THE H-MAN / Toho Company - 1958

It's another Maniacal Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a redo of some older posts, time for an update with this puppy! The weird story goes like this... When a narcotics deal goes wrong and the suspect mysteriously disappears, Tokyo police question his wife because they believe that she's also involved, then, stake out the nightclub where she works. Lots of cool music at the club! His disappearance stumps the police until a young scientist comes forward and claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific have created radioactive creatures he calls "H-Men," they ooze like slime and can dissolve anyone they touch!! This flick came out the same year as THE BLOB...

The music in this film is some of our favorite from the Monster Movies, but, why yak about it when we can just play our soundclip for you! Push the big red 'GO' button there next to the portable reactor, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some auditory assimilation from... THE H-MAN!

This is where some of the slimy H-Men come from, the sewers!

And, here's where we all come from! Nuf' said?..

The young scientist interviews a man in the hospital, who, along with others of his crew, had come across a 'ghost ship' and encountered fantastic creatures while searching for survivors on the eerie vessel!

They saw lots of weird stuff, like, clothes laying around but without the people inside them! Then, one of the monsters pops up and absorbs a crew member!!

As Lobo would say... Time for go to rubber room!

The scientist shows off his 'hydrogenator' ray machine. He makes a toad bubble like a crazy monkey when he turns his unearthly device on the poor thing!

What else, it's all about pretty women at the club!

I think this photo perfectly captures the fever pitch of the wild music at the nightclub!

This H-Man shows up at an apartment in the middle of a heist!

This little yellow creep gets jus' what he diserves... The Suds!!

These two people have refused to ever go back on any freakin' Nickelodeon game shows!! Quote ~ "There's something wrong with that Jeff whatzhizname!!"

Anybloody who grew up with Famous Monsters will never forget this incredible melting man!

The police and military finally pinpoint the location of the slimy creatures, the smelly old sewer! A group of men go down there and search for the stealthy things, and, when they do find them, they know what to do!..

They literally set all of Tokyo Bay on fire to make absolute sure that the H-Men are completely eradicated! Spectacular effects, this is a great movie.

THE SKYDIVERS - Jimmy Bryant - "HaSo - Stratosphere Boogie" (1963)

Tonight's feature is a extra special film I waited five years to see, so I hope you're as excited to hear about it as I am to write about it, written and directed by the Orson Welles of 'Z' movies, in stature if nothing else, Coleman Francis, with music by the freakin' fenomenal Jimmy Bryant, it's time to take off with those krazy people known as, "The SKYDIVERS!"

Lucky me, I got my copy of Jimmy Bryant's record at a garage sale, and didn't have to pay the full retail price for it! Can you say Hell Yeah!?

This film seeks to explore the world of a group of people known as skydivers, a culture of misfits not unlike carnies minus the carnival!!

Producer Anthony Cardoza gets a starring role as Harry Rowe, because that's the best thing Coleman can offer him for putting up the money! Besides being a skydiver, Harry has other problems........

.....Female problems! Harry Rowe's girlfriend Suzy is on the left, and his wife Beth is on the right. Beth was played by Kevin Casey in this, the only movie she was ever in! Imagine that?

IF Coleman Francis ran the government today, we wouldn't be in debt! That's how brilliant the man was, instead he wasted his time making movies!

The best film makers fill in wherever needed, and even use their family if that's what is necessary, Coleman Francis was no exception! Spend as little as you can, and hire as few as possible!

Suzy! Always causing problems! See, the guy in the top shot is Suzy's lover Harry, but the guy with 'Suzy' tattooed on his arm is Suzy's boyfriend Frankie Bonner! Frantic Frankie was played by Jerry Warren stalwart Titus (Rat Pfink a Boo Boo) Moede! Slutty Suzy was played by Marcia (IMPULSE) Knight, who was also in another Coleman Francis classic, "The Beast Of Yucca Flats!"

The action is really getting hot and heavy!

Basically "The Skydivers" is about people jumping out of planes, and ultra super sexy chicks! Where I come from, sharing some BBQ and a beer with this gal would be considered to be heaven on earth!

There's a minimum of 15 or 20 minutes of skydiving footage, so the added bonus is there's plenty of time to get up and make yourself a Margarita, and go to the bathroom, and you don't miss a thing! That's some accommodating film making! Coleman knew how to share the love!

Finally, we get to the meat of this subject, Jimmy Bryant and the Night Jumpers, with Jimmy on guitar, bass player Rue Barclay, drummer Junior Nichols, and Harold Hensley on the sax!

The multi-talented Jimmy Bryant, aka "The Fastest Guitar in the Country" worked his way up from the very bottom, and played with everybody from pedal guitar player Speedy West to The Monkees! Heavy smoker Jimmy succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 55!

Wild airport parties like this were frowned on back in the day, and then the hippies took over and they didn't need airplanes to fly anymore!

So after Jimmy Bryant you probably thought there was no place left to go, but remember, this is a Coleman Francis film, so bring on the Rollie Maiden!

I call this painting, "T-Bird In The Desert!"

If you knew Suzy like I know Suzy, Oh, Oh, Oh what a girl! Too bad Coleman and Andy Warhol never got a chance to work together!

I really do hate being redundant, but who else could get this good of a shot out of literally nothing?

The story is actually quite meaningless, because what this is, is a piece of history, a snapshot in time that Hollywood and all it's zillions of dollars could never capture so perfectly! It's "The Skydivers!"

FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE / Criterion Films - 1956

It's jus' another Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a strange little UK flick I saw on TV after school one afternoon in 1957 where a lot of the neighborhood kids met at Principal Carona's house to watch it, it was a big deal at the time. I had a crush on his daughter, Marilyn. They lived next door to my best friend at the time, Larry, who's father happened to be the local mortician! Pretty weird, huh?

I always thought that 'from' outer space was wrong, but, FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE is actually an alternate American title!

Eegah!! sent over a very spacey soundclip for us to check out, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to Mr. Hellface, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's sum sound from... FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE!

After landing on the 13th moon of Jupiter, this crew of astronauts from Earth discover a forested area containing the last remnant of lost Atlantis! Here's some interesting trivia - the 13th moon of Jupiter was only discovered in 1974! Also, at this time, Jupiter officially has 50 moons and 14 smaller 'provisional' moons!

They come across the beautiful scantily clad nymph greeting babe, Hestia!

Then they have to meet an' greet the supreme (pizza) ruler of Atlantis, this old weirdo, Prasus! We seem to suffer from the same affliction.

And, don't ever forget about the bevy o' bodacious babes, all looking for... Husbands!!

There's plenty of sexy dancin' goin' on, too!

Here, things are in reverse, women drug the men with 'Venus Fly Trap!'

Prasus tells the space adventurers this about the monster... "The beast with the head of a man, it must be destroyed.. Yet, it is indestructible!"

WTF!!.. Just shoot at it and it runs away, yowling like a little baby!

It's sacrifice night at the girls' club.

This little lady turns the heat up even higher!

If you don't believe me, just ask this guy!

Holy crap!! It's the beast with the head of a man!! Actually, it looks like a man with the head of a beast!

The guys finally get wise and toss a grenade at him, knocking him into the eternal fire pit, he's kaput now!

All the girls wave goodbye to the brave men from Earth as they depart Moon 13 and head back home in their rocket!

Wait til you see whut Eegah!! has planned for tomorrow's post!!