ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE / Alta Vista Productions - 1958

It's another Monster Monday Halloween Countdown 2012 with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's little thriller features John Agar in a Mr. BIG production that I actually saw at the time it came out! Bert had produced THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN before this one and produced WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST next. This is a redo post from a few years ago...

Eegah!! sent over a swingin' soundclip from the flick by one of our favorite monster movie composers, the amazing Albert Glasser, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located across from the big stuffed bat that's next to the crosswalk, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE!

The story's about a deranged elderly doll-maker who doesn't like being alone, so, he creates a machine that can shrink humans down to a few inches tall! He has a small troupe of shrunken prisoners to entertain him when he's lonely, but, when he shrinks his new secretary and her fiance, they decide to try and find a way to escape and re-enlarge themselves. Here's John (CURSE OF THE UNDEAD) Hoyt as crazy old Mr. Franz, he has just hired Sally Reynolds, played by June (EARTH vs THE SPIDER) Kenney, to replace the secretary he just recently shrunk down and added to his collection.

Enter John as Bob Westley, a buyer who frenquents the establishment. He puts the make on Sally first thing!

This is great! They go to the drive-in and watch THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, well, kinda watch...

When Sally gets a gander of the new doll line created by Mr. Franz, well, she puts two and two together!

So, Mr. Franz pulls out his shrinking ray and pushes the big red 'GO' button!

She wakes up in terror, aparently undressed and redressed by the old pervert. Gee, I wonder if he inspected her while he was at it! By the way, that rotary telephone prop looks effin' for real!

Alright, the gang's all here! That's Laurie (QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE) Mitchell, Ken (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) Miller and Jack (CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS) Kosslyn as the other victims. Mr. Franz serves them champagne and makes them perform and dance to the swinging music heard in the soundclip!

While the doll maker is distracted, Bob tries to enlarge himself back to normal size before he comes back...

Stan watches through the key hole to warn Bob if Mr. Franz returns. Unfortunately, Franz returns too quickly for Bob to re-enlarge. The doll makers only friend is the distracting Micheal (THE WASP WOMAN / RETURN OF THE FLY) Marks, we love Michael, here at The Dungeon!

There are the pesky detective and the little girl who saw a mini kitty that really bug him, always asking too many questions. The girl is played by Bert's daughter, Susan, who was also in TORMENTED.

At one point, Mr. Franz gives the gang a marionette show, but, Bob comes in and beats the crap out of the puppet!

Bob and Sally escape into the streets, where everything's your enemy!

Bob figures out a clever plan, get inside a box to be delivered to Mr. Franz, and, the rest is just gravy! Mr. Franz quietly stands there and waits for the police to arrive!

MADHOUSE - THEATRE OF BLOOD - Vincent Price (1974-73)

Welcome to this very special Halloween Countdown Saturday night double feature comprised of two of the master of horror Vincent Price's 1970's films, "Madhouse" and "Theatre Of Blood!" There was a time when double features were as common as salt and pepper, but movies were a lot shorter back in those days! The music in "Madhouse" was written by Douglas (The Horror Of It All) Gamely, and the music in "Theatre Of Blood" was written by Michael J.(The Man Who Haunted Himself) Lewis! The voice you'll hear singing is none other than Vincent Price himself!!

Although Vincent Price is a true hero around here, and even though he does a great job in both these films, I have to say with all honesty, I didn't really have much appreciation for either of these movies, and all kidding aside, within 24 hours of watching these two movies, I ended up in the emergency room!

"Madhouse" was made in 1974, and "Theatre Of Blood" in 1973, and they have a lot of elements in common, and one of them is filler! "Madhouse" uses footage from old Vinnie movies like this shot of Basil Rathbone, and about 15% of "Theatre Of Blood" has Vincent Prices's character reciting passages from Shakespere! Sure, it's part of the plot, but it's still filler!

Both movies have an abundance of talent oozing out of them, like Peter Cushing in "Madhouse" and the fabulous Diana "The Avengers" Rigg in "Theatre OF Blood," and there's a lot of tongue in cheekiness like Peter Cushing at a costume party as Dracula, a role he was always the opposite of!

