MAX HEADROOM - "Your Body - Be Glad You Have One" (1985)

The man of the hour on this Weird Ass Wednesday was the man of the year in 1987, Max Headroom! The movie titled "Max Headroom," came out in 1985, and was later edited and became the pilot episode for the TV show of the same name.

Max Headroom is quite fascinating on a number of different levels!

Not wanting to get too carried away, it's set "20 minutes into the future!"

So here's what's so interesting! Home computing is still not a thing to any degree in 1985, so all the computer looking graphics are...............analog!

In 1975, a 24 year old man by the name of Steven Sasson working for Kodak, invented the first digital camera. It was patented in 1978, but commercial digital photography was still years away!

This is Matt (Dr. Aldous Leekie in Orphan Black) Frewer as investigative reporter Edison Carter! Matt also plays the so-called computer generated Max Headroom!

This is the problem the network is facing! Some TV ads target sloth-like humans!

The ads blow out their guts, and in a matter of seconds, they completely explode! The world is already super overpopulated, so it's really no big deal, but it is bad P.R. for the television network!

I understand that this scene of a Blipvert in action was cut when it aired as a TV show!

The Mastermind behind the whole Blipvert revolution is a 14 year old kid named Bryce Lynch! In this scene, he's telling the Board of Directors how the whole thing is going to work!

Bryce controls everything from the comfort of his bath tub, and a disgustingly gross computer! Bryce Lane was played by Paul Spurrier, who stopped acting in 2005, and has since spent his time successfully writing, directing and producing movies in Thailand!

Ever wonder how Max Headroom got his name? Edison Carter was fleeing on a motorcycle in a parking garage, and this sign saying what the maximum clearance was, was the last thing he saw!

For me the best part of the story is that since they didn't have the technology to really create Max Headroom.........

Latex and foam prosthetic makeup that took four and a half hours to put on was what they had to do! None of it was computer animated! Even the back grounds were hand drawn!

Max Headroom was born to die, and in the space of a couple of years, and a couple of music videos, he basically disappeared as fast as his star had risen, but for us true believers, he'll always be an influence on our life, just like Bob!

There have been a couple of resurgences of Max on Bravo, and SyFy TV, in the mid 90's, but basically, when home computers started becoming commonplace, the fake computer generated Max Headroom had no where else to go, except away! He was way too much work anyway!

Max's personality is said to be based on the character of wise-crackin' Ted Baxter on the 1970's smash series "Mary Tyler Moore." And here's the last word from the man himself  "I know I'm impossible, I have my ups and downs, forgive Me, of course you will, I'm so good to have around, True genius must have it's flaw you see, I'm rumbustious, I'm devil-may-care, I'm just-swagger-Me!"
 Thanx Max, Bon Ton Roulet!!

SOME COOL MOVIE And TV MONSTER MODELS

I'm ending my month of posts with another look at some very cool monster models from films and TV... It's amazing how much time and talent was put into the creation of these beautiful pieces, WOW!!

First up is the wild looking FRANKENSTEIN monster from Edison's silent movie, the detail on this figure is just freaking amazing!!

Next we gots the exotic Xenomorph space creature from Universal Studio's IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE.

Check out this great model from MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, that's a wild looking Neanderthal figure that includes the giant dragonfly and prehistoric fish that causes all the trouble! Saw this fun movie at the theater in 1958.

Eegah!! and I saw this crazy flick when when it came out, we absolutely loved THE MANSTER, it was 73 minutes of intense creepiness from beginning to end!!

We also got to see this incredible George Pal production at the theater in 1960, man, THE TIME MACHINE had it all, a great blend horror and science fiction!

I almost crapped myself when I came across this truly incredible model from THE CREEPING TERROR! Damn, the creature actually looks half way terrifying!! Nice piece...

Now we switch over to four excellent monsters from THE OUTER LIMITS! Here's a nice close up of one of "The Zanti Misfits" from the first season... Man, what kind of thing from Hell is that?! This episode stars the great Bruce Dern...

Then we have this mind boggling creature from "The Architects Of Fear" episode, starring Dungeon hero, Robert Culp!!

Check out this super weird creature from "The Mice" episode. Man, what were they smoking when they came up with this 'out there' thing?!!

We'll end with this fantastic creature from "The Invisible Enemy" starring Adam West. Wow, that's extra creepy!! So, Eegah!! will be here on Wednesday with our last post for January!

THE VAULT OF HORROR - "Below The Crypt Lies Death's Waiting-Room" (1973)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is called "The Vault Of Horror" and like it's predecessor, "Tales From The Crypt," it's based on E.C. comics! These vignettes are written by Al Feldstein, and William M. Gaines!

The short story format of comics is perfect for an anthology of tales like this!

 They do a pretty fair job, but it's hard to compete with the original in the sicko department!

"The Vault Of Horror" is a movie about five guys trapped in a room together with a bunch of booze, and stories about their worst nightmares!

The first tale features Daniel (Warlords Of The Deep) Massey, and is titled............

.........."Midnight Mess!" 

He seems to have found himself in a vampire restaurant, and he's the main course!

The next bad dream is called "The Neat Job," and features the always marvelous Terry-Thomas as the most anal retentive OCD asshole on the planet!

But you have to admit that he's got a pretty damn cool bar!

The lovable Glynis (Lady Penelope Peasoup) Johns is the unfortunate wife who can't do anything right! I love that checkered ashtray!

She finally manges to put something in the right place!

(Now this shot in pure E.C.)

Next up is "This Trick'll Kill You" featuring Curd (Circus Of Love, Prisoners Of Love) Jürgens as a scheming magician and his equally greedy wife as played by Dawn (The Vampire Lovers) Addams.

Of course he kills the snake charmer and just like in "Cult Of The Cobra" .........

.........Somebody has to pay the price!

This would be a great postcard from Transylvania!

The fourth story called "Bargain In Death" features Michael (Mysterious Island) Craig as a man with a plan to fake his death and get buried alive to collect insurance money that fails, and a couple of shout outs to E.C. comics too!

The last nightmare titled "Drawn And Quartered" stars Tom (Dr. Who) Baker as a tortured Gauguinish artiste!

It seems that what he paints comes true!

Well, you probably saw that coming!!

This just seemed like the prefect place to end it, so while we're having a pensive moment, just in case you ever wondered, I'd just like to tell anybody who leaves comments, I know it's annoying, but even we have to prove we're not robots!

Thanx for tuning in!

THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE / Dramatic Imagery, Filmworks - 2010

Here's a British movie with lots of cheesy puppets, the story's about a group of teens challenged to spend a night in the old Wagner Mansion on the edge of town. But of course, little do they know the owner has concocted a monstrosity in the basement! This is a production by the super multi-talented (has 18 different categories of movie production credits!) Dustin Mills and his puppet gang.

The puppet characters are sloppy and goofy, which translates into fun to watch...

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is where this punk wench runs around topless!

The owner of the mansion has one of the tricks he's playing on the teens backfire on him, making for a big mess to clean up!

Eventually, the monster in the basement escapes from the mansion and the military police hit the scene with their guns cocked and ready to fire...

But, when it comes to the monster stealing food, well, gramps and the kid take the law into their own hands!

Ultimately, they bring in the Army tanks to deal with the puppet monster... Who will win?!

Check in tomorrow when we'll have another Saturday special for you, here, at The Dungeon!!