INSEMINOID / Jupiter Film Productions - 1981

It's Alien Valentine Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a $2,000,000 ALIEN inspired production from Britain that ended up getting on my bad side and just seemed like a lame attempt at horror to me. The story's about a crew of interplanetary archaeologists who are threatened when an alien creature impregnates a female member, causing her to turn homicidal. Alternate title is HORROR PLANET.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of the synthetic theme from this flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the alien inseminator, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... INSEMINOID!

Like in ALIEN, this comatose dude finds something strange in a cave and gets attacked by an unknown creature.

Here's an interesting shot, the director's trying to get an ALIEN feel with a 50 cent prop!

Judy Geeson, playing Sandy, gets nude for this scene where a big alien bug inseminates her using it's clear tubular penile device... Gross!!

Sandy is pregnant by the big brute and isn't happy consuming just pickles and ice cream!

After killing off half the crew, Sandy gives birth to two ugly little bugs!.. Gross!!

The rest of the crew members lock Sandy out of the living quarters, so, she starts using explosives to get to them!

This guy finally strangles Sandy a goodern, putting an end to her deadly rampage!

But, now the babies are finishing off whoever's left of the remaining crew.

An emergency message is received by these space cowboys, the last survivor tells them about the urgent situation there, so, they head to the planet to help out.

Everyone's dead by the time they get there and they grab a few souvenirs to take back with them! This shot reminds me of GHOULIES.

ORFEU NEGRO - "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" (1959)

 

Welcome to yet another installment of Weirdo Wednesday! Tonight's feature is an Academy Award winning film based on a classical tale of romantic tragedy titled "Black Orpheus!" Before he made movies, Director Marcel Camus was a Professor of Sculpture and Painting, and it shows in this film!

 

The French film "Orfeu Negro" is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice as played out in 1959 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during Carnival!

If you had to choose a place to shoot a movie that was a lot of fun in 1959, it would either be Rio or New Orleans. Today it would probably be Vegas!

One of the reasons that "Black Orpheus" won an Oscar in 1960 for Best Foreign Film is because it's just fun to look at! No, not fun, it's actually beautiful!

All the bright colours of Carnival matched up with an almost endless stream of batucadas will hypnotize you if you're not careful!

 

And then it's all juxtaposed to the stark sleek angles of the city itself!

Eurydice is played by the lovely and oh so innocent looking Marpessa Dawn! Marpessa was born in Pittsburg, Pa. but moved to the UK as a teenager.  This was her first starring role!

To fans of schlock 50's horror, Marpessa was 'the native girl' in the 1958 classic "The Woman Eater!"

This is Orpheus, the regular guy trolley car conductor, as played by Breno Mello! When he first spots Eurydice, it's literally love at first sight! Breno was a native of Brazil, and was only ever in five other movies! In the 'kind of strange department,' Marpessa and Breno passed away within weeks of each other in 2008!

Orpheus is engaged to Mira as played by Lourdes de Oliveira, who could dance her ass off, but was only ever in one other movie, but Eurydice is where his thoughts lie!

Eurydice on the other hand, has problems of her own and is being pursued by some unknown stalker, and it's really pretty creepy!

It's a very festive time, and everybody is in costume for Carnival, so Eurydice's cousin Serafina gets all dolled up as a lampshade!

Okay, this dude genuinely creeps me out! This is the ex-lover of Eurydice who is pursuing her through the streets and alleys of Rio dressed as Death! The costume, the way he moves, it just all adds up to creepy, and here's why! This guy, in reality, is athlete and actor Ademar Da Silva, and why wouldn't you want a guy like Ademar chasing you through the streets of Rio? Well, if he looks just a little muscular it's because he won the Gold Medal in the Triple Jump at The Olympics in 1952 AND 1956! He also at one point held seven world records! Not the kind of guy you'd want chasing you!

There's no screwing around here, these people know how to party!!!

Death just hangs back and watches! That's the other creepy part, because everybody's in costume, nobody, not even Death, is suspected of being a little weird!

This pretty much says it all, "Black Orpheus" will make your head spin!

It's not just Death, it's a slow, torturous, purposeful Death, and he just keeps getting creepier!

In a nutshell,  when it's over, this is what life's all about, just one long vacant corridor!!

If there is any hope in the world, it rests with the children!

The music used throughout "Black Orpheus" was composed by two of Brazil's many musical geniuses, Luiz Bonfá, and Antonio Carlos Jobim! Three years later, Vince Guaraldi would have a massive hit with his "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" single, "Cast Your Fate To The Wind!" All of Dave Brubeck's music is very cool, and Dollar Brand's "Cape Town Fringe" is understated brilliance, but "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" is one of the coolest from the first time you heard it to the last time you heard it, and will be forever!

THE LUCIFER COMPLEX / James Flocker Enterprises - 1978

It's Nazi Clone Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a little flick starring Robert (TEENAGE CAVE MAN) Vaughn, Merrie Lynn (LOVE AT FIRST BITE) Ross, Keenan (LASERBLAST) Wynn and Aldo (PSYCHIC KILLER) Ray in a 1976 production never released to theaters, going directly to TV in 1978! Above is the un-exciting original VHS box art. David L. Hewitt is a writer/director for this effort, we remember David's directing in MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY, THE WIZARD OF MARS, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME, GALLERY OF HORROR and THE MIGHTY GORGA.

Eegah!! sent over a rockin' little soundclip from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to our atomic powered clone contraption, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THE LUCIFER COMPLEX!

The story starts with a dude wandering through the mountains who stumbles onto an underground bunker (that still works) where he reviews a number of laser discs that tell the history of war. When he checks out the sixties disc about the Viet Nam war and the protests, he watches hippies playing music at a happening, as heard in the soundclip.

Robert Vaughn plays Glen Manning, an agent that gets captured by a group of modern Nazis after he ejects from his disabled jet. There was also Glenn Manning in THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST.

Glen sneaks out of his room and goes exploring the compound. He finds this room full of people in capsules, the clone thing is starting to make sense. Bottom photo shows Glen saving gal pal April from going under the Nazi scalpel!

April is treated brutally by the Nazi Bitch as Aldo just stands there. That's the name in the credits... Nazi Bitch!

Glen locates an American Sherman tank and ends up blowing the crap out of the compound and the freakin' Nazis as they scramble!!

Then, it's time to meet Hitler's evil clone and hear his new plan for world conquest 2.0!

He turns a death ray on his own henchman and blows a hole in his ugly face!!

Keenan is the American who's also part of the conspiracy, Glen and April watch as Keenan (he has no name in the credits) dies in front of them.

The guy watching the discs notices that there's another Keenan now! I'll let you figure this part out, it should be pretty easy! The wandering guy leaves and continues wandering... Tune in Wednesday for Eegah!!