MAN FROM THE SOUTH - Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960)

 

This is just one of the many Alfred Hitchcock paperbacks I've had in my library since High School, so I guess it's about time we paid a little tribute to the man!

I watched a movie on Netflix not long ago from 1995 called "Four Rooms" that was a series of four vignettes in a hotel, and the trials and tribulations of the bellhop dealing with all the outrageous scenarios, and the last one was directed by Quentin Tarantino. They kept referencing an Alfred Hitchcock movie that starred Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre, and I was like, I've never heard of this movie! I did some searching and found out it wasn't a movie, but an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the year 1960!

There are only five guys in history named Alfred worthy of mentioning in this abbreviated format! Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred Nobel, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Weird Alfred Yankovic, and Alfred E. Neuman!

I can't remember exactly where I found this right now, but I think it was on Youtube!  This was season 5, episode 15! Netflix only streams the first three seasons for some reasons!

Las Vegas, vintage 1960 style, when Bingo still ruled, and the strip was just a pipe dream!

Hit it Mac!!

This is a bizarre little tale indeed! Imagine Steve McQueen as the same kid that was in "The Blob," two years later, after recovering from that bad scene, and now just another hard luck Charlie down on his luck in Vegas!

Neile Adams is his down and out counterpart! They both need some luck in their life!

If it appears that Steve and Neile's characters get along perfectly, it's because in real life they were man and wife at this point in their careers! Cute couple!

These two hit it off, and seem to be getting along famously when......................

.........Suddenly Peter Lorre shows up and makes Steve McQueen an offer, a challenge, a bet as it were!! Two of my favorite actors together! What a great surprise for me!

Peter will give Steve the keys to his brand new car if he can flip and light his Zippo lighter 10 times in a row! It's just that simple!

"And what's the catch?" Well, if he tries and fails, then Peter gets to chop off his little finger! Even back then, 'what ever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!'

So they all go up to Peter's room with Tyler (Attack Of The Giant Leeches) McVey, a guy they also met in the bar, trailing along as the witness to this whole sordid affair! Peter gets his meat cleaver ready!

The way Peter has got Steve's hand all tied down, you get the feeling he's done this before!!

ONE......................!

..............NINE!!!!!

Just in the nick of..., Katherine (The Rocket, The Veil, Mike Hammer, Johnny Midnight) Squire as Peter's wife bursts onto the scene, and completely interrupts Peter's little fun game!

She explains to the rest of the group that he's played this stupid game before, and that the car is not ever his, it's hers, so if you win the bet, you still lose, because he has nothing! It appears that Peter is totally whipped!

But the closing shot shows that despite her authoritarian presence, she has also played the game before and came out on the losing end! I'm figuring there must be a lot of solo digits laying around Vegas somewhere! It would make for a good scavenger hunt!!

Unless my luck changes, I'll be back on Saturday with more from the ultimate Master of the Macabre! Until then, "I'll be lurking for you......"

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE / Academy Pictures Corp. - 1973

It's Monday HELL with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This is our 1900th post since we started this awesome blog, and, we ain't even finished with our pile of wild 'n' weird movies for you! Today, I'm going to feature another horror flick starring the great Roddy McDowall as the ghost chaser Benjamin Fischer, filmed on location in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. He's part of a research team consisting of him, a physicist and his wife, and, a young female psychic who's the sole survivor from a previous visit to the notorious Hell House.

Eegah!! sent over a creepy sound clip from this flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our demonic statuette, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE!

Here's the team on their way to spend some time in the very mysterious Hell House...

Once inside, they seem to feel an ominous presence lurking in the shadows. That's Clive (THE HEADLESS GHOST) Revill as Dr. Barrett, Clive has a very respectable 176 acting credits!

They hook up the psychic, Florence, played by Pamela (THE INNOCENTS) Franklin, to see if she can contact a spirit. They're recording the whole thing on a tape recorder.

Then, at dinner, the spirit shows up to shake the crap out of the table and nearly electrocutes the doctor! The doc makes it to a wall to get away from the debris and a huge freaking mirror falls on him!.. Daaang!

While exploring the depths of the place, they come across this poor soul that died while being chained up to a wall!

