THE BEAST MUST DIE / Amicus - 1974

Welcome everbloody to Friday Night Drive-In, with your host Tabonga and lil' hunchback Dungeon helper, Ralphie the Tarantula...

We gots a strange one fer sure, great cast, alternate title is BLACK WEREWOLF! From a story by James Blish. Director Paul Annett has 39 directing credits, but, directed only one other flick besides this one, everything else was various episodes of TV shows! A few titles he worked on are FRAUD SQUAD, DEAD OF NIGHT, SPY TRAP, TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED, THE SPONGE MAN and MENACE UNSEEN.

Great narration at the beginning by uncredited Bill Mitchell. Guess you'll need to pay attention while you watch, or else you'll look like a dummy at the end!..

The music is cool but very dated. The wah-wah pedal chicka-chicka sound with big horns says, well... 1974!! It was composed by Australian Douglas Gamley, Douglas had 35 composing credits from 1956-83 which includes HIGH FLIGHT, TOM THUMB, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE, THE UGLY DUCKLING, HORROR HOTEL, THE HORROR OF IT ALL (coming soon!), AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, ASYLUM, THE VAULT OF HORROR, MADHOUSE, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and THE MONSTER CLUB!!.. Not too shabby!

Okay then, lil' Ralphie has just informed Tabonga that it's in the best interest of progress to have him push, once again, that big red 'GO' button and bring everbloody our Eariffic Earclip flavor of the night!! Here's... THE BEAST MUST DIE!

The flick starts with Calvin (HONEYBABY, HONEYBABY) Lockhart running from rabid military style persuers!

Calvin plays millionaire Tom Newcliffe, who's actually testing his own surveilance and tracking systems! And there's Dungeon pal Anton Diffring, Anton appeared in these fine productions too: I AM A CAMERA, TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN (TV), THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH, CIRCUS OF HORRORS, GHOST SQUAD (TV), FAHRENHEIT 451, PIGGIES (TV), SON OF HITLER and PLUTONIUM (TV).

The story is basically a mix of 10 LITTLE INDIANS and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, but with a Werewolf thrown in for good measure!

Hmmmm... Now, who could be that infernal Werewolf anyway, I wonder?

Where there's Wolf Bane, there's usually a Werewolf!!

Anton Diffring - Before and after a Werewolf attack!

Tom takes his varmint hunting... vewy, vewy, sewiouswy!!

What?!.. Strange things just always happen during a full moon!

A portrait of Peter worthy of a painting!!

It's a freakin' MADHOUSE!!

~ DO YOU KNOW WHO IS... THE WEREWOLF?

DRÀCULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN - Josyane Gibert - "Boom Boom Polka Pachanga" (1972)

Now don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that all Jesus Franco flicks would probably fall into the WTF?! category, it's just that "Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein" is one of the most inane and WTF!? films Jess Franco ever made, that's inane, not insane, and that's not exactly a good thing, and I don't think it would be fair to blame Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker, because they sure as Hell didn't have anything to do with it!!

This is Dennis Price as Dr. Frankenstein! He narrates his own story, and almost has the only speaking part in this whole film. That's right, "Dracula Prisoner Of Frankenstein" is almost completely devoid of dialogue. It gets to the point where you wonder if you dozed off, and missed something, but in reality, it's the captain of this ship who has fallen asleep at the wheel!

This is Dr. Frankenstein's WTF!? Batmobile!!

The bad doctor rematerializes the Frankenstein monster with his uncanny high tech equipment!!

When the make-up is merely drawn on, maybe it's not such a good idea to do big close ups Jesus!

Then out of the blue, just like in almost every other Jesus Franco film, there's an interactive party going on down at the local pub, with Josyane Gibert as Estela the cabaret girl, putting on a rousing show that will snap you right out of your slumber!

The rest of the music for the film was composed by musical heavies Bruno Nicolai and Daniel White, but it's Josyane who steals the show!! Both Bruno and Daniel have immense composing credits, but my favorite title out of the whole bunch is "My Horse, My Gun, Your Widow!"

