THE OUTER LIMITS / "Corpus Earthling" Season 1 Episode 9 - 1963

What's XMAS without some Outer Limits!.. That's what I always say. So, here is a very depressing episode from the first season, and, it goes like this... A parasitic advance guard from outer space strives to kill a physician because he's the only human who can hear them communicate because of a metal plate in his head. The physician believes he's gone insane because he first heard the aliens right after suffering a concussion in a lab explosion. His wife, the laboratory assistant, comforts him while the lab's geologist is targeted for takeover by the parasites.

This one stars Robert Culp, who played tennis bum Kelly Robinson on I SPY, a show I loved back in the day. Salome Jens plays Robert's wife, she was the crazy looking gal from the future in TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000, what Eegah!! and I saw around 1960 at the theater. It also stars Barry (THE INVADERS) Atwater, Ken (KILLER DILLER) Renard and David (TRAUMA) Garner.

Here's Laurie Cameron in the lab, she's putting up some new rock samples for study.

After an explosion, Paul Cameron is dazed, he claims to have heard some alien voices discussing the plans for an invasion of Earth! But like, you know,.. What, The, HELL!!

The other person at the lab, Dr. Temple, and Laurie, surmise that the metal plate in Paul's head (he was wounded in WWII) could have served as a receiver (they actually believe him!).

But later, Paul starts hearing the voices again, and, he becomes hypnotized and is ordered to jump out of a third story window!! He's barely saved from the fall.

After Paul and Laurie leave, and have decided on a vacation in Mexico, one rock transforms into a slimy parasite and attacks Dr. Temple. It isn't long before the thing takes over his body.

And now, he looks like this!!.. The thing knows what it has to do.

Pant, phew... It's hot and sultry in Mexico this time of year you know... hubba hubba!

And guess who shows up to ruin all the fun while Paul's away?.. Doh! Stupid question!

Well, it's not long before Laurie becomes a victim, and, it ain't pretty! I have to tell you, this episode is a real horror fest, and, it gets worse!

So, Paul returns to his adored wife and is greeted by THIS!.. He makes a hasty retreat and disappears into the city to hide from the invaders.

W!.. T!!.. F!!!..

Blind shadows is one of my fondest memories from the fifties!

Now back at the ranch, Paul has to fend off the thing's attack and ends up stabbing it with a scalpel, killing Dr. Temple and releasing the parasite. That second still is pretty damn freaky!

Anyway, here's the deal... Paul ends up shooting his 'wife' to destroy both parasites with fire. He carries his dead wife to the car as the narrator bids us adieu with a dire warning, watch out for monsters!! Happy Holidays Ever'bloody! Later!..

MURDER WITH MUSIC - "Mistaken Identity" (1941)

Tonight's feature is a tasty little morsel from 1941, and a great way for us to help celebrate "Black History Month" called "Murder With Music!" I bought my copy, but once again as I was writing this I found out you can download or watch it for free right "HERE" at the good old Internet Archive, so if you like music as much as I do, then head on over and check it out!

"Murder With Music" probably should have been called "Music With Murder" because it is approximately 85% music with just a thread of a plot to kind of tie it all together!

It starts off with this dude Milton (THE COOL WORLD) Williams as Ted Simmonds asking for a job as a reporter. The editor behind the desk is Bob (JUNCTION 88) Howard!  Bob is relating to Ted the story of the last reporter he hired, a loser named Hal!

Now Hal instead of being focused on his job, was more concerned with trying to make whoopee with this nightclub singer named Lola! Lovely Lola was played by a popular nightclub entertainer of the time named Nellie Hill! Nellie was only ever in one other movie called "Killer Diller," and in it she played a gal by the name of Lola! Hal was played by an actor named George Oliver!

Hal's lovemaking ideas get interrupted when Lola's attention is turned to this unnamed act on the televison doing a number by the name of "I'm A Cute Little Bangi From Ubangi" that really needs to be seen and heard to believed!! Lola must do pretty well, my parents never had a TV until the 50's!

That's the TV there in the flip-top box! The next thing you know Mike shows up but she thinks it's her boyfriend Lewis, and Hal has to hide in the closet! Mike has just escaped from a two year stint in prison and he thinks the smokes and drinks he sees are that of Lola and Lewis, he knows nothing about Hal!

If you ask my humble opinion, if they remade "Murder With Music," Mike's role would be perfect for Snoop Dogg as he's almost a dead ringer for Mike! Mike was played by Bill (HOUSE-RENT PARTY) Dillard! So Mike needs some new duds, so Lola suggests they go to the pad of the guy who owns the club she works at, a fellow named Bill Smith. She said Bill likes her so much, he'd gladly give Mike one of his suits!

There's only one problem, and that is that Bill Smith is at this party! Now why Bill and his wife who you can't see in this shot, are the only two people with masks on at the party is anybody's guess! As you can see, Bill Smith is quite popular with all the ladies! Bill Smith was played by Ken Renard and is one of the few characters in this film that had much of an acting career! Ken went on to be in "True Grit," Sparkle," "Exorcist II: The Herectic," and was even in an "Outer Limits" episode called "Corpus Earthling!" He was also in "Killer Diller" with Nellie Hill!

The band at the party is Nobel Sissle and His Orchestra, and they swing hard!

