LA CRIPTA E l'INCUBO - "Crypt Of The Vampire" aka "Terror In The Crypt" (1964)

OK, this is my last movie for 2013, and it's a weird one all right!

The DVD is called "Crypt Of The Vampire," and the title card declares "Terror In The Crypt!" Don't worry, it's a moot point, and it doesn't matter! What does matter is that this is yet another gothic-horror movie with the, if not always amazing, then at least always interesting, Christopher Lee in it!

No matter how you frame him, Chris Lee always looks good! This time out, Chris is Count Ludwig of the cursed Karnstein clan!

This is his beautiful, sultry, and sensuous daughter Laura Karnstein as portrayed by Adriana Ambesi and billed as Audry Amber! Adriana was also in "Secret Agent, Super Dragon" and "Hercules The Avenger," and "The Bible: In The Beginning" as Lot's daughter, and she had lots to offer!

Laura's nanny/housekeeper Rowena puts some hocus pocus on Laura in an effort to get to the bottom of this curse thing!

While she's passed out, Laura has a flashback/dream where the curse on her family is revealed. Pretty racy for 1964, you might have noticed that Laura doesn't have much clothes on!

Right about here everything gets all twisted up! I don't know why, but I just like this very simple shot!

Ursula Davis as Ljuba gets vampire bit by Laura in a dream, or is it just confusion?

The two girls find the body of the know-it-all hunchback in an outbuilding hanging by the neck!

But the weird thing is that he's missing a hand!

Oh, that's it, Rowena needed a hand in performing one of her ceremonies! Rowena was played by Spanish actress Nela Conjiu!

This still looks like a painting to me! Maybe I need to make it into one!

Everything is pointed in the right direction for Laura to get better, so that the girls can go out on a nice leisurely romp through the woods at night decked out in their fancy white outfits!

The guy about to get attacked is José Campos as Friedrich Klauss, a researcher who is trying to get to the bottom of all this intrigue and mystery, but here's the bottom line.........

......."La Cripta e L'incubo" is a movie based on a story written by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu called "Carmilla," about people living in the area of Austria-Hungary, portrayed by Spanish, Italian, and English actors, so it's kind of like a Whirling Dervish, Tower of Babel, Lesbianish, Vienna Sausage Fustercluck, and I don't know about you, but that just about sums up 2013 for me too!

PHANTASM II / Spacegate Productions - 1988

It's Phantastic Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots the follow up to to the original movie from 9 years earlier, this one had a $3,000,000 budget and grossed $7,282,851 just in the US, it was filmed in Chatsworth, CA.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the portal to another world, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... PHANTASM II!

Years later, our heroes, Mike and Reggie, are visited again by The Tall Man's creepy little minions and have to escape by crashing through their 2-story window! I have the feeling that most people would probably kill themselves attempting this move in real life.

The two regroup and decide they need to get some supplies from a deserted hardware store, torches, guns, ammo, a chain saw, etc. Reggie puts money in the register before they split.

They try to help a girl they find in a basement, but, when the blanket is lifted, this is what they find in her back!.. Yuk!!

Strange things are always going on at The Tall Man's mortuary, here are a few examples.

Kenneth Tigar plays Father Meyers, he crosses The Tall Man and gets a flying driller orb in the cabeza, let the blood flow freely!

Mike's girlfriend, Liz, gets a ride to the crematorium by the weirdo mortician!

Liz barely gets away before she gives the mortician a ride of his own into the incererator!

The damned mortician shows up again, this time though, he gets in the path of an orb!

Reggie has a close encounter with a being from The Tall Man's world!

Reggie had added some hydrocloric acid to a vat of serum, so, when Liz stabs the big guy with that giant needle, he gets a real surprise! Game over?..

NO WAY!! Reggie's gal pal has a little surprise for him, parts III and IV are around the corner!!

THE BRASS BOTTLE - "Sihirli Vazo" (1964)

HO, HO, HO, and MERRY X-MAS to you all!!!

This is as close as I could come to a Christmas movie, and it's fairly similar in a few areas, like the co-star is the folk-singer/actor, Burl, "Mr. Holly Jolly Christmas" Ives himself! Burl is also known for his classic version of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," and he kind of looks like Santa too!

Also during one it's first appearances in the movie, "The Brass Bottle" itself looks like a Christmas gift! Actually, it's a gift that Tony Randall as Harold Ventimore is bringing to the Father of his future bride, Barbara Eden as Sylvia Kenton! Of course, Tony will always be known for his role in "The Odd Couple" as will Barbara for being Jeannie in "I Dream Of Jeannie," but they were both together in another great movie too, "The 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao!" I find it hilarious that Barbara Eden is in a movie about a genie, and it's not her!!

Richard Erdman as Seymour Jenks, and Kathie Browne as Hazel Jenks are Harold's eccentric room mates! These two combined have been in literally hundreds of TV shows! Previous to this film, Richard was in the "Twilight Zone" episode known as "A Kind Of Stopwatch!" Kathie is no longer with us, but Richard has had a lengthy career and is still working today!

Sylvia's Father refuses the gift (he had a electric table lamp that looked just like it) so Harold takes it back home and pries it open! Viola, there's a genie inside and all his problems should be behind him, but instead, all his problems just get worse!

The genie's name is Fakrash, and he is capable of doing all kinds of wondrous things!

Good shot of that classic Volkwagen bus back there!

The cops get involved when Fakrash delivers a herd of camels and their trainers to Harold's home!

Sydney Jenks tries to explain a few things to Harold in his own inimitable way!

In an effort to please him, Fakrash gives Harold a trunk full of these 10 dollar bills!

Harold has Sylvia and her parents over for dinner, but Fakrash changes the whole thing into a temple with dancing girls and all means of finery, much to Harold's chagrin!

The main course is the eyes of mountain lambs cooked in honey, of course!!

 

And then the fun begins! Pop singer Lulu Porter is the belly dancer turning all the guy's heads!

 The perfectly stuffy Edward Andrews has the role of Sylvia's Father! Edward's familiar face was all over the TV in the 60's and the 70's and he was in, not one, but two "Twilight Zone" episodes, "You Drive," and "Third From The Sun!"

Fakrash bring his old girlfriend into the scene to help poor Harold, but when Harold says "No!" she refuses to leave, and since she has genie powers too, Fakrash can't send her back! The scrumptious Kamala Devi had the role of Tezra! Kamala had a total of 13 credits to her name and was married to "The Rifleman" Chuck Connors for 9 years!

Since Tezra doesn't seem to be going anywhere, Harold gets her some modern clothes. She doesn't know what a girdle is so he has to demonstrate how it's worn for her!

I just like this shot of Burl Ives!

No, it's not a guest appearance by Francis The Talking mule! Fakrash had tried to explain to Sylvia's Father the truth of the situation, but since he was having nothing to do with it, Fakrash turned him into the pompous ass that he really is!

Well, The End isn't quite this bad for Harold, but he does have to go through a lot to get to a different ending! I don't know why this movie is so difficult to find, but all fans of 1960's pop culture will find it worth the search, so without further adieu, "to all a good night!!!"