SCANNERS / Canadian Film Development Corporation - 1981

Welp, here we go wif' another week of mayhem, here at The Dungeon!.. This is a movie by writer/director, David Cronenberg, VIDEODROME will be his next production. This story's about Darryl Revok, the most powerful of all the scanners is the head of the underground scanner movement for world domination! Scanners have awesome psychic power, strong enough to control minds and can inflict enormous pain and damage on their victims. Then, doctor Paul Ruth finds a scanner that Revok hasn't converted to their cause yet. He wants to use him to destroy the underground movement...

Here's our hero scanner, Cameron Vale, played by Stephen Lack. Unfortunately, he uses his power to torture this old biddy after he hears her talking trash about him at the food court.

He tries to get away but is sedated by some darts shot by some dudes chasing him! When he wakes up, he's strapped to a bed in an asylum... Having any fun yet?

A little later, Revok, played by the great Michael Ironside, uses his mind to blow this dude's head to pieces in front of the audience at a forum about mind control. The cops take him away, but, he escapes from the situation using his mental powers!

Here's the group of people trying to find a way to put the scanners out of business.

Cameron pays a visit to an artist to find out some info on the scanners. it doesn't end well when three of the bad guys show up and blow the place into pieces. But, Cameron uses his powers to kill the three of them, tot! That big head is interesting, the back side is open and there's a lounge area inside!

Heeey everbloody, join in... Do the scanner stomp... Do the scanner stomp, baby!

Revok fills Cameron in on his devious plan, lacing a health drink with scanner juice! Yeah, and, it's even good for babies, yow!

Well, that starts a big fight between good and evil, looks like it's gonna be pretty grim!

Things build to a crescendo before all Hell breaks loose...

It looks like Cameron has lost the battle and evil has won the day, but... He switches bodies with Revok and the tables are turned on the head scanner, game over, man.. Hurray!!

BEWITCHED - Season One, Episode One (1964)

Sometimes you don't see the wigglin' nose on your own face! "Bewitched" was one of my favourite 60's sitcoms. It had all the right elements, brains, beauty, badinage, and buffoonery. and that's hard to beat!

The star of the show was one of my all-time favourites, Elizabeth Montgomery! Elizabeth is Samantha Stephens, the cutest witch you'll ever see! Elizabeth was unfairly taken from us in 1995 at the age of 62, another victim of cancer!

Dick York was Darrin Stephens, Samantha's dull and naively unsuspecting husband!

In my world, there is only one James Bond, and that is Sean Connery, and in the same context, there is only one Darrin Stephens, and that was Dick York. not Dick Sargent, and not Will Ferrell! Sorry, that's just the way it is! Dick also passed away at the age of 62, but what got to him was emphysema!

This first episode of "Bewitched" aired on September 17, 1964!

The couple meet, fall in love, and get hitched! (All before Darrin finds out that Samantha is a witch!)

Samantha's Mother Endora is not happy that she is having a relationship with a mere mortal, and creates lots of problems because of it! The terribly annoying Endora is excellently played by the always awesome Agnes Moorehead!

Samantha tells her Mother that she loves Darrin, and she can't do anything about it!

Darrin and Samantha are on their honeymoon, so Endora makes Darrin disappear, and reappear in the Hotel lobby! He has no idea how he got there, so he goes to the desk to ask for his room key! He still hasn't met Endora, so when he gets back to the room, she does it to him again! He's getting kind of disoriented!

Samantha tries to put a spell on her Mother to make her go away.................

...........But her powers are no match to her Mother's, and they have no affect at all!!

Elizabeth Montgomery is just so darn cute, it was hard to watch her in a film like "The Legend Of Lizzie Borden" where she plays a totally deranged character!

Both Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery had previously been in "Twilight Zone" episodes!! He was actually in two, "The Purple Testament," and "A Penny For Your Thoughts," and she was in the episode titled simply "Two!"

When she finally confesses to him that she is a witch, he doesn't believe her, so she has to do a couple of simple tricks to prove her point like moving this ash tray around......

.........And making a drink appear in his hand!

Darrin goes to a bar to just be able to tell somebody/anybody his story, but this guy Dave is so caught up in his own world, he doesn't hear a word he's saying! Dave was played by Gene (That Darn Cat) Blakely!

Samantha has agreed to not using magic in order to save her marriage, until Darrin gets invited to a party thrown by his old girlfriend Sheila Sommers as played by sultry Nancy (Jason And The Argonauts) Kovack!

Everybody at the party is fawning over their perfect hostess Sheila, and at the dinner table, Samantha finally can't take it anymore. First, she starts off by messing up her perfectly coiffed hairdo!

Then she does this to her teeth......

.......Which is followed by strategically moving a soup bowl so that Sheila puts her elbow right in it!

Samantha can be pretty devious when she puts her mind to it!

For the big finale in the humbling of Sheila, she basically has her sneeze herself right out of her dress, followed by a bunch of strong wind to finish off the job!

Oh, Samantha, you bad girl!! 

"Who? Sweet little me?"
You can bet that Elizabeth will be on my next list of 25 favourite gals of TV and cinema!
That ought to give you something to look forward to!

COLOR ME BLOOD RED / Box Office Spectaculars - 1965

In order to fill in blanks of as many different movies as possible for our site, well, sometimes we have to get down in the blood, gore and gristle, like with our little vintage blood soaked offering today. The story's all about an eccentric artist who's panned by a well-known critic at his opening for not having a good color sense, so, he starts a new series using his own blood to paint. But, he's weakened from the blood loss and must find other sources of blood to continue his paintings! Makes me think of A BUCKET OF BLOOD.

I thought it'd be funny to use a b/w poster, then hit you with this very cool color title card!

The good old Farnsworth Galleries is where the drama begins. I love it when old folks dig abstract art, one of my fortes.

Here's our artistic maniac, Adam Sorg. After receiving blistering criticism for his crappy use of color, he decides to experiment with his own blood to give it some punch!

This is how I feel after a long day of art!!

Adam figures out a way to get some blood other than his own, so, he murders this model and drains her blood for use on his unfinished piece!.

Then, he gets high praise for his effort, now he's a genius, go figure!

What the Hell?!!..

His next piece is also a big hit, so, time for another bloody masterpiece, right?

Adam has a few demons that run the show now, you can see them at work in this close up.

If you're totally insane like Adam, an ax might seem like a good art tool to create some bright blood red pigment!! EC Comic's artist, Ghastly, hated the color red!

Anyway, Adam gets a shotgun blast to the face for his effort and goes down for the count!.. Hurray!! Check in tomorrow for more from... The Dungeon!