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!

EVENT HORIZON / Golar Productions, Impact Pictures - 1997

Welp, here we go with Thanksgiving Week at The Dungeon. Today, I gots a tasty feast for your eyes from the year 2047, when a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage parts of the lost star ship, the Event Horizon. The ship had disappeared mysteriously seven years earlier on its maiden voyage, but, with its unsuspected return there are even more questions about the mystery as the crew of the Lewis and Clark ship discover the real truth behind its disappearance and something even more terrifying... Boo-Wah!!

The flick stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill and Kathleen Quinlan and caused quite a buzz when it was released, being compared to a host of other productions, and, the movie bombed at the box office.

Here are the crew of the star ship, Lewis and Clark, as they head out on their deadly voyage into the void, They are sealed in liquid to prevent themselves from being crushed by the extreme gravity forces.

In deep space, everything is just fine with the crew as they talk about their mission...

Finally, they find the Event Horizon and close in on the mystery ship, time to get inside and see what the Hell happened to the crew!

Upon boarding the Event Horizon, the crew finds evidence of a massacre! As they search for any survivors, the ship's gravity drive automatically activates and one of the crew members is briefly pulled into a portal. When pulled out, he's in a catatonic state and seems to be terrified by whatever he saw there. The activation of the gravity drive causes a shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark, forcing the entire crew to board the Event Horizon!

Then, things start getting weird... Err, I mean, Extra Weird!! Just see for yourself...

Hallucinations and nightmares take over the minds of the crew members!

It's deduced that the ship's gravity drive opened a gateway into a dimension outside the known universe and that this Hellish dimension turned the Event Horizon into a Devilish being that torments occupants and lures them back to Hell!

So, have a Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful that you didn't take a trip on the... EVENT HORIZON!! Come back Wednesday as I'm sure Eegah!! will have a tasty treat for us, til then...

ANNO 2020 - I GLADIATORI DEL FUTURO - "2020 - Texas Gladiators" (1982)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a film I found for free on the Internet Archive called

 "2020 - Texas Gladiators!"

It's pretty much a giant piece of fecal matter, so let's just flush it, and see what happens!

"2020 - Texas Gladiators" is a 1982 Italian vision of what a post apocalyptic, post Trump Texas of the future is going to look and be like, and it's not a pretty picture, by any means!

The world has gone nuts, and while that wasn't too hard to figure out, I'm pretty sure the worst part of the future is going to be the music, if this soundtrack by Italian composer Carlo Maria (Touch Of Death, Shocking Dark, Deep Blood, Body Puzzle) Cordio) is any indication!

Here's just a couple of minutes to get you in the mood!

It's a world so horrible that nuns cut their own throats instead of fighting back!

A world where you get crap like this on your bicycle tire!!

At least the oil fields are a lot more colorful place than they are today!!!

The whole world has already gone up in flames, so I don't know why you would need a smoke alarm!

There's a weird juxtaposition between elements of the past and of the future!!

Here's a super-duper cardboard car of the future!

So, what do you think? Is this the look of the future?

Or is this the look of the future?

'2000'

'2019'

'2020'

 '2033'
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see a pattern!!!

 If I was you, I'd just watch "BrainDead" instead!
You'll get a lot more bang for your buck!