's having trouble napping. Joyce also had a small part in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG.

The maid seems to be in a trance, so, it takes Professor Leonide's expertise to snap her out of it. Then, there's a mysterious game being played downstairs in the darkened parlor!

Out of the nowhere, that infernal blue mask appears again!.. So scary!!

The super scary blue mask literally scares Laurette or Laura to death from fright. To put it in simple English.. Alles ist kaput!

The boys sort everything out as the cop dressed in drag shows up after the case is solved.

So, we'll end our story where it began, at the morgue! Laurette finishes her tale, and, they pull the sheet over her face...

This is how you got SCARED TO DEATH in 1980!