HOLD THAT GHOST / Universal Pictures - 1941

It's time for some Abbott and Costello with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. The story's about two service station attendants who become the sole beneficiaries in a gangster's will. When they go to claim their fortune, they become stranded in a haunted house along with three other travelling partners.

Eegah!! sent over a little soundclip with the theme and then Ted Lewis doing one of his songs, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the floating candle, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... HOLD THAT GHOST!

Blogger is still goofy and some of the photos are tinted sepia again, so solly Chollie...

Ted Lewis does one of his famous tunes with his dancing shadow, as heard in the soundclip.

It wouldn't be an Abbott (Chuck) and Costello (Ferdie) flick if there wasn't some of this stuff happening, Ferdie's driving of course. It always flips my lid a bit when I see these shots of cars without their dashboard!

Before he dies, gangster Sidney 'Moose' Matson hands his last will and testament to Ferdie.

Here are Ferdie and fellow traveller, Camille, played by comedian Joan Davis, meeting for the first time in front of the taxi!

Young Richard Carlson plays travelling companion Doctor Jackson and good old Shemp Howard plays, what else, the Soda Jerk!

Since the taxi driver drove away and left them stranded on a stormy night, Ferdie and Camille have a little fun in Chuck and Ferdie's new place. Evelyn Ankers plays the fifth member of the group, Norma, and, the doctor's love interest.

The room changes and Ferdie starts to lay down on a gambling table instead of the bed!

What do you think happens when Ferdie tries to tell Chuck about the strange things going on?

Nice shot of Camille being followed by a 'ghost' as she descends the stairs...

Here's the famous moving candles routine they reused in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.

Ferdie finds Moose Matson's fortune in, you got it, a moose's head!!

Then, the place is crawling with all the other people trying to find the loot!!

I threw this lobby card in at the end because it's, like... WTF?!!

Check in on Wednesday when Eegah!! will offer up something wild 'n' weird for us!

REPULSION - Chico Hamilton - Gábor Szabó - Roman Polanski - Catherine Deneuve (1965)

Okay, you didn't ask for it, so you're damn sure gonna get it! Tonight's Saturday Night Special comes from the deep, dank, and dark torture room of The Dungeon, and is rightfully titled "REPULSION!"

"REPULSION!"  It just has a happy ring to it, don't you agree? It's also a masterful mess of rancid eye candy chock full of talent from controversial Director Roman Polanski to beautiful diminutive starlet Catherine Deneuve! And to think, this movie is just a small footnote in what could also be known as "The Strange Life Of Roman Polanski!"

IF you like movies about beautiful but insane women, then "REPULSION" is the movie for you! Catherine Deneuve puts in a nail biting and almost solo performance as crazy Carol! I'm guessing that about 71 1/2% of the film is just Catherine, and with Polanski at the helm, I would imagine there are stories to be told about the making of this film!

"REPULSION" offers the viewer lots of questions, and not a lot of answers!

I'm talkin' about questions like why this still is sepia toned and why shouldn't every beautiful girl in the world have a perfect life even if they're nuttier than a fruitcake!

This is Carol's Sister Helen as played by Yvonne (THE MUMMY) Furneaux, and Ian (TALES FROM THE CRYPT) Hendry, as her asshole boyfriend Michael! Helen and Michael are going on a little trip and they're leaving Carol behind to take care of the apartment!

Well, I don't know, everything seems okay, Carol's going to listen to some music created by two classic cats in the world of jazz, percussionist Chico Hamilton, and guitarist Gábor Szabó! It makes for a very fine blend!

Then, everything goes South for Carol as quickly as a flea's fart, and it gets darker, and darker! She loses her job at the beauty salon, and her whole life turns into one big brown material highway!

In two separate scenes this trio of street urchin spoon folk musicians take command of the shot! I'm sure I'm supposed to read deep meaning into this, but since I don't know what meaning deep is, it's lost on me except for the fact that it's pretty weird! Even weirder, I'm pretty sure that the spoon player with his back to you is Roman Polanski himself!

John (A Study In Terror) Fraser as Colin, is a real dumb ass, and his drinking buddies are even more annoying, even to him! For some unexplained reason, he thinks that he is Carol's boyfriend, but she doesn't see it that way because for whatever reason, she is genuinely lost in the ozone!

Every so often in Carol's life, something cracks, a street or a wall, and the cracks just keep getting bigger! Now I'm no Aristotle, so I'm not even going to suggest that I know what the Hell is going on, but I really think if you distill it down to it's purest form, it's as simple as the fact that Carol is completely and totally, screaming yellow zonkers!!! Like Gonzo!!

