"DAS GEHEIMNIS DER GELBEN MÖNCHE - "Target For Killing" (1966)

Welcome back to another Saturday night of chills and thrills in The Dungeon! I have to admit, it's pretty tough to follow an act like "Killer Klowns From Outer Space," but I'm going to give it my best shot!

So without further delay of any sort, here's our feature presentation of  the night...........

 

"Das Geheimnis Der Gelben Mönche," or as it was released in English, "Target For Killing!!" I have to admit, this is one of the most cheap and ugly title cards I've ever seen, but trust me, it gets nothing but better from here!

Here are the two main characters in "Target For Killing," one of Eegah!!'s all-time favourites, the luscious Karin Dor, and Stewart "I've never done a film I'm proud of" Granger! They don't know it, but they are on a plane bound for Hell!

 Klaus Kinski is in there as the co-pilot with a conscience!

 Why is this stewardess undressing??

Because her and the pilot and co-pilot have just bailed from the plane!

Before I go any further, I've got to tell you that the theme song from "Target For Killing" is one of the rockinest songs we've have a chance to present to you lately, and I really hope you enjoy it!

The musical credits in the film go to Marcello Giombini, and he's probably the only one who could tell us who this band actually is! (As it turns out, no he wasn't! At 6:10 PM on 6-10-15 some cat called Whale Fodder left an awesome comment to let us all know that this song was actually a song called "Cupidation" by Rome group the Bumpers." Thanx, man!) Sounds like a well-produced Hermanos Guzanos riff to me!

"Target For Killing" has everything you look for in a good movie like a monastery full of monks and strippers! (Of course, the strippers are only there because they are hypnotized!)

 One of the finest actors of all time Curd Jürgens, is the head of all the evil action going on, and he's known as THE GIANT!

 Scilla (Mill Of The Stone Women) Gabel is the Tiger! Tiger has two sides; this is her bad side!

 And this is her good side!

This terrific bowling alley shot I expect to be freely shared by all the Tumblr freaks!

 James Lablanche Stewart changed his name to Stewart Granger so as not to be confused with super popular actor of the time, James (It's A Wonderful Life) Stewart!

 Pre-Doom or Call Of Duty, "Target For Killing" is full of first person shooter scenes like this, except in this case, it's a paint spray gun!

 I just happen to adore Karin Dor! She's prefect!

 Klaus Kinski actually gets a chance to try to be a good guy in this film before he gets murdered!

 Karin Dor's character Sandra Perkins is on everybody's hit list! She's about to inherit five million dollars, and a lot of people would like to see her out of the picture! As it turns out, it's actually 70 million dollars which was a pretty nice piece of chump change back in 1966!

 Who's going to be the big winner? What's behind door 13, and should she have taken the bag instead?

 Sandra Perkins is given the key to the office of her new job, down a blind alley, and the key doesn't work, and an out of control garbage truck is headed her direction!

 "Target For Killing" has a truly amazing cast that even includes Adolfo (Thunderball) Celi!

 Personally, I felt that Stewart Granger just might have possibly not been the best choice for the leading man in this film, but on the same token, his campy performance also kind of takes the film to another level of enjoyment! If you're twisted enough, you just might like it as much as Chubby Checker!

Game Over, Man! Literally!

Thanx to all those cool folks over at Sinster Cinema for keeping this kind of crap afloat! Films like this could easily be lost forever without anybody really noticing, and that would really be a shame! They've got a deal now where you can buy 12 weird ass movies of your choice for $98.00 including postage, and that's where I'm headed right now! What a deal!

DIE SCHLANGENGRUBE UND DAS PENDEL - Peter Thomas - "Castle Of The Swingin' Dead" (1967)

Well, the Cabrito is just starting to kick in, so I guess it's about time to get going with this one creepy ass movie with the enticing title, "Castle Of The Walking Dead!" I guess that title is kind of self-explanatory, but not quite, this film is actually based on Edgar Allen Poe's, "The Pit And The Pendulum!" Not to be confused with the 1961 Roger Corman and Vincent Price American version, this rendering comes from 1967 Germany and stars Lex Barker, Karin Dor, and Christopher Lee, and what I like about it the most is it has a Very cool and swingin' soundtrack by Top of The Line Dungeon composer Peter Thomas!!

