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!

BERSERK - Herman Cohen -"Your Front Row Seat To Murder!" (1967)

This Saturday Night Special has some extra hot sauce on it, and lives up to it's title because it's..

"BERSERK!"

"BERSERK" is an extra special movie on multiple levels, but I'll just try and hit some of the high points! "BERSERK" was a Herman Cohen production, and without Herman Cohen, we wouldn't have had many of the best 50's and 60's horror and monster movies! Seriously, Herman was responsible for I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD OF DRACULA, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, KONGA, BLACK ZOO, and HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, but despite all that, Tabonga will never forgive him for destroying all the original Paul Blaisdell monster masks in the fire in HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER!

"BERSERK" has a super amazing all-star cast that includes Joan Crawford and Michael Gough!

Dwrayger Dungeon 101!

Nice shot of Joan!

Although I must admit, Michael's role is short-lived!!

"BERSERK" is very similar to "Horrors Of The Black Museum," and "Black Zoo," in fact, it probably should have been titled "BLACKSERK!"

Joan spends a lot of time skulking around the circus in that red cape like some kind of bloodsucker!

It's not often you get to see a good old fashioned cat fight anymore! 

This must have completely mortified Joan!

Again, what an amazing array of 60's Pop culture!

Left to right, Judy Geeson, Ty Hardin, Joanie, and The Siren of Swindon, Diana Dors!

 

As expected, this 'saw the woman in half' trick didn't work out that great for Diana!

Right about here was the most WTF!?  moment watching movies I've had lately! You know what, I'll just let you judge for yourself!  Watch it right here, "The Freak Song"  and let me know what you think! Had Herman Cohen been influenced by the musical version of "Jack The Giant Killer?" What a great group, and the chrome dome gentleman on the far right is Dungeon Hero Milton Reid!

I really didn't know that Batman and Robin were in the circus in 1967!

Herman Cohen must have really liked the circus, or it just made for a cheap but interesting stage for his movie, and personally I liked "BERSERK" a lot, but I would have liked it a lot better minus about 25 minutes of real time circus acts!

"BERSERK" is a movie that's just dying to be seen! Watch it as a triple feature with "Black Zoo," and "Horrors Of The Black Museum!!!
Now that's an original 60's power trio!!

INSEMINOID / Jupiter Film Productions - 1981

It's Alien Valentine Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a $2,000,000 ALIEN inspired production from Britain that ended up getting on my bad side and just seemed like a lame attempt at horror to me. The story's about a crew of interplanetary archaeologists who are threatened when an alien creature impregnates a female member, causing her to turn homicidal. Alternate title is HORROR PLANET.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip of the synthetic theme from this flick for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the alien inseminator, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... INSEMINOID!

Like in ALIEN, this comatose dude finds something strange in a cave and gets attacked by an unknown creature.

Here's an interesting shot, the director's trying to get an ALIEN feel with a 50 cent prop!

Judy Geeson, playing Sandy, gets nude for this scene where a big alien bug inseminates her using it's clear tubular penile device... Gross!!

Sandy is pregnant by the big brute and isn't happy consuming just pickles and ice cream!

After killing off half the crew, Sandy gives birth to two ugly little bugs!.. Gross!!

The rest of the crew members lock Sandy out of the living quarters, so, she starts using explosives to get to them!

This guy finally strangles Sandy a goodern, putting an end to her deadly rampage!

But, now the babies are finishing off whoever's left of the remaining crew.

An emergency message is received by these space cowboys, the last survivor tells them about the urgent situation there, so, they head to the planet to help out.

Everyone's dead by the time they get there and they grab a few souvenirs to take back with them! This shot reminds me of GHOULIES.

STAR MAIDENS - Episode #13 - "The Enemy" (1976)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a German/British space opera from 1976 called "Star Maidens!"

"Star Maidens" ran for one season that included 13 episodes, and it's about as close as you're ever going to get to a real space opera, or a soap opera in space!

We're going to start with the 13th episode, because I have no idea if I will ever watch any of the other episodes, but this one I found for free on the Internet Archive!

These two shots look like they're right off the cover of some ACE or Ballantine paperbacks of the 60's! Sweet!!

I don't know if this is part of it, but it probably is, a lot of the filming of "Star Maidens" was shot at the Meterorological Office in Bracknell, Berkshire, England!!

Got to keep that stuff guarded!

These shots of equipment are a generally a lot more interesting than the story line!

On the left is Dawn (The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll) Addams as Clara, the President of the Grand Council of Medusa returning from a "Terror In The Year 5000" costume party, and on the right is Octavia as played by Christiane (The Man With The Glass Eye, Double Face) Krüger! 

The leader of the Earth team is Judy (Doomwatch, Inseminoids) Geeson as Fulvia, and she is joined by these two sperm donors from outer space, Pierre (Winnetou) Brice as Adam and Gareth (Five Million Miles To Earth) Thomas as Shem! You can tell they are from space because of the bleached spots in their hair!

Shem ( and I wish his name was Shemp) has a bad reaction to something, and is no help the rest of the show.

This looks like a doctor or dentist's waiting room in the future!

The version of the space craft in space looks a lot better than......

..................The same ship on the ground which looks an awful lot like a mylar balloon!

The Enemy is SO bad, and this is just about how much you['ll ever see of him! If he has to push three buttons, he's going to get real flustered!

There's this sorta big final confrontation in space between the girls and the bad guy, but the "Star Maidens" don't believe in violence and have no weapons! 

Adam saves the day by turning on their defense shield, and ramming the evil ship, because you know, you can't beat a good defense, and the bad guys run away off into space like the little computerized wimps that they are!

Fulvia smiles for the first time and is relieved that is it all over in more ways than one!!

Here's just a small taste of the music from the end of 1976 in space by Berry (Sexworld) Lipman to help you get the right feel!