ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1970)

     The late actor / screenwriter Paul Naschy like the old Universal horror movies. No doubt his script for ASSIGNMENT TERROR (AKA LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR and DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN) was inspired by THE HOUSE OF DRACULA and HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN.
     In this movie Paul Naschy is once again play the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. An space alien in human form brings him back to life as part of his plan to destroy the human race so the people of his planet can take over the Earth. The alien is played by Micheal Rennie. It would be his last film role.
     The aliens working out of an old castle also gather together some other monsters including a vampire, a mummy, and a Frankenstein style monster. For some reason the monster is not called Frankenstein.
     This is not a great motion picture but it is a good movie to munch popcorn while you watch it.

     There is various prints of the film around. The worst print was a VHS tape under the title DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN. (Not to be confused with the Al Adamson film of the same name)

GHOST WORLD- Jaan Pehechaan Ho

     One of my favorite movies is GHOST WORLD (2001) Which was based on the Graphic novel by Daniel Clowes and directed by Terry Zwigoff who had directed the bio documentary CRUMB.
     The film opens with a musical scene from the Indian movie GUMNAAN (1965) In that scene you can hear the dubbed voice of Indian movie singer Mohammed Rafi singing the song Jaan Pehechaan Ho as the credits roll.
     Not long ago Heineken Beer put out a television commerical featuring the song once again dubbed in over a performer mouthing the words.

THE STARMAN FILMS.

     One of my favorite film series was the Starman films from Japan. The films were THE EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE. ATOMIC RULERS FROM SPACE. ATTACK FROM SPACE and INVADERS FROM SPACE. All four films can be seen on the Internet Archives. http://www.archive.org/
     In Japan the superhero Starman was called SUPERGIANT. He was not a giant so we can only assume the name loses something in translation.
     The Supergiant was featured in a series of short movies in the 50's. The films were spliced together and re edited into the four Starman movies that for years played on local TV channels. I do not believe that they ever played in a theater in the USA. I have seen French posters for the movies. On the French posters he is called Spaceman.
     The films are fun if you enjoy badly made sci fi action movies. The films often features badly dressed up monsters from outer space.

Starman also known as Supergiant.

One of monsters that Starman most fight against.

THE CRAZY MAN ON THE STREET CORNER- A short story.

THE CRAZY MAN ON THE STREET CORNER.

     Tony Roland was showing his cousin around the city. It had been his first visit to the large city and Tony was acting as his guide.

            “Hey John. See that man over there?”

    John saw a dirty looking bum standing on the street corner ranting away about something. People walked passed him as if he was not there. He kept ranting away at people as if he had something important to tell them.”

          “What's the problem with that guy?”

          “We call him Weird Willie. He appeared here one day a few years ago and started yelling and screaming about monsters from outer space.”

          “Monsters from space?”

          “Yeah he goes on for hours on end about monsters from outer space and how they are going to invade the Earth.”

         “Sounds like he saw one sci fi film too many.”

   Fifty years later the invaders from outer space came.

   All over the Earth the incredibly large spacecrafts landed and the giant alien creatures who flew the spaceships to the Earth would leave the crafts each day to go out and hunt humans.

     A few years later most of the human race was wiped off the planet. The creatures from outer space started to burn down the cities of the Earth and build cities of their own.

     In a hidden basement lab a group of scientist was performing an experiment that might be the last hope for the people of the planet Earth.

     The volunteer for this experiment was William Bucket. The experiment that was being perform was to send him back into the past to warn the people of the Earth about the invasion so that the people of the Earth could unite and be ready to fight off the invaders.

     Three other tried this experiment and died in the time machine that the scientist had build.

     This was the last time they could try the experiment.

     The needed supplies to try the experiment were almost gone.

     William was placed in a narrow tube next to a large machine the scientist built.

     They started the experiment.

     In the tube William felt strange as if a great weigh was pressing down on him. He saw blight colors of light and then all went black. He passed out then.

     When he awoke he was in between two cars.

     He stood up and found himself in a parking lot.

     He looked on in amazement that he was in the middle of a large city that was not in ruins.

     He saw hundreds of people on the sidewalks walking out in the open. Not hiding from the space aliens.

     He ran out of the parking lot and up to the people on the sidewalk.

            “People!People!” He shouted. “Giant aliens are coming from outer space! They want to eat us!”

     He was surprised to see that no one was paying any attention to him. They walked passed him like he was invisible.

     He shouted louder to the by passers. He told them that they had to call the armies of the world to prepare a defense against the invaders.

     The only one who paid him any mind was a by passer who told him to go to hell.

     Years later he was still there trying to warn people. It was all in vain. The people of the city thought he was just another one of the mentally ill homeless people living on the streets.

THE END.

Copyright 2012 by Teel. Not to be reprinted or re posted without permission.

DRACULA IN PAKISTAN

     DRACULA IN PAKISTAN can be found on You Tube now. It's a print taken from a TV broadcast with no subtitles but you can fallow the story without any real trouble. It is a nice clear print.
     The film was made and released in Pakistan under the title ZINDA LAASH (THE LIVING CORPSE)in 1967. It was one of the first and few horror movies made in Pakistan.
     The film is more based on the movie THE HORRORS OF DRACULA (1958) than the novel by Bram Stoker. The general plot line fallows the earlier film and there is shots and scenes that seem to copy the style of that movie. In some shots of the film when the film is lit just right the actor playing the vampire looks a lot like Sir Christopher Lee.
     Like the movie DRAKULA ISTANBUL DA this is a modern dress version of Dracula. Never the less it was shot with a moody black and white atmosphere.
     The film gives the vampire a strange origin story. In a scene before the opening credits he is shown to be a scientist who drinks down something he made. He dies but comes back to life in his coffin and attacks a woman.
     A few years ago some filmmakers in Pakistan made an horror film called HELL'S GROUND. The star of DRACULA IN PAKISTAN makes a cameo in the film and someone comments that he looks like Dracula.

THE MONSTER AND THE APE Film serial poster.

     Some times I see a poster that makes me wonder if there is a scene in the movie that is as good as the scene being shown on the film poster. That is the case with the poster to the film serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE.
     I have never seen the movie but I will try to track it down. I want to see the scene of the gorilla fighting a robot.

MORE LO FI PHOTOS

     Once again I am posting some photos I shot using an el cheapo pocket spycam.

photo copyright 2012 Teel

Photo copyright 2012 Teel