THE MAGIC SERPENT / Toei Company - 1966

It's Dragon Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a rare little flick from the studio who brought us GAMERA, and, get ready, this freakin' studio has a staggering 1,392 production credits, starting way back in 1937!!! My favorite alternate title for this film is FROGGO AND DROGGO.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the wedding ceremony with some extras for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the rubber dragon, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull from... THE MAGIC SERPENT!

The ninja-themed story takes place in ancient Japan, a good lord is killed by the trecherous Yuki Daijo and his wizard friend. A young prince, Ikazuki-maru, is rescued from Yuki Daijo's evil dragon by a magic bird sent by a friendly wizard. Ten years later, the prince goes to avenge his parents and the wizard's death, using his magic powers.

Ikazuki-maru knows some wild tricks to intimidate his opponents with, like, being able to detach his head for shock value!

Before the wizard dies, he tells Ikazuki-maru where he has hidden the sacred stone.

When he finds his enemies, Ikazuki-maru performs his magic, then, has to battle the powerful Yuki Daijo.

His friend, Sunate, is ordered to kill Ikazuki-maru while he sleeps, but, cannot perform the act!

During the wedding celebration, Ikazuki-maru shows up on his Magic Frog, quickly ending the festivities!

Holy crap, it's GOKU!!

The Magic Frog steps on a lot of bad guys!

There's a titanic battle between FROGGO AND DROGGO, but, good defeats evil at the end and THE MAGIC SERPENT puts a big old checkmark in it's loss column...

SUSPENSE - "Man In The House" (1949)

 Tonight we'll take a little look at Season 2,  Episode 13, dated November 29th, 1949, of the early horror TV series titled "SUSPENSE," cause nothing says the holidays like "Suspense!"

 "From bumper to headlight, you're always right with Auto-Lite! So what could possibly go wrong??

This illustration shows you all the different things that Auto-Lite makes for your personal vehicle! Seems like Auto-Lite should be running the whole world by now! Or maybe they do, and we just don't know it!

 Kim Hunter, better known as Zira, from the "Planet Of The Apes" series of films is left at home by her loving husband! Oh, don't worry, everything will be all right. Not!!

Every person's worst nightmare, you come home, and there's an escaped homicidal maniac in your house!

 The maniac has gagged Kim's Mother because she's really annoying, and won't shut up!

 

And when that doesn't work, he has to get the gun out to get his message across!

Alan Baxter as the intruder had a nice career dating back to 1936 and was in everything from "13 Hours By Air," and Hitchcock's "Saboteur," to being Colonel Grover in the "Outer Limits" episode titled "O.B.I.T."

"SUSPENSE" was  pretty tame, but amazing for it's time, and it wouldn't be any time at all before the face of horror on network television advanced itself to super creepy levels like this shot from the 1961 TV show called 'Way Out!

HOUSE OF WAX / Bryan Foy Productions - 1953

It's Monsterous Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the very first movie filmed in 3-D by Warner Bros. and it stars the awesome Vincent Price as the mad sculptor. This film's budget was a whopping $658,000, but, it grossed an astronomical... $23,750,000!!!

Eegah!! sent over a musical soundclip of the dude with the paddle ball (with screams at the end) from this flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the hot wax machine, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... HOUSE OF WAX!

Roy Roberts plays Matthew Burke, business partner of Professor Henry Jarrod, creator of the magnificent wax figures. The heartless Burke decides to set the place on fire in order to collect insurance money, the same way Wall St. did the American people when they crashed the economy in 2008.

Burke and his high maintenance girlfriend, Cathy, played by Dungeon fave Carolyn Jones, discuss how they will spend all the money they have now!

But, greed is one of the 7 deadly sins and the sinner will soon pay for being a little bitch.

Then, being an accomplice to the crime gets this girlie a quick trip to the old wax works, she'll soon be a new attraction at the House Of Wax!

Jarrod shows patron Sidney Wallace, played by Paul Cavanagh, how his creations are made after an accident that left him crippled. That's his mute helper, Charles (MASTER OF THE WORLD, THE GREAT ESCAPE and DEATH WISH) Bronsan as Igor, working on a bust.

