THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS / Eola Pictures - 1966

It's Meaty Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a gory horror comedy from the year Eegah!! and I graduated from high school, one that you'd most likely find at the drive-in circuit. It's all about the local undertaker and his two other motorcycle riding pals (they run the greasiest spoon in town), and, they know how to get free meat!

The teaser before credits roll has the Undertaker and His Pals invading the serenity of the blond bombshell who's quietly writing a love letter to her sailor boyfriend. Notice the change of expression on lover boy's face in the photo, it's because they just chopped off her legs and took them when they left...

Eegah!! just sent over this fun little soundclip about cuttin' in, cuttin' up and cuttin' out by Johnny White from this funky flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over there next to the atomic meat grinder, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS!

The girl's parents go to the funeral home, they find her in a small casket because she has no legs! Oh, and they give trading stamps too.

The coppers find a creepy clue!

Here's an interesting shot in the sleazy diner run by the Undertaker's Pals.

This poor dude was only delivering groceries but saw something in the meat locker he shouldn't have! Heck, more free meat!!

One Pal has a book on surgery so they operate on this gal without any anesthetic!

Then, she's ground up into this tasty sausage meat, mmmmm, mmm!

Ahhhh, there's nothing more relaxing than a nice...

...WTF!!!

For some strange reason, this scene where they decide to drop this Pal into a vat of acid for effin' up reminds me of when SpongeBob and Patrick turn on each other!

Is this a cool shot or what!

In the end, The Undertaker gets a blade in the brain, a well deserved fate!..

RATTLERS - "They're Waiting To Slither You" (1976)

As painful as it might be, it IS still the year of the snake, so we had to get this one in before year's end! I'll be as gentle as possible, but let me just say that the tag line for this movie should actually read "WHAT A HORRIBLE WAY TO LIE!" because that is what this poster is, one big gigantic lie!

I am a firm believer that the 70's were the worst artistic and musical decade of the last century! A couple of classic examples would be disco music, and "RATTLERS!" 

The fun all starts when these two kids bring their Dads a couple of Buds before wandering out into the desert, and you know when you start a film with a couple of kids getting whacked by rattlesnakes, the next hour or so is bound to be full of hilarity!

On the right is Sam Chew as Dr. Tom Parkinson, a snake specialist with an emphasis on rattlesnakes! On the left is his nemesis soon to be lover Elizabeth Chauvet as liberated photographer Ann Bradley! In the middle is Cary Pitts as The Sergeant! Ex announcer/deejay, Sam Chew has a great voice! Too bad that doesn't quite translate into being a great actor! All three of them did most of their other work on TV!

In a totally unrelated scene, it's time to introduce Tip (Great first name!) McClure as the Big Valley Plumber! Tip was in the "Twilight Zone" episode called "Steel" as Battling Maxo!

"Rattlers" was Tip's very last role! Maybe he didn't dig snakes crawling over his face!

Celia Kaye as the 'woman in the bath tub' gives the most memorable performance in the whole movie! She also has a very nice back!

Here is the biggest problem of the whole movie, and I hate to be nitpicky, but maybe somebody forgot to tell the director that rattlesnakes have rattles on the ends of their tales!

Admittedly, it still makes for a very uncomfortable scene having snakes slithering into the bathtub, but once again you can see how the poster was just slightly exaggerated!

Next thing you know, the happy/unhappy couple is on "The Amazing Red Planet!"

There's lots of conjecturing, and a couple more snake attacks!

Of course, the freakin' military is behind the whole thing! Got any other conspiracy theories you'd like to dredge up? I really hate to say this, but you might just want to let this one slide, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 dollars!

FLASH GORDON / Inter-Continental Film Productions - 1955

It's Sci-Fi Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. My family got our first TV in 1953 when I was five, so, I got to see all 39 episodes of this wild 'n' weird TV series that aired in 1954-5, and, I dug it the most! What really grinds my gears is the fact that less than half the episodes are available today, and, the episode I remember most, with robots naturally, isn't one to be found. This cool little series was filmed in that post war artistic haven, West Germany.

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip of the tractor beam attack for us to hear, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the heavy water fall, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... SABOTEURS FROM SPACE!

While on their way in space to a rock-it concert, Dale and Dr. Zarkov notice some interference on their big screen!

So, Flash makes a call to headquarters to report the incident. There's actually a parrot in that futuristic bird cage!

As they pass near this planet run by a madman, a beam is projected into space toward them.

A strong tractor beam pulls them down to the planet...

Besides having a small army of loyal robotized men, the ruler of the planet's also a sadistic little bitch!.. The bad guys in the whole series are all extra cruel and devious.

Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov are put in a room with a crazy floor! What makes it totally insane is there's also an intense strobe light moving around at the same time, disorientation in the absurd! This bombastic scene goes on for quite awhile too! Hey, it's what The Dungeon's all about... Wild 'n' Weird!

Then, one of the robot men enters the room and Flash smacks him upside the hade with a haymaker. The thing spins around a few times, makes a robot gesture or two and falls down, it's actually pretty funny!

Flash, being the quick thinker he is, removes the control device from the robo man...

And, goes into the control room where he turns the ruler's own guards against him... Checkmate!

THE CURSED FILMS OF THE DUNGEON!!!

Well, it shouldn't probably come as much of a surprise that I'm getting just a little bit burnt out on the same olde format week after week, so I've decided tonight I need to do something just a bit different to give myself, and you a break, so it's time to get into the subject of themes or keywords that we have delved into here on this blog! Now the obvious words here would be things like Horror, Terror, Monster, Beast, Doctor, Vampire, Blood etc, but I've settled on a word that presents a fairly diverse set of movies, and that is Curse! So here they are in Chronological order:

          THE CURSED FILMS OF THE DUNGEON THUS FAR!

"The Mummy's Curse" (1944)

"Curse Of The Aztec Mummy" (La Maldición De La Momia Azteca) (1957)

"Pharaoh's Curse" (1957)

"Curse Of The Demon" (1957)

"Curse Of The Faceless Man (1958)

"Curse Of The Undead" (1959)

"Curse Of The Werewolf" (1961)

"The Witch's Curse" (Maciste All'Inferno) (1962)

"The Curse Of The Crying Woman" (La Maldición De La Llorona) (1963)

"Curse Of The Stone Hand" (1964)

"The Curse Of The Fly" (1965)

"Curse Of The Voodoo" (1965)

"Curse Of The Swamp Creature" (1966)

"Death Curse Of Tartu" (1966)

"Snake Woman's Curse" (Kaidan Hebi-Onna) (1968)

"The Curse Of The Crimson Altar" (The Crimson Cult) (1968)

"The Mummy And The Curse Of The Jackals" (1969)

"Curse Of The Headless Horseman" (1972)

Well, there you go, the curse lives on, because I'll tell you one thing, that was a Helluva lot more work than I thought it was going to be! 

Just for kicks, here's a couple more super classics we haven't got around to yet, but will sometime in the future!! I mean like, CURSES ARE FOREVER, right?

"The Curse Of Frankenstein" (1957)

"The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb" (1964)

Kudos Grande to the Wrong Side Of The Art Gallery, who puts out some of the best poster art you're ever going to be lucky enuf to find! Now there's truly a site that deserves a higher level of recognition! Thanx Mikhail!!