THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE / Academy Pictures Corp. - 1973

It's Monday HELL with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This is our 1900th post since we started this awesome blog, and, we ain't even finished with our pile of wild 'n' weird movies for you! Today, I'm going to feature another horror flick starring the great Roddy McDowall as the ghost chaser Benjamin Fischer, filmed on location in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. He's part of a research team consisting of him, a physicist and his wife, and, a young female psychic who's the sole survivor from a previous visit to the notorious Hell House.

Eegah!! sent over a creepy sound clip from this flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our demonic statuette, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE!

Here's the team on their way to spend some time in the very mysterious Hell House...

Once inside, they seem to feel an ominous presence lurking in the shadows. That's Clive (THE HEADLESS GHOST) Revill as Dr. Barrett, Clive has a very respectable 176 acting credits!

They hook up the psychic, Florence, played by Pamela (THE INNOCENTS) Franklin, to see if she can contact a spirit. They're recording the whole thing on a tape recorder.

Then, at dinner, the spirit shows up to shake the crap out of the table and nearly electrocutes the doctor! The doc makes it to a wall to get away from the debris and a huge freaking mirror falls on him!.. Daaang!

While exploring the depths of the place, they come across this poor soul that died while being chained up to a wall!

Things get interesting when the doctor's wife, Ann, played by Gayle (THE WILD ANGELS) Hunnicutt, tries to put the make on Benjamin while being possessed, and, the doc is watching from a balcony!

The evil spirit then has sex with Florence in her bed, making her a little loco in the cabeza! Florence will die soon thereafter...

The doctor orders a machine to measure the electro-magnetic presence of the spirit.

The dial pegs out and blows up in the face of the doctor as all Hell breaks out!

Benjamin has come to the conclusion that this room has the answers to puzzle, him and Ann are the only survivors now!

After some terrifying events they find an entrance to a room. There, they find the dead owner of the house, Emeric Belasco, the cause of all the death and destruction. Benjamin cuts the pants leg to show that Belasco was only half a man! Dungeon hero Michael Gough plays the evil Belasco in an uncredited role.

We're back on Wednesday with more fun from Eegah!!

THE SNOOP SISTERS - "A Black Day For Bluebeard" (1974)

 

It's time for a Snoop Sisters Saturday Night Halloween Countdown Special!

 

"The Snoop Sisters" were only on for what is considered one season, and there were only five episodes total, but those six episodes stretched from December 18, 1972 until March 19, 1974.

Funny math!

"A Black Day For Buebeard" was the last of the episodes!

 

The special guest star for this episode was Mr. Vincent Price.

For a couple of older ladies, "The Snoop Sisters" are a barrel of laughs! That's Helen Hayes as Ernesta Snoop, and Mildred Natwick as Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson! They're in costume because they are headed for a movie premiere, a tribute to their friend, the classic horror star Michael Bastion.

Michael Bastion makes a melodramatic entrance after a hearse drives up to the front of the theatre and they unload a coffin with him inside.

Of course, Michael Bastion is played by Vincent Price!

Always perfect timing, Michael's wife Amanda as played by Tammy Grimes, has just let him know that she has filed for a divorce!

In 1966, Tammy had her own TV show, "The Tammy Grimes Show," but it only lasted for six episodes.

"Gravely Yours" was a Michael Bastion retrospective.

This scene from the past is pretty telling considering what's about to happen!

There's only one problem. The only person enjoying the movie is Michael himself!

Michael goes to the restroom to check his makeup and when he gets back to his seat, he finds out that somebody has just stabbed his wife to death!

 

Michael gets arrested obviously, and now it's up to the Snoop Sisters to untangle the whole mess, starting with getting him out of jail.

These two are so cute together, it's a real shame the series didn't last longer.

Just like Vincent Price, Michael Bastion is also a supreme chef, so Gwendolyn arranges for him to make her lunch because they need to keep him distracted for a couple of hours. He wines and dines her, and she gets pretty drunk after about four bottles of very expensive wine. It's all quite humorous!

Gwendolyn is drinking so much, Michael becomes very animated and quite exasperated!

It's a good thing Ernesta finally calls to let her know she can stop the charade.

This is a great shot and as good a place as any to let you know that some of the other awesome cast members included names like.........

 

...........Roddy (Planet Of The Apes) McDowall, 

 

Bert (A Bucket Of Blood) Convy,

 

William (266 Episodes of Knot's Landing) Devane,

 

 

David (The Big Lebowski) Huddleston, and.......

 

.......One of THE best comedians of all time, Mort Sahl.

 

Well, I hate to give away the ending, but he was innocent!

ANGEL, ANGEL, DOWN WE GO - The Wild Ones - "Cult Of The Damned" (1969)

Well, it's time to wrap up this psycho-delicatessen of a month, and I can't think of a better film to do it with than "Angel, Angel, Down We Go" aka "Cult Of The Damned!"  This poster is a completely stupid misrepresentation of what this film is really about!!

I first came in contact with this film years ago on the internet! Long before Youtube, people used to post weird short avi or quicktime videos on their websites, and one night I stumbled on a clip from this movie, but there was no information as to where or what movie it was from. It wasn't until 4 or 5 years later that I figured it out, but then I was left with the problem of finding a copy, but thanx to Brian Horrorwitz over at The Trash Palace, my long journey finally came to an end! So, here we are, but where are we really?

"Cult Of The Damned" is one weird movie, and I'm not sure that anybody that had anything to do with it really wants it resurfacing!  It was directed by writer Robert Thom in his first and last try at directing! Robert also wrote the film! Some of Robert's other works include the masterpiece "Death Race 2000!"

The glue that binds the whole thing together are collages by an artiste named Shirley Kaplan in what I believe was her sole contribution to Hollywood film making!

The decadent band in the film is The Wild Ones lead by Jordan Christopher! The Wild Ones also performed in two other movies, "The Fat Spy" and "Lord Love A Duck!"

The portly spoiled rich girl angel is played by the talented feminist gay political activist, singer, songwriter Holly Near!

I'm not getting the vibe that Holly thinks this is the greatest accomplishment of her long and varied career!

The ex-stag film star Mother is played by classy actress Jennifer (Duel In The Sun) Jones, and the super rich closet-dwelling homosexual Father is played by the extremely talented Charles Aidman! Charles was in not one, but two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "Little Girl Lost," and "And When The Sky Was Opened!"

The whole skydiving element wasn't working for me, but it was a major part of the plot development! A much better skydiving film is Coleman Francis's "The Skydivers!"

This looks like a shot out of a "Monkees" episode or something! The rest of the gang is rounded out by Roddy (Planet Of The Apes) McDowall), sweet Lou (Stormy Monday) Rawls, and Davey (The Strangler) Davison!

Lou Rawls is just chillin' as The Natural Man by the pool! How you could have a movie with Lou Rawls in it, and he doesn't sing one note, is way beyond me!!

And that, my friends, is just about how much sense it makes!

Just in time for the 4th of July!!