Monster Rule Ok!

 

 (imdb)

THE MONSTER CLUB-1981-Aramis (Vincent Price), a vampire bites R. Chetwynd Hayes (John Carradine), the horror writer. Aramis then takes the writer to “The Monster Club” so he can get some ideas and The Viewers do “Monsters Rule OK”. After Aramis explains the genealogy of vampires and werewolves we get our first story in this anthology. A con artist couple have a scheme to swindle a lonely unusual looking guy Raven (James Laurenson) when the girl Angela (Barbara Kellerman) helps him catalog his collections. He creeps her out but she also feels sorry for him. Her boyfriend George (Simon Ward) wants to make a big score and when the guy proposes George wants her to marry him. Raven says he is a “shadmock” and can never whistle. He throws a costume party with his relatives. Angela is caught robbing his safe and he whistles turning her into a monstrosity much to the surprise of George when she visits him. 

BA Robertson performs. Then, vampire/film producer Limton Busotsky (Anthony Steel) shows a scene from his upcoming movie. This is the second story, a young, bullied boy wonders about the night work his father (Richard Johnson) does. His mother (Britt Ekland) says he was a nobleman in Europe. A priest (Donald Pleasence) urges the boy to discover why dad sleeps all day. The boy discovers dad is a vampire and the priest is a vampire hunter. The vampire turns the tables on his hunters in the comical finale. 

Then the band Night performs “Stripper”. The 3rd story is about a “Humgoo”. A grouchy American director (Stuart Whitman) goes to scout a shooting sight in a remote village. An old man (Patrick Magee) tells him the village is run by The Elders. The decrepit townspeople force him to stay. He meets a young girl Luna (Lesley Dunlop) who informs him that the whole village is made up of ghouls. From a diary he learns how some evil ghouls took over the village. The only place they won't go is a church, so he hides out there with Luna, who is half human. They escape but Luna is killed. He's picked up by some ghoul policemen and taken back for “the great eating”. In the end, Aramis makes a great case for allowing a “hume” in the club. Everyone dances to The Pretty Things doing the title song. 

This was the last film produced by Milton Subotsky, who in the 1970's, along with his partner Max J. Rosenberg produced many horror films under the Amicus banner. This was an independent production, however. 

The stories are based on ones written by real horror & ghost story writer R. Chetwynd Hayes who didn't like the movie or Carradine's portrayal of him (he thought the actor too old). The filmmakers had wanted Sir Christopher Lee but he turned it down. It's also the last film directed by the great Roy Ward Baker. Most folks seem to run this movie down and admittedly it's no classic, it's just a fun combo of horror, comedy and music.

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Warren Chile Combo

 

 (imdb)

CURSE OF THE STONE HAND-1965-Jerry Warren took two Chilean horror films and combined them into this kooky anthology using an abandoned house for its connection.

The first story (filmed in 1946!) is based on the short story "The Suicide Club" by Robert Louis Stevenson. A heavily in debt man joins a gambling club with some very deadly rules. He finds himself in bigger trouble with his own life at stake. 

In the second story (filmed in 1945), a guy named Charles dominates the home life of his brother Jaime's fiancé, Ruth. When Jamie returns from school, he finds Charles has married her. A handyman (spliced in John Carradine) talks to his partner about a secret room in the basement. Meanwhile Jamie kisses Ruth and she admits she doesn't know why she married his brother. This isn't really a supernatural tale and the "Dorian Gray" like ending seems tacked on. 

Warren regular Katherine Victor also appears in some Warren added scenes.

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The Howling Man

 

 (imdb)

TWILIGHT ZONE-1960-”The Howling Man”-David Ellington (HM Wynant) relates the story of how he got lost in a storm and sought refuge at a hermitage “Brothers of Truth”, run by Brother Jerome (John Carradine in white beard). While pleading his case for shelter he hears a strange howling but another brother (Friedrich Ledebur; MOBY DICK (1956)) says it's just the wind. Jerome refuses to shelter him but Ellington collapses. Later while wandering around the place, he meets a man (Robin Hughes from THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE (1958)) being held prisoner who claims he is being held there because Jerome was jealous of his girlfriend. When Ellington confronts Jerome about this the brother reveals that the prisoner is not a man but the devil himself!  Although Jerome relates a convincing story, Ellington still frees the man who it turns out really is the devil. Now in the present time Ellington (the worst for wear and sounding a little insane) has imprisoned Satan in a hotel room and has been relating his story to a maid. He leaves to contact Jerome and the maid begins to open the door...

