Wednesday, April 5, 2017

SYMPTOMS - Angela Pleasence (1974)

For the next few weeks, I'm going to try and present to you only movies from the 70's and 80's with one word titles. We'll see how it goes!

Tonight's whacked out one word title is a film made in 1974 that is not about causes or solutions, but only about "Symptoms!"

"Symptoms" is a showcase for Angela Pleasence, the daughter of  Dungeon Hero Donald Pleasence!

Angela is a girl named Helen who has a myriad of problems!

 I think it is uncanny how much Angela looks like her Father!

Helen seems overly innocent on the outside, but on the inside there dwells a psychopathic maniac!

The few guys in the movie are dweebs or creeps and deserve what they have coming to them!

Helen has a knife fetish!

The other semi-main female role is Lorna Heilbron as Helen's friend Anne! Basically her part only exists so that Helen has someone to kill, so I'll just show you more pictures of Helen!

Helen cleans up pretty good!

She would have been a perfect prom date for Norman Bates!

Unless you meet just the right guy, you're destined to be lonely when manic depressive schizophrenia is your best character trait!

Monday, April 3, 2017

HOUSE / Toho Company - 1977

Here's a wild one from Toho studios, seems like a comedy at times but the rest of the time it's just plain weird! The story goes like this... A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's home in the country, which tries to devour the girls in very bizarre ways!

An interesting fact - None of the seven young actresses who portray the group of friends who visit the house were trained film actresses. The girls were models who had worked with director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi making advertisements or commercials.

Here are the six girls meeting with Angel, her aunt owns a house in the country. Check out the chroma keyed background, if you look close, you can see it's a matte painting.

The girls make it to the country home, they visit with Angel's aunt before the fun starts.

One girl finds a decapitated head in the water bucket! It flies around, then, swoops down and bites the girl on her ass!! When it finally flies away, the heads says... Tasty! Like I said, this is a weird movie and has plenty of sexual innuendo.

Angel has some trouble with the mirror in her bedroom, she even sees herself as a vampire after putting on some red lipstick!

The mirror cracks and her face falls to pieces as she turns into a fiery figure!

This gal gets beat up and smothered by her mattress and bedding, when the other girls look for her, they only find her nightgown, bra and panties!

The piano becomes a maniacal musical monster, the girl playing it becomes possessed and just can't stop playing!

The freakin' piano has chewed her fingers off!!

The other girl watching her friend playing the piano is totally confused by what she sees!

Then, the piano pulls her in and chews her into pieces, a long crazy ass scene.

The fingers come back and play a strange little tune!..

This gal gets a possessed light fixture stuck on her head as she tries to fight her way out of her super weird predicament!

A demon cat is really responsible for all the mayhem, it has brought out its fangs and claws!!

The dead girls' body parts swirl around and fly through some surreal backgrounds!

Hey, the evil old cat looks like my kitty, Zoey! Check out this wild flick when you get the chance, it's something else!! So, we're back Wednesday with more cool stuff!

Saturday, April 1, 2017

THE MUMMY'S HAND - Universal Pictures (1940)

Jeez, I forgot it was April Fool's Day, so I guess that's the joke, there isn't one!!
The Mummy is a classic character no doubt, and a concept that hasn't seemed to fade over the years like some tanna stained parchment. Although there were mummy movies earlier than 1932, the Karloff version titled simply "The Mummy" will always remain the original classic, and that ain't no joke!

After that came tonight's Saturday Night Special in 1940, "The Mummy's Hand" with cowboy actor Tom (Captain Marvel) Tyler as the mummy! Then, it was "The Mummy's Tomb" in 1942, followed by "The Mummy's Curse" and "The Mummy's Ghost" both in 1944, and all three with Lon Chaney Jr. as The Mummy!

Just in case I screw it up, here are the cast members!

It's a tough row to hoe to be a high priest, and it's a long way to the top!

This is from a flashback scene that explains how the mummy came to be.

Wallace (The Mummy's Tomb) Ford is Babe Jenson, the comic relief character in the film!

Babe's partner on the right is Dick (The Atomic Submarine) Foran as Steve Banning! That's Michael (Attack Of The Puppet People, The Wasp Woman) Mark on the left!

This is a stopwatch from the 15th century!

The boys finally find somebody to invest into their venture, Cecil Kellaway as "The World's Most Amazing Magician," Solvani the Great! Cecil had 148 acting credits that included two "Twilight Zones," "Elegy," and "Passage On The Lady Anne!"

Solvani's daughter Marta doesn't like being taken to the cleaners by a couple of schlums on a phony baloney excursion into the desert, but they end up going anyway! Pretty Peggy's only other real venture into scary was "Horror Island!"

In opening a mummy's tomb, I would think the first sense to react would be smell, not sight!

Smell-O-Rama from this iconic scene just might have cleared the theater!
Like PHEW! What was that??

From 1915 to 1958, Charles Trowbridge had 232 acting credits, and he still wasn't smart or fast enough to get away from the mummy's hand!

Okay, are you ready for this one? Over the years, and besides being an evil high priest, George Zucco has had all of these roles, Dr. Pyke, Dr. Kammer, Dr. Harmsworth Bierd, Dr. LaFarge, Dr. Plauten, Dr. Waxton, Dr. Cardigan, Dr. Luis Virgo, Dr. Parry, Dr. Jeris, Dr. Edwin L. Jannery, Dr. Hugo Streger, Dr. Cameron, Dr. Robert Renault, Dr. Lloyd Clayton, Dr. Alfred Morris, Dr. Pavel Storasky, Dr. Joseph Van Ee, Doc Hugo Robbin, and Dr. Fortescue! Wow, that's a whole clinic!!

You have to be really slow to be killed by a one armed mummy with a limp!

Marta has had enough!

Or has she??

Don't worry, Steve Banning will rescue her!

Now this is one beautiful lobby card!
So, in 1955, Abbott and Costello met the mummy, and in 1959 Hammer came out with their version with Christopher Lee all wrapped up, then there was "Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb" in 1964 followed by "The Mummy's Shroud" in 1967, and the rest is history!!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??