As it turns out, Josyane's performance was a segue to her being captured by the slow and plodding monster, who manages to get away from the authorities, and even though he sludges along at a snail's pace, nobody is able to follow him!

Dr. Frankenstein is trying to revive Howard Vernon as Dracula, who he found hanging out in his basement, so he needs blood from young ladies like Josyane!

One vampire is never enough, so Britt Nichols joins the party as the Chica Vampira! Caliente!!

As we all know, every mad doctor has to have a sidekick assistant with a name like Igor to do his dirty work, and in this movie, it's Luis Barboo as Morpho! Even though Luis looks the part with this loco furry hat, there is also yet another character in this film that I neglected to get a picture of, Brandy, in his solo film outing, as El Hombre Lobo or The Wolfman!!

You have to see this movie just because Dungeon fave and all around weirdo, Howard Vernon is in it!!

Dr. Frankenstein explains the intricacies of the plot to the viewer...

....and also his disdain!!!

The lab of the man who in the German version is called Dr. Exorzio! Maybe he's a dentist in the German version!

It's another slow night in the gothic cafeteria!!

Howard's got time to go out on another bloodthirsty adventure!!

The whole story is starting to unravel!!

Alberto Dalbés as Doctor Jonathan Seward has the last word, the same thing that you'll be saying when "Drácula Contra Frankenstein" is over, if you live through it!

WTF!? Even the posters for "Drácula Contra Frankenstein" are weirder than Hell!!The poster at the top of the page was a blatant Universal ripoff, and in the one at the bottom, Dracula's eyes are about to pop out and Frankenstein looks more like Michael Jackson!!

THE FLYING SERPENT / PRC - 1946

Welcome to Moldie Oldie Monday here at the Dungeon, with Tabonga and li'l Dungeon helper, Rufus the Gnat! Today's feature is another oldie they overplayed on TV in the fifties, at least where I lived!

This story goes like this... "The demented archaeologist Dr. Andrew Forbes (George Zucco) discovers a living, breathing serpent creature known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl (the Killer Bird God) and accidentally kills his wife by giving her one of the beast's feathers, causing the creature to track her down and slaughter her. Now Dr. Forbes uses this twisted knowledge to extract revenge upon his enemies by placing one of the serpent's feathers on his intended victim and letting the beast loose to wreak havoc."

Uncredited music is by Leo Erdody, who also composed for movies like MURDER IN THE BIG HOUSE, HITLER--DEAD OR ALIVE, QUEEN OF BROADWAY, DEAD MEN WALK, GIRLS IN CHAINS, DANGER! WOMEN AT WORK, BLUEBEARD, WHITE PONGO, DETOUR, BLONDE FOR A DAY, GASHOUSE KIDS and THE RETURN OF RIN TIN TIN!

So, it's time for tiny li'l Rufus to buzz across the room and push that big red 'GO' button and start our Eariffic Earclip rolling! Here's!.. THE FLYING SERPENT!

This still sums it all up!

Wow, these scenes look like they're out of an AZTEC MUMMY flick!

Quintessential madman George Zucco plays another excellent role, this time as Prof. Andrew Forbes, keeper of a dark and sinister secret that's a billion years old!

Dr. Lambert plays the perfect stooge and falls prey to the winged serpent... I'm pretty sure that's a pheasant feather!

These two shots of Quetzalcoatl are great, it looks fairly frightening!

The 'lamestream media' bring in people who can actually solve the mystery! I think that's a young Richard Crane there, holding that gizmo with the antenna.

The reporters stake out an area where the monster had been spotted... Wait, what's that?!

George lies to Hope Kramer to get her to go with him, where he plans to do away with her because, you know... She knows too much!! Hope was only in one other movie, I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI in 1951!

Everbloody escapes from the underground horror...

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

I know what we're having for dinner tonight!!

THE END!.. Buy Gary US Bonds!!