Daughter Of Horror Stills

"Dementia" or "Daughter Of Horror" or whatever you want to call it, is the coolest beat-noir film ever, and it is so full of music, we've written about it twice already, so check the archives for a ton of more info, and in case you missed it the first time, here's a link to a great review written in 2004 from our buddy over at the now defunct flickhead blog.."Dementia" The Flickhead Film Review!

The medallion is where it all starts!!

The first club they take you too has this dancer and some Cool Exotic Jazz to go with it!

I have no doubt that someday the Bruno Vesota bio movie will be made with Jack Black in the lead role!

This is Bruno VeSota's wife Jebbie as the flower girl! Who they get to play her in his bio is going to be anybody's guess! How about Jessica Alba?

So, you're watching this movie, and you have no idea how you got here, and now it's time for a rehearsal!

Shorty Rogers and The Giants, the name alone lets you know these were the guys who understood the tongue in cheek humour of the whole deal!

As The Chambers Brothers would later say, "Now the time has come", so here you go, Shorty Rogers and The Giants with "Wig City", one of, if not, the coolest tunes ever used in a movie!! Period!!!

The hands really do tell the whole story!!!

So, here's the deal! If you are hip enough to know what's happening in this film, then you are really, really going to dig it! If you watch this movie and don't have a clue what's going on, then you're going to hate it! It's that simple!! Mandatory viewing for all true jazz aficionados and artistes! For once in your life, experience the real thing, for this is truly untarnished Art!

The original master of stand up comedy, Shelley Berman is one wacked out cool Daddy-O!!!

Queen Of Outer Space With Zsa Zsa Gabor

Director Edward Bernds was such an amazing cat, having directed all those Stooges, Bowery Boys, and Blondie features and shorts, and also crossing over to give us some most interesting films in the Science Fiction genre too, like "Spacemaster X-7","World Without End", and "Queen Of Outer Space"!!!

SOUNDCLIP NOT AVAILABLE

Composer Marlin Skiles is all over the place as is appropiate, having worked with Edward Bernds on many a Bowery Boys film, and much more!

Another picturesque postcard from space, having a wonderful time here on Venus, it's like Nirvana, wish you were here!

Character actor Dave Willock gets all the good lines in this film, and this shot gives you a good taste of where this movie is going!

Captain Eric Fleming thinks the mask is pretty sexy at this point, but doesn't realize it has a dual purpose! They say Laurie Mitchell as the Queen was quite the good sport in this role!

That dual purpose would be to hide her ugly radioactive burnt mug, and what does he have to say, "Sorry!" Nice going Captain!! "For that you will die!"

Beauty queens were cast for the Queen's posse for their amazon qualities!

If any country on earth has a nuclear facility that looks like this, we're all really in trouble!!!

Recently, it dawned on me how much this movie actually looks and moves like a "Three Stooges" episode. This crazy fight scene might have come from Jerry Warren's "Batwoman," it's that silly!!

In Tom Weaver's interview with Edward Bernds, Ed tells him how Zsa Zsa almost gave him ulcers she was so hard to work with, and that he couldn't watch the film, because he could never understand why Zsa Zsa would be the only one on the planet with an accent! I also read that she had a hard time even delivering her lines because she thought she was too good to to talk to anyone, even on the set!

Black Scorpion Stills

Rodan here... Music conductor, Paul Sawtell, had done it all by the time he did THE BLACK SCORPION. His career would end 10 years later in 1967. He has already contributed to many of our postings, do a search on him!.. So, here's the theme, followed by some romantic mood music with clever banter, and, even more! Now...BIG, UGLY SCORPIONS!!

Mara Corday looks great, especially with that cig! In fact, she'll be featured again soon in another Sunday classic... TARANTULA!

Richard Denning, looking suave... One time at a Hollywood party, Richard was there with his wife, Evelyn Ankers. She was almost always paired with Lon, Jr. as the studio (Universal) thought they were a good match on screen. Well, Lon intensly hated her, so, at this party, Lon threw his drink in Richard's face! It was doubtful that Rich would have retaliated against a big, snockered dude like Lon!!.. I know I wouldn't! Daaammnn!!

When they break this little critter out of this rock, it sounds like it needs some oil!

Great, my wife leaves me, and, now... THIS!!

The special effects guys used crab shells, parts and pieces to make this very scary face for close-ups! Also, it drooled!!

Wow, who knew Mexico had such a futuristic look in the '50s?!

TIME TO START SCREAMING!!!

One hell of a stunt!.. I wonder if they got a 'bump?'

Instead of fighting, they should just split it!!

Eyeballs twitch and jaws move on this slobbering monstrosity!

Yep, believe it or not, that gizmo there is all it takes to bring down old 'grandaddy' scorpion!.. Unfortunately, the 'I'm with stupid' dummy in the middle grabs it while its electrified and does a pretty shocking dying act!.. What a maroon!!

Oh, yeah, keeping with the theme, here's a drawing of THE BLACK SCORPION by our pal, Gary Wray. He thinks that some girl in New Jersey bought it!

