SON OF DRACULA - Harry Nilsson - "You Can Jump Into The Fire But You'll Never Be Free" (1974)

"Son Of Dracula" is a sad movie, not bad, not good, but a turkey no doubt! If they thought they were making a funny movie, they failed, and if it's supposed to be a serious vampire film, then they failed too!

It seems Ringo wanted to make movies, so what could be better than to have fun, make a movie, and promote your buddy Harry Nilsson at the same time! Too bad it didn't work out that way even though it was directed by Dungeon Super Fave, Freddie Francis!

The 70's were the end of an era for a band called The Beatles! Their last two Billboard Top 100 charted songs were in 1970, "Let It Be,"  and "The Long And Winding Road! The same year, the boys started going out on there own, John Lennon had a top 100 hit with "Instant Karma," and then the following year, George Harrison charted with "My Sweet Lord," Ringo Starr was in the top 100 with "It Don't Come Easy," and Paul McCartney had two less than stunning top 100 hits, "Uncle Albert" and "Another Day!"

In 1972, none of The Beatles charted in the top 100, but Harry Nilsson was in fine form with two hits in the top 100, "Without You," and Coconut!" In 1973 Paul McCartney bounced back with Wings on the hits "My Love" and "Live And Let Die!" In 1974 when this film was made Paul McCartney charted again with "Band On The Run" and "Jet," and Ringo had two more hits with "Sweet Sixteen," and "Oh My My!" It seemed like these guys just couldn't do anything wrong....................but........

.............."Son Of Dracula" proved otherwise!!!

At least they went with the classic "Nosferatu" type of vampire as Dracula!

But..................Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician! I think that just might have been the straw that broke the camel's back! If the way he looks isn't bad enough, then you've got to know that Ringo has a very recognizable voice, and trust me, it's not the voice of Merlin the Magician! I think that's where the problems begin, and even Ringo agrees that this isn't a very good movie!

One hundred years later, I don't know, what? A child is born, and his name is Count Downe!!

Blast Off!! Dracula is young and looks like Harry Nilsson, and for some reason it looks like his fangs are too close together, like kind of a hillbilly vampire!

Merlin's got the whole thing figured out, the planets are aligned, the celestial hubcaps are all polished, and it's time for the Son Of Dracula to be crowned King of the Underworld!!

"London Calling" circa 1974!

Harry Nilsson performs no less than 7 songs in the movie, and one of them is one of my personal favourite songs of all time, "Jump Into The Fire!" Here's just a taste of the the peripheral mood music by Paul Buckmaster that was used in between Harry's songs! It's pretty intriguing in itself!

Frankenstein and The Wolf Man  along with Lady Dracula are all  invited to to the big coronation!!

Here's the big problem! Count Downe's a nice guy, a musician, and he wants to be normal! He doesn't want to be King of the freakin' evil universe! He wants to hold hands and recite poetry!

 The various band members are some of the finest rock musicians of the time, or any time, really! You've got bassists Klaus Voorman and Herbie Flowers, guitars by Peter Frampton and Chris Spedding, drums pounded by Ringo, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Jim Gordon and Jim Keltner, keyboards by Harry Nilsson and  Nicky Hopkins, and horns by Jim Price and Bobby Keys, and somewhere in there are George Harrison, John Uribe, Jimmy Webb, Leon Russell and Ray Cooper! That is a truly amazing array of talent!

Count Downe's transition into a bat was uniquely different compared to vampires of the past!

The big netherworld inauguration is broken up via a giant cross skylight, and Count Downe gets to live happily ever after with his girlfriend! As far as I know, this movie was never released on DVD. You can thank Professor Grewbeard, wherever he is, for giving me a chance to see it!

More weirdness! Only one song on the album "Son Of Schmilsson" was performed in this film, but this record does have one other classic cut on it, "You're Breaking My Heart (So Fuck You)!"  To hear the studio versions of the songs in this movie, you will need to get "Nilsson Schmilsson," and all of Nilsson's work is avalable at Amazon!

GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN / Toho Company - 1955

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the second movie starring the big guy, this time he's fighting against his mortal enemy, the spiked Anguirus. I think a good comparison to this follow up production would be SON OF KONG compared to KING KONG. This one has a ton of alternate titles like GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER, GOJIRA STRIKES AGAIN, THE RETURN OF GODZILLA, THE VOLCANO MONSTER, COUNTERATTACK OF THE MONSTERS and GODZILLA'S COUNTER ATTACK. Motoyoshi Oda directs.

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip that includes some nightclub music from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the atomic powered whatchamacallit, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN!

The story is built around two pilots whose job is to report weather and fishing conditions to the costal fishermen. When one plane has engine problems and goes down near the shore of a snowbound island, the other pilot sets down to rescue him.

Guess who shows up? Godzilla's fighting tooth and nail with his old drinking buddy, Anguirus, so, the boys decide to get their asses out of there!!

After reporting what they saw on the island the two sit down with a paleontologist to figure out what the monsters were.

Then, we get to watch a little film all about dinosaurs! Top still shows the volcano dinosaur, it can live in molten temperatures! The second still shows the dinosaurs from 1948's UNKNOWN ISLAND. Third still shows the terrible Godzilla from a year earlier when he decimated parts of Japan.

Here are two great shots of the neon night scene and a surrealistic nightclub!

Godzilla is mean looking as in the original, his face would change to a friendlier look when he finally came back to the screen in 1962 to battle, who else, King Kong! Nice close up of Anguirus in bottom still.

Here's what the city looks like after the two monsters fight it out!

Nice looking model of a Lockeed P-80 Shooting Star. Anyway, they figure the best way to deal with Godzilla is to hit the tops of the icy peaks of the island with missiles and bring down tons and tons of snow and ice on top of him, burying and freezing him alive!

HOLD ON - Herman's Hermits - "She's A Must To Avoid" (1966)

 Saturday's the best night of the week to rock......SO let's go way, way, out tonight! Just tighten up the straps on your straitjacket a notch, and.................."HOLD ON!"

 "Hold On" was made in 1966, ah yes, I remember it well! There were major massive unforgettable classics that came out that year like ? Mark and the Mysterians - "96 Tears," The Rolling Stones - "Paint It Black," The Troggs - "Wild Thing," Donovan - "Sunshine Superman," The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations," The Standells - "Dirty Water," The Four Tops - "Reach Out I'll Be There," The Surfaris - "Wipe Out," The Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction," and so much more, but what was THE # 1 song of the year, "The Ballad of the Green Barets, by Sgt. Barry Sadler!

 In 1965, Herman's Hermits had no more than five songs on Billboard's Top 100 Songs, at # 67 was "Wonderful World," # 46 was "I'm Henry VIII I Am," # 22 was "Silhouettes," a cover tune originally recorded by The Rays, The Crests, and The Diamonds, #19 was "Mrs. Brown You Have a Lovely Daughter, and # 8 was "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat!" In 1966 they charted only one tune at #91, "Dandy," and in 1967 they came back with the # 50 tune, "There's a Kind of Hush!" That's a pretty nice run!

 Herman's "Must To Avoid" is Shelley Fabares who was in 191 episodes of the Donna Reed Show from 1958 to 1965 as Mary Stone! In 1962, Shelley had a song in the #1 position for two weeks, "Johnny Angel!"

 "Hold On!" is definitely not missing out in the talent department, but in reality is pretty much just one long music video with Herman's Hermits performing no less than eight songs!

 The band is so popular, they have to put on nifty disguises like these bald wigs in order to slip out of the building!

 The action moves to P.O.P, or Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica! Los Angeles used to have fun places to go to like P.O.P. and The Pike in Long Beach! Amusement parks on the beach, it just doesn't get better than that!

 Pretty scary! Herman almost gets killed on the 25 cent roller coaster ride!

 For some reason, the United States government wants to put The Hermits name on the nosecone of this rocket, but it causes a big commotion because they are not Americans!

 Herman's Hermits music is so hot at this party that all the girls including Shelley, strip out of their formals and start dancing!

It's almost impossible for the modern mind to comprehend, but there was a time in the not so distant past that there were only three channels on TV, and no remote control!! Gasp!!

 It's pretty likely that rocket is full of money on a direct path to Peter Noone's bank account, no wonder Herman was smiling all the time!

"Hold On!"