Friday, May 11, 2012

THE RETURN OF THE MONSTER / Filmadora Méxicana S.A. - 1959

It's Friday Night Monster Theater with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our featured flick is one nut-brained weirdie to be sure, a horror-western! It stars el Zorro Escarlata, defender of good, and, one of the strangest looking monsters ever, up there with THE BRAINIAC. That nice lobby card is still in my collection! Click on the pic to see it larger, and, you can notice the cool device they plugged into that lady's head in the insert!

Check out the excellent Mexicano theme and eerie transformation chills in the soundclip Eegah!! made for us! Sooo, you can push that big red 'GO' button, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here are some sounds from... THE RETURN OF THE MONSTER!

A deranged scientist is searching for the secret of eternal life. In order to help him in that quest, he employs the aid of an old, skeletonized witch! You can see her sitting there in the background. Here, the scientist tries to control one of his creations, The Monster!

Here's a pretty good close-up of the make-up... Sheesh!!

This scene, where The Monster slides down that steep stone embankment, makes me grimmace to watch it!! As he's quickly sliding down, he loosens up a giant bolder and it freaking lands on his legs after he hits the ground!! I don't know how he possibly got up and hobbled away, you just have to see it to believe it! By the way, this is an extremely hard title to get your hands on.

The Monster goes into this guy's house and steals his daughter out of her bed, then, dares the the guy to shoot at him. Notice in the poster that The Monster's carrying a girl, not a woman.

The Monster tries to hide in a barn, but, el Zorro Escarlata swoops down from the rafters on a rope and kicks the fiend in the chest! During the fight, the father comes and rescues his daughter.

A few bullets in the belly have no real effect on the thing!

Jus' plain Weirdsville!..

Even the old pitchfork in the chest only seems to piss him off...

Because, he throws it back at el Zorro Escarlata, just missing him! Some convincing effects used here!

The old Witch Hag orders the scientist to do her bidding, or, else!!

Jaime Fernández plays the human form of The Monster. Jaime had 171 acting credits and was also in ZONGA, THE DIABOLICAL ANGEL, THE MASK OF DEATH, SANTO vs THE ZOMBIES, SANTO vs THE VAMPIRE WOMEN, THE INCREDIBLE FACE OF DR. B, BLUE DEMON, BLUE DEMON vs THE SATANIC POWER and THE SHADOW OF THE BAT! In the top pic, steam pours off his head during transformation, freaky...

Then, you can hear him changing back in the soundclip, I love that stuff!!

As it should be, in the end, the old Skeleton Witch gets to burn forever in Hell!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL - Terrence Fisher's Last Film (1974) - Music By James Bernard

"Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell" is not exactly my favourite Frankenstein film, and as a matter of fact, it's not even close, but then, when you don't get out much, you don't get much!!

Shane Briant is Simon Helder! Dude looks innocent enough, just shows to go you Willie Dixon was right, you can't judge a book by looking at the cover! Simon's got some different notions about science and creation! His hero is Baron Victor Frankenstein! Shane is still working today, and currently has works in production!!

Maybe it's that Simon was deprived of toys as a kid, so he likes to play with body parts instead! He thinks of himself as a forward thinker, everybody else thinks he's a freak!!

Judged by a man who has his hair knitted, you know this isn't going to work out very well for Simon! Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars!!

It's just damn hard to beat a good painted backdrop!

Just in case you wondered what happened to Lonesome George after he left office!! Wonder no more!!

The head of the insane asylum where they have sent Simon was played by John Stratton, a guy who has more problems that a lot of the inmates combined! John was a staple of British TV, enjoying a long career as characters like Mr. Bott, Shockeye, and Uncle Pumblechook!! His main concern as director of the asylum is his penis!

Peter Cushing as always, puts in another fine performance as former patient Baron Victor Frankenstein, who was supposedly killed off, but returns as the resident in-house Doctor, Carl Victor! Nobody knows but the director of the asylum, and Baron Doctor Victor has enough dirt on him that he'll never tell anybody!