Burnt Offerings Stills With Bette Davis & Burgess Meredith

Greg Goodsell here -- since I recently covered a film I saw with my late father at the time of its release, ROLLERBALL, I will bookend this with a film I saw with my late mother at the time of its release, BURNT OFFERINGS! This film has quite a pedigree -- and all-star cast, and is directed by DAN CURTIS, the king of made-for-TV horror! They just remade his DARK SHADOWS for the big screen with Johnny Depp, and -- let's talk about something else...

Here we are introduced to the dazzlingly dysfunctional Rolf family! KAREN BLACK is Mom, Ken Russell favorite OLIVER REED is Dad, and repulsive child actor Lee Montgomery -- the one who befriended the rat in the movie BEN, which in turn led to an early hit for singer Michael Jackson, are motoring to their summer home! It’s the imposing, isolated Allardyce estate, that they’re to occupy for the summer. They’ve got the crumbling manse for a song, but as everyone knows, there’s always a very heavy price to pay –

Here is the still beautiful -- but rapidly decaying Allardyce estate. Mrs. Rolf is bound and determined to spruce the place up to its former glory, and she gets her wish. As we shall see…

BURGESS MEREDITH plays the flamingly flamboyant Arnold Allardyce, the wheelchair-bound son of the Allardyce clan! Meredith could overact with the best of them -- HURRY, SUNDOWN, OF MICE AND MEN, ROCKY, THE SENTINEL, TV’s Batman “The Penguin” -- the list extends out into infinity! He lived to the ripe old age of 90 and was in the GRUMPY OLD MEN movie series right up until he passed on!

And here is EILEEN HECKART as sis Roz Allardyce! Heckart, like Meredith has a list of acting credits several miles long! She tells the Rolfs that "the house takes care of itself" and part of the very reasonable summer rates is the family must look after old mother Allardyce, who never leaves her attic bedroom!

Here's something about Karen Black I bet you didn't know -- we courted Black for an interview with Screem magazine several years ago and she turned us down flat because we were a "horror" publication! Since she is a devout Scientologist, it is against her beliefs to appear in a film with supernatural overtones. She insists that HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, TRILOGY OF TERROR and this film are "science-fiction" movies! Go figure! I guess her religion has given her much strength -- look at what it did for fellow Scientologist John Travolta recently!

-- and how could we forget BETTE DAVIS as the lovably dotty Aunt Elizabeth! This role for her was a stretch -- in lieu of being a malevolent Baby Jane or Nanny, Bette begins the film as a feisty little old lady who falls into dementia. Her downfall is truly tragic!

Mama Allardyce, forever unseen, works on her picture collection in secret. Cue one of the many similarities to THE SHINING. For your information, BURNT OFFERINGS was a book AND movie long before Kubrick and King tangled on that modern masterpiece.

The house's Olympic-sized swimming pool becomes a focus of dread pretty darn quick!

Here, the house begins to exert its psychic toll on poor Aunt Elizabeth, as she seemingly puts on 20 years in a matter of days!

Reliable character actor ANTHONY JAMES plays the ghastly chauffeur, the only really visible phantom in this “haunted house” story. This ghastly vision is fresh from Oliver Reed’s funeral for his mother he experienced as a child. While James has a resume a mile long, for the ultimate in James goodness, check out THE TEACHER (1974), an odd role for an actor usually cast as a bad guy in westerns – he plays a charmingly inept and hilarious serial killer!

GASP! It's the hearse and the evil chauffeur from Mr. Rolf's mother's funeral, rolling into the modern day!

Ask not for whom the bell tolls....

Oops! Someone left the gas on in junior's bedroom! Who did it? Aunt Elizabeth, have you been hitting the Nyquil again?

Poor Aunt Elizabeth is at death's door! A matter of days ago she was the prototypical little old lady in tennis shoes, and now she appears in the final throes of Alzheimer's! DEADLY SERIOUS NOTE: Sometimes it happens that way.

BURNT OFFERINGS relies totally on understatement, and little details that only the viewer can pick up. Karen Black has become a Stepford Wife with a vengeance, and has begun to make some very interesting wardrobe changes -- it will all make sense at the end.

We're running out of room, so let's just say that things go from bad to worse. Mr. Rolf becomes an abusive bully, Mrs. Rolf becomes a bubble-headed hausfrau and junior is continually underfoot, a victim in his parent's ongoing tug-of-war! But as the old song says, “Oz didn't give nothin' to the Tin Man that he didn't already have!”

Cue big shock conclusion -- Mrs. Bates, oops, Mrs. Allardyce? This flick does steal from the best.

Mr. Rolf has had enough! Goodbye, Allardyce estate!

AAAAAAAAhhhhh! My kindly mother turned her head from the movie screen at this point.

A very long movie at nearly two hours, BURNT OFFERINGS benefits from a less-is-more approach and lots of little atmospheric touches that the viewer must discover. It also holds a moral: beautiful homes harbor some drastically unhappy families!