Monday, September 14, 2015

HORROR ISLAND / Universal Pictures - 1941

I'll start off the week with this fun little horror comedy from Universal about a down-on-his luck businessman and his pals who organizes an excursion to Sir Henry Morgan's Island for a treasure hunt but encounter a mysterious phantom there instead.

I have a sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our secret wall panel, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a little sample from... HORROR ISLAND!

Here are the good guys, that's Dick (THE MUMMY'S TOMB) Foran in the center, Fuzzy (JUKE GIRL) Knight on the left and Leo (GHOST CATCHERS) Carrillo on the right.

Dick and Fuzzy get things ready for their treasure hunt on Sir Henry Morgan's Island.

They run an ad in the newspaper and send Leo out to sell, sell, sell some tickets...

Dick pilots the Skiddoo to the island and lets the people off while making a pass at the pretty girl, Peggy (THE MUMMY'S HAND) Moran, who made the trip.

They all enter the mansion and try and find their way inside the darkly lit rooms.

Fuzzy finds and tests out a spooky voice generator!.. A little weird.

Then, the phantom gets into the act and threatens Peggy as she prepares for bed... Woo-Woo!!

This poor guy wakes up next to a skull and does a triple take!

The bad guy (not the Phantom) presents himself.

He thinks by putting a coin in the slot that the door to the hidden treasure will open, but, that hammer comes down and strikes him in the head instead!!

Our guys finally get their hands on the booty only to find the chest empty, then, the Phantom, who's really the ghost of Sir Henry Morgan, gets the last laugh!!.. We're back on Wednesday.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

THE WRECKING CREW - Mack David and Frank De Vol - "House Of 7 Joys" (1968)

"The Wrecking Crew" was the final installment of four Matt Helm films! The others being "The Silencers," "Murderers' Row," and "The Ambushers!" 
Welcome to another hot time Saturday night down in The Dungeon! Mix yourself up an ice cold dry martini or pour yourself a glass of Scotch, and let's get down to some not so serious business!

The star of "The Wrecking Crew" is the man himself, Mr. Cool, aka Dino Martin!

The co-stars are a bevy of beauties that will make any fan of the 60's feel like they found the pot of gold at the end of the corporate psychedelic rainbow!

"The Wrecking Crew" was probably my least favourite of the quartet, but is still a fun watch for a number of reasons! Without a doubt, "The Wrecking Crew" is a farce, and if you try to take it seriously, you'll be sorely disappointed! You just have to enjoy it for what it is, simplistically stupid, but a joy to enjoy!

That's a lot of gold bullion, and it's on a train that's about to get hijacked!

Now THAT is a cool phone! It only calls one very important place, so it doesn't need a dial!

Yet another bombshell who didn't even get top billing was Tina (Gilligan's Island) Louise!
Enjoying Tina's dance is Nigel (The Skull, Jason and the Argonauts, The Face of Fu ManChu) Green as supreme leader Count Massimo Contini, aka: the man who stole the gold!

Classy Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang will probably always be remembered most for her very first two movie classics, "The World Of Suzie Wong," and "Flower Drum Song!" 

So Tina Louise was Ginger on 98 episodes of "Gilligan's Island" starring Bob Denver, and Bob Denver's gig previous to "Gilligan's Island" was "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis" as Maynard, and just what was Maynard's classic line when someone spoke to him? 
That's right, it was "You Rang?!" Are you starting to see a pattern here?

The next gorgeous gal in this feature was Sharon Tate as Freya Carlson, Matt Helm's unwanted clown escort! Surely everybody knows the shocking true story about Director Roman Polowski's wife Sharon Tate who was brutally murdered by the Manson clan! If you don't, Google it!

Poor Dean, he has rendezvous with four of the best looking women in Hollywood at the time, and unlike James Bond, his suave character doesn't even ever score once!

Business is pleasure, but something like a bomb always wrecks all the fun!

Excellent shot of the two beauties Elke Sommer and Sharon Tate together! Elke has the role of Count Massimo Contini's girlfriend Linka Karensky!

A lot of the fight scenes have an obvious stunt man filling in for Dino, but in  the closeups, he's kicking ass himself!

Freya finally lets down her hair, and ditches the clown costume for something a little more appealing to Matt Helm!

She also does a little dance that just possibly might be the best part of the movie!

 At least Matt Helm gets to drive a cool Lincoln Continental instead of a station wagon in this movie! Here he is pulling up to that world famous dive, the House of 7 Joys which is celebrated in the theme song written by Mack David and Frank De Vol! This movie has a lot of eye candy in it, and I could have chosen a lot more pictures, but that's exactly the reason we've chosen to limit ourselves, otherwise, these things would go on forever!

Just in case you never watch this film, you need to know that Matt Helm had all the components to put this helicopter together in the trunk of his car in two large suitcases!

Visually, a lot of "The Wrecking Crew" is green screen city!

There were plans to have Sharon Tate and Dean Martin reunite for a fifth Matt Helm feature
 called "The Ravagers," but Dean refused to continue on with the series after the horrible murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson family, which all adds up to making "The Wrecking Crew" one of the silliest but saddest films of all time!
So that's the last of the Matt Helm films in The Dungeon Library, and now that I see that this 4 DVD set is selling online for a minimum of about $45.00, I guess it's time for my copy to vamanos too!

Friday, September 11, 2015

THE FOG / Revolution Studios - 2005

As weird as it's been around here at Tabonga's place lately, this is just perfect. Number 1... How in the Hell was I supposed to even know that they remade THE FOG?!!.. Who cares?!! So, I'm done with the sound clip and getting the stills when I realized, where in the heck are freakin' Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis? Then it dawned on me, this isn't the DVD I ordered on Amazon 7 months ago and never watched until now and can't get my money back because the time limit for a refund has passed and the dummies sent me the wrong version!!

Good news is that there are some nice stills for you to enjoy, this is actually a decent flick about four ghost sailors drowned in 1871 that have arisen to take back their territory.

I've got a sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our creepy fog bank, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a spooky little sample from... THE FOG!

Here's an opening shot of the lighthouse at Antonio Island, just off the coast of Oregon and where our foggy tale takes place...

Something's pulling this fishing boat's anchor and creating havoc for the crew... Oh crap, grab the beers before they go over the side!

Nothing more beautiful than a good old grease fire...

Madge!.. MADGE!!.. You in there?

The hour is neigh and this ghostly dude is looking for trouble!

In town, the ghost causes all the glass in the building to shatter and fly through the air.

The church pastor gets caught up in the terror as glass shards swirl around him!

Then, they start flying into and through him. This is one terrifying, gruesome scene!

This guy catches on fire after opening that there book!

It's actually a love story as the ghost lays one on the oldest woman in town, she's been waiting for him!! Gimme a break!!! So, we're back tomorrow with more cool junk!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??