BRAIN TWISTERS / Crown International - 1994

Welcome everbloody to Friday Frights with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon... Tonite we gots a flick from 1994, filmed in Scranton, PA, with Crown International as it's distributor, even!

The story's about a college professor who's working with a private company to develop mind-altering software, and, conveniently uses his own students as lab subjects! They watch colorful geometric graphics that look like they were created on some outdated computer system, but, can eventually turn them into vicious maniacs.

The music is by Larry Gelb, who had a grand total of 3 composing credits! I guess there wasn't much demand for music created on an outdated synthesizer, either...

Well, okay then, lettuce bring in our lil' 6-eyed fuzzy freek, Ralphie The Tarantula!! He's here for one reason, and, one reason only, and, that is, to be pushing that big red 'GO' button over there, located conveniently near the water fountain! Hit the button, Ralphie, here's our Eariffic Earclip, an ear full of BRAIN TWISTERS!

When Dr. Rothman isn't developing his software, he's making class for his students extra fun by using real skulls as props! Actually, he's acting all scientifical, trying to impress the girls with his vast knowledge of...

The first victim of getting his brain twistered is this dude that jumped out a 3 story window! But, it's just another day at work for the janitor...

What a cool picture!

Ooooooooo, Mr. Calgon, stop it!..

Well, what do you know, this flick actually has some monsters in it!

But, they interrupted her bubble bath, and, she's pissed!!

The doc goes to a nightclub for some fun, but, better be careful, he's been watching the pretty colors, too!

In a second, the doctor turns around and shoots that guy behind him in the head, because he thinks he's following him!

These 2 pictures don't really go together, but, they should!

Wow, this guy's a pretty good artist!

Does anybloody know what in the Hell those are?!! Looks like soft serve dipped in red wax! Hmmm, must be a regional thang.

Uh-oh!..

This nerd's not having a very good sexual experience with this super horny chick, since she's biting his tongue in half!!

And, obliviously... You're next!!

I'll be right there... MOTHER!!!

The software's now in kid's games. Shades of HALLOWEEN III.

Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..

CHARLIE McCARTHY, DETECTIVE - Various Artists - "The Slap-Happy Sleuth" (1939)

The 1939 wacky feature "Charlie McCarthy, Detective" is a curious mix of mystery thriller and comedy, and a great little hysterical and historical piece of Americana!

Like a bunch of other films through film history, there is a lot you just have to take for granted, and that's just the way it is. If you have no imagination, you're not going to get it, because Charlie is not really treated like a dummy, he's basically just another character in this movie! There's even a scene where he gets shot, and they have to do surgery to remove the bullet, and it's done completely straight, just like he was a real person!

Charlie and his pal Edgar Bergen are entertaining the very distinguished looking Louis Calhern as big-time editor Arthur Aldrich. Louis ended up in some major motion pictures like "Duck Soup," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Notorious," and "The Asphalt Jungle!"

Edgar Bergen was one of the most famous ventriloquists of all time, not the best at the art, but a true innovator. He would even take potshots at himself, by having Charlie give him crap for his lips moving! If you have any doubts to the man's credits, "The Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show" was on the radio from 1937 to 1956, and Edgar has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for radio, one for TV, and one for the movies!!! Here's Charlie taking a potshot at Mr. Aldrich!

Mr. Ray Turner has the quintessential stereotypical 1939 black guy role as "Gravy," and you can look at it one of two ways, he was either a funny black man, or a black man being used by the white establishment for a laugh! Either way, Ray had lots of work over the years and was in 99 features and shorts! So what's got Gravy's attention???

It's none other than Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy's pal, Mortimer Snerd stowed away in the car!

Mr. Aldrich has a nice pad, and some artwork on the wall, that looks like a work by Salvador Dali, but I'm pretty sure it's just a prop! I did some searching and couldn't find a real Dali painting that looked like that!