Memorable episode with good performances and nice SFX. It was written by Charles Beaumont (from his short story) who penned 21 other episodes and directed by Douglas Heyes. Of course, the host was Rod Serling.

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Kolchak Returns

 

 (imdb)

THE NIGHT STRANGLER-1973-Once again the brash eclectic reporter Kolchak (Darren McGavin) takes tape recorder in hand to investigate the murders of a belly dancer, this time in Seattle, Washington. He meets his former boss Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) in bar and is hired on but is first read the riot act by the publisher Crossbinder (John Carradine). Police Capt. Shubert (Scott Brady) and coroner Webb (Ivor Francis) hold a press conference after a second killing. Another coroner tells Kolchak there was rotted flesh on the victims' necks. Some blood is also missing. They seem to have been killed by a dead man. When Kolchak learns about the abandoned underground city of Seattle, he goes to Titus Berry (Wally Cox), in charge of the city's archives. It seems the same type of murders have happened every 21 years since 1889. 

He befriends another belly dancer (Jo Ann Pflug) and they take a tour of the underground city. But they take a detour and meet a derelict (Al Lewis). He also consults Prof. Crabwell (Margaret Hamilton), an anthropologist who clues him in on a secret "elixir of life" to stay young. After another dancer (Nina Wayne) is strangled, Kolchak tries to convince Shubert what's happening but the captain puts a few holes in Kolchak's theory. Later when a 6th woman is murdered (there was always 6 victims), Kolchak identifies the killer as a 144-year-old Civil War doctor (Richard Anderson). Kolchak destroys the decrepit doctor but loses his job, so does Vincenzo. This ends on a lighter note than its predecessor. 

Producer Dan Curtis also was the director of this great follow up, written once again by Richard Matheson. The short-lived TV series “Kolchak:The Night Stalker” ran in 1974. Curtis produced and directed another “Kolchak” like TV film the same year for another network called THE NORLISS TAPES.

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3 In One

 

(the moviedb.org)

BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR-1967-This Independent International production started out as a non-horror film called "Point of Terror", about a diamond heist directed by Al Adamson. Later Sam Sherman got a hold of it, added some murders and music and called it "Psycho A Go Go" and added John Carradine (also in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE the same year) as a mad doctor named Vanard who creates a crazed killer (Roy Morton) with an electronic brain. This version also played on TV (edited) as "The Man With The Synthetic Brain". 

Still not satisfied, Sherman added more scenes featuring Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor and Regina Carroll. Now there's a lot of flashbacks to the original films with 2 cops (Kirk & Arne Warde) investigating murders by a green-faced zombie (Richard Smedley), the original monster from the second film now resurrected by his father (Taylor) to get revenge on Dr. V's daughter (Carroll). Director Adamson appears as one of the robbers in the original film. A strange, pretty unwatchable movie. 

“Directors never direct me. They just turn me loose.”-John Carradine

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Nazis in America

 

 (imdb)

NO ESCAPE-1943-Nazis in America break a forger Torgut Lane (Dean Jagger) out of jail. A guy named Gerard (Ian Keith) makes a deal with him and has his death faked. He's taken to a secret hideout inside a carnival run by Martin (John Carradine; in REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES the same year) and Bergen (Sidney Blackmer). When he finds out they are Nazis he doesn't want to do their dirty work. He tries to escape but is whipped and his mother's life is threatened. He tries to convince his young “watchdog” Gordon (Bill Henry) to help him. He uses a woman named Helen (Mary Brian) to soften Gordon up. 

