Friday, March 7, 2014

THE SNAKE WOMAN / Caralan Productions Ltd. - 1961

It's Snake Bite Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a tale set in northern England in 1890, all about a Scotland Yard detective that's sent to a village to investigate a series of deaths caused by snakebites.

Eegah!! sent over a nice lil' soundclip with a teaser by the narrator and theme from this movie for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic viper pit, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's a taste of... THE SNAKE WOMAN!

A doctor in the village, who has a large collection of venomous snakes in his laboratory for medical reasons, injects his wife with snake venom in order to cure her mental illness.

The wife later gives birth (but dies) to a daughter that the villagers begin to call "The Devil's Baby." Arnold (THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN) Marlé plays the kindly Dr. Murton.

Eventually, the villagers burn down the doctor's house, the doctor's bitten and dies when the snakes try to escape the fire, the baby daughter is saved when she's taken and secretly raised by a local shepherd. Years later, the little girl's all grown up!

Then, locals start to die from snakebites, soooo...

Scotland Yard gets involved! They send their man, Charles Prentice, to investigate the rash of deaths in the village. John McCarthy, on the right, plays Charles, who can also be seen in THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER, DUBLIN NIGHTMARE, THE BEDFORD INCIDENT and DR. STRANGELOVE.

Charles uses a flute to attract snakes in a field at night, but, beautiful Atheris shows up instead. She stops him from shooting one of her little buddies that slithers into the scene! Susan Travers plays Atheris and also starred in PEEPING TOM, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES and FRENZY.

Charles later learns about the curse of the Snake Woman from an old lady who dabbles in black magic. She pulls out a doll and tells Charles to shoot it three times, in order to break the curse, and so, he does!

Dr. Murton decides to confront Atheris, but, she changes into a snake and bites the docor before he can shoot her!

In the end, Charles shoots a snake in the grass, and, with everyone watching, it changes back into Atheris right before their eyes! Back at Scotland Yard, the Inspector tosses the case file into the fireplace, since no one would ever believe the story!! Tune in tomorrow to see what the Hell Eegah!! has in store for us!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

DEVIL's ANGELS - Roger Corman Presents: (1967)

Welcome to Wide Open Throttle Wednesday, and tonight's feature film, "Devil's Angels!" I'm sure Roger Corman gave a special big bonus to whoever came up with that title!

The music used in  "Devil's Angels" was composed by record producer and former Lt. Governor of California, Mike Curb! Mike wrote the music for a lot of biker movies including "The Wild Angels," "The Glory Stompers," "The Born Losers," and "The Savage Seven," but it somehow never affected his conservative electability! Strange bedfellows indeed! Any of the guitar driven parts of the music are by the always phenomenal Davie Allan and the Arrows!

This shot pretty much says it all, one quite large stinking rancid vat!

"Devil's Angels" is by far not my favourite biker movie, but it is an interesting period piece!

The casting director should have been put out of his misery for deciding to choose John Cassavetes for the role of the leader of the biker gang, "The Skulls!" As good as an actor as he was, John was born in New York City, and there's nothing about him that makes you feel like he might be the leader of a West Coast motorcycle gang!

Nuthin' but pure unadulterated style! I'd be shocked if Coors Beer didn't pay for product placement, but then again, in California in 1967, it's probably what you would be drinking, either that or Olympia!

They look like a nice enough bunch of guys, maybe just a little misdirected!

Maurice McEndree had the role of the ridiculously dirty faced Joe the Mole!

Now this shot is a piece of work, to get that many bikes and people in one shot and still frame your subject is not a simple task, so kudos to cinematographer Richard Moore!

The gang is searching for a hole in the wall of happiness, but they're not exactly sure where they're going! The only real reason "Devil's Angels" is even a movie is because it was made as a follow-up to the successful "The Wild Angels," but that movie had Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Michael J. Pollard in it, and it makes a big difference!

So where else would you look for a hole in the wall but smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and  a little burg called Brookville!

