COSMIC JOURNEY / Mosfilm, Soviet Union - 1936

Welcome to 2016 at The Dungeon!.. "Kosmicheskii Reis" (original name of this silent movie) was first shown in Soviet theaters in January, 1936, it's a fairly realistic journey to the Moon, made in the early days of special effects. Scientist Pavel Sedikh, impatient with the restrictions of the Soviet space institute in Moscow, builds his own spacecraft, and, accompanied by a female astronaut and a boy, embarks on the first trip to the Moon.

I have a wild musical sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our Moon Goon ride, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here are some moments from... COSMIC JOURNEY!

This walk around shot of the rocket being constructed on this giant miniature set is amazing, it takes a few minutes to complete and is definitely worth the price of admission!

And now, it's time to hit the old stardust trail. Using a huge long ramp, like what George Pal used in WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, the crew speeds away into the night sky.

A shot of the rocket's control center, notice the freaking steering wheel there!

In 1936, this is the face of the future!..

This shot shows the space travelers in compartments filled with water for the take off, that way, the G-force will have no effect on them, which is true. When I worked at a special effects studio (that did work for NASA) in 1992, one of our supervisors (a Navy Seal) told me that in order to fly some of our top secret aeronautic projects, the pilots would have to be placed in compartments filled with water in order to withstand the quick moves and turns. My supervisor wasn't into BS and was referring to flying saucers.

When I was kid, I loved this kind of viewport design, and, still do.

The scientists on Earth are keeping an eye on the event using their giant telescopes!

Okay, the dude said to take a right at the asteroid, then, a quick left at the comet tail... I hope that 3-eyed weirdo knows what the deuce he's talking about, I'm starving!

Looks like walking in Moon shoes is a little awkward. But, what the Hell, lets go for a walk.

What would a Moon adventure be if there weren't any perils?!.. A big pile of crap, that's what!

The top shot looks like a cover to a vintage science fiction pulp magazine. Pulp magazines were the thing back then, especially in the 1930s. The bottom scene reminds me of how my imagination works.

Moscow, we gots a problem!..

Anyway, the crew makes it back to Earth and get a tickertape parade for their bravery and success!.. Makes me wonder what Eegah!! is getting ready for us tomorrow, so, see you then!

Q - Larry Cohen - "The Winged Serpent" (1982)

So.... Out with the old and in with the older! Good-bye 2015, Hello 1982!

This is obviously the beginning of The End!

I used to watch "Q" in the late 80's on the boob tube, probably on USA Network if I had to guess, since I can't quite remember anymore, and I don't know exactly why, but I always liked this stupid movie! Let's see if we can figure it out!
Try these two minutes on for size!

Maybe "Q" is a cult classic! I don't know, I don't have time to look into stuff like that, but if it isn't, then it damn well should be! 

Detective partners Richard (SHAFT) Roundtree and David (Kung Fu) Carradine might give you a clue as to why!

"Q" is pretty gory! They go from skinning this bird in a restaurant to skinning a human in a hotel room!

The guys in the background of that skinning scene are thieves talking about their upcoming job! The odd man in the trio is big time loser Jimmy Quinn as portrayed by Michael Moriarty!

Mal-adjusted, misinformed, and misunderstood, Jimmy Quinn is supposed to be the getaway driver in an upcoming jewelry heist, but when he is forced to go inside, it doesn't go well at all! Michael Moriarty is what makes this movie work!

Meanwhile people on the rooftops of buildings in the city keep disappearing one by one!

Shades of "Bloodfreak," it's Chicken Boy!

Have you ever been shit on by a pigeon or an owl flying overhead? Well that's nothing compared to blood dropping from out of the skies!

I ain't no big city slicker, so I had no idea that there was a jewelry store named Neil Diamonds!

I thought he only wrote songs!

Look to the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane! No, it's a big winged serpent ready to eat your ass, and bite your head off!

Nobody ever sees the serpent because it uses the sun as a block, and nobody knows where it comes from or goes to except Jimmy Quinn when he stumbles onto the nest while he's trying to hide after the botched stickup! Jimmy's scared of everything except heights!

A high rise construction worker gets picked off at lunch time!

David Carradine needs a lot of cigarettes and an issue of Playboy to try and figure out this whole Quetzalcoatl thing!

I love Candy (The Man Who Fell To Earth) Clark as Jimmy Quinn's frustrated lover!

I never could figure out whether "Q" was intended to be a comedy, or if it just turned out that way, like in the scenes with the white face undercover cop and the black detective!

It's pretty hard to get a good shot of the monster, he's on and off camera so fast for the vast majority of the film! This isn't too bad!!

Just like Chicken Boy, there's other shots of big bird imagery in the city to help the viewer understand how this could all be happening!

Outside of Japan, most filmmakers had given up on making monster movies by the 1980's, so I give writer, director, producer Larry Cohen and his cronies a lot of kudos in that department!

One of the losers in the final shootout!

50,000 rounds later, the giant winged serpent is just a memory!

 Uh, Oh! There was more than one nest!

 I don't understand how these things work, but for some reason you can watch "Q" unencumbered on YouTube! What can I say? That's a fantastic deal!
Happy Freakin' Nuke Year!!!

LA SENORA MUERTE aka MADAME DEATH / Filmica Vergara S.A. - 1969

Since Xmas is over, I can review whatever I want, so, here's a cool Mexican flick starring John Carradine and sultry Regina Torne in a story about a mad scientist that teams up with an evil, disfigured woman to kidnap and operate on young women in order to make her beautiful again.

John Carradine was really an amazing guy. The intro in the sound clip is actually him speaking in Spanish, I've included it so you can hear how fluent he was in the language!

I have a wild sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our sharpened kitchen knives, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a little sample from... LA SENORA MUERTE!

If you ever wanted to see sexy Regina run around naked, like me, well, this is definitely the movie for you, only $6 plus shipping on Amazon!..... GO!!

Anyway, her husband has a stroke so she seeks out the local mad scientist, Dr. Favel.

The doctor tricks wifey Marlene into helping with the experiment, aided by his little buddy! Shades of ASTRO ZOMBIES made the following year.

Well, let's just say things don't turn out too bueno for Marlene...

She's actually being double crossed by Dr. Favel, she must now seek out women to kill so that she can remain normal, while the doc can continue on with his experiments.

Here are two stills that I find quite interesting, I'd like to have a raven for my pad too.

No matter what Marlene does, the bad skin keeps returning, making her nearly insane...

As evident in this scene where she chases a young chica through the good old mannequin storage room with a big knife, the fun never ends!

The doc spills the beans to Marlene and while trying one last time to help her, the machine blows the Hell up! Tune in Wednesday for our last post of 2015...