Small Monogram production with good cast directed by Harold Young (THE FROZEN GHOST, THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE (both 1945)). Spanky McFarland has a small role. Carradine also played a mean Nazi in HITLER'S MADMEN the same year. Aka I ESCAPED THE GESTAPO.

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The Stoned Movie

 

 (imdb)

CURSE OF THE STONE HAND-1965-Jerry Warren took two Chilean horror films (one from 1945, the other from 1946!)) and combined them into this kooky anthology using an abandoned house for its connection.

The first story is based on the short story "The Suicide Club" by Robert Louis Stevenson. A heavily in debt man joins a gambling club with some very deadly rules. He finds himself in bigger trouble with his own life at stake.

 In the second story, a guy named Charles dominates the home life of his sister. When brother Jamie returns from school, he finds Charles has married his fiancée, Ruth. A handyman (spliced in John Carradine) talks to his partner about a secret room in the basement. Meanwhile Jamie kisses Ruth and she admits she doesn't know why she married his brother. This isn't really a supernatural tale and the "Dorian Gray" like ending seems tacked on. 

Warren regular Katherine Victor also appears in some Warren added scenes.She was in Warren's THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN the next year.  Bruno Ve Sota is the uncredited narrator.

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Hooked on Vampires

 

 (imdb)

VAMPIRE HOOKERS-1978-Tom Buckley (Bruce Fairbairn) & Terry Wayne (Trey Wilson) are two sailors on leave in The Philippines. While looking for a missing buddy, Tom stumbles upon old vampire Reed Richmond (John Carradine) and his 3 vampire brides (Karen Stride,Lenka Novak,Katie Dolan) who pose as hookers to lure unsuspecting victims. They are assisted by the pathetic Pavo (Vic Diaz) who wants to ge a vampire but for some reason isn't. A running gag is his farting. Richmond says things like “Walt Whitman must have been a vampire”.

 It's pretty cheesy despite the good-looking vampire girls. Reed Richmond was actually Carradine's real first names. 

The screenplay is by Howard R. Cohen who later wrote a lot for Roger Corman productions (SPACE RAIDERS, DEATHSTALKER). Director Cirio H. Santiago (FIRECRACKER (1981)) made around 100 movies.

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It's A Jungle Out There

 

 (imdb)

FEMALE JUNGLE-1955-Police investigate the murder of a Hollywood actress Monica Madison (Jean Lewis aka Eve Brent). Meanwhile Al (Burt Kaiser) and Peggy (Patricia Crowley) are having marital problems. He's a bitter boozing caricaturist and she's an unhappy nightclub waitress. An alcoholic police Sgt. Jack Stevens (Lawrence Tierney) also investigates the killing as it seems he could be the murderer. 

Peggy gets involved with the mysterious Claude Almstead (John Carradine) who says he wants a caricature but has some other motive. Although Al is having an affair with the floozy Candy (Jayne Mansfield in her movie debut) he really gets concerned when he can't find Peggy and gives Candy the brush off. The real killer is revealed in the talky finale of this low budget sleazy crime drama directed by Bruno Ve Soto, who also has a small role. Connie Cezon from 3 Stooges shorts is also in it.

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Not Andy Milligan

 

 (imdb)

LEGACY OF BLOOD-1971-Relatives gather at the home of the recently deceased but still rich Preston Dean (John Carradine) for the reading of his will. They will all get a share of his estate, but they have to immediately stay overnight at his old house.

 They are all a bunch of neurotics with various hangups including Gregory Dean (Jeff Morrow) and wife Laura (Merry Anders; in her last film role), Veronica Dean (Faith Domgerue) and Frank Mantee (John Russell). The sheriff (Rodolfo Acosta; also in his last movie) is called when a dog is killed but he's the first victim when his bloody severed head winds up on a plate in the fridge. "This is getting to be like some kind of horror film" says one of them. All their problems seem to stem from Dean's verbal and physical abuse of his family. After death by electrocution, the weird masochistic butler/ handyman Igor (Buck Kartalian) seems a likely suspect. There's more deaths and it ends on a comical note. 