Brookville is celebrating their 27th Annual Picnic, and high up on the roster of things to do is go to the beauty contest!

Nobody's happy about a motorcycle gang showing up at this joyous event...............

....................But all the guys in the gang promise to be good!!!!

This is a great portrait of Sheriff Henderson as played by one of the hardest working men in show business, Mr. Leo Gordon! The Sheriff has agreed to let the bikers camp outside of town, as long as they don't cause any mischief! (Good luck with that one!)

New girl in town and beauty contest loser Marianne decides to take off with the cutest guy in the gang, thinking that he must be a nice guy!

Wrong! He's a biker, not Prince Charming! Stupid girl! They give her booze and pot and then after she's nice and comfortable with the whole thing, they decide to rape her!

In real life, Mimsy Farmer is a whole lot more interesting and intelligent than Marianne could ever dream of being! She was in The Outer Limits episode titled "Second Chance," and in the late 60's, she was in a greasy chain of youth in unrest flicks like"Hot Rods To Hell," "Riot On Sunset Strip," this movie, and "The Wild Racers," before traveling to Italy in the 70's and hooking up with Dario Argento and others in Giallo classics like "Four Flies On Grey Velvet" and "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black!" Although Mimsy's last acting role was in 1991, she still has Art Department credits in this decade as a sculptor for movies as diverse as "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!" She even has more sculpting credits for a movie that is currently in production "Guardians of the Galaxy!" Needless to say, this is one talented lady, and she just had a birthday five days ago, so it's a little late, but Happy Birthday Mimsy!

As the gang rides off into the distance, I'll tell you that if you really want to see "Devil"s Angels," you can find it streaming on Netflix! End of story!

Monday, March 3, 2014

SUPERSONIC MAN / Almena Films - 1979

It's Wild and Crazy Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's a tale that starts in outer space where superhero Kronos, aka Supersonic Man, sets off to Earth to battle the out of control, power hungry madman, Dr. Gulik. Parts of this Spanish film were shot in New York City, mainly for the aerial shots of Supersonic Man flying around, and, includes many shots showing the Twin Towers.

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip from the start of the movie, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the flame throwing robot, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... SUPERSONIC MAN!

José Luis Ayestarán plays Supersonic Man, José was a bodybuilder, actor and stuntman, starting his career by starring as Tarzan in the Spanish productions, GREEN INFERNO and TARZAN AND THE KAWANA TREASURE.

And, if you ever wanted to see Cameron Mitchell at his carpet chewing best, you gots to check out this wild flick. He plays the delightfully mad genius, Dr. Gulik, who wants to rule the world.

Antonio Cantafora (as Michael Coby) plays Paul, Supersonic Man's earthly handsome love interest alter ego. Supersonic Man does not sport a mustache himself.

I love this surreal shot, something just doesn't seem quite right about that big yellow steamroller!

Gulik's always giving overblown lectures to his men in his giant manufacturing complex!

At one point, Paul gets knocked out, captured and thrown in the ocean before he's barely able to change into Supersonic Man. Then, he stalks his enemies from the air as they fire away.

Ready for some comedy relief?! Here's the Spanish version of Bean, he's a chronic alcoholic throughout the movie. The flame thrower robot just lit his cigar for him!

The miniature work looks great, includng the spaceships.

Nice head shot of Gulik's flame throwing robot!

A captured scientist turns the tables on Dr. Gulik, he sabotages the madman's plans by turning the dials on the control unit, and, saves Supersonic Man from the sonic sound amplifier!

Our superhero proceeds to destroy the crap out of Gulik's men and complex, then, he must take out that infernal, trouble making robot!

Gulik runs away with his tail between his legs and boards his getaway rocket! Guess what?.. Supersonic Man follows him into space and blows him the Hell up!! HURRAY!!!

Our alcoholic friend and his hound are picked up by a flying saucer at the end, and taken to another planet to be studied... WTF!!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??