When Bill Smith and his wife return to their apartment, they have no idea that Hal the reporter is hiding behind a chair listening to their conversation!

Right about here it gets a little confusing! Bill Smith and his wife leave via the window, and then this police officer comes in through the window!

Lola and Mike show up at Bill's apartment, and tell the cop that they live there! Hal is still hiding behind the chair!

Meanwhile, back at the party the joint is still jumpin' with entertainment by  these tap dancers known as Alston and Young! Noble Sissle there in the middle keeps the music flowing! Noble Sissle wrote the song "I'm Just Wild About Harry" in 1921, and that song was used in like 27 different cartoons, movies and TV shows including "Harry And The Hendersons," and "The Muppet Show!"

Then it's time for the editor Bob Howard to join Noble's orchestra and sing "Too Late Baby!" The music refuses to stop!

Time for Nellie to break into her standout number called "Can't Help It" that was written by Skippy Williams. The uncredited policeman on the keys also does an outstanding job! 

Then there's this uncredited cat who breaks in on the editor 3 or 4 times talking in German, and then leaving post haste! A real honest to goodness case of WTF?! Weirdsville!!

The final moments include a stunner of an audition by Johnson and Johnson called "That's The Cheese you Got To Squeeze!" This piano and tap dancing boogie-woogie is so hot that it causes Bill Smith to say, "I'll buy that number!" The Skippy Williams Orchestra comes in on the end of the song to wrap it up tight!

Nellie reprises "Can't Help It" at the end of the film with Skippy's orchestra accompanying!

And then, just like the title suggests, somebody does indeed get murdered!! Best news of the year so far, I just found out that "Killer Diller" can also be downloaded for free at the Internet Archive! What a way to go!!

DEATH RACE 2000 - Paul Chihara - "The Future Is Now" (1975)

I have been trying to get a copy of "Death Race 2000" for a couple of years now, and out of the blue it appears in my Netflix Que, and it happened at the same time that I got the latest issue of SCREEM with Greg Goodsell's Mary Woronov interview, and she's one of the stars of this film! It's like Fate I tell you!!

"Death Race 2000" is exactly what it says it is! It's just like going to Vegas and playing War, the simplest card game in the world, the biggest attraction of the future is like a game of Chicken, but with armed cars and extra points for hitting people in a crosswalk or a wheelchair etc! The killer-diller driving music in this insane flick was composed by the honoured Mr. Paul Chihara in his first film outing. Paul has won scores of musical awards and went on to write the music for such films and TV movies as "A Walk On The Moon," "Brave New World," and "Penn & Teller Get Killed!"

Instead of an actor, the announcer for the big event, Junior Bruce, is one of the most popular disc jockeys of all time, The Real Don Steele!! Don rocked L.A. hard for over 30 years, and even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!!

It might be the future, but some things don't change, and every driver has their diehard fans, and in this movie they literally die hard!!

Commentators Joyce Jameson as Grace Pander and Carle Bensen as Harold get their first look at the driver "Frankenstein!"

Director/Actor Paul Bartel has a small part as Frankie's doctor! Besides directing "Eating Rauol," Paul Bartel left his mark on a whole lot of the best bad and worst good movies of the last 40 years; all-time classic cult faves like "Hollywood Boulevard," "Rock 'n' Roll High School," "Frankenweenie," and one of my all-time favorites, "Get Crazy!!"

Sandy McCallum plays the part of Mr. President, a man you can trust!!

Pretty cool looking future! Don't forget to bring your shades!

They call David (Kung Fu)Carradine's character Frankenstein, because he has been re-assembled a few times after various crashes and racing mishaps!!

It looks an awful lot like sunny California, and the future of the boondocks hasn't changed much in the last 35 years!

On the air, Harold explains the points system!!

Everything is hunky-dory and then, those silly freedom-fighting rebels who are opposed to the great race, take over the airwaves with Harriet Medin as Thomasina Paine, leading the charge!!

Great shot of "Frankenstein!"

Anyone want to disagree with me that Mary Woronov as Calamity Jane is hot in this movie? We haven't had a chance to talk about Mary much here, but she was an incredible classic beauty who came up through the Andy Warhol/Exploding Plastic Inevitable/Velvet Underground school of film making. She also starred in "Silent Night, Bloody Night" which we plan to get around to one of these days, and worked with Paul Bartel on some other films! She was in "House Of The Devil" last year, and still active today, although she'd rather be painting!

I love this part where the French rebels polish off one of the drivers "Wiley Coyote" style, with a mailorder Acme Detour and Fake Tunnel Entrance Kit!!

Here's another reason "Death Race 2000" is such a fan favorite, one of the drivers is Sylvester Stallone as maniac Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, another funny man from Chicago! Machine Gun Joe's character pre-dated "Rocky" by about a year!

Another brilliant scene is when Machine Gun Joe Viterbo takes out his own pit crew to get some extra points! This story was written by science fiction author Ib Melchior, who was also responsible for writing major titles like "Angry Red Planet," "Reptilicus," and "Journey To The 7th Planet" etc.

Never at a loss for words, The Real Don Steele still has something else to say! This is a very simple film, but there's too much to cover in this format, so you're just gonna have to go get yourself a copy. I do believe it has recently been released on Blu-Ray too! What are you waiting for?? There's something here for everybody!!