Andy Mulligan made a horror movie with the same title the same year. This LEGACY OF BLOOD resembles a Milligan production but less sleazy and shoddy. Also known as WILL TO DIE. Morrow and Domgerue, of course in better days had co-starred together in THIS ISLAND EARTH.

Director Carl Monson later made PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER! (1973), a soft-core porn version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which Kartalian starred in. 

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The Munsters

 

 (imdb)

MUNSTER, GO HOME!-1966-After Herman (Fred Gwynne) comes home via hearse he finds he's inherited a mansion in England. So, he, wife Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo), son Eddie (Butch Patrick), “ugly” niece Marilyn (Debbie Watson) and Grandpa (Al Lewis) pack up and head for the UK. Lady Effigie (Hermione Gingold), her two children (Terry-Thomas & Jeanne Arnold) and their butler Cruikshank (John Carradine, who played Herman's boss Mr. Graves in 2 episodes of the TV series) plan to scare them away because they are part of a counterfeiting ring run by the mysterious Gryphon. Marilyn falls for Roger Moresby (Robert Pine) whose father Lord Moresby (Bernard Fox) has a grudge against The Munsters. Later Herman enters an annual drag race driving Grandpa's famous “Dragula” which his English relatives have rigged to kill him. 

This movie seems to have been made just to show off the elaborate make-up used on the TV show as it's in Technicolor (their TV series which had already been canceled, was in black and white). Busy TV director Earl Bellamy had also done many episodes of the TV show.

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Nocturna

 

NOCTURNA: GRANDDAUGHTER OF DRACULA-1979-Count Dracula (John Carradine), now for some reason very old with fang dentures runs " Hotel Transylvania" to pay his taxes. He says things like "If I'm dead why do I have to wee wee". The desk clerk Theodore (Brother Theodore) is a werewolf who has the hots for the count's granddaughter Nocturna (Nai Bonet) who gives her father a cup of blood and dances with Jimmy (Antony Hamilton), a guy from a rock band who dances like a chicken having a spasm (and has a weird accent). After they have sex, Nocturna takes a nude bubble bath and thinks "I am a vampire. I have no reflection" while Theodore peeps. Later she tells her granddad she's fallen in love with Jimmy and is leaving for New York with him. She's invited (by Yvonne DeCarlo) to a meeting of the BSA (Blood Drinkers of America) moderated by a guy with a Boris Karloff type voice. They discuss the fate of the urban vampire. A pimp looking drug dealer RH Factor (Sy Richardson) offers blood that can be snorted like coke. "I'd rather suck than sort!". When a cop discovers the meeting, they all turn into bats and fly away. There's a long, time wasting disco dance scene and Nocturna and Jimmy smoke a joint. She tells him who she really is and turns into a bat. He thinks it's an hallucination because he's high. The count and Theodore go after her. 

This disco horror film is a terrible vanity production by star Bonet who was executive producer and provided the story. Her acting and the inane dialogue are the low points. Theodore is funny though in his over the top performance ("death to the happy"). 

Director Harry Hurwitz (using the name Harry Tampa) had made the adults only FAIRY TALES (with Bonet & Richardson) the year before. His first film had been THE PROJECTIONIST (with Chuck McCann) in 1970. Years later he made SAFARI 3000 with Christopher Lee and David Carradine). Former Hollywood scarlet (and TV's Lily Munster) DeCarlo was also in GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED and THE SILENT SCREAM the same year.

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Short Shadow

 

 (the movie database)

SHADOW HOUSE-1973-Marie (Joanna Phillips) and Lou (John Fiedler) return to a decrepit mansion where they once killed Lou's uncle (John Carradine). They are looking for his hidden money but wind up victims of "Madame Guillotine". This moody atmospheric short (less than 12 minutes) was written and designed by comic book artist Jim Steranko. 

Director Ken Dixon later made THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE and SLAVE GIRLS FROM BEYOND INFINITY.