So why is this poor bastard in here? He's a mathematical genius!! Charles Lloyd Park, not to be confused with brilliant jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, was in quite a few other Hammer flicks, and was The Vicar in "Bedazzled!"

After it looks like he commits suicide, it becomes very evident that Doctor Victor was waiting for access to a good brain! He just didn't feel like waiting any longer!

Well, we knew the kid had a penchant for eyes. This was the last in the Hammer series of Frankenstein flicks, and they spend a lot of time doing stuff like removing brains, enough so to get an 'R' rating! This was also director Terrence Fisher's last film!!

The monster as played by Hammerhead David Prowse is a combination of former denizens of the instituion, so he's got the strength of a muscleman, the hands of a crafty artisan, and the brain of a genius! David had a fair amount of success in his career! He also played the Frankenstein monster in "The Horror Of Frankenstein" before landing the small time role of Darth Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return Of The Jedi!"

This is Sarah, the Angel, the one light at the end of an ever darkening tunnel! Of course, she's not really crazy or a deaf mute like she pretends to be! The well endowed Madeline Smith will always be remembered as Miss Caruso in "Live And Let Die!" She was also in some films like "Vampire Lovers" and "Theatre Of Blood!" The Angel is in the asylum because her Father, the director of the joint, raped her when she was a young girl! Until Simon came along, she did all the needlework for Dr. Victor!!

Here's less than two minutes of some very serious music by Hammer workhorse James Bernard to set the mood! It's always a bummer when there's no clubs, bars, inns, or pubs! Too bad all the lunatics never had a party!!

On a cold and stormy night, Frankie decides to go for a walk!

There's probably not a concept much scarier than looking into a coffin, and seeing your own dead body!

Muscleman body, hands of a craftsman, and the brain of a genius, you'd of thought they could have found a neck somewhere! Since this film was set in a time after the discovery of gunpowder, this creature is a lot easier to dispose of than Mary Shelly's original creation! Bang!! You're dead!!!

Monday, May 7, 2012

SANTO vs THE DIABOLICAL HATCHET / Filmica Vergara Comisiones - 1965

It's Mexican Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is only Santo's 9th movie of the 54 he starred in, and, he even time travels in this one! We'll see more of Santo this month, too.

Sooo, lets get this rocket rollin'.. You can push the big red 'GO' button there on top of Old Smokey, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some sounds from... SANTO vs THE DIABOLICAL HATCHET!

This story even has the origin of Santo, the movie begins in the year is 1603, where, Santo is being laid to rest, to later return to the land of the living to fight evil once again... It's kinda weird to see him dead!

In present time, our hero is unknowingly being persued by an evil executioner from the past!

Well, even if you're Santo, and, have a girlfriend, you're obliged to take your mask off every now and again out of courtesy, and, you can kiss a lot better that way too!

Santo puts 2 + 2 together and figures out that the Encapuchado Negro is in the present to do him harm!

Dr. Zanoni tests his time travelling machine on Santo...

Here, you can see Santo leave his body to go back in time!

Back at the ranch, Hatchet Dude has a secret meeting with Dick, err.. Satan! They plan their next stratego against the elusive man in the silver mask.

He also has a mentor figure, like in SHAZAM!

I love to watch Santo in the ring, even if he's down he always comes back, especially when his opponents are cheating or playing too rough!

Santo's girlfriend is in the audience, so, he knows he's going to get a big kiss in the locker room!

Hey, let's sneak a little peek of her in her nightie!.. Woob!

Santo has to literally climb to the top of this creepy old mansion to get inside, where, Hatchet Dude is waiting for him, what else.

I was looking at this picture and thinking, man, I'd love to have a room like that, it gots atmosphere... And, if it's one thing I am, it's definitely atmospheric!

Coincidently, in Santo's very next screen adventure, he meets... The Strangler!! Looks like Hatchet Dude got a jump on him!

Monster Music

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