THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU - Bruce Montgomery - "13 Slaves" (1966)

Down time! Hard to face it when there doesn't seem to be a whole Helluva lot going on; still recovering from The Kev-Dog's grilled Easter "Bacon Explosion" backed up with that three litre batch of my own signature "Acai Margaritas" which will have me stupefied for who knows how long, but somehow it still all adds up to the same conclusion film-wise, and that is "The Brides Of Fu Manchu"!!!!!

Sure, absolutely, and without a doubt, Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu is a classic character, and it's not within me, or without me, to say anything bad about Christopher Lee in any role, but a Fu Manchu movie that's not directed by Jesus Franco, and that doesn't have a fiery character like Sancho Lopez in it, does not even stand a chance of being as good as one that does! Okay, Here you go, this is what I figgered out the other night! Think of any, yes ANY movie you have ever seen in your entire life, a really good one you liked a lot, or the worst piece of crap you ever wasted two seconds of your life on! Now, close your eyes, and envision the same movie directed by Jesus Franco! Potentially a night and day situation, if you get my meaning!

So, You want Brides?? Okay, Here come the Brides!!! There were no individual credits, only as a group credited as "The Brides Of Fu Manchu!"

What do you expect me to do with her, you've got her upside down!!

The Brides, aka Sex Slaves, did try to escape, but never made it out of the building!!

Don't worry about them, somehow they do finally manage to escape in The End!!! Imagine that!!!

Director Don Sharp ain't no chump himself, having directed more than a few excellent titles we've written about here like "Psychomania", "Witchcraft", & "Kiss Of The Vampire" just to name a few, but try comparing Don Sharp to Jess Franco, and it's like trying to compare Picasso and Dali, although they've both got amazing skills, Dali, like Jess Franco, had a more surreal vision, and knows how to convey it to you!!! Part of that vision is the use of music, and it sounds like to me that composer Bruce Montgomery was a little bit more focused on writing mystery and Sc-Fi books that he was on writng the music for this movie, his last film score!!

THE BRAINIAC / Cinematográfica ABSA - 1962

Welcome to Friday Night Mexican Monster Mash with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This is the English dubbed version of EL BARON DEL TERROR by the K. Gordon Murray gang. Good old K. (Kenneth) dubbed a number of Mexican flicks so they could be shown on American television in the sixties including CURSE OF THE DOLL PEOPLE, THE LIVING COFFIN, THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN, THE MAN AND THE MONSTER and THE WITCH'S MIRROR. This is the first of Tabonga's Mad Mexican Monstruo postings for the merry ol' month of May!

Eegah!! put together a fun little soundclip of the bar scene and more, sooo, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the radio-active bird cage, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's some music from... THE BRAINIAC!

The convoluted story goes like this... In the year 1661, Baron Vitelius of Astara is sentenced to be burned alive by the Holy Inquisition for witchcraft and other crimes. As he's dying in the fire, he swears vengeance against the descendants of the Inquisitors present at his trial. 300 years later, the same comet that was passing overhead on the night of the Baron's execution, returns to Earth and brings with it the Baron in the form of a horrible, brain-sucking monster!

So you know, it's 1961 right there! Love that shot.

One time, Eegah!! bought a telescope so's he could check out the heavenly bodies in space... And, it was totally impossible to ever focus it in on anything! It ended up as a prop in our lil' Dungeon flick, SILVER ANGEL vs THE DEATH ZOMBIES.

When the rubber 'comet' crashes to the ground, man, it's one hilarious, unbelievable, goofy sight because it bounces!

After the Baron sucks this poor unfortunate dude's brain out, he steals his pants! How rude.

Abel Salazar plays the Baron. His career started in 1941 and he was also in EL VAMPIRO and THE BLACK PIT OF DR. M.

This monster has gotta be Mexico's weirdest film creation!

By day, he's a distinguished looking Baron, at night, he's a disgusting looking brain sucker! His 'hands' always bothered me.

Here, the guy's frozen in place by the Baron's hypnotic stare and has to watch as his wife gets her brain sucked out!

Then, he pays these Inquisitor ancestors a little vengeful visit in the middle of the night.

Another victim of the Baron's special brand of destruction!

The Baron even has a stash of moldy brains that he keeps hidden in a wooden box. Here he is, having a little snack!

The coppers finally show up with flame throwers, because, they're not taking any chances!

