Wednesday, August 10, 2011

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE - David Gamely - "Creatures" (1974)

R.E.S.P.E.C.T., do the Wooley Bully or the Hokey Pokey, that's what it's all about!!! For a while there, Amicus had a love affair going with anthologies that combined four or five stories into one film, you know, like "Torture Garden," "The House That Dripped Blood," "Tales From The Crypt," "The Vault Of Horror," and/or tonight's feature, "From Beyond The Grave." The original music was composed by Douglas (What the Hell happened to this guy?) Gamely in his only credit ever! There seems to be no other information about the man! Do a Google search, and they'll ask you if you meant Game Fly, an American online video game rental subscription service, WTF?!

And "what's it all about, Ralphie?" Pretty basic in my church, Don't F with people......Period!! And especially don't F with kindly old men that look like Peter Cushing! Okay, that is Peter Cushing, don't F with him either, and whatever you do, don't rip-off or steal from him!

The first of these R. Chetwynd-Hayes tales called "The Gate Crasher" concerns David Warner as supreme jackass Edward Charlton! David is still working today and is one of the few people you can use his name and any of the following in the same sentence and it makes sense! TRON, Scooby-Doo, Captain Planet, Babylon 5, Batman, Rasputin, Dr. Who, Titanic, Toonsylvania, and Freakazoid!

Nice antique mirror, too bad it comes with a previous owner still embedded!

You know, maybe your life isn't so bad, after all! Things can always be worse!!

After Edward and his new best friend thrash his apartment, it's time for a little cleanup and a new resident, and you can even rent it out for a higher price now because it's been completely redecorated!!

Next up is tale number two, titled "An Act Of Kindness," starring Donald Pleasence, and Ian Bannen, neither whom are strangers around these parts! Ian was the star of the recently profiled "Doomwatch," and Donald Pleasence is a household word in the depths of The Dungeon!

Ian steals a military medal from The Proprietor, because he has told Donald that he is a veteran!

Ian's home life with Diana Mary Fluck, The English Marilyn Monroe, The Siren of Swindon, Miss Diana Dors is anything but pleasant! I'll tell you one thing, somebody had a good time decking out this set ala 1970's floral pattern city!

So it's time for Ian to take shelter in the arms of another, and although she looks slightly like a character from Tod Browning's "Freaks," Donald's real life daughter Angela Pleasence is lookin' damn fine to Ian, and she likes him, and she pays attention to him!

Ian's home life isn't getting any better, and his son is just as obnoxious as his wife. Although Diana is looking kinda saggy and over the hill, you have to remember that Marilyn never made it anywhere near this age!

Angela Pleasence is a fascinating woman with issues, and pays Diana a visit in the middle of the night!

You didn't really expect this to work out, did you? Instead of a knobjob, Ian ends up with a nutjob!!

NEXT!!! Pompous jerk Ian Carmichael steps into the batting circle to square off with The Proprietor in "The Elemental!" In his second role ever, Ian played Bill the Postman in a 1949 film titled "The Gay Lady," after that, it was continuous roles on TV as Bertie Wooster, Peter Lamb, Lord Peter Wimsey, Sir James Menzies, Lord Cumnor, and T.J. Middleditch! Ian passed away at the age of 89 just last year!

Great shot of Peter Cushing peering out from behind some of the treasures in his shop!

Lucky dog that he is, Nyree "Madame Bovary" Dawn Porter is Ian's wife!

Ian needs some help delivering himself from evil by the hands of Margaret "The Upper Crusts" Leighton!!

Once you're in this deep, there's no help for you!

The last story is about a door that is actually a portal to another world! Guy's got some weird stuff in his shop, you got to admit!

So what's the deal? You had to be named Ian to try out for a lead part in this film? This fourth segment is titled "The Door" and stars Ian Oglivy! A couple of this Ian's credits include "She Beast," The Sorcerors," and "Witchfinder General!"

So you put a new door in your pad, and because you obtained it in a less than correct manner, suddenly the door leads to another world where an insane pirate lives! No thanks, I'll stay in my garage!

Bummer! At least it's over! Right?!

In between all the other stories, there was always a seedy character milling around outside the shop. Ben "The Land That Time Forgot" Howard, is The Burglar, and the last vignette depicts this poor bastard's fruitless attempt at robbery! You should have no doubt that one more rocket scientist is going to bite the dust!

"Temptations Limited, Offers You Cannot Resist," that pretty much sums up the whole thing! Catchy! Soul Catchy!

Monday, August 8, 2011

JOURNEY TO THE 7th PLANET / Cinemagic Inc. - 1962

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's a flick that Eegah!! and I actually saw together at the good old Sierra Theater, way back in '62! And, we got to see the original version that included the clip of the weird cave monster with it's big pinchers and twirling eyeballs, that's now supposedly lost!!

The story's about a U.N. space expedition that goes to the planet Uranus and discovers a strange world right out of their own memories, with places and people the crew members recall from their childhoods. It's part of a fantasy created by the planet's Master, a giant, pulsating brain that can also turn their own worst nightmares against them!

Look at how they used to get away with poster fraud, that spaceship was never in the movie, neither were those wild looking monsters!

We're updating this title from an earlier post, our soundclip is the moody tune at the end, sung by Otto Brandenburg, which was cut from the original American release for some reason. The Danish version had music by Ib Glindemann, the American version had music by our hero, Ronald Stein!

Letz bring in our fuzzy little Dungeon helper and button pusher, yessir, it's... Ralphie The Tarantula!! And, since he's here, we might as well start the music. Push the 'GO' button now, Ralphie!! Here's Otto doin'... JOURNEY TO THE 7th PLANET!

Close to their destination, the crew falls into a trance-like state with a ominous voice speaking to them telepathically.

Just as they have landed, the landscape turns 'Earthlike' right before thier eyes! Their ship is an Atlas rocket model, the Atlas was made by General Electric.

John and the guys cannot believe what they just saw, so, they decide to venture outside to see what they can see!

Eric finds the edge of the illusion and the temperature drops dramatically. Then, as he talks about his childhood, he mentions a windmill and it appears on the hill behind him! Eric is played by Carl Ottosen, Carl was commander Mark Grayson in REPTILICUS.

Then, the girls pop in for a steamy visit... That's Greta Thyssen in the bottom photo, she was was crowned Miss Denmark in 1951, her measurements were 40-24-36.

They have to put on their gear to explore a cave they discovered.

Gee, I wonder what this means!!

Aww, crap!!..

The prop department must have had lots of fun creating the sets. Now that color was the norm, stuff like this started to happen. Some of my favorite garrishily lit and colored sets are in the Mexican Monster Movies!

As they explore, they luckily find this deep hole they can go poop in!

Knucklehead Karl is afraid of rats, so, The Master cooks up this nightmare for him!

Eric fires his laser at The Master, but, it doesn't faze the big brain! The top photo reminds me of some kind of crazy European hard candy!

The girls come in and use their female charms to lull Karl into a false sense of security. They steal the weapon the men have just finished, designed to destroy The Master. So, they replace it with an illusion that will not function!

Even though their original plan was sabotaged, they still find a way to destroy The Master...

As Eegah!! and I originally watched this monster movie, we noticed all the ridiculous continuity errors!

With The Master now dead, everything goes back to normal and all illusions disappear...

Eric is able to get his girl onboard the ship, but, once in space, she disappears too...

Here's an interesting shot of Uranus!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??