--AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! / Amicus - 1973

Welcome everbloody to Friday Frights wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! Tonite we have another Amicus production, this one from 1973. It's a strange little perverted thriller that even has Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Guy Rolfe and Patrick MaGee in it! Amicus was trying to keep up with the racier movies starting to be produced at that time, this is one of those results. It's directed by Roy Ward Baker (FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH) and has some really great interiors and exteriors!

The story's simple, it's 1795 England, Catherine is engaged to be married to Charles Fengriffen, so, they move into his country castle. Once there, she becomes the victim of an old family curse. On her wedding night, she's raped by the ghost of the curse!

The classy music is by Douglas Gamley, Doug also composed for PARADISE LAGOON, PORTRAIT OF A SINNER, THE CITY OF THE DEAD, THE HORROR OF IT ALL, THE RETURN OF MR. MOTO (1965), THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and THE MONSTER CLUB.

It's time to bring in that lil' button pushin' maniac, and pal, Ralphie The Tarantula! Ralphie's assignment tonite is to push that big red 'GO' button right over there, catty corner from the nook! Hit that button, Ralphie!.. AND, NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS!

Thing's are a little creepy, but cool so far for Catherine in her new home...

But, this happens!

Then, that!... WTF!!

Darling, you need to try and relax!..

This make up job really highlights what Amicus was up to at the time with this and other similiar productions... FREAKY SHOCK!

Catherine discovers her happy place!

The maid sees this in the painting and breaks her neck after falling backwards down the stairs!

Sir, I don't like strange men staring at my breasts!

Catherine likes to get in the mood by looking at pornography.

Hey look, it's Larch Zeppelin!

Herbert Lom, as grandfather Henry, in flashback, is the biggest SOB you'll see anywhere. And, why? He's freakin' rich and can do whatever the Hell he wants! So, after he rapes the guy's girl and chops his hand off, he inherits the curse!

Charles is so distraught over being caught up in the whole ordeal, he keeps the curse going by murdering the ancestor of the man who put the curse on them.

Then, he pays his grandfather's crypt a visit!

Charles then goes nuts and whacks his grandfather's crusty old skeleton against the stone wall of the tomb, over, and over, and over!!

Peter, who plays a doctor, brings Catherine's new baby to her after the birth is over, for her to inspect. Besides a red birthmark on it's face, it's also missing it's right hand!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!.. Tune in tomorrow for Saturday Shock with Eegah!!

Welcome to THE HOUSE OF TERROR!!

How's this for wacky? Since starting this site almost four years ago, we've had close contact with 13 Frightened Girls, 13Ghosts, 2 On A Guillotine, and 12 To The Moon!

We've experienced the spectral wonders of Ghost Catchers, Ghosts Gone Gear, Ghosts From Dragstrip Hollow and Hanley House, not to mention the Ghosts On Patrol, and On The Loose!!

We've made contact with Beasts from 20,000 Fathoms, Haunted Caves, Hollow Mountains, Yellow Nights, Yucca Flats, Morocco, and with A Million Eyes!

We've seen Terror from The Haunted House, Beneath The Sea, In The Midnight Sun, and in The Year 5000!

And we've heard a lot of great music along the way, from Thriller, Spy and Surf movies too, like this rockin' tune from "Bikini Beach," "Gotcha Where I Wantcha" by Candy Johnson and The Exciters, one of my favourite musical numbers from any kind of movie!

We've been Cursed by Frankenstein, Faceless Men, The Fly, The Headless Horseman, The Werewolf, The Stone Hand, The Swamp Creature, The Snake Woman, The Voodoo, and The Mummy's Tomb!!

We've had good days, and bad days, there was The Day The Earth Caught Fire, and The Day The Sky Exploded, and finally, The Day The World Ended, but even that didn't stop us!

We've seen Frankenstein in 1910, 1970, and 80, and we've seen him Conquer The World, and Meet The Space Monster! And if that wasn't enough, we've also seen Frankenstein's Castle Of Freaks, his Bloody Terror, his Island, and his met his Daughter!

