PHANTASM II / Spacegate Productions - 1988

It's Phantastic Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the follow up to to the original movie from 9 years earlier, this one had a $3,000,000 budget and grossed $7,282,851 just in the US, it was filmed in Chatsworth, CA.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the portal to another world, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... PHANTASM II!

Years later, our heroes, Mike and Reggie, are visited again by The Tall Man's creepy little minions and have to escape by crashing through their 2-story window! I have the feeling that most people would probably kill themselves attempting this move in real life.

The two regroup and decide they need to get some supplies from a deserted hardware store, torches, guns, ammo, a chain saw, etc. Reggie puts money in the register before they split.

They try to help a girl they find in a basement, but, when the blanket is lifted, this is what they find in her back!.. Yuk!!

Strange things are always going on at The Tall Man's mortuary, here are a few examples.

Kenneth Tigar plays Father Meyers, he crosses The Tall Man and gets a flying driller orb in the cabeza, let the blood flow freely!

Mike's girlfriend, Liz, gets a ride to the crematorium by the weirdo mortician!

Liz barely gets away before she gives the mortician a ride of his own into the incererator!

The damned mortician shows up again, this time though, he gets in the path of an orb!

Reggie has a close encounter with a being from The Tall Man's world!

Reggie had added some hydrocloric acid to a vat of serum, so, when Liz stabs the big guy with that giant needle, he gets a real surprise! Game over?..

NO WAY!! Reggie's gal pal has a little surprise for him, parts III and IV are around the corner!!

THE BRASS BOTTLE - "Sihirli Vazo" (1964)

HO, HO, HO, and MERRY X-MAS to you all!!!

This is as close as I could come to a Christmas movie, and it's fairly similar in a few areas, like the co-star is the folk-singer/actor, Burl, "Mr. Holly Jolly Christmas" Ives himself! Burl is also known for his classic version of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," and he kind of looks like Santa too!

Also during one it's first appearances in the movie, "The Brass Bottle" itself looks like a Christmas gift! Actually, it's a gift that Tony Randall as Harold Ventimore is bringing to the Father of his future bride, Barbara Eden as Sylvia Kenton! Of course, Tony will always be known for his role in "The Odd Couple" as will Barbara for being Jeannie in "I Dream Of Jeannie," but they were both together in another great movie too, "The 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao!" I find it hilarious that Barbara Eden is in a movie about a genie, and it's not her!!

Richard Erdman as Seymour Jenks, and Kathie Browne as Hazel Jenks are Harold's eccentric room mates! These two combined have been in literally hundreds of TV shows! Previous to this film, Richard was in the "Twilight Zone" episode known as "A Kind Of Stopwatch!" Kathie is no longer with us, but Richard has had a lengthy career and is still working today!

Sylvia's Father refuses the gift (he had a electric table lamp that looked just like it) so Harold takes it back home and pries it open! Viola, there's a genie inside and all his problems should be behind him, but instead, all his problems just get worse!

The genie's name is Fakrash, and he is capable of doing all kinds of wondrous things!

Good shot of that classic Volkwagen bus back there!

The cops get involved when Fakrash delivers a herd of camels and their trainers to Harold's home!

Sydney Jenks tries to explain a few things to Harold in his own inimitable way!

In an effort to please him, Fakrash gives Harold a trunk full of these 10 dollar bills!

Harold has Sylvia and her parents over for dinner, but Fakrash changes the whole thing into a temple with dancing girls and all means of finery, much to Harold's chagrin!

The main course is the eyes of mountain lambs cooked in honey, of course!!

 

And then the fun begins! Pop singer Lulu Porter is the belly dancer turning all the guy's heads!

 The perfectly stuffy Edward Andrews has the role of Sylvia's Father! Edward's familiar face was all over the TV in the 60's and the 70's and he was in, not one, but two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "You Drive," and "Third From The Sun!"

Fakrash bring his old girlfriend into the scene to help poor Harold, but when Harold says "No!" she refuses to leave, and since she has genie powers too, Fakrash can't send her back! The scrumptious Kamala Devi had the role of Tezra! Kamala had a total of 13 credits to her name and was married to "The Rifleman" Chuck Connors for 9 years!

Since Tezra doesn't seem to be going anywhere, Harold gets her some modern clothes. She doesn't know what a girdle is so he has to demonstrate how it's worn for her!

I just like this shot of Burl Ives!

No, it's not a guest appearance by Francis The Talking mule! Fakrash had tried to explain to Sylvia's Father the truth of the situation, but since he was having nothing to do with it, Fakrash turned him into the pompous ass that he really is!

Well, The End isn't quite this bad for Harold, but he does have to go through a lot to get to a different ending! I don't know why this movie is so difficult to find, but all fans of 1960's pop culture will find it worth the search, so without further adieu, "to all a good night!!!"

MUSEO DEL HORROR / Producciones Sotomayor - 1964

It's Mexican Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots another House Of Wax, this time, Mexican style, and, an above average atmospheric addition to Mexican horror cinema. It was directed by the very busy Rafael Baledón, who also directed the vintage classics ORLAK, THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN and LA LOBA!

Eegah!! sent over a neat little soundclip that includes some entertainment from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the other hot wax machine, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... MUSEO DEL HORROR!

The story starts with a splash, a beautiful woman is kidnapped by a creepy caped dude only to be covered with hot wax, hey, just like in my post last Monday!.. Woob!!

Then, we get to see the wax museum of Dr. Raúl, who gets around with the use of a cane!.. Hmmm, sound familiar?

We also get to visit the nightclub a few times, that's where we hear the song in the soundclip.

This lady of the night asks a stranger in the shadows for a light, and, when she gets a glimpse of his face, well!..

What else, the coppers are baffled by the mystifying disappearances of a number of women. There's some graverobbing going on, too!

One lady wakes up on a slab and runs out the door!..

She comes face to face with some of her new buddies in the hallway!

The doctor has a den filled with lots of stuffed animals and the like! Here, one of his patrons is visiting.

Gee, I wonder where the doc will get the head for his newest attraction?!

The girl's boyfriend shows up in the nick of time, he battles the doctor, who uses his cane just for show, and, the doc falls to his death in the old opera house... Close the curtains!