There's also more gobs of talent like Robert "Deathmaster, Count Yorga" Quarry and Diana "The English Marilyn Monroe, The Siren of Swindon, The Hurricane in Mink" Dors, but somehow, it's just not enough!!

In both movies somebody gets beheaded!

Vincent Price plays so many different characters, I'd have to take off my shoes to count them all!

Both films feature wildly insane and colourful characters!!

If these films weren't so full of gross and gory scenes, you would think they were written as comedies! It's really difficult to figure out where they're coming from! Like for instance, in "Madhouse," this woman is viciously hanged, but her reflection is continually in a funhouse mirror, and is "Theatre Of Blood" the only movie ever made that has a scene that includes fencing on trampolines? How insane can you get?

Just in case you don't know it already, Vincent Price loved to cook, wrote cookbooks, and was an avid art collector! The Vincent Price Art Museum is on the campus of the East Los Angeles College, one of the few community colleges in America with a permanent collection of fine art!! Vincent Price also shares a birthdate of May 27th with another one of the best horror actors of all time, Christopher Lee! Amazingly enough, Peter Cushing's birthday is the day before, on May 26th!

In the end, both films go up in flames! "Madhouse" and "Theatre Of Blood" are truly a double feature and are both available on one disc, and even though I didn't like them all that well, I still recommend them just because Vincent Price is always good and fun to watch, no matter how bad the movie is!

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE / Universal Pictures - 1932

It's Friday Fright Halloween Countdown 2012 with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a wild an' wooly big ape movie that stars Bela Lugosi as the mysterious Dr. Mirakle, from a story by Edgar Allen Poe, cinematography by Karl Freund and produced by Carl Laemmle. You can catch this classic playing occassionally on TCM, that's where this copy came from...

Eegah!! sent over a special soundclip from the flick, sooooo, what the heck, you might as well push the big red 'GO' button there next to the escape hatch, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE!

It's 1845 in Paris, where the maniacal Dr. Mirakle is abducting young women and injecting them with ape blood, trying to prove his theory of ape-human kinship. Every attempt to do so is a failure, ending with the death of the victims. A medical student discovers what the mad doctor is up to, but, he's too late to prevent the abduction of his girlfriend by Mirakle's ape.

What better way to get a show started than to bring in the sexy dancing girls? Duh!.. In the sixties, we had our Go-Go Girls!!

Dr. Mirakle shows off his prize ape, Erik. He argues that man was descended from apes, which causes a lot of discomfort with the audience.

Used as a gimmick I guess, but, using a real ape for close-ups doesn't work because it just doesn't match with the look of the ape costume.

A few of the audience members are intrigued by the doctor's theories, a medical student, his girlfriend and his roommate. Mirakle offers more insight into his ideas. Pretty Sidney Fox gets top billing as Mlle. Camille L'Espanaye.

Mirakle goes out into the night to capture another woman he can experiment on, this one is played by Arlene Francis. The doc shoots her up with ape blood, then curses her just before she dies!

Medical students Pierre and Paul are played by Leon Ames and Bert Roach. Here they are in their flat, Pierre studies and Paul cooks.

Pierre goes to see Mirakle at his show but is given the cold shoulder.

Then, while analyzing a blood sample aquired at the morgue from one of the dead women, Pierre puts the puzzle together... Mirakle is injecting the women with ape blood!

In the meantime, the doc sends out Erik to grab Camille in her bed and take her back to the lab for some fun!..

Pierre goes to the police and convinces them to go to Mirakle's home, before it's too late for Camille! I love the doc's place, I'd like to have one of 'em for my own... Atmospheric!

Mirakle totally effs up and Erik grabs him, flinging him around like a rag doll, and, puts an end to all the weird experiments.

Everyone watches in horror as Erik carries Camille along while maneuvering across the steep roofline.

Pierre knows what he has to do, but, what will happen to Camille when he shoots the big ape while he's holding her?.. Watch this classic flick to find out whut happens!