Tor Johnson is Lobo In

 

THE UNEARTHLY-1957-Dr. Charles Conway (John Carradine) is mad egotistical scientist using his rest home as a front for his diabolical experiments in eternal youth with his unsuspecting patients as guinea pigs. He's assisted by clipped fast talking ice princess Dr. Sharon Gilchrist (Marilyn Buferd) and brain dead experiment gone wrong servant Lobo (the one and only Tor Johnson). Another doctor Loren Wright (Roy Gordon) is also in on the loony plan and provides "patients”, the latest being the up tight, depressed Grace Thomas (Allison Hayes). Also staying there are the uber-hyper Danny (Arthur Batanides) who may or may not be a drug addict and the cute blond Natalie Andries (Sally Todd) who's symptoms are never revealed. There's also the comatose Jedrow (Harry Fleer), another failed experiment who's sister is putting pressure on Wright to know her brother's whereabouts. 

Lobo catches escaped murderer Mark Houston (Myron Healey) in the garden and Charles offers him sanctuary. While Charles and Sharon plot their next operation, Mark gets acquainted with everyone, especially Grace. Charles reveals his dark plans to Mark and wants to make him immortal. At night while Charles plays an organ recital for his victims, Natalie is drugged and Lobo takes her to the lab ("Pretty girl. Pretty girl."). Later while sending everyone to their rooms, Tor mutters the memorable "Time for go to bed". The doc performs surgery on Natalie. Later he discovers he's once again failed. Natalie has become some-thing of a prune faced zombie. Doc is quite disappointed. Sharon tries to cheer him up and says he needs rest. "I do not need any-thing that I do not wish to need" he snaps and also decides to have Lobo bury Jedrow alive. Mark spoils his plans. After showing Grace what happened to Natalie, they de-cide along with Danny to blow the joint. Unfortunately they are found out and Charles decides the time is right to operate on Grace. 

Fortunately Mark is actually an under-cover policeman assigned to check out Conway's wacky residence. Jedrow kills Charles and although Danny is killed, Mark saves Grace. But there's a surprise in the basement. 

THE UNEARTHLY was the brainchild of producer/director Brooke L. Peters (aka Russian born Boris Petroff) who later made ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO in 1961. The story seems similar to the synopsis of a lost Lon Chaney silent film THE MONSTER. 

Star Carradine is great as the insane doctor doing it all for science. He was in a segment of the colossal flop THE STORY OF MANKIND the same year and made a lot of TV appearances. Lead actress Hayes was also in THE UNDEAD and ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU the same year. Big Tor began work on PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE around this time. 

Marilyn Buferd, a Miss California winner and former model, earlier had been in Roberto Rossellini's THE MACHINE THAT KILLS BAD PEOPLE. She only made one movie after this, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE the next year.

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Manila Dead

 

THE THIRSTY DEAD-1974-In Manila (where this was filmed) some young women, Bonnie (Chiqui da Rosa), Claire (Meredith McConnell; THE DOLL SQUAD), Laura (Jennifer Billingsley) and Ann (Fredricka Meyers) are kidnapped by some hooded thugs and taken to a remote place. At first they believe they're prisoners of white slavers but then they learn they are captives of an ancient cult lead by Ranu (Tani Gutherie) and Baru (John Considine; a year after DR.DEATH-SEEKER OF SOULS). They have special leaves that when mixed with the blood of young women make a potion that gives "the chosen" eternal life. They all worship a head in a red crystal like stone. They want Laura to join them but she refuses so Baru locks her in a dungeon where some hideous women with long fingernails attack her. They are former victims drained to uselessness. An old woman helps the quartet escape but when they stop in a tiny village they are recaptured. Randu does a dance in front of the head while Baru talks to Laura about life before eternal youth. After the old woman who helped her is killed Baru decides to help them escape. Claire falls to her death but he leads the others through the jungle after letting free the ugly victims as a diversion. Unfortunately he goes beyond the "ring of age" and starts getting old. The girls escape but when Laura brings back the police lead by a grouchy Lieutenant (Vic Diaz) they are unable to find anything. Ken Metcafe (later the male lead in FIRECRACKER) is a helicopter pilot. 

This is the only full length feature directed by actor Terry Becker (Sgt. Sharkey on TV's “Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea”) after many TV credits. He also co-produced it and provided the story.

