THE REPTILE - Don Banks - "Ilizardization" (1966)

I don't know what it is with me and Hammer Films, they just don't ever seem to put me in the mix!! Every time I sit down to watch one, I get real excited because they look so classically and colorfully fantastic, but then about half or two thirds through the movie I generally lose interest for some reason or another! "The Reptile" is no exception! It starts off like a house on fire with Charles Spalding getting killed by some monster and dieing a gruesome horrible death, all quite mysteriously! The music is provided by Mr. Don Banks, who had quite an impressive run from 1964-67 that included titles like The Evil of Frankenstein", "Hysteria", "Die, Monster, Die!", The Frozen Dead" and "The Mummy's Shroud!" A lot of Don's music is just dark and foreboding, instead of cool and rockin' or swingin' and largely orchestrated, and that's mainly the reason we haven't written about more Hammer films here! "The Reptile" just kind of slides in because of some terrific sitar music, and I'm not even really sure who gets the credit for that!!

Usually crazy guy's bring a bit of comic relief to the table, this cat, John Laurie as Mad Peter is just generally annoying!!

Australian born Ray Barrett had a nice career than included the voice of John Tracy in over 30 episodes of "The Thunderbirds" and he was also the voice of DJ Ricochet and many of the other voices!!! And did you check out the lugs on that cat??

So here's the deal, your brother wills you his farmhouse, and you're told he died of a heart attack, but all the locals are really uptight when you arrive, including your new rich neighbor, one of those guys with Dr. in his name, who just walks into your house looking for his daughter and then talks rude to you, but when you need help, he always tells you, he's not that kind of Doctor, but then invites you over for supper, and of course you go!!!!

So, here's where the sitar music comes into the scene, after dinner when his beautiful daughter Anna plays some awesome music for you, the Doctor freaks out and smashes the sitar right in front of you, so you decide to excuse yourself and go back to your new house! That's right about where they lost me, this movie is over, you people are nuts, and I'm outta here!! Exit stage left!!!

Last year, the lovely Jacqueline Pearce moved to South Africa to help take care of orphaned Vervet Monkeys.

Accomplished Indian actor Marne Maitland takes the role of The Malay quite seriously, and played guys with names like Turk, Ismet, Abdul, Ganga, El Karish, Majarajah, Hassan, Pandit, and Gaafar and many more for 41 years before passing away in 1991!

The beautiful girl is the monster, and everyone else in the movie can die, I just don't care!!

Roy Ashton's makeup for "The Reptile" mask is quite a bit more effective and scary, when it's just a little blurry, I think you'll agree!!

MONSTER OF TOROS aka Toros Canavari / Be-Ya Films Turkey - 1961 / Music by ?

Hello everbloody!.. Tonight Tabonga go to brink of Weirdsville to bring you this Turkish delight! An' boy, it weird!

There no music credit of course, but dude kickin' butt on sitar!.. 1961!.. MONSTER OF TOROS! Oh, no title card neither, Nancy.

People lookin' for some cavedude in mountains so get musical send-off from locals.

See what can happen when distracted by sex?!.. Doofus cavedude find you first!!

Look interesting, so cavedude give it a try!..

Oh, look, gurlie wakin' up!

Hey babuh!.. What you sign?!

Beautifil gurl show stupid idiot how to drink water and look at result!! Brainiac give monster bad name!

Great, now show off eating skills. Dude really startin' to get on Tabonga' raw nerve!

Then, cavedude get to listen to swingin' music on gurl' radio!.. This where Tabonga want to toss grenade into room!

Okay... He not all bad!

Finally, people find cavedude outside and shoot him in back! Then they put him in barn where old maid lady comfort him before place start on fire and kill them both!!..

DAAAANG!.. Oh well, at least someone love him!

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF - Ken Miller/Paul Dunlap - "Well, People Bug Me Too" (1957)

"I Was A Teenage Werewolf" is the definitive reason we started this blog; it was low budget films like this one, "How To Make A Monster," "Blood Of Dracula," and "Frankenstein's Daughter" that featured at least one complete song that defined the era, and this particular flick is the epitome of what we're talkin' bout here!!! We've been saving this one for awhile now, and I didn't think we were ever going to get to it, so before the world implodes, you've still got a chance to see this movie. Well, kinda, why in the heck is it almost impossibly hard to find any Herman Cohen produced films in distribution. Who'd Herman piss off? I'd like to see how many hits Netflix gets for people looking for this movie, and it just ain't hardly out there. I really think it's weird!!!!

Rockin, Rebel, and Scary!! What else could you possibly want?? Eat this psycho pretty boy!!! More weirdness, Tony on Tony! Michael Landon is Tony Rivers, his Foe Jimmy, is played by Tony Marshall!!

