THE MONSTERS OF PAUL BLAISDELL - Part 2

Welcome back for Part 2 of the amazing work of Paul Blaisdell. Part 1 focused on all his major creations, now, we'll take a look at the other work in his portfolio...

Paul's first monster was a rubber puppet for the Corman production of THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES in 1955. Although the posters for the movie were some of the best ever conceived, the movie itself didn't even come close in delivering the goods. This movie always reminded me of a story by Al Feldstein in EC's WEIRD SCIENCE Comic from around 1953.

Paul came up with a totally unique flying insect umbrella alien for Corman's NOT OF THIS EARTH in 1957. Lucky me, I saw this one with my neighbors at the theater when it was released, back when kids would walk 5 miles to the show and back with no complaints.

Again in 1957, Paul played the part of a corpse in Corman's THE UNDEAD (Eegah!! had the 1-sheet). They even threw in his little bat things from IT CONQUERED THE WORLD.

1957 was a very busy year for Paul. Bert I. Gordon had him construct the giant needle used to inject Glenn in THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. I'm pretty sure Paul and wife Jackie also made the miniature furniture and food props.

Paul also had small acting parts in these two 1957 JD flicks for Alex Gordon.

In 1958 Herman Cohen used Paul's personal collection of masks and heads in the climax for HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER. The priceless pieces were burned without the knowledge or permission of Paul, needless to say it was one dirty trick played on him. Burn in Hell Herman Cohen, you sorry sack of shit...

Paul was back with Bert Gordon in 1958 for EARTH vs. THE SPIDER, another one I saw at the time. Paul created the shriveled up motorcycle cop, a victim of The Spider.

Also in 1958 him and Jackie worked on ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (saw this one too) where they created some of the props and designs.

Then, Paul helped Roger Corman out again with the construction of the Beastman creature for TEENAGE CAVEMAN in 1959. It looks like parts of the monster from NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST were used in the making of this thing.

Columbia reused the costume from IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE for the aliens in INVISIBLE INVADERS in 1959, but, this time they're white.

Paul then created the horror magazine FANTASTIC MONSTERS OF THE FILMS in 1962 and included Devil's Workshop where he showed you how to make your own little monsters!!

Paul was only 55 when he died in 1983, he lived out the years after his movie career as a carpenter in the friendly little community of Topanga Canyon.

THE ONE EYED SOLDIERS - "The Most Deadly Plot Ever Snatched From The Minds Of Evil!" (1966)

Welcome to another rousing round of Weirdsville Wednesday down in The Dungeon! Tonight's presentation is a perfect example of why some movies are so doggone hard to find! From the title I expected a cool army of cyclops monsters, but no such luck!

Honestly, if I had to come up with a one word description for "The One Eyed Soldiers," it probably would be WEIRD, but this time, that's not necessarily a good thing! "The One Eyed Soldiers" is basically just one very long chase scene!

I caught these two guys walking out before the movie even started!

The star of "The One Eyed Soldiers" is veteran cowboy TV actor Dale Robertson! Early in his career, Dale also played Sinbad in "Son Of Sinbad!" I'm not quite sure what he's doing in this movie, but he's supposed to be a journalist on a trip to a central European country called Nassaum, but I think the writers meant Nauseam!

Dale's female interest is Luciana Paluzzi as the daughter of the man who knows the secret of the one eyed soldiers! How's this for an assortment of credits? Luciana was in "Muscle Beach Party," "Thunderball," and "The Green Slime!"

Guy Deghy is a fellow known as The Fat Man! As you can see, he had the ability to take up the whole screen! Among other things, Guy was also in "The Mouse That Roared," "The Mouse On The Moon," and "Devil Doll!"

The big man in charge of the bad guys is Mile Avramovic as the evil dwarf also known as "The Twisted Shape Of Death!" He's got a serious 'little man' complex! Mile was only in one other film, a 1983 movie titled "How I Was Systematically Destroyed By An Idiot!"

Andrew (Jason And The Argonauts) Faulds has the role of Colonel Ferrer, and he's out to catch this fat man!

When the Colonel spots a fat woman on a bicycle crossing a bridge, he just knows that it's the guy he's looking for, so he goes as far as exposing her to prove it, but she actually is a woman also played by Guy Deghy! I told you it was weird!

There's so much odd stuff happening in this film that you're not sure if it's a comedy or not, like this scene where Guy gets bit by an empty suit of armor!

The evil dwarf and Luciana come face to face, and she scratches his face good!

I think he was going to poke her eyes out, but he couldn't reach her without a stool!

To show you how evil he is, the dwarf mingles with a bunch of masked kids in a parade! 

When you need to hide, you can't ever go wrong by hiding in a prostitute's room! Prostitutes are loyal, they'll never rat you out to the authorities!

