RIDERS TO THE STARS / Ivan Tors Productions - 1954

It's Meteor Mayhem Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. It's a redo post from the past all about the first rocket jockeys who pioneered catching meteors, an idea that has never really caught on! Seriously, how in the Hell could anyone catch a meteor?! This flick played on fifties TV regularly, that's where I first saw it, filmed in Supercinecolor even though it was always broadcast in b/w back then...

Kitty White sings the theme in this nice soundclip Eegah!! just sent over, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over there by purple whatchamacallit, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some audio from... RIDERS TO THE STARS!

The sci-fi story's written by Curt (THE WOLFMAN) Siodmak. The military races to get a 'black box' with info retrieved from a flight into space.

This is a cool looking scene where US agents are trying to aquire astronauts to chase meteors for their space program. Here's William (MEN INTO SPACE) Lundigan changing the bulb in his dark office.

King (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) Donovan questions Richard (THE MAGNETIC MONSTER) Carlson about becoming a rocket jock.

Richard's girlfiend's a hot chick that does commercials (she's sitting in the driver's seat) and who doesn't wear a bra!

Wow, the film crew had good access to some pretty awesome space equipment for some of the shots, like at this centrifuge at the University of Southern California for example! Martha (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS) Hyer plays the very capable and shapely assistant.

William obviously went for a ride in it. Wheeeee!!!..

Just love this stock footage shot, that's all..

It's all about the meteor scoop!

Five..... four..... three..... two.....

Three rockets are launched to try and capture a meteor. The way they portrayed the Earth in the fifties is hilarious, WTF!

Of course, their first attempt ends in total failure!

As a kid, this is the part I always remembered, pretty shocking back then.

Richard looks through his scope and sees his dead amigo, so, totally freaks out! He unbuckles himself from his seat and floats in the cabin! Even worse, the gravity sticks him to the ceiling, making him helpless to prevent his own death!! Seriously wild scene.

Then, things go south for William after he captures a meteor!

When NASA was just a Rambler ambulance and a Chevy firetruck!

William crashes the rocket in the desert but survives the ordeal. I remember that shot of the tore up rocket in the early issues of FAMOUS MONSTERS and in SPACEMEN...

Here's what all the hoopla is about, a sparkling meteor from space with many secrets to tell those who will listen! Reminds me of ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

THE DEVIL COMMANDS - "The Iron Hand Of Horror" (1941)

"The Devil Commands" is a freaky little picture! First off, there's no Devil in it, or even any reference to one, except in the title that I noticed!

It's actually about a poor misguided man searching for a way to reunite himself with a deceased person he loves more than anything, who, in this case, just happens to be his wife!

Boris Karloff is that man, a role he always plays so well! His name this go round is Dr. Julian Blair!

Dr. Blair is experimenting with brain waves, and communication without speaking!

One dark and dreary night his wife is accidently killed while she is sitting in a parked car waiting for him in the pouring rain!

Dr. Blair is a wreck himself after that incident and horribly distraught!

Firmly believing there is a path to the other side, Dr. Blair seeks solace with the local medium Mrs. Blanche Walters played by the Oscar Winning Anne (SCUDDA HOO! SCUDDA HAY!) Revere! I was going to make a joke that she was Paul Revere's wife, but then I found out that she was actually Paul Revere's descendant!

Dr. Blair wastes no time proving that Mrs. Walters is a phony, but yet he still believes she has more moxie than your run of the mill fake medium, and decides to invite her back to his mad lab for some further experimentation!

Mrs. Walters is a tough bird! Dr. Blair shoots ten thousand volts through her, but just like a Timex watch, she takes a licking and comes back ticking!

The two of them with the help of Dr. Blair's slightly warped assistant Karl, move to an old mansion and set up shop anew with the help of a few dead locals! Karl was played by Cy Schindell, who despite only living to the age of 41 before succumbing to cancer, was able to wrack up 152 acting credits including quite a few "Three Stooges" shorts!

Dorthy (Hot Rod Rumble) Adams as Mrs. Marcy the maid is just about to bite off a whole lot more than she can chew! Snooping around just doesn't pay!!

Whoa! A Dead body inside some kind of rockin' robot getup, what gives around this joint! AAaaaahhhh!!!

Right about here, this movie gets real creepy as all the bodies kind of come alive and start gyrating and bouncing around like a bunch of robots in some mad electric poker party!

The surge of electricity is way too much for Mrs. Marcy, so now Dr. Blair has really got a murder on his hands! Before it was just stealing bodies, but now they've actually killed somebody!

The local law enforcement was already suspicious, but when Mrs. Marcy doesn't come back home from work, her husband demands that the law investigates things a little further! Sherriff Ed Willis is played by Kenneth (Punchy Cowpunchers) MacDonald, and Seth Marcy is played by Walter (The first "Floyd The Barber") Baldwin!

Blanche Walters goes on one last wild ride! Aaiiieeee!!!!

Dr. Blair has now totally lost it, and is willing to sacrifice his loving daughter's life just to be able to speak to his dead wife again! Anne Blair was played by Amanda Duff! This film must have been enough for Amanda who called it quits after only 8 acting credits! After what they did to her in this film, you can't hardly blame her!

After the locals storm the house just like in a "Frankenstein" movie, Dr. Blair gives it one last final attempt! He's getting so close he can almost taste it!

But instead of success, the whole place crumbles down around him! What a weird movie, simple, short at 65 minutes, and very effective, but I still don't think they should blame the devil!

DOUBLE EXPOSURE / Greyhill Productions - 1983

It's another Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a wild little flick all about a photographer for a men's magazine who's disturbed by his recurring dreams, he thinks he may be killing his models by various gruesome methods because the city's being terrorized by a slasher that's stalking and murdering women in LA.

Eegah!! sent over this cool little soundclip from the flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over there by the Stairwell To Hell, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our audio offering for... DOUBLE EXPOSURE!

The LA cops keep coming across murders that are just plain bizarre, even by their standards!..

Michael Callan and James Stacy play brothers, Adrian and B. J. Wilde, photographer and stunt car driver. An interesting note, besides being married to Connie Stevens and Kim Darby for short times, in 1973, James was in a motorcycle accident and had to have his left arm and leg amputated! Also, his girlfriend died in the crash...

At this shoot, Adrian bludgeons this sweet tart with the aluminum handle of the pool sweep... Or, did he?!

Adrian and his new model at another shoot at his bro's race track.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but, I like this photo!..

I'm not sure what's going on here, but, I really like this photo!..

Of course, there's lots of partying going on. That's Robert (THE VELVET VAMPIRE and THE DEEP) Tessier as what else, an arm wrestling bartender!

Adrian has another episode at the next shoot and wraps this garbage bag full of rattlers around this gal's pretty face! He then goes home and has a talk with himself!

Decent make up job here as the cops pull the dead rattlers out of the bag!

It's wild 'n' weird to watch James mud wrestle with a hot chick. Unfortunately, after his career, James has ended up on National and California state sex offender registries.