The love interest is the couple of "Love That Bob" Cummings as reporter Scotty Hamilton and Constance Moore as the singer Sheila Stuart! You might not remember "The Bob Cummings Show," but everyone should know about the TV series, "My Living Doll" that ran from 1964 to 65 and starred Robert Cummings as Dr. Robert McDonald, and featured the incredible Julie Newmar as AAF709, an actual living robot! Singer and actress Constance Moore was Wilma Deering in "Buck Rogers" and sang in a number of musicals!

Edgar, Charlie and Gravy are at the Aldrich estate to help raise money for charity by selling hot dogs!

The dim-witted Mortimer Snerd keeps showing up in the strangest places! Even though Edgar is doing Mortimer's voice too, Mortimer is more like a free agent! Mortimer was also the inspiration for the Looney Tunes character Beaky Buzzard!

Edgar Bergen lines out how the little mystery went down!

The music for "Charlie McCarthy, Detective" is a mixed bag starting with Constance Moore performing "Almost," a tune penned by Samuel Lerner and Ben Oakland, the other songs including "I'm Charlie McCarthy, Detective" were written by Harold L. Block, Jacques Press and Eddie Cherkose. Thanx again to the good Professor Grewbeard for loaning us his copy of "Charlie McCarthy, Detective," so we could share it with you all! All right, that's it for now, but stay tuned, because we've got a wild array of titles coming up this month, including a couple I don't even believe myself!

DEAD MEN WALK / PRC - 1943

Welcome everbloody to Mondo Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Welp, it's back to the forties tonite with this little vampire tale from our old friend PRC, and is above average for them! Plus, Dwight Frye plays hunchback helper, Zolarr!!

The story goes... The twin brother of a kindly small-town physician (both played by George Zucco) returns from the grave for vengeance as the doctor had secretly killed him because he served Satan! Forrest Taylor plays The Evil One, the floating head in the fireplace at the beginning. Love how he refers to the viewers as clinging to their puny conceit when it comes to things that go bump in the night!..

The creepy music is by Leo Erdody, who had 40 composing credits between 1941-8. Other movies he worked on are MURDER IN THE BIG HOUSE, BABY FACE MORGAN, HITLER--DEAD OR ALIVE, QUEEN OF BROADWAY, THE BOSS OF BIG TOWN, GIRLS IN CHAINS, DANGER! WOMEN AT WORK, JIVE JUNCTION, BLUEBEARD, DETOUR and THE FLYING SERPENT!

Awrat then, bunky, lettuce bring in our teeny, tiny lil' Dungeon 'GO' Button Pusher and palsy-walsy, yes, der ein und nur, Rufus The Gnat!!!.. Hoo-Rah!! Wif'out further interruptions and delays, here's our Eariffic Earclip!.. DEAD MEN WALK!

Here's evil magician Elwyn, twin brother of the good doctor, Lloyd Clayton. Lloyd had pushed Elwyn off a cliff in order to end his wicked ways, thinking it was for the better good.

It's amazing how Dwight Frye's looks changed in the 12 years since he played Renfield in DRACULA! He definitely had gained some weight...

Zolarr carries out his duties as the hunchback helper for vampire Elwyn. The evil twin had been to many mystic places around the world, aquiring secrets of the occult for his own use.

Soon, Elwyn appears before his murdering brother to inform him about all the trouble he has planned for him!

Even though the good doctor doesn't believe in the legend, when his niece, Gayle, falls ill with a mysterious malady, he begins to believe that his evil brother could possible be, yes... A vampire!!

I love how this person blends in with the foilage... Reminds me of the creature hiding in the bushes in FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE!

Al St. John plays the hippie who finds a dead body in the woods.

Zolarr follows the doctor, who's looking for Elwyn's hiding place...

Two nice shots of Dwight as he does his thang!

During the final encounter of good twin versus evil twin, all HELL breaks loose!!

Zolarr is pinned down by a podium as the blazing fire creeps closer, and closer, and closer, and closer...

All anyone can do, including you, is watch through this window as the place burns to the ground!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!..