PHARAOH'S CURSE - "It Came From The Dead" (1957)

  It's time for another Saturday Night Special down in The Dungeon, and a classic little 66 minute movie from 1957 called "Pharaoh's Curse."

Eleven years later, and finally, the curse has been lifted, and boy, do I feel good about it!

 I did a very short write up on "Pharaoh's Curse" back in 2008, because the only DVD we could find back then malfunctioned, so I only got to watch a few minutes of it.
These days though it's a different story, and all you lucky people can just watch it any time you want to for free on the amazing Mr.YouTube!
And I just found out, that if you've got an Amazon account, they have a much better copy streaming there too!

 Here's a shot to prove the authenticity of the location of this film just in case you think it looks like Death Valley, California anywhere along the line!

Cute couple! Too bad she's got a husband!
That's Diane ( The Invisible Boy) Brewster and Mark (Hot Cars, Hot Shots) Dana!
Diane's character has followed her no good husband into the hot desert to inform him that she wants a divorce!

The exotic Ziva Rodann is the Cat Goddess. This was only Ziva's second film and she was credited as Ziva Shapir. Ziva was the go to girl if you needed somebody for a role that was dark and mysterious in the 50's and 60's like Nefertiti in the "Batman" TV series.

Jewelry like this is usually a dead giveaway, literally!

  There's really not a whole lot going on here, so they have Diane Brewster's character get stung by a scorpion!

"Pharaoh's Curse" was directed by Lee "Roll Em" Sholem who was notorious for no nonsense quick shoots, and I'm sure working out in the desert, everybody appreciated his style!

It made me wonder if The Beatles were a big fan of this movie, as the Doctor looks at this inscription on the sarcophagus, and utters the words that he believes to be sage advice,
"Let It Be!"

"Pharaoh's Curse" is kind of a takeoff on the regular old mummy story, except for one thing, there's no mummy out walking around!

Looks like Santa Monica to me!

In the wrong place at the wrong time, the Cat Goddess's brother Numar gets the Dorian Gray treatment!
Alvaro Guillot was in only two movies and one TV show, but he had a much more interesting life as a member of the "New Surrealist School" of painting!

Alvaro was a personal friend of Salvador Dali and was known for paintings like this brilliant piece!
 Here's a link to a website dedicated to the man!

So there's no mummy......................

...........Just this crusty, dusty old fart!

This guy's so old and slow just like a mummy, that his arm comes right off when it gets pulled on, and yet the stupid people can't seem to get away from him! That's what has always bugged me about mummies!

"Okay, Fess up! I know that you know what's up!"

Dude is still out wandering around, walking around in circles!

Dumb Diane, they told her to stay in the tent, but No..........!

Is it him? Is it her? How did it get back in the box and get the mask back on?  There's many unanswered questions, but there won't be a sequel, since there wasn't much of a story to begin with!

THE END
is always more pertinent and final when it's a shot of a bunch of mule's and horse's asses!

This lobby card includes almost the whole outstanding cast including Mark Dana and Ziva Rodann, George N.(The Three Stooges In Orbit) Neise, Ben (Three Episodes of The Twilight Zone & Three Episodes of The Outer Limits) Wright, Guy (The Unearthly, Queen Of Outer Space, The Hypnotic Eye) Prescott, and Robert (The Bottle Imp) Fortin!
"Pharaoh's Curse" might not be the most exciting movie ever made, but with this array of talent, you can't hardly go wrong!

GLASS TRAP / There's No Escape - 2005

In today's tale, scientists have created genetically altered giant ants in a bizarre experiment which backfires terribly and the big old bugs go on a killing rampage. Survivors barricade themselves in a skyscraper in an attempt to avoid them, but, that's no guarantee of safety. This one was directed by cult horror guru, Fred Olen Ray.

It stars C. Thomas (E. T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL) Howell, Stella (THE SILENCERS) Stevens, Siri (MY BROTHER THE PIG) Baruc, Brent (THE BAD PACK) Huff, Chick (THE TERROR WITHIN II) Vennera, Andrew (CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD) Prine, Peter (DINOSAUR ISLAND) Spellos and Martin (SAVAGES) Kove.

The story starts when there has been a person horribly killed at a nursery. An FDA agent shows up to figure out what in the Hell has happened to him.

Meanwhile at the Glass Trap high rise, well, the security guard's watching the Roger Corman classic, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, directed by our Dungeon Pal, Bernie Kowalski.

The critters are already in the drain pipes inside the building, and, they're getting hungry!

And, the things are even causing electrical problems with the computers.

The giant ants have gotten into the inside of the building and they start attacking the people. Luckily, they kill one of the creatures and save the head for further inspection...

So, if you shine a light on a problem, it will bite you on the ass, or maybe your face!

Anyway, after a marathon of escapes to the top of the building, Stella gets dragged back into the slaughter house..... STELLA!!

The survivors use a zip line to get off the high rise, the sexy girls were having a photo shoot on top of the building and both make it to safety... Thank you Lord!

Corrigan and his men take over the operation, they have a timer on barrels of pesticide.

It goes boom and the big old ants take a nose dive!

Corrigan shows his trophy after he stomps on its head! The movie ends with all the victims that made it out of the place picking up all the pieces... You'd better check in tomorrow for something very special Eegah!! has in store for us!!

DUNGEON POCKET-SIZED COVER GIRLS From the 1950's

Tonight I've got for you an assortment of covers from various 1950's Pocket Magazines that featured 1950's actresses that rocked our world at one point or another!

