THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS / Vanwick Productions - 1959

It's another Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. What we gots is a redo of an earlier post that features a nastier version of the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, it invades the California seaside community of Piedras Blancas and hides in a cave. Makeup artist Jack Kevan created the monster after working on such films as THE WIZARD OF OZ, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE LAND UNKNOWN, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES and MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS! Check out that great British double bill poster with THE DEAD ONE!

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip for us to hear, sooooo, you can go ahead and push the big red 'GO' button and get the old marbles rolling, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's a sample of... THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS!

Here's Sturges, the lighthouse keeper at Piedras Blancas, he notices a funeral procession and stops for a moment to pay his respects. The townspeople think he's a weirdo and don't like him. If you look real hard, you can see Morro Rock on the the horizon near the center, a place that holds lots of great memories for kids who grew up in the Big Valley around that time...

Sturges has a dirty lil' secret, he's feeding a prehistoric creature, hoping to keep it fed enough to not bother the local residents. A few recent mysterious murders are making him wonder if the monster is responsible.

We had the Wings Drive-In in our town, here, it's where the lovely daughter of Sturges works. Jeanne Carmen plays Lucille, girlfriend of Fred, played by Don Sullivan. We remember Don from TEENAGE ZOMBIES, CURSE OF THE UNDEAD and THE GIANT GILA MONSTER. Jeanne was known for her trick golf shots besides all the hot pin-up photos she appeared in. She was also one of Frank Sinatra's girlies on the side.

This shot is so surreal that I had to include it!

The storekeeper is the next victim, later, Sturges falls off a cliff and is nearly killed! The final straw is when a little girl gets killed by the thing. Killing kids off in movies for shock value is almost perverse.

In another run in with the monster, Constable Matson gets thumped by it. It's not being fed by the injured Sturges and has to plan it's own meals! There's Dungeon favorite Les Tremayne as the local doctor.

Fred and the doc come across this weird footprint in the sand and discover the cave the thing has been hiding in!.. And, snacking in!

Wouldn't you know it, Lucille just happens to be stripping off her clothes when dude shows up! Where I come from, that's called.. Good writing!

The thing looks plenty creepy, but, when it drools all that slime, well, check out the look on Lucille's face!

Sturges is pursued up the stairs by the creature, so, he goes up to the top floor where the lamp is and bolts the door. Cool stairwell!

The monster breaks through the door and ends up tossing Sturges off the balcony right in front of Lucille!

Payback's a bitch as Fred uses a pole to knock the thing backwards, over the railing and to it's death!

And, here's the very best way to end this post...

No wonder I used to have such a big crush on this lady!!

ANNO ZERO - GUERRA NELLO SPAZIO - Marcello Giombini - "War Of The Planets" (1977)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is an odd little Italian Space Opera that's been released under different titles like "Cosmo 2000 - Planet Without a Name" and/or "Cosmo: War Of The Planets," and shouldn't be confused with the Japanese flick also released in 1977 titled "Wakusei Daisenso" or "War Of The Planets!" The Maestro of the Sword & Sandal and Giallo genres, Marcello Giombini, is the cat responsible for the Spaced-out sounds! Marcello has lent his talents to a fine line of films like "Kommissar X - Drei Blaue Panther," "Zambo, King of the Jungle, "Escape From Hell," and "Sexy Nights of The Living Dead!" I love this part, he sometimes is credited as Pluto Kennedy!! Now that's a cool All-American name for you!

Politics, race, religion, or even something as base as colour, the species known as man will always find something to disagree on!!

"Hey Capitan, did you here the one about......?"

"All right, give it up suckers, I've got six aces!"

All you kids under 18 might just want to change the channel for a minute of two right about here, because even though the movie just started getting going, it's already time for the big sex scene!!

"Damn it, I told you no beans!"

Okay, everybody relax, and don't try to look too stiff!!