Things get interesting when the doctor's wife, Ann, played by Gayle (THE WILD ANGELS) Hunnicutt, tries to put the make on Benjamin while being possessed, and, the doc is watching from a balcony!

The evil spirit then has sex with Florence in her bed, making her a little loco in the cabeza! Florence will die soon thereafter...

The doctor orders a machine to measure the electro-magnetic presence of the spirit.

The dial pegs out and blows up in the face of the doctor as all Hell breaks out!

Benjamin has come to the conclusion that this room has the answers to puzzle, him and Ann are the only survivors now!

After some terrifying events they find an entrance to a room. There, they find the dead owner of the house, Emeric Belasco, the cause of all the death and destruction. Benjamin cuts the pants leg to show that Belasco was only half a man! Dungeon hero Michael Gough plays the evil Belasco in an uncredited role.

We're back on Wednesday with more fun from Eegah!!

FRIGHT NIGHT - J. Geils Band - "For Real" (1985)

 Halloween might be over, but as you well know, the horror never stops down in The Dungeon! So tonight I'm going somewhere that I'm usually too scared to go, the year 1985, and a fun little flick called..........

"FRIGHT NIGHT!!!"

 "Fright Night" is almost two hours long and is filled with frightening eye candy, and I've had to reduce it down to 20 pictures and two minutes! It was a daunting task! Although it doesn't sound much like it to me, the title song was performed by the J. Geils Band! The entire soundtrack is great with tunes by April Wine, White Sister, Devo, Ian Hunter, Sparks, Brad Feidel, Autograph, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Bert Kaempfert, and  the Fabulous Fontaines! Good freakin' luck finding a copy on vinyl or cd! The movie itself streams on Netflix!

There's no time to dilly dally around, so let's just cut to the chase! I've said it before, the really good thing about 80's and newer movies is that most of the people who made them are still alive! This is William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster in only his second film outing. William had his own TV series from 1991 to 1994 called "Herman's Head!" He has been a staple on TV ever since! Charley has just casually noticed some nasty going-ons through the bedroom window of his new neighbor!

That's it! It's on! He's been spotted, and Charley's troubles are just about to go full throttle!

Oh, shit!!!

Chris Sarandon is the especially evil Jerry Dandrige! I could tell you many things about Chris, but all you really need to know is that he is the voice of Jack Skellington!!

The always entertaining Roddy (Planet Of The Apes) McDowall is everybody's hero, the vampire killer Peter Vincent! Too bad his talents are only in the movies! Despite the hopes of everyone around him, in real life, he's a sniveling coward!
 

Charley's best friend is nicknamed Evil Ed, but it was just supposed to be a joke and not rise to this level. Evil Ed is played by Stephen Geoffreys who has had a very strange career going from "976-EVIL," to off Broadway, to a stint in the 90's in gay hardcore flicks like "Butt Blazer," and "Cock Pit!"  After taking a few years off after that, Stephen currently has at least four films in either pre or post-production!

When the wolf's eyes turn red, it's time for the fun to really get started!

Jerry Dandrige's best buddy, and all around evil bastard Billy Cole is played by Jonathan Stark, who probably never has to work another day in his life after creating and writing 182 episodes of the very popular TV series, "According To Jim" that ran for eight years 2001 to 2009!

When it comes down to the final play, the undead Billy Cole turns out to be just another dead wimp!

The big stained glass window in Jerry's house is used to good extent over and over!

Literally, all Hell starts breaking out!!

From "All My Children" to "Married With Children," Amanda Bearse as Charley's girlfriend Amy turned eternally evil has never looked sexier!!

I can just imagine Peg/Gemma saying, 'My Gawd Marcy, you need to brush more often, even Al's breath isn't that bad!' Just in case you don't know, Amanda was Marcy in a stunning run of 10 years from 1987 to 1997 on "Married With Children!"

Evil, Evil, Live, Evil, light good, light bad, depending on which side you're on!

And just about when it looks like Evil is going to persevere......

Hell No!! Die Scum OF The Earth!

Nothing like a good horror host ending! "Be sure and return on Monday when Tabonga! will rise again!"