This just might be the best shot ever of somebody watching wrasslin' on the tube!!

Carol is not eating, damn sure not cleaning, and she's not sleeping much either! The rabbit her Sister was going to cook before she left is still sitting out and starting to stink, and Carol is sinking farther and further from reality!

Even though they never really had a relationship, Colin is so worried about Carol, he breaks down the door to her flat, and then acts like they are just having a lover's quarrel as one of Carol's neighbors peers in through the open door!

Colin is oblivious to the fact that Carol is completely gone; maybe the fact that she hasn't uttered a word to him lately should have tipped him off! He was either so lovestruck or so completely stupid that I guess he deserves to get his brains beat in with a candlestick! Dumbass never saw it coming!

Jeez, what next? The landlord shows up, and demands to be let it!

To any normal person, Carol is obviously mad as a hatter, but to the landlord, she is sexy as Hell, and he offers her free rent if she will just give him some special attention!

The bathtub is getting pretty full of bloody dead bodies!

Other than the fact that Carol was raped by her Sister's boyfriend Michael, there are no excuses given for Carol's state of mental distress! She's just a freakin' train wreck!

When Helen and Michael arrive back home, the whole apartment is in disarray, it doesn't smell very good either and Carol...................

The neighbors all show up to view that one last WTF happened here moment! Four years later Roman Polanski's life would change forever when his beautiful wife Sharon Tate was slaughtered by the Manson clan! The weirdest thing is, I'll bet they never even knew this movie existed!

~ THE FANTASTIC UNIVERSAL MONSTER RUN From 1953-60 ~

It's Fantastic Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. I've been thinking about this post for awhile, showcasing the Universal Monster Run from 1953-60. I am not including the Abbott and Costello movies because they're comedies or MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES, a drama. Nope, just the monster flicks in the order of their release! There are 16 of them, so, sit back and enjoy the eye candy, because, Universal had some of the best posters.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE - 1953 / First, there's this classic sci-fi story featuring the cyclops Xenomorph monster! It's interesting to notice how many of the actors were reused in other productions.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - 1954 / This is the most famous fifties Universal monster, without a doubt! The Creature was designed by Miss Millicent Patrick, who also created the Xenomorph and Metaluna Mutant... Wow, what a lady!!

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE - 1955 / John Agar came onboard for this one, the Creature was back with a vengence! Clint Eastwood has a small part as John's lab assistant.

CULT OF THE COBRA - 1955 / Here's one I think Eegah!! saw at the show back then, Faith Domergue plays the mysterious Cobra Lady.

THIS ISLAND EARTH - 1955 / This was Universal's only color production during the making of these movies, taking an exhaustive 2-1/2 years to complete!

TARANTULA - 1955 / Agar is back in the best of the fifties giant bug flicks! Saw this one with THE WEREWOLF, potent stuff for a kid back then!

THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US - 1956 / Morrow and Reason are back for more with The Creature, where, they try to change him into a more human kind of monster! Rarely seen flick, Amazon has only 3 copies available on DVD.

THE MOLE PEOPLE - 1956 / Another great Universal monster, this time the masks were designed by Jack Kevan, who also worked on THE WIZARD OF OZ, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES and MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN - 1957 / I saw this one at the theater, what I remember most was Grant Williams in the radio active fog at the beginning and feeling totally lost at the end.

THE DEADLY MANTIS - 1957 / Another movie I saw with my neighbors at the show, lots of amazing stuff to remember about this big bug flick. The bus attacked by the Mantis in the fog happened just 75 miles from where we were, in Fresno, kind of a shout out to us.

THE LAND UNKNOWN - 1957 / Saw this one too, it was very claustrophobic! Jock Mahoney and Shawn Smith step in for this prehistoric, fog ridden adventure.

THE MONOLITH MONSTERS - 1957 / This was the fourth Universal Monster Movie I saw in 1957 at the age of 9, my dad took me to see it, he loved science fiction. The Monolith Monsters were absolutely amazing when they were growing!!

THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE - 1958 / Saw this one, very low budget by Universal standards. It was okay, best part was the head in the hat box.

MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS - 1958 / This little horror flick kicked royal butt! Luckily, I got to also catch this one at the movies, my favorite part was with the giant dragonfly!

CURSE OF THE UNDEAD - 1959 / Saw this vampire western at the time, don't remember much about it. Universal seemed to be losing power with its horror and science fiction films.

THE LEECH WOMAN - 1960 / Well, here's the last movie on my list, Grant Williams is brought back to finish off a great run of amazing movies from the Universal studios!

Catch us again tomorrow when Eegah!! will be up to no good as usual!