13 CLASSIC REASONS TO WATCH "MONSTERS" (1988-1991)

 

I've got a Wild Wednesday for you this week, thirteen classic reasons to watch the "Monsters" TV show that was on from 1988 to 1990. This picture of the cover of Famous Monsters Of Filmland #66 has nothing to do with it except it sets the scene nicely!

 

Every one of these episodes has an actress in it who was a pop cultural icon at some time in the 60's, 70's, or 80's, at least in my mind, so we'll start with Episode 10 from Season One titled "Pillow Talk" that starred one of our very favorites, Mary (Death Race 2000) Woronov as Viki.

In the 11th episode titled "Rouse Him Not," Lovely Laraine Newman plays Linda McGuire. The always hilarious Laraine was a core cast member on SNL from 1975 to 1980.

Episode 21 featured Adrienne Barbeau as Fiona Flynn. Adrienne was Carol Traynor for 125 episodes of "Maude" from 1972 to 1978. She then went on to be in "Escape From New York," "Swamp Thing," and "Creepshow," just to name a couple, and she is still working today!

Linda Blair was in Episode 24 titled "La Strega" as Lia. If you have ever seen "The Exorcist," then Linda sure doesn't need any further introduction!

 

Season 2, Episode 9 was titled "Reaper," and it had everybody's favorite Mom, Barbara (June Cleaver) Billingsley in it as a caregiver named Sheila. Barbara was still looking good at 74 when then was made. She lived to be 94, and passed away in 2010.
 

Melba Moore was a four-time Grammy Award nominee, and performed on countless TV variety shows. In Season 2, Episode 10 titled "The Mandrake Root," she plays a woman named Angela Lyle.

Judy Geeson has been in everything from "To Sir, With Love," to "Berzerk," and that was just in 1967. In Season 2, Episode 21  of "Monsters" titled "Refugee," she plays a woman named Anna.

 

 

The normally sweet and demure Carol Lynley is Dr. Elizabeth Porter in the first Episode of Season 3 called "Stressed Environment." From "Blue Denim" to "Beware: The Blob," Carol was always awesome!

 

In Episode 7, we get to see the real Valley Girl Julie Brown as Wendy in a story called "Small Blessings." Julie will be known forever for her notorious 1984 song, "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun."
 

She might be a little bit older, but if you watched any TV from 1969 to 1974, it's hard to not recognize Karen Valentine from her role as Alice Johnson in "Room 222." In Season 3, Episode 9 she had a rather different roll as Victoria in "The Young And The Headless."

Episode 18 of Season 3 is the one that started all this, because of my desire to see Debbie Harry in "Desirable Alien" as the slutty Dr. Moss. Debbie only has a small part in this episode but still manages to steal the show. Marilyn Monroe was the blonde icon of the 50's, and Debbie was the the blonde icon of the 70's, and she's still got it going.

 Pop music icon Laura Branigan is in Episode 19 titled "A Face For Radio" as Amanda Smith-Jones. Laura is well known for her music in "Flashdance," and she also had a song on the "Ghostbusters" soundtrack!

 Laura died way too young at the age of 52 in 2004.

What do you want me to tell you about Pam Grier? I think Foxy Brown, Coffy, and Jackie Brown says it all!

 In Episode 22 called "Hostile Takeover," Pam plays smokin' hot Matilde!

There are a total of 72 shows in this whole series, so these 13 are just the tip of the iceberg!

I know they stream on Prime with ads, and I'm sure you can also find them on one of the many other streaming services that are out there.

And that's what I'd do if I were you!

THE NIGHT STALKER - "A Real Horror Story" (1972)

 Before the TV series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" premiered in 1974, there were two Kolchak movies made for TV, "The Night Stalker" in 1972, and then, "The Night Strangler" in 1973.

Welcome to the Wild Wednesday version of life in The Dungeon.

It doesn't take a lot of thought to know this film was shot in Las Vegas!

"The Night Stalker" is very similar to the first episode of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." A lot of women are being murdered on a regular basis, but the big difference is that instead of Jack The Ripper, the culprit in this story is a real-life vampire.

Lucky Carl Kolchak, he has a beautiful girlfriend named Gail Foster, and she's played by lovely Carol Lynley who was exactly 20 years younger than Darren McGavin.