We've been assaulted by Creatures From The Haunted Sea, and The Black Lagoon, and Creatures with Blue Hands and Atom Brains!

We've been subjected to Attacks of 50 Foot Women, Crab Monsters, Giant Leeches, Puppet People, Mushroom People, and Robots!

We've witnessed Santo and Blue Demon fending off attacks from Monsters, Black Magic, Cerebro Del Mal, Dr Muerte, Diabolicus, and Las Invasoras!

We've witnessed the marriage to Brides of Blood, Dracula, The Gorilla, Fu Manchu, and The Monster!

We've ridden the Horror Express, stayed at the Horror Hotel and the Horror House On Highway Five, got down at the Horror Of Party Beach, and been generally horrified by Spider Island, Zombies, Blood Monsters, and Black Museums, and for what?

It's been one Helluva struggle all the way, but we do it all for you!!

THE SNORKEL - Francis Chagrin - "Dirty Bastard" (1958)

Here's the real shocker! I followed a link from one of our brethren blogs 3 days ago to get some music, and it was either Media Fire, Sharebee, or Mega Upload where I got a dirty bastard of a virus called something like TDSS.d!mem that verily destroyed my computer, and because I had to do what Swamp Dogg would call "Total Destruction To The Mind" of my computer, and I got in a hurry, I lost some files, so I only have one movie ready to go, and that's the reason why tonight's feature is called "The Snorkel"!!!!

The good news is, that for right now, the computer is running like new, I've just had to do 129 updates, but I did lose all my bookmarks, which is kind of a bummer!

"The Snorkel" is an odd movie, at best, that starts right off with Peter van Eyck, as another dirty bastard, Paul Decker getting ready to kill his wife, and he's got quite the devious, but well thought out plan!

As she soundly sleeps because he drugged her milk, he seals off the room, and blows out the flames to the lamps, so the whole room is filled with noxious toxic gas!

He then hides in a hidden compartment under the floor, and has air coming in from the outside via some hoses, and the notorious snorkel of the title, so the whole thing looks like a suicide, and then he can come out later, because to everybody else's knowledge, he is out of town!

The 15 year old Mandy Miller as Candy Brown, turns in another strong female lead role as Peter's stepdaughter. Candy doesn't believe it was suicide, because she knows that Peter also drowned her real Father, but nobody, including the authorities, will listen to her, because she is just a distraught little girl!

Candy's dog Toto is on to something, but nobody pays any attention to it either! Toto was played a by a dog named Flush, in it's only film outing!

The whole thing takes place in the lovely Italian hamlet of Pismo Beach!

Candy sees this big scuba diving poster, and for some reason, it just makes her kind of wonder!

Toto is a curious as a cat, and after doing some sniffing around, plays a fetchlike retrieval game, and brings Peter the snorkel he had hiding in the closet! Just to put an accent on what a ruthless creep he really is, Peter kills the dog!

The music for "The Snorkel" was composed by Francis Chagrin who also wrote the music for "The Monster Of Highgate Ponds," 3 episodes of "The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre," and the 1949 feature "Helter Skelter," among a host of other work!(And you thought it was The Beatles who came up with the title "Helter Skelter!")

"The Snorkel" is very well made, and easy to watch because it's another early thriller from the Carreras-Sangster-Hammer machine!

At the beach with her Governess Jean Edwards played by Betta St. John, and the evil stepfather, Candy steps over the verbal line of accusation a little too far!!

Peter repays the favor by trying to save her from drowning!

Well, the whole situation is just not working out for Peter, so it's time for Candy to become so flustered that she must commit suicide herself, so being the loving stepfather that he is, he's more than willing to give her a helping hand, of course!

So Peter calls Candy in and gives her some nice soothing warm milk, and reads to her from the blank piece of paper that was her Mother's suicide note, that he had been hanging onto, because it was just too sad to share before!

Now it wouldn't be much of a thriller if I gave away the ending, so I hope I've left you in enough suspense to want to find out for yourself. In the meantime, I've still got lots of work here to catch up on! Be careful where you tread!