Luciana won't give it up, so the dwarf resorts to other methods of obtaining information!

Here's one of the soldiers, so what's the big deal? He's got two eyes!

But then Luciana reveals, that if you get up on this little platform, and look down on the statues at  just the right angle, it looks like they only have one eye! Bingo!

There's a key hidden in the wall in a direct line with the statue's eyes that will open the lock to the millions of dollars everyone is so concerned about!

The final showdown is between the evil dwarf with a machine gun.........

................and the fat man's best buddy, a mute with no ears! The mute was played by Mirko (The Last Mission Of Demolitions Man Cloud) Boman!
If that's not weird enough for you, then take a listen to this short clip of music from the movie, and try to understand why they're playing circus music for the ending credits!

DUNGEON POST #2000 / THE MONSTERS OF PAUL BLAISDELL - Part 1

Hello everbloody, welcome to a special 2000th post celebrating our awesome fan site... And, what better way than to focus on the amazing work of Dungeon God, Mr. Paul Blaisdell. This time I'll present all his full-sized creatures, on Friday, I'll focus on the other elements of his work in Hollywood. So, sit back and enjoy the show!..

Forry Ackerman was very impressed with Paul's work in the early fifties and became his agent, opening the door for him in movies, another reason to adore Forry. So, his first full-sized costume was for the 1955 Corman classic, DAY THE WORLD ENDED, which he wore himself.

Next came his wild looking Venusian cucumber monster, named Beulah by Paul, in another Corman production from 1956, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD. Paul also piloted the monster.

His most complex monster came in the form of THE SHE-CREATURE later in 1956, Paul wearing her too. Paul rigged the claws on her stomach to move like pinchers but director Edward Cahn told him not to use that effect as it would be too intense for the audience. That's pretty funny considering the things you see in the coming years! Paul referred to the claws as "lunch hooks."

Paul also wore the VOODOO WOMAN costume in this hard to find 1957 movie. What gets me about this one is its eyes! They are almost bug-like and really creepy, love that blond wig too.

They had to bring in the little guys (including Angelo Rossitto) to wear the main costumes in INVASION OF THE SAUCER-MEN, also from 1957. Plus, Paul even wore a costume for close ups and did the crawling hand effects! Again, what classic monsters, wow!!! I used the best still I could find to showcase their eeriness. Awesome British poster to boot!!

Allied Artists asked Paul to design a jungle tree monster named TABONGA for their 1957 movie, FROM HELL IT CAME. My favorite part is when the thing is lumbering down a long path chasing two natives.

Then, Allied Artists asked Paul to design the monster for IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE in 1958. Paul brought the costume in for the first day of shooting but when the actor, Crash Corrigan, tried to put it on, it was too small for his large head and Paul had to take it back to his workshop and redo it. And, that's why you see Corrigan's big nose in the creature's shadow at the beginning of the movie when it enters the ship's hold because he's not wearing one!

Alas, this is Paul's last monster costume used in 1959 for THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW, where he actually plays himself as a disgruntled Hollywood quantity.

So, we'll see you again on Friday when I bring you part 2 of Paul's story. But, don't forget to show up on Wednesday when Eegah!! drops in from the big old void!

ORPHAN BLACK - Season One (2013)

Anyone who reads this blog knows we're deeply rooted in the past, sometimes to the point of being out of touch with what's happening currently! I've been watching "Orphan Black," the first season on Amazon for the last week or two, and I'm here to tell you that I think it's every bit as good as "Breaking Bad," and probably better than "The Walking Dead!" This poster is some anonymous fan art that really hits the nail on the head!

If you're up to date on BBC TV, you probably wonder why I'm talking about this show since it's been on for two years now, and just starting it's third season, and the reason is, not everybody knows everything all the time, and if I can turn one person onto this show, then I will feel like I've accomplished something, it's that good, and besides, I need a freakin' break, and I still need to watch season two myself!!

29 year old Canadian Tatiana Maslany is a most talented actress! She already has 51 acting credits to her name, and that doesn't include the multiple roles she is able to play in just one production like this!

"Orphan Black" is a show about clones, and in the first season, Tatiana plays at least seven different characters, a street urchin, a police detective, a soccer Mom, a brainiac, a German girl, a beyond krazy girl, and a snooty rich evil businesswoman! She's so good, you actually forget it's her playing all the roles!

Jordan Gavaris plays the gay foster brother Felix, and is almost equally amazing even though he's only playing one character! The rest of the cast is fleshed out by an awesome array of talent too!

So that's it, if you watch "Orphan Black" already, then you know how good it is, if you don't, then you've got some fun catching up to do! Now, it's time for me to go back into the past! I've got a 1920's murder mystery party to go to tonight! If I'm not the victim, then I'll be back on Wednesday with more movie madness!