 

 

"Why can't I figure this out?"

The dead bodies just keep piling up, and nobody wants to hear about Kolchak's vampire theories.

"The Night Stalker" has a great cast that includes Claude Akin there in the middle as Sheriff Butcher. Claude Akin probably played more Sheriff's than almost anybody in his career, including Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo. He was also in two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street," and "The Little People." 

Kolchak has a tendency to get frustrated and take it out on himself!

How often do you get to see two guys that played the same character in their careers acting together? Well, that's what you have here. Both Darren McGavin and Ralph Meeker were also Mike Hammer at one time or another. Ralph was Mike Hammer in the epic "Kiss Me Deadly" in 1955, and Darren McGavin was Mike Hammer in the TV series of the same name in 1958 to 1959.

Here Ralph plays Kolchak's buddy, FBI agent Bernie Jenks.

This is about as sexy as Carl and Gail's relationship gets, but before it's over, he actually asks her to marry him.

Yet another body drained of blood with big chomp bites on her neck!

A witness is finally able to give a description of the slayer.

Looks like a vampire to me! Barry Atwater is the vampire known as Janos Skorzeny. Barry Atwater was also in "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street," and was in an episode of "The Outer Limits" called "Corpus Earthling." Barry was the kind of actor that could be in five episodes of "Gunsmoke" as characters with colourful names like Paw Yewker, Harp, Ed Eby, Jesse Daggett and Mr. Bowen.

The vampire needs a lot of blood, and since he can't kill everybody, he sometimes has to make a withdrawal from the local blood bank.

The cops were ready for him this time, but despite getting shot something like 30 times, he still gets away! Maybe Kolchak is onto something with this vampire business.

Another Dungeon hero Elisha (House On Haunted Hill, The Black Zoo) Cook Jr. has a small part as Mickey Crawford.

How many times can they catch this guy, and how many times can he possibly get away? The opportunities are endless!

Just like in the tale of "The Ripper," Kolchak discovers where the villain lives, and decides to go it on his own, but this time he comes armed to the teeth with a crucifix and a wooden stake and mallet!

It's just before dawn, so Kolchak is able to fend him off, and buy himself a little time.

Kolchak is just a reporter, not a policeman, and if they would have just believed him, he wouldn't have found himself in such a precarious predicament!

The sun comes up, and Carl Kolchak has to take business into his own hands!

He gets the story, and feels like this is the one that he will be able to retire on, but instead, the story gets squashed, they send Gail out of town and won't tell him where, and he's told that if he doesn't get out of town immediately, they are going to press murder charges against him.

Sounds about right! What a way to treat a hero!

1970's QUASI-SCARY TV MOVIES!

Here's a list of 13 TV movies made in the 1970's that either I, or Lord Litter, have found on the Internet Archive (And you could too for free) that I'm almost sure I'm never going to get around to watching, but should somehow be included here at least for historical significance! With that said........

....Here we go! In chronological order starting with...

"Weekend Of Terror" from 1970 with Robert Conrad, Carol Lynley, and Lee Majors!

"Three nuns on a weekend trip are held hostage by escaped convicts."

Sounds like a good time, how could you go wrong there?!?

 From 1971, "A Howling In The Woods" starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden who were both not only in "I Dream Of Jeannie," but also on "Dallas!!"

 The 1972 ghost story "The Stone Tape!"

 Barbara Eden is back in the 1972 movie, "The Woman Hunter" with two other Dungeon notables, Robert Vaughn and Stuart Whitman!
 "There's A Killer In Paradise!"

 Also in 1972 was "Night Of Terror" with Martin Balsam, Chuck Connors, Donna Mills, and Agnes Moorehead!
"He's Out There!"

 1973 delivered "A Cold Night's Death" with Robert Culp and Eli Wallach!

 Also in 1973 came "The Norliss Tapes" with Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickinson!!

"Once the demon is awakened he will be granted immortality!" 

 The cast of the 1974 movie "Scream Of The Werewolf" was a fairly all-star affair that included Peter Graves, Clint Walker, Jo Ann Pflug, and Don Megowan, who ironically enough or not, was the Sheriff in the 1956 classic, "The Werewolf!"

