THE ASPHYX / aka SPIRIT OF THE DEAD - 1972

Wow, here's one brutal British flick that'll flip your lid, it's all about a Victorian English country squire, Sir Hugo Cunningham, who searches for the source of immortality by using his machine to 'bottle up' the spirit of the terrifying... Asphyx!

The Asphyx is the grim reaper in Greek mythology.

It stars Robert Stephens as Sir Hugo Cunningham, Robert Powell as Giles Cunningham, Jane Lapotaire as Christina Cunningham, Ralph Arliss as Clive Cunningham and Alex Scott as friend Sir Edward Barrett.

Sir Hugo and friends are giving a lecture to the parapsychological society where they show slides of what they believe are photos (taken by a special camera he built) of the human spirit leaving the body at the time of death, as shown with this man. The audience is amazed as to what they have just witnessed.

Sir Hugo loves his camera, he's out filming his fiance and his son in a boat but the whole thing ends in disaster as both drown after the boat capsizes.

Still in mourning, Hugo and his ward, Giles Cunningham, open Clive's coffin to photograph him to see if there's any trace of his soul still present. It's not.

So, next, Sir Hugo wants to film a public hanging and use a special spotlight ray to actually see the thing's image. The crowd goes bananas as they can hear the screeching of the spirit too...

By the way, the guy was innocent, the authorities try and stop the hanging but it's too late!!

Hugo finally figures out that the thing is not a soul but an entity that appears at the time of death, better known as 'the Grim Reaper!' Here, he and Giles capture the Asphyx of their guinea pig that is near death. After the capture, the guinea pig is now immortal...

Sir Hugo is a nut case, he wants to become immortal now (without even considering what could possibly go wrong) by restraining himself in an electric chair that he has control over the amount of electricity he receives.

Giles needs the help of another person to pull off the event and gets Hugo's daughter (and his fiance) Christina to operate the beam to pull the spirit into a special coffin for capture.

Giles and Christina take the coffin down into the cellar where it'll rest for eternity!!

Giles and Christina want to wed but Hugo says that only if they both agree to become immortal!!.. Christina is outraged but after daddy spills out his heart, her and Giles agree...

Holy freaking Hell man, they decide to set Christina up to be decapitated (while Giles makes sure not to drop the blade all the way down) in an attempt to lure out her Asphyx for capture. Sounds great on paper, right!..

No, that's insane!! Here's what happens... Yeah yeah, spoiler alert, BFD!.. Okay, so as Sir Hugo is working the beam, something crucial breaks on the machine and panic ensues. Giles needs to assist the crazy man, he 'drops everything' and rushes to his side. OOPS!!! Christina cannot be brought back to life now since she's been decapitated!!

Giles tries to choke out Hugo but he reminds his young ward that he cannot die!

Giles goes a little whacko and wants to attempt/fake his death inside an enclosure with deadly gas. It's all a ruse though, Giles can't go on without Christina and brings down the house with one tiny match!!

Sir Hugo survives the explosion only to grab his little immortal friend and head off into the future... The ending was totally unnecessary as far as I'm concerned.

Here's a better pic of what the ghastly thing actually looks like. And like, tune in again Wednesday when Eegah!! tightens the screws a little tighter, here at The Dungeon!!..

STRANGE REPORT - Episode 01 - "Report 5055 - CULT - Murder Shrieks Out" (1969)

This week's Saturday Night Special is a strange one! 

Once again, Thanx to Lord Litter in Berlin for pointing this one out to me!

"Strange Report" was a 1960's British TV show about a criminologist named Adam Strange that was on for one season of sixteen episodes from 1969 to 1970!

The first episode was titled "Report 5055 - CULT - Murder Shrieks Out" and involves a brotherly but murderous cult called The Cypress Fund that gets donations of goods from all over the world, but are siphoning off a large portion of it for their own nefarious and greedy means!

The star of the show is Anthony (A Study In Terror) Quayle as Adam Strange!

Born in Lithuania, Kaz (Humanoids From The Deep) Garas is Adam Strange's assistant Hamlyn Gynt. I'm not sure who has got the stranger name, the actor or the character!

Anneke (Dr Who, The Avengers) Wills is the lovely Evelyn McClean, a talented artist who lives next door to Adam Strange!

Look to the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's a helicopter flying into the Cypress Fund's compound with their beloved leader on board!

The leader of The Cypress Fund is Ray (The Avengers) McAnally as Lars.

Flying in with Lars are the musical spirit of the organization, the demure Pamela (Necromancy) Franklin as Maggie, and Christopher (What's Up Superdoc?) Mitchell as guitar player and singer Jay Brand.

You've just really got to hear this pure pop pablum if nothing else.......

.....And you can doing that by watching about the first 2 1/2 minutes of this video where they perform a song that must be called something like, "A World Of Love!"
Or you can watch the whole show if you want!

There's one big problem with this world of love though.........

................Somebody has rewired Jay's guitar, and he gets electrocuted right on the spot!

Strange and Maggie have got some history together, so he volunteers to help her find out what happened to Jay Brand.

Evelyn shows that she has some real style!

Strange and Gynt are on the case!

Evelyn spends the night with Maggie to make her feel more safe and comfortable, and Maggie shares some pictures like this one of her and Jay Brand in happier times!

They also look through a scrapbook of Maggie's photographs that will later help Strange figure it all out!

This is the swingin' sixties flat that Maggie lives in!

Actually, the whole show is eye candy like this cool record player!

Strange seeks help from the big boys!

How's that for bigger than life?

He has a few trials, but eventually Adam Strange will get it all figured out.

Personally, I'm hoping I can find some time to watch the other fifteen episodes now!

MERRIE MELODIES / "Drip-Along Daffy" - 1951

So, I can't think of anything better than some laffs... Today I gots one of my favorite cartoons from the amazing Chuck Jones and my favorite toon writer, Michael Maltese. Him and Chuck made the best cartoons for years, what a great team they made!!

The story begins in the old west, Daffy and Porky are riding through countryside and eventually come upon the lawless town of Snake-Bite Center. Hey, just a few miles down the road from The Dungeon is a small place called Pumpkin Center! For reals!!

Daffy and Porky check out the town's population statistics...

It's time for a new Sheriff, and it has Daffy's name written all over it!

First thing he does is go to the saloon to order a sarsaparilla...

Daffy knows the place is full of law breakers so he draws his guns to show them all that he's not fooling around!

I love this wanted poster, a five million dollar reward (DEAD)!

Of course, Nasty arrives and freakin' Daffy gets in his face!! Nasty sez.. Let's have a drink!

He tells the bartender.. The usual.

Nasty gets his drink and downs it, all that happens is, his hat does a flip and lands back on his head, that's it. Okay, now it's Daffy's turn!

Daffy does some quick thinking and offers the drink to Porky, who downs it and says it's good.

Daffy then demands his drink and chugs it down...

After reciting 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' in unison, Daffy and Porky walk around like crazy wound up toys. Then, out of nowhere, Daffy's guns go off, perforating the floor of which he naturally falls through. Funny as Hell...

So, there's going to be a shootout between Daffy and Nasty. As Nasty passes by, Porky winds up a toy he whittled and puts it on the ground...

Nasty sees it and picks it up. While laughing at the tiny toy rifle, it goes off in his face and he's down for the count. And the townspeople pronounce Porky the new Sheriff!

So, Daffy said that he was going to clean up this one-horse town!

And Porky says... He's lucky it's a one-horse town!.. See you tomorrow when Eegah!! spreads the insanity, here at The Dungeon!!..