I didn't even check to see who did the choreography on this film for all the dance numbers! "C'mon and do the Hokey Pokey!"

Check it out, everybody thinks Steve Jobs was such a genius! It's 1977, just take a gander at this cat's arm, and try and tell me that ain't an iphone 5!!!!

It's time to meet up with The Boss!!

Up close and in person, The Boss looks like a ventilator that overheated! I guess that explains why he's so pissed!!

"Can't we just all get along?"

This is one of my favourite whack shots of the year!! Makes great surrealistic wallpaper!!

I don't think this is up for debate, there's something about this shot that just ain't right!!!

I just thought the whole doughnut relay was simply amazing! I don't even know how it happened!

Time to get the Hell off this krazy planet in what amounts to another awesome exit scene!!

Nice closeup of the big red 'GO' button!!

The Big Bad Boss comes back as the X-Mas special at Toys-R-Us!

"This is going to be hilarious, hey everybody, guess which seat has got the electronic anal probe on it!"

"Man, I gotta go really bad, does anybody know where the john is?"

"Come on out from behind the curtain Bachelor #3! Now it's time to get ready for your all expenses paid vacation in Hell!"

Even if everything isn't going that great, it still feels good to be the guy that made it all happen, and in this case, it was John (SHE, TORSO, EYEBALL) Richardson as Captain Alex Hamilton! I had almost forgotten about this flick, I had it laying around here for years in a 4 DVD set entitled SCI-FI, and it's pretty easy to find if you're interested in completing your Science Fiction collection before the end of the world!!

A FACE IN THE FOG / Victory Pictures Corporation - 1936

It's Friday Frights with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots an early Sam Katzman production, Sam produced 243 movies with titles like EAST SIDE KIDS, BLACK DRAGONS, VOODOO MAN, ATOM MAN vs SUPERMAN, KILLER APE, JUNGLE MOON MEN, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, THE WEREWOLF, EARTH vs THE FLYING SAUCERS, THE GIANT CLAW, THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE, THE WIZARD OF BAGHDAD, KISSIN' COUSINS, HOLD ON!, HOT RODS TO HELL and the last one was THE THREE STOOGES FOLLIES in 1974.

Eegah!! sent over a fun lil' soundclip for our listening orifices, sooooo, you can go ahead and push the big red 'GO' button there exactly 157 degrees to the right of center stage left even, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's our wild lil' audio offering of... A FACE IN THE FOG!

The story is basically another OLD DARK HOUSE variation that were so prevalent at the time. Anywho, the cast members of a show at the Alden Theatre are being terrorized by a hunchback killer known as the Fiend. Boo-Wah!!.. He uses his patiented frozen bullets to kill his victims.

Newspaper reporters Jean Monroe and Frank Gordon are on the job...

Accompanied by their wacky photographer, Elmer! Here he is, telling the same old stale 'fish that got away' story!

Here, the Fiend loads up his derringer with special frozen bullets. I had a toy derringer when I was a kid, probably because of YANCY DERRINGER on TV. Had a couple of spud guns too, wow!

We get to see some of the dance numbers at the show with lots of scantily clad performers!

This undercover cop that was posing as a chorus girl gets a dose of frozen death. Hey, that dude's touching his boob!

After a fight with the Fiend, Frank calls Elmer to give him the news, Elmer then faints...

Here's a pic of a note, and one of a pic! You'll have to watch the flick yourself if you want to know how they tie together, you can find it in the NIGHT SCREAMS 50 Movie Pack.

I just love that stuff tacked up on the wall in the background!

Heeeey, wait a minute... Those are frozen bullets, so, you must beeeee!.. (gasp) THE FREAKIN' FIEND!!

That's right, pal, and now yer gonna...

(offscreen) BANG!!

Frank thanks Gott im himmel that dumbass Elmer had enough sense to bring the cops to rescue him!

And, all is revealed at the end as the sun slowly sets in the east!