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Jerry Warren's Frankenstein

 

 (wikipedia)

FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND-1981-4 balloonists, Curtis Ryand (Tain Bodkin), Dr. Paul Hadley (Robert Clarke), Mark Eden (Robert Christopher; a co-producer) and Dino (Patrick O'Neil) crash on an island. After going through a cave (where a familiar face watches them) they find a woman bound and then meet a whole tribe of scantily clad "native" women who take the men back to their cave. While the men have dinner, the women do a dance. The next day we learn the bound woman was being initiated into the group. A strange force surrounds their camp and the women seem "deep into witchcraft". Then two loonies Jocko (Steve Brodie) and Angus (Richard Banks) show up. They lead the small group to a laboratory complex where they find Jason (Cameron Mitchell), a sea captain held prisoner for 17 years. (his short soliloquy is pretty funny). After he's sedated the group meet Shelia Frankenstein-Van Helsing (Katherine Victor), the great granddaughter of the infamous doctor who created the island and despite being dead still controls it. Her husband Dr. Von Helsing, is a bed ridden old man who has to be jolted into consciousness to babble about the Frankenstein monster being chained to a reef. There are also a bunch of zombie like servants in sunglasses and wool hats. The girls dance some more. The real Dr. Frankenstein (John Carradine) shows up occasionally as a hologram to say things like "The power! The power!". Hadley (under some drug) winds up helping Shelia experiment on the girls (who are the offspring of aliens) to help her senile husband. When the rest of the guys revolt Shelia calls on great granddad who summons his monster (obviously trying to imitate Bela in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN). 

The ridiculous final fight is very reminiscent of the one in "THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN", but it's easy to see why. Both were directed by the usually incompetent Jerry Warren. In fact FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND was Warren's first film in 15 years after making “Batwoman” in 1966! (with Victor and Brodie). In the end the men escape and tell a colonel (Andrew Duggan) about the island but when they return everything has vanished (??). 

It seems based on another Jerry Warren movie TEENAGE ZOMBIES. This was the third Jerry Warren movie Robert Clarke (THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) starred in. Warren threatened a sequel but it was never made. He died 1988.

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Bigfoot!

 

 (imdb)

BIGFOOT-1970-In the Pacific Northwest (?), Jasper (John Carradine) & Elmer (John Mitchum; Robert's brother), two itinerants, need water for their jalopy. Meanwhile Joi Landis (Joi Lansing in her last movie) heads out in a plane and has engine trouble. While getting the water Elmer sees strange footprints and hears weird noises. Joi parachutes out and on the ground encounters something. Roll credits.

 Jasper & Elmer stop at a general store run by Mr. Bennett (Ken Maynard in his last movie) where a motorcycle gang has just left. The gang's leader Rick (Christopher Mitchum; Robert's son), and his girlfriend Bobbie (Jennifer Bishop from several Al Adamson movies) find a mysterious graveyard (“Dig the size of these graves”). They are attacked by a hairy creature that knocks out Rick and steals his girl. Rick calls the hick sheriff Cyrus (James Craig; Bert I. Gordon's THE CYCLOPS) but he won't come by so he calls his gang. Before they arrive Jasper and Elmer drive Rick to the place where he had his encounter. Jasper wants to capture the creature alive. Meanwhile in the Bigfoot camp, Bobbie and Joi are prisoners. While tied to trees they discuss the missing link and call their captors “sub-human”. Apparently there's a whole family including a "hybrid" baby. The Bigfoots attack Jasper, Elmer and Rick. Meantime, Rick's gang now lead by Wheels (Lindsey Crosby; Bing's son) go looking for their friends. They hook up with locals Slim (Nick Raymond) and Hardrock (former boxer Kid Chisum) who lost an arm to a Bigfoot. Joi is taken to be sacrificed to a much larger Bigfoot but she escapes when a grizzly bear attacks. The gang rescues the captives. Doodles Weaver has one scene as a ranger. Haji (from FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!) is one of the girl bikers. 