Oh, Wow!! Man, is this not like the ultimate 50's home scene, with the uptight beer-drinkin', solitaire-playin' Dad, and the snooty, just sittin' there doing nuthin but knittin' and bitchin' Mom!! How are you doing, Son?? Uh, Swell!! Actually, even though, they really do want to get out of there and go to their club, Arlene played by Yvonne Fedderson, and Tony are really good kids, they get good grades and they don't drink or smoke or fornicate, it's just that, well, Tony has a temper!!!

Kenny Miller as Vic gets the honor of performing the Jerry Blaine and Paul Dunlap classic "Eeny Meeny Miney Moe," and does a great job!! You might remember Ken in his role as one of the little people in "Attack Of The Puppet People," and he also had a part in the Sal Mineo JD classic, "Dino!" If you're lucky, you might still catch him at some movie convention one of these days!! The rest of the cool soundtrack was composed by the amazing Paul Dunlap, who we've written about too many times already!!! "Eeny Meeny Miney and a whole lot Moe"

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Here, Kenny and Cynthia Chenault as his girlfriend Pearl, break into an almost vaudeville dance routine during the song's instrumental break!! Cynthia was also in "Dino!"

It's a Halloween party, and everybody's having fun scaring each other, then after his song, Ken is guided to go into the door with the bucket of water over it!! He's looking pretty manic himself right here!!

So in return, Vic innocently goes over and blows a noisemaker horn into Tony's ear...........

Pow! I told you Tony had a temper, probably really was a good thing he didn't drink!!!

So, finally, after losing it a number of times, Tony gives in and goes to see the local hypnotist Doctor, who just happens to also be the meanest S.O.B. on the planet!! Whit Bissell does such a fantastic job as the evil bastard doctor in this film, and in "I was A Teenage Frankenstein" that it's really hard to believe that it's not true!! He's that convincing!!! So, just in case you don't know the story, the good Doctor Brandon starts shooting Tony up with crap that turns him into a werewolf, in a effort to make some kind of stupid scientific breakthrough! Right!!

At first the attacks only happen at night, but after leaving the Principal's office, where Tony was congratulated by The Principal for turning his life around since he's been seeing Dr. Brandon, he happens to notice Jimmy's girlfiend Theresa hanging around after school!

A little too much testosterone, and Tony should have never stood that close to that bell..

Director Gene Fowler Jr. shows us the first good clear look at the werewolf, but it's upside down from Theresa's viewpoint!!

Theresa was played by May 1957 Playmate Of The Month, Dawn Richard!

Another classic shot of Whit Bissell, in Herman Cohen's UK features, it was Michael Gough who always got the call as the seemingly nice, but truly inherently cunning and evil character!! They're both very good at it!! To top it all off, this film also included class performances from more great names like Barney Phillps, Joseph Mell and Louise Lewis!!

The Teenage Werewolf has got the biggest and fuzziest pompadour combover ever, only to be outdone by singer, "The White Knight Of Soul", Wayne Cochran!! Find a copy somewhere if you can! When's somebody going to release the definative Herman Collection anyhow??? It's long overdue!!!!!

RODAN! The Flying Monster / Toho Japan - 1956 / Music by Akira Ifukube

WE'RE OFFICALLY BACK!!

So, then, why not start Rodan's Sunday Classics with... Ta Da... That's right!.. RODAN!! Original Japanese title is Sora no daikaijû Radon.

This movie aired regularly on local TV back in the late '50s and early '60s along with other Toho favorites GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS and GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER. The man behind the music tonight is the Godfather of Asian monster music. Case closed!

Mr. Ifukube, who died in 2006, has 268 composing credits starting in 1947 and ending in 1995! Now, that is productive!! So, here's our offering - RODAN! THE FLYING MONSTER...

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The story starts in a some flooded mine in Japan, where giant prehistoric man-eating insects and other varmints are found alive, after the miners burrowed into an unknown cavern. People are discovered slaughtered, cut in half!! They also watch as a giant egg hatches a baby Rodan!

The Japanese Air Force eventually has to deal with a giant supersonic bird creature that has appeared mysteriously in the skies overhead! Wow, look at that maneuverability!! Oh, and, nice Sabre Jet model.

Rodan is pretty oblivious to anything humans can throw at it. Finally, another Rodan appears, a female, and their plans become clear... More baby Rodans!!!

The battles rage on and it looks like the humans are basically, you know, doomed!!

Leave it up to nature to do away with the creatures that are stuck in a world they don't belong! And, look at this, the Japanese people, after 2 atomic bombs, attacked by Godzilla, Gigantis, Rodan and others... They still have sympathy for the monsters because they have a pretty good understanding of what a tragedy really is!

One last note ~ we need to give Eegah!! another gold star for making sure that the train is back on the track!!