DRACULA - "Horror Of Dracula" (1958)

Just like this poster, tonight's Saturday Night Special is a classic! The original title was "Dracula" but most people know it as U. S. title, "Horror Of Dracula!" Sometimes, I don't think "Horror Of Dracula" gets the respect it deserves, because it's a remake, or essentially a cover tune! There were earlier vampire movies, but Bela Lugosi was the first "Dracula" back in 1931. Sure, there were other vampire and Dracula movies after that, and before this, but "Horror Of Dracula" was the first real reincarnation of the character in a completely different sense!

So what in the Hell am I talking about? This Dracula some 27 years after Bela's classic portrayal besides being evil, is really mean-spirited! He's younger and sexier, he's a loner that no longer needs a little buddy like Igor who eats bugs, and changing into a bat is beneath him!

This Dracula is just pissed off all the time!

In 1957, Hammer released "The Curse Of Frankenstein" starring Christopher Lee as the Frankenstein monster, and in 1958, Christopher Lee was starring in "Horror Of Dracula" as Dracula! Somehow Chris had literally taken away the crown worn for a couple of decades by both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the course of just two years, and there was no turning back after that!

Pop Culture of the past 60 years or so has taken quite a hit in the movie and music industries the last couple of years! The world has lost people of an ilk that most likely will never repeat itself, but we've become so numb, and lost, that the talents of people like Christopher Lee, David Bowie, Prince, Leon Russell, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner and Signe Anderson, Maurice White, Dan Hicks, George Kennedy, George Martin, Frank Sinatra Jr., Patty Duke, Gato Barbieri, Merle Haggard, Lonnie Mack, Muhammad Ali, etc. etc., who we have just lost in the last year alone, will be nothing more than just names in some stupid trivia game in the not too distant future!!

Nice matte painting!

What you want to do, is not go down there!

So, who cleans up after Dracula, and why is this place so clean? It's disturbing!

Not too ominous, drinks are on the house!

And then this guy shows up!

As Reverend Tom Frost would say.........
"I'm gonna gitcha, gitcha, gitcha....."

"Aw Shee..it! This is exactly what I was trying to avoid!!"

And then Dracula gives out a little smirk.........!

The "Gilroy Garlic Festival" happens between July 28th and the 30th, and has been going on for some 38 years now! There have never been any known vampire sightings in the town of Gilroy, California for some reason!

Time for Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing to step in and take control of things! I'm counting five movies that Peter played Val Helsing in, and another 11 TV shows and movies where they used his footage in some archival form! It's gotta get kind of frustrating after you kill Dracula three or four times, and somehow that evil bastard always seems to make it back!

"Horror Of Dracula" has a great cast that includes Melissa (Crucible Of Terror) Stribling and the always intriguing Michael Gough! It looks like this was Michael's first role in a horror movie, but after this, he put it in high gear making dark films like "Horrors Of The Black Museum," "Konga," "Black Zoo," "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors," "The Skull," "Berserk," etc., etc. Speaking of dark, some 20+ years later Michael would be in four Dark Knight movies as Alfred Pennyworth! What an amazing career!

"Okay, I'll admit I'm a vampire, now would you quit using my forehead as a Crucifix Grill?"

There are some things that never change!

There is only one tried and true way to dispose of vampires, and that's the good olde fashioned wooden stake through the heart!

"You messed up my hair, and now you must die!!"
This is what Jerry Lee Lewis would have looked like if he was a vampire!

"Oh, God Damn, that really hurts!"

The music in "Horror Of Dracula" was written by Hammer workhorse James Bernard, and is just as Gothic and ominous as you would expect, and is the antithesis of why I started doing this blog in the first place, just like all the great Universal horror films, that's the reason it's taken me so long to get around to this fantastic film, but have no fear, because there will be lots more classic blasts from the past as long as there is a future!!

All these Amazing posters are just some of the images you can find at the spectacular Wrong Side Of The Art website! It's a great museum to hang out at if you've got some time to kill!

BEVERLY GARLAND - Her Horror & Sci-Fi Movies From 1953-69

Today's Friday, so, time to focus on another Scream Queen and the cool movies they starred in... Beverly Garland was born in Santa Cruz, California, she eventually studied dramatics under Anita Arliss, the sister of renowned stage and screen star George Arliss. She first acted in a small theater in Glendale, then, in Phoenix after her family relocated to Arizona. Beverly also worked in radio and appeared scantily clad in a few risqué shorts before making her feature film debut as a supporting part in D.O.A. in 1950. Her husbands include actor Richard (ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS) Garland and land developer, Fillmore Crank, who built the two hotels which bear her name! And, she is also the recipient of one of the entertainment industry's highest honors, receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983. One of my ex-girlfriends told me that Beverly and Richard used to meet at her place in the late fifties to work on their acting arts along with other actors!!