This is a pretty inept movie is almost saved by the interesting casting. Director Robert F. Slatzer (who once claimed to be married to Marilyn Monroe for three days!) filmed this partially in Northern California where many Bigfoot sightings took place. He later wrote the Bing Crosby biography “The Hollow Man”. Ken Maynard started out as a stuntman in silent films and became a huge western star beginning in the late 1920's but by the late '30's his career was nearly over. One of his scenes in BIGFOOT shows him talking on the phone, a poster from one of his movies on the wall. Lindsey Crosby was one of father Bing's four sons (with singer Dixie Lee). He battled depression and alcoholism most of his adult life and committed suicide at age 51 in 1989. Doodles Weaver was a radio comedian who later played with Spike Jones and was the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver. In the early '60's a he hosted a children's show “Day With Doodles”. His career was hampered by alcoholism and he committed suicide in 1983.

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Carradine's Last Movie

  (shutterstock)

BURIED ALIVE-1989-A teenage girl runs away from Ravenscroft Hall, a kind of correctional institute for young women, but is caught by a masked person who beats her then walls her up in an underground cave. After the credits Janet Pendelton (Karen Witter) comes to teach at Ravenscroft. She meets Dr. Gary Julian (Robert Vaughan), head of the place. Later after she imagines a brick wall is breathing, she meets the weird Dr. Schaeffer (Donald Pleasence in a wig with German accent). All the girls are an unruly bunch of bitches and Janet gets a little roughed up by Yvonne (Dee Dee Eybers) who's later electrocuted while curling her hair with a mixer. Julian tells Janet she ran away. Then Janet hallucinates she's being buried alive. Debbie (Ginger Lynn Allen) is the big trouble maker. Janet has some problems especially over the death of her father.

One girl says "You're messing with my head, man". Then she's captured by the masked killer and walled up in the basement while the other girls have a secret party. While doing some investigating Janet finds some unusual equipment in the basement and an old man ghost (John Carradine) seems to come out of the wall asking for help (although he's strangling her too!). It turns out the old man is Julian's father Jacob. When Debbie sneaks out to meet her pusher/boyfriend Tim (Bill Butler) they're both abducted. Julian tells Janet she was transferred. After the local sheriff (Arnold Vosloo) looks into their disappearance, Julian asks Janet to marry him! Of course Julian is a nutty killer who kills the sheriff with a spade. When Janet realizes her boss is a loony he loses it completely and chases her through the catacombs of the place while declaring his love for her. Dr. Schaeffer (who it turns out is a former patient) tries to stop him but has his brain fried. When Julian tries to wall Janet up she sticks a needle in his eye. He goes crazy with an ax and then his dad (who he obviously walled up too) comes crashing through the wall in a wheelchair and there's an explosion. Neither father or son seem to be dead in the final scene. 

This kinda whacked horror film was directed by Gerald Kikoine (from France) who made the equally bizarre EDGE OF SANITY with Anthony Perkins the same year. As of this writing they were his last two films. BURIED ALIVE also marked the final film appearance of the great John Carradine who died in November of 1988. The film is dedicated to his memory. Vaughan and Pleasence were also in RIVER OF NO RETURN the same year.

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Coleman in Cuba?

 

 (Wikipedia)

RED ZONE CUBA-1966-An escaped con Griffin (writer/director Coleman Francis)  hooks up with ex-cons Landis (Tony Cardoza) and Cook (Harold Saunders) to be part of the "bay of pigs" invasion of Cuba. A Texas pilot Cherokee Jack (George Prince) tells them they'll be paid in cash but it seems more like some illegal work camp. They try to escape but get caught and are forced to invade Cuba. (Cardoza does double duty playing Castro) There's a long drawn out execution scene and nothing really happens. Just endless talk. When they get back to the US they throw an old man down a well and Griffin rapes his blind daughter. Eventually Landis and Cook give up and Griffin is shot dead with nothing but a penny and a broken cigarette. 

John Carradine is fourth billed as Mr. Wilson but only appears in a pre-credit sequence and sings the title song “Night Train To Mundo Fine” also the film's original title. 

Terrible non-action from the director of THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS which at least had Tor Johnson in the lead role. This was the last of three very low budget disjointed films Coleman Francis made in the early '60's. Co-star Tony Cardoza was a co-producer on all of them.

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The Ape Man Returns (?)