Here's a good look at the intricate wax applying machine.

Jarrod then shows off the newest murder victim to be installed in the House Of Wax, his former business associate, Matthew Burke.

Here's the paddle ball barker right after intermission as heard in the soundclip.

For 1953, this make up job is amazingly creepy!

Phyllis Kirk plays Sue Allen, a friend of Cathy's, she cannot get over how much this wax figure looks like her. This causes trouble for her as Jarrod is watching.

Let's not forget about these two guys, Dabbs Greer and Frank Lovejoy! Dabbs has 307 acting credits and was in THE VAMPIRE, IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, THE AQUANAUTS, THE OUTER LIMITS, THE INVADERS and MOD SQUAD! Frank played a tough guy detective most of the time, he had 55 acting credits and died at the age of 50 in 1962.

Weird shot of Igor as he prepares the guillotine to decapitate Sue's beau!

Then, it's Sue's turn to taste the wax, Jarrod looks absolutely terrifying here!

In the end, Jarrod falls into the hot wax vat, it causes wax to spill onto the fragile glass tubes, destroying everything!

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THE TERROR OF THE TONGS - Hammer Studios (1961)

Tonight's Saturday night special is part two of my mini-Christopher Lee tribute, an odd film from 1961, "The Terror Of The Tongs!"

"The Terror Of The Tongs" is set in 1910, the movie was made in 1961, and it wasn't until 1984 that England released it's grasp on Hong Kong! That's why the Brits found movies like this so fascinating, and Hammer Studios was more than happy to oblige!

Bottom line was they had some bad Juju going on, with an opium market rife with corruption and greed!

The best advice I could give you would be mind your own business, and stay out of the way if you possibly can, because The Tong ain't messing around!

 

Enter Geoffrey (Dr. Who) Toone as the enterprising Captain Jackson Sale, and Barbara (Gonks Go Beat) Brown, as his sweet and innocent daughter Helena!

When I was about 15 or 16, I always envisioned that someday I would live in an apartment that looked something like this!!

What I didn't envision was these guys being in there too! Christopher Lee as unmerciless Tong leader Chung King, and Dungeon fave ex wrassler Milton Reid as his faithful sidekick guardian!

Hatchets and Pajamas, much better than Guns and Roses!

 

"Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop!!"

The Tong might be cruel and ruthless, ("Where did Ruth go?") but they still put on a pretty good show;  music, dancing, a jiggler and a juggler!!

If they open up a "TONG" casino in Las Vegas, I might go there for the food, but I am definitely not gambling there!

I forget exactly why The Tong kills off the Captain's Daughter, but it didn't exactly win them a lot of friends! Now, the Captain has some serious investigating to do!!

 Enter the beautiful Yvonne Monlaur as Lee! If she looks a little familiar, it's because Yvonne was also in "Brides Of Dracula," and "Circus Of Horrors!" I think in almost every scene she's in, she has a different colored dress on!

I had to get a shot of the main Tong logo!

"I said Captain, I said What?" The Captain starts snooping around a little too much, and quickly finds himself in a passel of hot water!

Milton Reid gets the job of scraping the Captain's bones! Milton is that guy that you've seen in "Blood Of The Vampire," "Night Creatures," and "Dr. No." Just like all our favourite characters, Milton was also a professional wrassler! What I wrote about him a couple of years back is still the story: Milton started wrestling in 1952 as Jungle Boy, and as his career progressed, he became best known as The Mighty Chang! After his career fell apart, Milton went to India to act, and sometime in the late 80's, he mysteriously disappeared, and they still haven't figured out what happened to him! A bona fide WTF!? situation!

 The Captain escapes, and Milton is in hot pursuit until he misses the catch in the hatchet throw competition!

While he's resting up from that little episode, this evil Doctor impersonates a good Doctor and almost gets away with shooting up the Captain in his juggler vein with some vile substance!!

As you would expect, the Captain prevails and only leaves you with one last burning question, where was Tennille the whole time?