THE CRAZIES / George A. Romero and Pals - 1973

What we gots today is a George Romero tale that goes like this - A biological weapon has been accidentally released in a small town in Pennsylvania (what else is new?!) and bouts of insanity are leading to murder and rioting! Then, the US Army shows up and things go to Hell even faster than expected...

Mostly a pile of no-name actors fill out the cast, making for, well, you know, a lot of crappy, unconvincing acting, and you just hope that they get it first! Spoiler Alert... This is NO NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!!

Things start happening right about here, suddenly, this doctor, who's wearing a gas mask, works on a burned boy at the hospital...

Then, we start seeing Army dudes wearing contamination suits scooting around town in their Jeeps! Used this photo because I like signs at night!

Their job is mainly to round up all the stray townspeople and detain them in schools and government facilities. They even go to the local church and gather up the followers!

I don't care how you cut it, this is NOT scary! There's a lady in the back, sweeping with her broom, and before the scene ends, she's in the foreground sweeping up the fallen bodies!!!

Next up is this scene where Army dudes shoot this mom, then they burn her to death with a flame thrower right in front of her son!

Here're two shots showing the fear and turmoil of the students and teachers as panic sets in about the situation. Just check out the looks on all the faces of the extras, it's anything but fear and panic! I see a freakin' peace sign!.. Hilarious!! Producers must have been pulling their hair out, they even paid the little shits for that shit!! We'll fix it in post, right?!

Far ouuut, man!..

I don't know, there just seems to be something wrong in these two photos...

Whenever you make a low budget horror movie, it's always good to get some arty shots in!

Okay, so... This is how I felt after 10 minutes into the story!

Okay, so... I don't drink, but, this is how I felt after getting this far into it!!

Everything just gets bonkers...

Back to the show, dude throws the people he's killed into the basement... Nigh-tee-o!

What the Hell, not again!!.. Hey, if you guys can't get serious this time, no one's getting paid!! Yeah, that's right!.. And I swear, YOU!!.. I'll come over there and punch you right in the face!!

It's sad that the movie doesn't even come close to being what it should have been. Anyway, another scratch mark on the old Dungeon wall, we're back on Wednesday with more stuff 4 U

CITY BENEATH THE SEA - Suzan Ball - "Handle With Care" (1953)

 

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is an undersea action and adventure tale in Technicolor from 1953 called "City Beneath The Sea!" Don't look for any giant octopi!

"City Beneath The Sea" would become a very popular title between 1953 and 1971. There was a TV series in 1962 that was a different story but had the same title, then there was a failed pilot for another TV show in 1969, and finally, the king of disaster movies, Irwin Allen came out with a TV movie by the same name in 1971.

Can't beat the location!

Here's our heroes! On the left is Robert (Captain Nemo) Ryan, and on the right is Anthony (Quasimodo) Quinn! 

They're better at deep sea diving than they are at driving!

Lalo (Touch Of Evil) Rios is the First Mate called Calypso! You can tell he's First Mate by his professionally made uniform!

There are three ways to explore the ocean! Surface level snorkeling, mid level scuba diving, and deep deep down deep sea diving.!

Special 1953 equipment!

 The most exciting part of the movie is this song from the club with the stunning Suzan Ball performing "Handle With Care!"
The club singer's name is Venita, aka Mary Lou Beetle! Suzan's life was a super sad story that you couldn't possibly make up. Suzan was Lucille Ball's second cousin, and a singer and a dancer. During a dance number she hurt her leg, and later fell and broke it. It was then discovered to be full of tumors so they had to amputate it, but the cancer quickly spread to her lungs and she succumbed to the horrible disease some six months after her 21st birthday! What a real tragedy!

 After that great song, a fight scene breaks out, and the band just keeps on jamming!

Since this movie is not a fantasy, the underwater city is uninhabited! There's the remains of some civilization and a ship that was hauling a million dollars in gold, and that's about it! No dancing girls!

Robert Ryan's love interest is the Captain of the boat they're using to look for the gold who is played by Mala (The Unknown Terror, The Colossus Of New York) Powers!

This voodoo dance scene looks like one of Tabonga's abstract paintings!

The voodoo element is kinda creepy, but they never go anywhere with it! These two shots are pretty krazy though!

They do find the gold, then they lose it, and then they are offered an opportunity to go find it again!

Happy couples!!

Happy ending!

I'm not a big fan of the underwater movies genre as I've stated here before, but despite that, I still liked this movie! Great colour, great club scene, and Anthony Quinn's character is over the top macho 1953! How the Hell can you possibly go wrong? It's just good fun, and I just love the fact that the two gals in this lobby card are not the two they end up with!

SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE / The Strange People At Pecos - 1955

Here's an episode from the first season of SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE that I remember seeing for some reason, I watched it way back in 1955 on TV, so, on with the show...

Here's host Truman Bradley introducing the episode with a little science related to the story.

Our tale's about a high-strung radar operator (Arthur Franz) who's convinced that UFOs are following the test rockets he monitors at a secret facility in Pecos, New Mexico. His kids' new playmate, an odd little girl who feels no pain, causes him to jump to conclusions... He's sure the girl and her family are spies from outer space!

We begin with this vintage military sign to let you know where you are... You're here! And, keep the Hell OUT!!

Here's Arthur as Jeff Jamison, he's grumpy with his family at home because of some problems at work. He's seeing things on the radar scope that can't be explained, and he's bugged because he thinks they could be UFOs!

His boys are little brats, the oldest makes fun of the new girl on the block because she says that they should try using telekinesis to throw a baseball, which doesn't sit well with them...

In the meantime, Jeff comes home, he's been ordered to take a week off because of his strange behavior at work. He's talking to wifey, when...

A commotion is heard, they go outside and find the girl in the road, she's been hit by a truck while playing ball with the boys!

They take her inside and she's unconscious. Suddenly, she opens her eyes and says that it's time for her to go home, she just gets up and leaves!.. What The Hell?!

Later, we find the girl's dad dictating on a tape recorder. The great Dabbs Greer is Mr. Kern, considered a real thinker of the time, he's contemplating life forms not of this Earth. Unknown to him, Jeff's oldest son is listening in to his musings, and runs home to tell pops!

Then, the Kern family sits around and plays with their helium filled space station that floats around the room! This is actually the part I remember, this cool model space station, I was really into building models even at age 7.

Anyway, the son is constantly spying on the family and telling his dad about it. The best part is at the end where Jeff confronts Mr. Kern with his questions about his strange neighbors. Let's just say, Mr. Kern puts him in his place!! Check in again tomorrow when we'll have more cool stuff for you!..