 

THE RETURN OF THE APE MAN-1944-Two scientists successfully keep a man alive in suspended animation for four weeks. Head guy Prof. Dexter (Bela Lugosi) needs a subject who's been frozen for hundreds of years to see if he can make him live again. So he and assistant Professor Gilmore (John Carradine) go to the Arctic to dig for one. They almost give up but a frozen specimen falls into there hands after an avalanche. They take him back to the US and revive him. 

He (Frank Moran) seems wild but Dexter uses a whip to tame him. Dexter plans to put part of a modern human brain into the ape man but needs a volunteer brain. At an engagement party for Gilmore's niece Ann (Teala Loring), he plays the Moonlight Sonata while Dexter decides her fiance Steve (Tod Andrews) would make a good brain donor and drugs him and prepares him for an operation. Fortunately Gilmore is wise to his partner's plan and saves Steve. He also tells Dexter he's mad and wants nothing more to do with him. Later after Dexter tries to tame the caveman with electricity and a blowtorch, the caveman escapes and kills a cop. Dexter recaptures him ("You brainless fool!") but the newspapers report a monster sighting. Gilmore wants to report the caveman to the police but Dexter persuades his too gullible ex-partner that he wants help destroying the creature. Of course instead Dexter uses Gilmore's grey matter to bring the prehistoric throwback under his control. But it doesn't work so well as the new improved cave ape (who can talk) makes a bee line out the front door to his former house. He climbs in a window and plays the piano for Mrs. G. 

Steve suspects Dexter and he and two cops go to his pad. When they check out his lab the cave guy (who'd been recaptured by Dexter) bursts through his cage behind a fake wall and kills Dexter despite being shot at point blank range several times. Cavey heads back to Gilmore's house and kidnaps Ann. A crazy chase ensues with Gil-ape going across some buildings with Anne (an obvious dummy). He hides out with her in the prop room of a theater until he kills a night watchman. Somehow he goes back to Dexter's lab, a fire breaks out but Steve saves Ann. The End. 

This Monogram quickie was directed by Phil Rosen (PHANTOM OF CHINATOWN) and though George Zucco is listed in the credits as the ape man he only appears for a few seconds when the ape man is first found in the block of ice. Apparently Zucco fell ill just as filming started and was replaced by Frank Moran. It has nothing to do with previous monkey business type horror films from Monogran like THE APE (1940).

 Fortunately Zucco got better and teamed with Lugosi and Carradine for VOODOO MAN soon after.

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TV Classic

 

THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES-1968-In a pre-credits scene a woman is bludgeoned to death by a skull mask wearing killer in a garage getting blood on her classy white Mustang convertible. Toy robots are shown during the credits. Then an auto accident victim is removed from some wreckage by a weird looking guy. Dr. Petrovich (Victor Izay), FBI director type Holman (Wendell Corey in his last role) and agent Chuck Edwards (Joseph Hoover) discuss the experiments of disbarred scientist Dr. DeMarco. Another agent Eric Porter (Tom Pace) hangs around. Meanwhile spies Satana (Tura Santana) and Juan (Rafael Campos) buy an audio tape from a guy with a German accent. Then they have him rundown. 

After this we meet DeMarco (John Carradine) who's doing experiments on a dead body with the help of his assistant Franchot (William Bagdad), the weird guy who removed the body from the car wreck. This scene goes on forever and is only made watchable by the presence of Carradine who makes his talk about preserving great minds sound plausible. Meanwhile Satana lounges and smokes while listening to a tape of DeMarco expounding. Then one of Dr. Petrovich's nurses is stabbed to death by someone wearing a skull mask. It/he stabs her multiple times even when it's obvious she's dead. 

So it seems DeMarco is creating "astro-zombies", reanimated dead with special electrodes in their brains. Tura wants the secret for her government. Our govern-ment wants to stop him. When one Astro's power pack is destroyed he puts a flashlight to his head for power. 

There's a little gore and a severed head during the climax which is about the best part of the whole movie. It was directed and co-written by Ted V. Mikels who would make a sequel almost 35 years later that featured Santana and Carradine (well, not really..you'll see!). Future member of the MASH TV show Wayne Rogers was co-writer and co-producer.

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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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