Most pocket sized magazines were 5 1/2" tall by 4 1/4" wide, and came out weekly. Some of them were news worthy and some of them were pretty sleazy. Amazingly, they didn't normally have any advertising in them. The name pocket sized comes from the fact that they were literally made for men to be able to slip them into their pocket, so they could catch up on information as the week went on, kinda like cell phones today!

All these magazines are from my personal collection!

There is no order, but the magnificent Mara Corday is a real good place to start!

Mara was in three of our favorite movies, "Tarantula," "The Giant Claw," and "The Black Scorpion," and this cover reminds me how much I need to go back and watch all three of them again!

When she was thirteen, Terry Moore was in "A-Haunting We Will Go" with Laurel and Hardy, and when she was twenty, she was Jill Young in "Mighty Joe Young," and she is currently working in three films! What a gal! In the 70's, she claimed that she was a secret wife of Howard Hugh's after the billionaire had passed away, and I have no reason to doubt her!

Terry was also in the two very crazy films, "The Great Rupert" and "A Man Called Dagger."

The amazing Ava Gardner was in more than a couple of great flicks like "The Killers" in 1946, and "Earthquake," in 1974!

Martha Hyer was in so many great movies like "Riders To The Stars," and "Pyro...The Thing Without A Face," but my favorite film of hers is "House Of 1,000 Dolls."

Lilli, Lilli, Lilli! 

We love Lilli Palmer for her roles in films like "Chamber Of Horrors," "Only The Cool," and "Murders In The Rue Morgue." 

This cover picture doesn't really do her beauty justice! 

I do not believe that Linda Darnell is capable of taking a bad photo. She's just that pretty! Linda was in "Hangover Square," with Laird Cregar, and "It Happened Tomorrow." It was such a shame that she died at the age of 41.

Sheree North was in "Destination Inner Space," and with Elvis, John Carradine, and Vincent Price in "The Trouble With Girls."
(Just for the record, that's not a crappy scan, that's how blurry the cover actually is.)

The always intoxicating Mamie Van Doren has had one incredible career that as included such Dungeon classics as
"The Big Operator,"
"The Navy Vs. The Night Monsters,"
"Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet,"
"The Girl In Black Stockings," 
"The Beat Generation,"
and "Girls Guns, And Gangsters!" 

Here's three easy reasons to fall in love with Ruth Roman! 

In 1956 she was in Hitchcock's classic "Strangers On A Train."  In 1963, she was in "The Outer Limits" episode called "Moonstone." In 1974  she was in a film titled "Impulse" with William Shatner as a major weirdo and loser!

Mala Powers looks amazingly gorgeous on the cover of this Tempo magazine!

 Mala was also in an awesome assortment of movies like "City Beneath The Sea," with Suzan Ball, or

"The Unknown Terror," or

"Doomsday Machine," or

"The Colossus Of New York!" 

Abbe Lane is the only one here that we've never written about before, but we will some day, because she was in an Italian movie in 1960 titled "Il Mio Amico Jekyll," or "My Friend, Dr. Jekyll," and she was also in the 1983 "Twilight Zone" movie in the "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet" segment!
Sure gives me something to look forward to!

And back where we started from, here's another great cover featuring Mara Corday! It just doesn't get much better than that!

Mara Corday is now 89 years old,  Abbe Lane will  be 87 this year, Mamie Van Doren is 88, and Terry Moore is now 90!

 The rest have all passed away but I think the world is a pretty fortunate place to still have those four around! Thanks!

RAMAR OF THE JUNGLE / "The Crocodile God Of Kaa" Season 2 Episode 17 - 1954

In this TV jungle adventure from 1954, the brutal Crocodile cult of Kaa is kidnapping villagers and threatening to sacrifice them if a ransom is not paid! The cultists have superhuman strength, and Dr. Reynolds (Ramar) sets out to discover the source of their power, destroy the cult and rescue the villagers...

It stars Jon (MONSTER FROM THE SURF) Hall, Ray (ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER) Montgomery, Victor (DOC SAVAGE, THE MAN OF BRONZE) Millan, Edgar (SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES) Barrier, Steve (PHANTOM FROM SPACE) Acton and Alfredo (MY FAVORITE SPY) Santos.

Dr. Reynolds and his pal Professor Howard Ogden are running some experiments in their jungle lab. They're working away, when...

Their helper, Zahir, brings one of the local villagers to tell his story about how his wife was kidnapped by the Crocodile cult and will be sacrificed because he could not pay the ransom to save her! So, Dr. Reynolds and Professor Ogden go into the jungle and rescue the man's wife.

The Maharajah calls for Ramar and Howard to visit him. He wants to talk about the Crocodile cult and all the problems they are causing in that area, our heroes agree to help out...

The jungle is full of those Crocodile cultists, they're keeping tabs on the good guys.

The villagers are being attacked by crocodiles and must fight them to survive!

Then, one of the cultists, high on the special liquid, attacks Ramar and starts squeezing the life out of him! Howard hits the maniac in the skull with his gun three before it knocks him out! Ramar heads back to the camp but the dude wakes up and captures Howard!

Ramar has discovered the source of the cultist's power and makes something to counteract it. He then hears that Howard has been captured, so, he goes to the village of the cultists to confront them. He does some hoodoo to confuse the bad guys as he talks to Howard about the situation...

And, he has Zahir pour his counteracting fluid into the crazies' urn of power ade...

The leader and Ramar square off to see who's the most powerful. After the big lug tosses Ramar around, his power seems to have diminished and he drinks almost all of the contaminated liquid...

After another round, Ramar cleans the leader's clock and all the cultists run away while being chased by Ramar's men, bringing an end to the cult of the Crocodile God... Amen!

In the fifties, all these kids' shows had a good laugh at the end, like this one... Tune in Wednesday when we're back with more cool junk, just for you!