Besides "Castle Of The Walking Dead," this film has had many incarnations over the years such as "The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism," "The Blood Demon" and "Blood Of The Virgins" just to name a few!

The whole dreary mess starts in the past with Christopher Lee as the very badly mannered Count Frederic Regula; a guy who is about to be forced to don the happy face mask with spikes on the inside because he's been really unplesant to a whole bunch of folks! He is kind of evil personified!! Part of the reason he's probably so pissed off, is because of his name, Regula. It always sounds like they are saying Regular and it makes you wonder where Ethyl is!

Here's a couple of good shots of what the inside and the outside of the mask look like. Spikes seem to be one of the prevailing themes in this film as you shall well see!

After they put the spiked happy face mask on him, they take Count Regula to to the village square where they draw and quarter him!

In fact, here is one of the drawings!!

Some 35 years later, Lex Barker as Roger Mont Elise is summoned to the area by a person unknown to him, a Count Frederic Regula!

Lex Barker wasn't informed that there was also a giant robot in town!!

I really truly hope this motley crowd of local denizens has a lot of makeup on, otherwise, this is one of the ugliest groups of people I've ever seen in my life!!

Lex is told how to get to Count Regula's castle, and it took me by surprise that first there were just random human body parts up in the trees, and after that was tree after tree of people who had been hanged. I fared a little better than The Coachman played by Dieter Eppler, he ends up having a heart attack just from the sight of all these horrors!

I really like the fact that they combined a gothic period piece with modern music, instead of some stoic Universal retread. It makes for a much more interesting film!!

Once they get to The Count's castle, there are spikes on almost every entrance and exit!

The castle is a nutzoid joint with wild paintings everywhere. I didn't take the time to research whether this is a real Hieronymus Bosch copy, or just done in a Boschlike style, but it's pretty obvious that this is a place where the sun don't shine!!

This sculpture looks like a three dimensional copy of one of the strange creatures in one of the wall murals, and is bonifide 100% Weirdsville!

Christiane Rücker as Babette finds herself in a highly compromised situation!

And if everything goes wrong, she's going to become another spike victim. As Lou would say, "Hey, Babette!!!!"

And whatever you do, don't forget about the Hall Of Skulls!! What a funhouse!!

This is Carl Lange as Count Regula's disturbing manservant Anatol! Anatol has been holding down the fort for the Boss for years. He is also dead, and always has what appears to be a neck brace on from when he got hanged. He was re-animated after death by some strange curse that can happen if you don't die immediately during the hanging! Anatol is my least favorite character in this film! He just bugs me!!

Back near the beginning of the film, during the ride in the coach, Lex had met up with the other major character in the story, fine actress Karin Dor as Baroness Lilian von Brabant. As it turns out, both Lillian and Roger were descendents of the people who had put Count Regula to death back in the day, and even though he was dead, he managed to hold a grudge against them for a long time! Some people just never get over stuff!!

12 virgins had to die in order to achieve Regula's goal of immortality, and the bodies are still lounging around!

Lex gets put in the pit!

Pretty obvious that the music is not the only thing swingin' in this film!!

Karin Dor treats us to a very nice demonstration of a classical Kreng!!! Karin also has the notoriety of being the first ever German Bond Girl, as she was Helga Brandt in Ian Fleming's "You Only Live Twice!"

Lex narrowly escapes getting cut in half as the pendulum is lowered just enough to barely cut through the ropes that were binding him, but without going deep enough to harm him! Whew!!

Another reason this is not your typical horror film is that "Die Schlangengrube Und Das Pendel" was directed by Dungeon champion Harald Reinl, known primarily for his fantastic crime and detective outings on Edgar Wallace and Jerry Cotton features! Well, looks like we're running out of time for now, but, Man, do we have some titles coming up in the future that will blow your mind, and that's a promise!