ANGEL, ANGEL, DOWN WE GO - The Wild Ones - "Cult Of The Damned" (1969)

Well, it's time to wrap up this psycho-delicatessen of a month, and I can't think of a better film to do it with than "Angel, Angel, Down We Go" aka "Cult Of The Damned!"  This poster is a completely stupid misrepresentation of what this film is really about!!

I first came in contact with this film years ago on the internet! Long before Youtube, people used to post weird short avi or quicktime videos on their websites, and one night I stumbled on a clip from this movie, but there was no information as to where or what movie it was from. It wasn't until 4 or 5 years later that I figured it out, but then I was left with the problem of finding a copy, but thanx to Brian Horrorwitz over at The Trash Palace, my long journey finally came to an end! So, here we are, but where are we really?

"Cult Of The Damned" is one weird movie, and I'm not sure that anybody that had anything to do with it really wants it resurfacing!  It was directed by writer Robert Thom in his first and last try at directing! Robert also wrote the film! Some of Robert's other works include the masterpiece "Death Race 2000!"

The glue that binds the whole thing together are collages by an artiste named Shirley Kaplan in what I believe was her sole contribution to Hollywood film making!

The decadent band in the film is The Wild Ones lead by Jordan Christopher! The Wild Ones also performed in two other movies, "The Fat Spy" and "Lord Love A Duck!"

The portly spoiled rich girl angel is played by the talented feminist gay political activist, singer, songwriter Holly Near!

I'm not getting the vibe that Holly thinks this is the greatest accomplishment of her long and varied career!

The ex-stag film star Mother is played by classy actress Jennifer (Duel In The Sun) Jones, and the super rich closet-dwelling homosexual Father is played by the extremely talented Charles Aidman! Charles was in not one, but two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "Little Girl Lost," and "And When The Sky Was Opened!"

The whole skydiving element wasn't working for me, but it was a major part of the plot development! A much better skydiving film is Coleman Francis's "The Skydivers!"

This looks like a shot out of a "Monkees" episode or something! The rest of the gang is rounded out by Roddy (Planet Of The Apes) McDowall), sweet Lou (Stormy Monday) Rawls, and Davey (The Strangler) Davison!

Lou Rawls is just chillin' as The Natural Man by the pool! How you could have a movie with Lou Rawls in it, and he doesn't sing one note, is way beyond me!!

And that, my friends, is just about how much sense it makes!

Just in time for the 4th of July!!

WHITE ZOMBIE / Edward Halperin Productions - 1932

We have a nice little Friday zombie flick with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Lugosi was fresh off his Dracula success and was hitting on all eight cylinders. Here, he plays voodoo master, 'Murder' Legendre! Great name. It was filmed at the RKO-Pathé Studios in Culver City with a decent (for the time) $50,000 budget. This was Bela's 55th acting credit!

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip from the movie for us to listen to, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the zombie harness, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... WHITE ZOMBIE!

You hear in the soundclip the funeral procession as the mourners mourn away. The song gets on my nerves, at one point it sounds like "He's My Guy" from GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW! Two other ceremonial pieces that really bug me are from the Mexican AZTEC MUMMY trilogy and the Filipino weirdfest, BRIDES OF BLOOD...

All is overseen on the island by the mysterious voodoo dude, 'Murder' Legendre...

This nervous guy's in the market for a voodoo spell in order to steal a friend's bride, he visits this mill right out of an Escher lithograph!

So, on her wedding night, the bride, Madeline, is put into a coma by Bela and buried in the crypt.

Later, Bela's zombies steal her coffin and take her to his amazing castle in a familiar looking RKO scene with matte painting.

The guy who wanted Madeline for his own finds her totally uncooperative, Legendre now wants her for his own and even puts the knucklehead under his spell too!

For me, I want to call the butler... Catherwood!

Boy, this zombo haunted the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS a lot back in the early days!

Legendre orders Madeline to kill her husband after he made his way to the castle...

One of the zombies gets his revenge by pushing Legendre off the ledge, and, he falls to his death into the deep blue sea below!

MUNSTER, GO HOME! - Jack Marshall - "Drag-U-La Rules" (1966)

Welcome to the Wednesday Gespenster Party down here in the deep, deep depths of The Dungeon!

Tonight's feature is titled "Munster, Go Home!" and even though it stars one of America's favourite families, I can't exactly recommend it, but since I try to come from the school of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," well, I'll just leave it at that, because everyone loves The Munsters! The music in this feature was composed by the same guy who wrote all the music for the TV series, Jack Marshall! You might not know it, but Jack also composed the soundtrack for "The Giant Gila Monster!"

It can be interesting to see The Munsters in colour, I must admit!

I have to say that probably the best thing about this film are the awesome cars created by the genius mind of George Barris!!

Grandpa's lab also looks pretty cool in colour!

Postcard prefect picture of the pad The Munsters are set to inherit in jolly olde England!

Hermione Gingold and wild man Terry Thomas respectively as Lady Effigie Munster and Freddie Munster, don't want to give up Munster Hall without a fight!

This shot of the cruise liner taking the family abroad is beautiful, and I highly suggest you make an oil painting of it!

At least at this point Eddie Munster is still played by Butch Patrick, but Marilyn Munster who was portrayed by Pat Priest for the duration of the TV series was replaced by Debbie Watson!

Herman is really excited by the prospect of seeing a ghost!!

The high point of the film is to be able to see not just one, but two creations by the master George Barris! This here is Drag-U-La!!

Two of the coolest project cars ever designed were by George Barris and have so far withstood the test of time for a good half a century or more! First off, here's The "Ala Kart!"

Second up is the closest thing to a Jetsons car that anybody has yet created, the "X.P.A.C. 400 Air Car!" As much as I like The Munsters, I have to say, do yourself a favor and skip this movie, and instead go to the Barris Kustom website and spend a couple of hours, you won't regret it!!

LA BRUJA / Internacional Cinematográfica - 1954

Here's an excellent Mexican horror flick, love this one, I remember seeing The Witch in early issues of Famous Monsters! My DVD copy is in Spanish with no subtitles, but, it's still pretty easy to follow the story. You can find a copy on Amazon, new/sealed, for a buck! I used to have a nice looking lobby card from this one.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip for our listening enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over there to the right of the slippery doom, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... LA BRUJA!

So, the story starts with a doctor and the special serum he has created, when it's injected into a heart, it will start beating again!

He tries his serum on The Witch, and gets some pretty spectacular results!

Then, the doctor comes up with a devious plan, he will use this version to find out if any of these horn dogs had anything to do with the murder of his beloved daughter!..

BINGO!!.. Two of this guy's henchmen accidently killed the doc's daughter, so, he's on trial in this special underground court of beggars, thieves, the oppressed, and home of The Witch.

After the two henchmen polish each other off in a knife fight, in his last breath, one tosses the knife into the heart of big boss man! Boo-Yah!

The Witch must have more serum to keep up her beautiful appearance!

The Witch and the doctor are now at odds with one another and he threatens to toss nitric acid in her face!! She has a gun and knows how to use it...

In a wild 'n' weird scene, this gang of thieves quickly bust in on the beautiful Witch and her lover and kidnap them!

The Witch's lover is accused of killing the doctor and has knives thrown at him by some mighty scary dudes!! In order to save her man, she darts in front of him and gets a blade in the gut!

Her lover is allowed to leave, it was The Witch that had killed the doc!