THE STRANGLER - Victor Buono (1964)

There's probably nothing much stranger than a strangler in The Dungeon for a Saturday night Special! I searched our blog, and it's pretty amazing how many titles there are with the word 'Strangler' in them, and these are just the ones we've done! I'm sure there's more! So here you go.....starting in 1946, STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP, then in 1958 - THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, 1963 - TEENAGE STRANGLER & STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE, 1965 - SANTO vs. EL ESTRANGULADOR, and the 1966 sequel SANTO VS. EL SPECTRO DEL ESTRANGULADOR, 1972 - THE NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER, 1976 - ASTRAL FACTOR aka INVISIBLE STRANGLER, and in 1979 - THE HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER MEETS THE SKID ROW SLASHER!!!

Victor Buono is a hero in The Dungeon, but I don't believe "The Strangler" is his finest hour! Number one, I don't really appreciate movies where instead of trying to figure out who the depraved killer is, you already know who he is, and the movie is about just when will he finally get caught! It's just kind of anti-climactic in my humble opinion! They were just trying to turn things inside out and I get it, but I just don't dig it!

There's a lot of peepin' and a hidin' going on!

He's a strangler! So, now what are they gonna do about it?

 Meet "The Strangler" Leo Kroll!! He's a creep of utmost proportion!

 He's got a drawer full of busted up dolls!

 His records are filthy, and I'm sure most of them are not even put back in the cover!
For the record, Martin (The Queen Of Outer Space, The Hypnotic Eye, The Crawling Hand) Skiles does a fine job of putting together a swingin' soundtrack; These days I'm just too lazy to put a sound clip together, but I would if somebody really wanted it!

 He smokes at work!

 And in his free time he likes to hang out at the "Fun Palace" throwing rings, and winning more of those cheapass dolls!

 Nice portrait of Victor!!

 Damn! I might even strangle someone if it meant I could have those two pinball machines!

The basic problem is that Leo is a Mama's boy, but he don't like his Mama, so it creates a bit of internal friction that Leo has to find an outlet for, aka killing women left and right! Ellen Corby in the wheelchair is his Mom! Ellen has a whopping 266 credits that include being 'The Queen of the Artichokes' in "Bedlam," and an uncredited nurse in "Mighty Joe Young!" She was in "Macabre," and "Visit To A Small Planet," AND, she was Eshter Walton in 142 episodes of "The Waltons!"

 Leo is truly pissed because his Mom told him that without this nurse, she would be dead! And since he wants nothing more than to see her dead, it really hit a sore spot!

 When you're so comfortable with whatever you're doing right or wrong, seemingly you can even pass a lie detector test after viciously killing multiple times! It just shows what a great actor Victor Buono really was! Too bad nobody ever cast Victor Buono and Bruno Vesota in a movie together as brothers or something, maybe Father and son, they were 16 years apart. That would have been too cool! Bruno Buono, Buono Bruno! Try saying that ten times in a row real fast, and if you can, take three shots of good tequila and try it again!

 Now this is what cops looked like in 1964!

 Somehow all the victims manage to strip down to bra and panties, or bra and slip before being attacked!

 This would be pretty unsettling if you really didn't have a clue this guy was waiting for you after you got out of the shower!

Victor Buono, what a guy! He was King Tut for 10 episodes of "Batman" in the 60's, and he was the nefarious foe Tung-Tze of Matt Helm in "The Silencers" besides a host of other things, but seemingly his heart could not carry all that weight around and he died from a heart attack at the age of 43, but the fittest man on the planet, Bruce Lee died at the age of 32 from the same thing, so maybe his size doesn't matter at all, and he just got an early call!

SPLAT!!!

CRITTERS / New Line Cinema, Sho Films, Smart Egg Pictures - 1986

Well, looks like one bad Munchie deserves a stinkin' Critter around here! The story goes like this... A big old ball of furry critters from another world land on Earth, then chomp and burp their way through the locals in a small mid-western town! Then of course, they are pursed by two Intergalactic bounty hunters! Nice an' simple like!

This thing stars Dee (234 acting credits!) Wallace, M. Emmet (219 acting credits!) Walsh, Billy Green (FIVE EASY PIECES) Bush, Nadine (MUNCHIES) Van der Velde and many more... CRITTERS had a $2,000,000 budget!

Okay, so, the Critters are here on Earth!! Again, like in the other small furry monster flicks, looks like they have a wicked sense of humor! Oh, and lotsa teeth!!

This farm boy becomes din din for the hungry little fuzz balls!..

It's funny as Hell when you think about it, right?!

Then, the two Intergalactic Bounty Hunters show up, looking to kick the slimy little Critters' asses!! They go to a church and even do a little bowling to break up the boredom...

Our favorite family's totally terrorized by a horde of crazy little maniacs! The family is somehow able to fight them off until help comes!

Sometimes, you have to blow a few Critters the Hell up! I'll wipe that silly smile off'a yer ugly face, go back to where you came from, bitch!!

At the end, the place is totally demolished... So, do you think those Critters will ever be back?.. Okay then, check in again tomorrow when Eegah!! will have something for us all...

