Mummy From Outer Space

 

 (imdb)

TIME WALKER-1982-In King Tut's tomb college professor McCadden (Ben Murphy) finds the mysterious sarcophagus of Akhn Venharis (Jack Olson). He brings it back to LA where he and his students examine it. Stupid student Sharpe (Kevin Brophy) accidentally gives the mummy too much radiation while x-raying it. He also steals some crystals in a secret compartment. McCadden and his girlfriend/student Susie (Nina Axelrod) also discover a green fungus which Dr. Melrose (Austin Stoker) can't figure out. Dean Rossmore (James Karen) and his ass kissing assistant (Gregory Prendergast) want to show it off but the mummy disappears. They think it's a college frat joke. Meanwhile the mummy wanders around killing people (mostly shown in POV shots). When a student is burned by the fungus his arm has to be amputated by a doctor (Antoinette Bower). Shari Belafonte Harper is a college DJ/photographer. Idiot Sharpe starts spreading the crystals all over town and Venharis wants them back. It seems he's not Egyptian but an alien from outer space.

This is low budget nonsense that's pretty boring and dumb and ends with the words " to be continued". Unfortunately there was no sequel as this was the only film directed by Tom Kennedy who co-wrote the story with co-producer Jason Williams, star of FLESH GORDON.

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Space Fungus

MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE-1965-Major Towers (William Leslie) and Captain Webber (Carl Crow) are two yobs returning to a space station after collecting samples on an asteroid. Head of the station is Cromwell (Richard Garland). The first 30 minutes is all talk then Webber dies after being infected by an unknown fungus. Towers wants to warn everyone but Cromwell wants it kept secret. Even after the fungus takes over the lab of Towers' girlfriend Faith (Dolores Faith) a botanist. It seems Cromwell is suffering from "space rapture" and won't see the truth. When Towers rebels Cromwell has him locked up as well as Faith and other crew members Dr. Hoffman (James Dobson) and Lt. Engstrom (Patricia Curran) but the crew turn the tables and sedate Cromwell. The deadly fungi eventually shows up everywhere, including outside the ship but on Earth Gen. Knowland (Glenn Langan, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) has a giant CO2 cloud created which destroys the stuff (like in The Blob). 

Francine York (CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE) appears in a few scenes as Knowland's aide de camp. I suppose an argument could be made that this talky cheap sci-fi space drama influenced 2001 and Star trek (and THE GREEN SLIME!) but I have my doubts ...Director Hugo Grimaldi made this cheap science fiction melodrama the same year as the much more entertaining THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (also with Dolores Faith)

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4609335177952045780/6758274239790318029

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What's That Crawling Across Your Mind?

THE GREEN SLIME-1968-A giant asteroid is on a collusion course with Earth. Members of a crew aboard space station Gamma are sent to investigate. Robert Horton is Jack Rankin the kind of egotistical, hard edged commander who is sent to the satellite to over see things. Richard Jaeckel is Vince Elliot the commander in charge of Gamma who also happens to been a rival of Rankin's. Elliot's fiancée(Luciana Paluzzi ) was also once sweet on Rankin. It seems Vince once made a mistake that cost some crewmen their lives, blah, blah.. The asteroid is destroyed but not before a living green fungus is brought aboard ship.

Although this was made at Toei Studios in Japan and has a Japanese director none of the cast members are Asian (it was a co-production with MGM) but seeing some of the cheesy sets and effects makes you think Star-Man or Rhodan might pop up! The tentacle monsters the slime grows into looks like Syd & Marty Kroft rejects! It's hilarious!

And it doesn't help that the male crew wear toy motorcycle helmets. It's funny to see Horton being a hard ass while wearing one. A briefly seen nurse is played by Linda Miller (Jackie Gleason's daughter). Co-screenwriter Bill Finger was a comic book writer who helped Bob Kane develop the original Batman character. Director Kinji Fukasaku was a busy film maker right up until his death in 2007. His other films include the whacky MESSAGE FROM SPACE, GRAVEYARD OF HONOR and BATTLE ROYALE 1 and 2. It seems the one thing everyone really remembers about this movie is the awesome theme song!

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RIP Irene Kaelin

Fungus Among Us!

SPACE MASTER-X-7-1958-A scientist with marital problems (Paul Frees, better know for this vocal narrations than his on screen acting) gets some “space fungus” off a US probe (The Space Master) and brings it home to experiment on. Unfortunately while he’s doing this he keeps getting interrupted by his ex-wife (Lyn Thomas) who wants custody of their child. Eventually the fungus kills him and escapes but the government seems to contain it until they learn the wife had been in the house too. Bill Williams (who was in a TV series DATE WITH THE ANGELS at the time) is in charge of finding her.

Along the way he meets Moe Howard playing a helpful cab driver (“Ya know she had eyebrows like you pull out with pliers”) and Thomas B. Henry is a professor.

It's like a low budget science fiction version of Elia Kazan's PANIC IN THE STREETS in a way because once the fungus is contained it's really just a hunt for the infected woman. I thought the story could have been better since the screenwriters were George Worthington Yates (EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, THEM!) and Daniel Mainwaring (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS).

Director Edward Bernds made many 3 Stooges shorts (and later acouple of the "new" Stooges movies), the underrated Sci-Fi WORLD WITHOUT END and Bowery Boys comedies. He died in 2000 at 94!

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