Beverly's first horror movie was THE NEANDERTHAL MAN in 1953, where she plays a curvaceous photogenic girlfriend. You can see her there in one of the bottom photos.

She appeared in the weird sci-fi comedy, THE ROCKET MAN, in 1954. Check out those stars... Charles Coburn, Spring Byington, Anne Francis, John Agar and George 'Foghorn' Winslow!

Beverly is a kick ass wife in this classic Corman production, which also stars one of Paul Blaisdell's greatest creations, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD in 1956. Although I missed this one when it came out, I remember seeing the creepy poster at the theater!

My dad took me to see CARUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON in 1956 when I was a big 8 years old. I seem to remember lots of green and big, sharp claws!

Saw NOT OF THIS EARTH in 1957, Beverly looked great in a bathing suit in the role of the doctor's assistant. I remember Blaisdell's Umbrella Monster the most, it was so eerie!!

I also saw THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE in 1959. I went with some older female cousins and they laughed at me when I covered my eyes during the 'scary' parts!

Then, she starred with Vincent Price in this AIP Poe classic, TWICE-TOLD TALES aka NIGHTS OF TERROR, in 1963. I think Eegah!! and I probably saw this one when it came out.

Lastly, Beverly had a small part in THE MAD ROOM in 1969. It's lousy posters like this that give Horror Movies a bad name!!

Now, here are a few nice photos of Beverly to enjoy...

Well end with this great shot of Bev... Tune in tomorrow for more from... The Dungeon!

THE BEASTIES - THANKSKILLING 3 - Special Holiday Double Feature!!

So......On this pre-evening of thanx, I've got a special Twofer for you, or for you hipper cats, it's a one time spectacular BOGO!

That's right, two for the price of one, so step up and indulge, cause these prices can't last forever!

The opening act is a fairly recent production having escaped from the looney bin in 2012!

I just have one question, with all the homeless and hungry people in the world, how in the gobble, gobble is there money to waste on turkey doo-doo like this??

It's obvious that the Producers of "Thankskilling 3" had some money! It's just the guy who decided what it was spent on who needed to have his head examined!

"Thankskilling 3" is 99 minutes long, and I'm sure it's somebody's favorite movie, but that somebody is just not me!
I barely made it through 8 1/2 minutes!
If you've got an Amazon Prime account, this turkey streams for free, but sometimes Free just ain't good enuf!!

 Now it's time for the main event! In the red corner fighting out of Fresno, California in 1991, it's a horribly delightful film, but yet a turkey, no doubt, called "BEASTIES!"

 "BEASTIES" obviously didn't have near the budget of "Thankskilling 3," but they made much better use of the cash that they managed to scrape together!

 In some kind of weird subliminal way, I think "Beasties," as bad as it might be, is the movie we really wanted to make when we made "The Creep!"
 Rubber monsters and rock music, two elements that go together like ham and cheese! 

 The name of the Goth band in the club, (an element I always wanted, but never got in our film) is "The Shroudettes," and they manage to keep on playing no matter how ridiculous the dialogue in the club is!

"The Shroudettes" morphed into a more popular band, after working their butts off for years, and shortening their name to "The Shroud!

 "The Shroudettes" look like a band that should have been featured on my cassette culture blog that I have totally ignored for the past few months! (But now that I'm re-settled, I'm going to get back on it, because believe it or not, there is still so much great music out there that so few have heard!)

So here's about a minute of so of "The Shroudettes" minus a lot of the absurd dialogue!

They didn't have Facebook back in 1991, so if you wanted to know about "The Shroudettes," or "The Shroud" you had to go out and get scorched like these gals!

I give Steven Paul Contreras a lot of credit for this film, and not just because he wrote, directed, and produced it, but for a one time effort, "BEASTIES" is every bit as bad as 90% of the stuff out there, or better!

"BEASTIES" is special and will one day get what it deserves!
What that is, is yet to be determined!

"BEASTIES" is without a doubt, a solid turkey of a film, but it's not really a bad movie, it's just that it's way too damn long at 83 minutes. That's a lot of filler, and one thing we did avoid with "The Creep," by keeping it right at about one hour!
The fact that the special edition DVD includes an extra 20 minutes of footage is more horrifying that anything else!
Give thanks for what you have!