And, they do what they gotta do!.. Goodnight, putrid Baron.

Here's an original lobby card showing the monster in the insert, always the most desirable card in a set!

WITCHCRAFT / The Doll In Brambles - 1961

Here's the first episode of the failed TV series that was supposed to compete with THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but, it could not compare to the classic show and was cancelled posthaste. Our story is about Madame Tirelou, a witch who will not allow her granddaughter, Marie, to marry her true love, Louis. Louis enlists the help of his old friend Fred to break the witch's spell. After she puts a curse on Louis after meeting Marie in the woods, Fred must figure out a way to save them for the mean old witch!

Here's your host, Franchot Tone, as he introduces the episode... Franchot had a healthy 112 acting credits from 1932-68 and was even in an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

An American, Fred, played by Dungeon great Darren McGavin, visits his friend Louis in France, he is supposed to be best man at his wedding. But, Louis explains that his beloved Marie is forbidden by her grandmother to even see him!

Fred goes to visit Madame Tirelou and meets Marie, he hands her a note from Louis.

Love this shot of the grandmother, Madame Tirelou, she looks like a witch! After talking to Fred, she realizes that he is a friend of Louis and screams at him to leave her house!

The note tells Marie to meet him in the woods, which she does. Unknown to both of them, Madame Tirelou is watching the scene from a distance. Not good!

She goes back to her place and goes to her special room in the basement. She pulls out her wooden doll of Louis and wraps it in bramble branches while cackling!

Immediately though, Louis loses the use of his legs as he walks through the brambles on his way back home...

Fred goes to the witch's house to confront her, but, she is not there. Marie agrees to show him her hex room and he takes the wooden figure!

Later, after Fred is gone, the witch comes home and confronts Marie with a fireplace poker about what had happened while she was away...

Louis is found helpless where he had fallen and taken back to his home to recover, but, he has no use of his legs. The doctor thinks it is all in his mind...

The basement is also used to torture Marie when she misbehaves, Madame Tirelou has a bat ready to scare the Hell out of Marie when Fred and Louis arrive! Fred has told Louis that Marie is in extreme danger, jogging his mind to overcome his mental illness!

The witch goes crazy, putting hex after hex on Fred, but, he's not affected in an way. She keeps backing up and finally falls through the old balcony, falling to her death on the rocks below!.. YAY!!

They wait until the end to show the title card, kinda cool... Eegah!! is back tomorrow with more Cool Dungeon Cargo fur uns!

MACISTE ALL'INFERNO (Maciste In Hell) - Carlo Franci - "The Witch's Curse" (1962)

Allright!!! Here we go again!! One of my favorite movies for I have no reason why, "The Witch's Curse" put some kind of spell on me back in 1962, and even after watching it again not that long ago, I still feel the same! Probably one of the best examples of WTF filming ever made! 'Sword & Sandal' genius Carlo Franci is responsible for the music! Carlo's resume reads like the text of your freshman year in high school mythology course! Stuff like "The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules" and "Medusa Against the Son of Hercules" and "Goliath and the Rebel Slave" and of course "Hercules Against the Moon Men!"

It's confusing as Hell to begin with, but one thing you need to know, is the answer to the question, "Do you believe in witchcraft?"

"The women are going mad, that's my explanation!!"

So, they're burning this witch at the stake, and the next thing you know is Maciste (Also known as Hercules) is uprooting this big tree to find the entrance to Hell!! I'm really serious, WTF???

Never to have failed the 'test of strength' Kirk Morris, born Adriano Bellini, as Maciste, aka Hercules, is on a mission!!

In retrospect, I'm thinking just maybe, Hélène Chanel was one of the reasons I remember this film so well!!

Thus starts one of the greatest sequence of events ever recorded on to celluloid!

Maciste leaps!!

Maciste barely hangs on!!

Maciste flexes, and picks up a really big piece of stuff!!

Maciste grapples with the big giant! Look how small he looks compared to The Giant!! The rest of the action was just too hard and fast for me to get any good screencaps, but just let it be known, the giant goes down!!!

This whole bit with Prometheus getting eaten by the birds will mess with your psyche for a long, long time, trust me!!

Don't worry, we've just scratched the surface!!

Maciste still has to deal with this Cyclops!!

And to this day, I still haven't figured out how he managed to keep this whole herd of stampeding longhorns at bay!! What a movie!!! Just totally freakin' amazing!!!