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https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-from-japan-one-from-philippines.html

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Sound So Nice They Had To Tell Them Twice

TWICE TOLD TALES-1963-This trio of tales are based on stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne and were probably made to cash in on AIP's successful Corman/Poe series (TALES OF TERROR was released the year before). While director Sidney Salkow is no Roger Corman, he does a capable job on such a noticeably low budget. And he got “Poe” star Vincent Price to be in all three segments! (He's also the narrator)

In “Dr. Heidegger's Experiment”, the old doctor of the title (Sebastian Cabot) celebrates his over 40 year friendship with Alex Melbourne (Price) but the doc still pines for his lost love Sylvia (Mari Blanchard) who died on their wedding night. When a storm damages her tomb, the duo investigates and finds her ancient body preserved with no signs of decay. After some experimentation, Dr. H. finds that the water seeping into her tomb is actually some kind of eternal youth serum. He and his friend drink it and become young again. The doctor decides to use the serum on his dead wife. He brings her back to life with tragic (but predictable) results.

Next is “Rappacino's Daughter”, where a once famous scientist (Price again) has made his daughter (Joyce Taylor) poisonous through the infusion of a deadly plant into her blood stream (or something like that). Anything she touches dies. He has presumably done this to “protect her from sin” after his own wife's infidelity. A young medical student (Price's RETURN OF THE FLY co-star Brett Halsey) falls in love with her. The scientist tricks the student into becoming poisonous too. The student's professor (Abraham Sofaer) creates a serum that might cure them. The deadly love birds drink it and die. The scientist commits suicide.

The final segment is a truncated version of the novel “The House of Seven Gables”, a version of which Price co-starred in in the 1940's. Jerold Pyncheon (Price of course) and his wife Alice (Beverley Garland) return to the haunted house he grew up in and where every male Pyncheon has died. Jerold wants a treasure hidden in a secret vault but a family foe Jonathan Maulle (Richard Denning) stands in his way. Alice becomes possessed by the spirit of a woman who once loved a Maulle ancestor, who was hung by a Pyncheon ancestor. When Jerold's sour puss sister (Jacqueline DeWit) says she deserves a share of the elusive booty he kills her and then buries Alice alive! After finding the treasure he's strangled by a skeleton hand. Somehow Maulle rescues Alice as the House of Seven Gables crumbles. Gene Roth has a small role as a cab driver.

Screenwriter/producer Robert E. Kent worked with Edward L. Cahn on some of the best horror/Sci-Fi movies of the '50's (IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, INVISIBLE INVADERS). Despite it's budgetary drawbacks TTT is entertaining. Director Sidney Salkow worked with Price again when he co-directed LAST MAN ON EARTH.

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1960

THE LEECH WOMAN-1960-A stuck up scientist Paul Talbott (Phillip Terry) insults his alcoholic wife June (Coleen Gray; still alive at this writing) at his clinic where he's trying to reverse the aging process. An ancient woman named Malla (Estelle Hemsley) visits him and claims to be 142 years old. She says that her tribe in Africa holds the secret to eternal youth. After some tests, Talbott decides to take a journey there and convinces June to come along. He acts very cheerful and nice but only wants to use her. They hire a European guide (John Van Dreelan) and are eventually captured by the tribe where they meet Maila who promises to show them the eternal youth ceremony but then they must die! Malla does turn young (and into actress Kim Hamilton who just passed away in September) but the secret ingredient is human fluid found at the base of the skull. So a life has to be sacrificed when doing it. When June is offered the "treatment" she gets her revenge on hubby by picking him as her victim/sacrifice. She turns young and hightails with the guide to civilization but not before June starts to turn old again and kills the guide. 

Back home she's beautiful and youthful (and bitchy) and posing as her own niece where she seemingly mesmerizes her lawyer Neil Foster (Grant Williams; THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN), much to the irritation of his fiance' Sally (Gloria Talbott with a terrible hairstyle). When she gets old again June (now posing as herself) puts on her finest jewelry and lures an unsuspecting robber/gigolo (familiar TV actor Arthur Batanides, who had an un-billed role in SPARTACUS the same year!) to his death.

Just when June thinks she has everything going her way (she kills Sally for her vital fluid and plans to have Neil all to herself) the injections fail to work, she turns permanently old and falls out a window to her death.

Director Edward Dein (SHACK OUT ON 101) moves the episodic story along quickly (maybe too quickly!) giving it  a "Corman" type of feel. Producer Joseph Gershenson (also a music supervisor on many films) work on lots of things including MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS and several Abbott & Costello comedies.

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