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW - René Clair (1944)

 "It Happened Tomorrow" is a romantic comedy fantasy romp made in 1944, and perfect for a Weirdsville Wednesday Valentines Day in The Dungeon!

 Director René (I Married A Witch) Clair gets all the big credits!

It starts with a big 50th wedding anniversary party, but the happy couple is having a bit of a tiff because he wants to tell their story to the whole family, and she would just as soon keep it private!

So he writes it out, and quite an interesting story it is! It's a story about how a man gave him a newspaper that showed the news 24 hours into the future!

I want you should focus on this, "Know Your Future!"

Jack (If I Had A Million) Oakie and Linda (Hangover Square) Darnell are The Great Gigolini and The Enchanting Sylvia respectively!

I will admit that the only reason I wanted to watch this movie was because Linda Darnell was in it! One of the best things to come out of Texas, I love Linda Darnell, and it's way beyond sad that she died some 53 years ago at the age of only 41 in a house fire!

Dick Powell is Larry Stevens, the guy who gets a chance to see into tomorrow, and the lucky stiff who gets to hook up with Linda Darnell! Dick has three stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, one for motion pictures, one for TV, and one for radio! That's a fairly amazing accomplishment!

John Philliber started his short career in the movies at the age of 70 in 1943. He racked up eight credits before passing away in 1944 at the age of 71.

John is Pop Benson, the man with the power!

Larry Stevens gets newspapers from Pop Benson for three days in a row with future news, which causes the story to unfold. Larry will find out later that Pop Benson had passed away three days earlier!

Larry finally gets smart and decides to go to the horse races since he now has the ability to know who the winners will be!

Then.......He sees this article in another section of the paper that says he's been murdered!

It was fun to watch the whole wagering process! Pretty weird, women were not allowed in this area of the racetrack at all!

In the end, they go to the races and win a lot of money and Larry Stevens.........

..........Tries desperately to avoid the place where his doom was predicted, but he fails miserably, because you can't change your own destiny, but lucky for Larry, sometimes the media doesn't report the news correctly!!

Heureuse Saint Valentin, Nous Vous Aimons Tous!!

FOUR MOVIES RICHARD E. CUNHA DIRECTED In 1958!

Today we take a look at the four movies Richard E. Cunha directed in 1958, and wow, it's a pile of low budget gold for all of us kiddies out there!! Richard and his friend Arthur A. Jacobs plunged into shoestring exploitation productions in the fifties by forming Screencraft Enterprises and cranking out a few classic horror and sci-fi flicks themselves! I couldn't live without some of this great junk!

First up is SHE DEMONS, it stars Irish McCalla, Tod Griffin, Victor Sen Yung, Rudolph Anders and Gene Roth in a story about a small group of shipwreck survivors who wash up on an uncharted tropical island. They're captured by an ex-Nazi Colonel and his henchmen who also have imprisoned a bevy of beauty contest winners!! The Colonel has been extracting a glandular substance from the girls to inject into his wife, who suffered gruesome facial disfigurement, in efforts to restore her beauty!

The schlocky but effective (for 1958) monsters were created by makeup artist, Carlie Taylor.

Then we have GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, starring Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Bob Steele, Morris Ankrum and Buddy Baer. This horror story's about a very large, scary, smelly, degenerate, Spanish conqueror that's freed from suspended animation during a lightning storm, then goes on a killing spree in a small mountain town.

Buddy was a perfect choice for the monster man! Jack Pierce does the excellent makeup job.

Jeez, what can I say about MISSILE TO THE MOON other than... I love it! This wild 'n' weird movie stars Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, K.T. Stevens, Tommy Cook, Gary Clarke, Nina Bara, Michael Whalen, Laurie Mitchell and my dream girl, Sanita Pelkey!! The story's about two escaped convicts that are caught hiding in a rocket and forced to help pilot the ship to the Moon! The scientist is secretly a moon being and wants to return to his home. His partner and his fiancé stowaway on the ship by accident and become part of the adventure!

The great Harry Thomas does the makeup, but, no telling who created the Rock Creatures. The Giant Spider was modified and reused from CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON.

Okay, this is my favorite one of the four! Freakin' FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER takes the cake for me, man, it gots everything to satisfy that fifties craving!! Stars John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donald Murphy, Sally (woo woo) Todd, Harold Lloyd Jr. and Robert Dix in a story about Dr. Frankenstein's insane grandson, who attempts to create horrible monsters in modern day L.A. Famous Monsters also came out in 1958, this is the kind of movie that made kids want to get made up like monsters and run around the neighborhood trying to scare people, like me and Eegah!! You have to realize that it was a real craze at the time!

Harry Thomas was responsible for the two monsters, like in KILLERS FROM SPACE, he used ping pong ball eyeballs for those fright eyes on Sandra! He also was misled on the Frankenstein Monster makeup and Sally Todd Looks like a dude!!

Phew!.. So, hope you enjoyed this magic year for Mr. Richard E. Cunha, I did. Get ready for anything when Eegah!! invades The Dungeon on Wednesday! Later, dudeskis...