The 1974 movie "The Day The Earth Moved" also had a cast of immense pop culture proportions, that included Jackie Cooper, Clevon Little, Stella Stevens, and Beverly Garland, but I still doubt I'll ever watch it!

 "Curse Of The Black Widow" from 1977 also had a fairly all-star cast that included
Anthony Franciosa, Donna Mills, Patty Duke, June Lockhart and Sid Caesar!
Big Girl!!

"Night Terror" aka "Night Drive" also came out in 1977 with Valerie Harper! 

Housewife vs. Psycho!

By 1978, it was time for "Devil Dog:Hound Of Hell," with a killer cast that included Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, and Martine Beswick! (Okay, I might have to watch it some day just for those two!)
"A Halloween Howler!"

"A teenage girl is harassed by a stalker" in another 1978 movie called "Are You In The House Alone?"
So, there you go! IF I've slighted your favourite movie, then by all means leave a comment, and I'll make sure and give it the treatment it deserves, but until then, Aloha, Auf Wiedersehen, & Buenos Noches!

25 REASONS TO WATCH OLDE MOVIES Part 06

Welcome to another edition of the Saturday Night Special, Dungeon Style! 

This gun is loaded!

This gets more difficult all the time, not because I don't know who to choose, but after scouring the web, it's trying to figure out which of the great pictures to use! The first 25 only got one or two photos, and now it's up to three, four, five, and more, but I don't think anybody's going to complain!!

 #126 - Anne Jeffreys - "Zombies On Broadway" "Dick Tracy" "Topper"

 #127 - Carol Lynley - "Shock Treatment" "The Pleasure Seekers" "Bunny Lake Is Missing"

I love that shot of Carol by the pool with the capsized kayaker!

 There's pretty, cute, beautiful, gorgeous, but to me, Carol Lynley is just lovely!

 #128 - Christine Kaufmann - "Town Without Pity" "Terror After Midnight"

 #129 - Claudia Jennings - "The Unholy Rollers" "Gator Bait" "The Man Who Fell To Earth"
Claudia was also the 1970 Playmate Of The Year!

#130 - Cleo Moore - "One Girl's Confession" "Bait"

#131 - Dawn Addams - "The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll" "The Thousand Eyes Of Dr. Mabuse"

#132 - Dawn Wells - Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island!" "The Town That Dreaded Sundown"

#133 - Dominque Wilms - "The Trap Snaps Shut At Midnight"

 #134 - Ewa Aulin - "Candy"

 #135 - Fay Wray - "The Vampire Bat" "King Kong" "Black Moon" "Rock, Pretty Baby"

 #136 - Gabriella Licudi - "Unearthly Stranger" The Liquidator" "Casino Royale"

#137 - Ida Lupino - "Strange Intruder" "The Twilight Zone" "Burke's Law" "Batman"

 #138 - Ingrid Pitt - "Sound Of Horror" "The Vampire Lovers" "Countess Dracula' "The House That Dripped Blood"

 #139 - Jacqueline Bisset - "Casino Royale" "The Sweet Ride" "The Grasshopper"

 #140 - Jane Adams - "House Of Dracula" "The Brute Man" "Batman And Robin"

 #141 - Natalie Wood - "Rebel Without A Cause" "Meteor"

 #142 - Peggie Castle - "Beginning Of The End" "Back From The Dead"

 #143 - Senta Berger - "The Terror Of Doctor Mabuse" "The Ambushers" "When Women Had Tails"

#144 - Shelley Fabares - "Rock, Pretty Baby" "The Twilight Zone" "Ride The Wild Surf" "The Donna Reed Show"

#145 - Sivi Aberg - "Batman" "Doctor Death: Seeker Of Souls"

 #146 - Susan Denberg - "Star Trek" "Frankenstein Created Woman"

 #147 - Susan Hampshire - "Expresso Bongo" "Night Must Fall" "A Hard Day's Night" "Secret Agent"

 #148 - Vera Day - "Enemy From Space" "The Woman Eater" "The Haunted Strangler"

 #149 - Yutte Stensgaard - "Some Girls Do" "Scream And Scream Again" "Lust For A Vampire"

#150 - Yvonne Craig - "BAT GIRL!"

And what a perfect place to end this segment!

Have a Laborious Happy Day Weekend!!