HYSTERIA - Hammer Films - Freddie Francis (1965)

The Krazy Town Bus doesn't have any planned tour stops in 2014, and once you get on, it's going to be a bumpy ride, so hold on for tonight's thriller from 19 and 65, it's freakin' "HYSTERIA!!"

"Hysteria" is a Hammer film that seems to have slipped in between the cracks! It's directed by one of my favorite directors, Freddie Francis, so you know there's always going to be different angles!

"Hysteria" stars the well-known face of Robert Webber! You might not know his name, but he sure does have a familiar looking face! From damn near the beginning of TV, Robert was in there on shows like "Out There," "Tales Of Tomorrow," and "Outer Limits!" Not normally a lead role actor, in "Hysteria," Robert here has the role of Chris Smith, a man who has lost his memory, and is just about to get released from the hospital!

The only clue to Chris Smith's past is a tattered picture of a beautiful woman!

An unknown benefactor has supplied him with a ritzy apartment!

Searching for the source of a glamour shot can lead to some risque situations!

The quite stunning Jennifer Jayne is the mysterious gal in the photo! She doesn't look like it here, but Jennifer was in a couple of great films, "The Crawling Eye," and another Freddie Francis classic, "They Come From Beyond Space!"

Chris Smith's problems are just getting started!

This one's for Doug! Here's the big man in a small role, Kiwi Kingston blocking the door as the French girl's boyfriend!

Chris Smith is surrounded by beautiful women, but his memory is so shot, he almost can't remember how to have sex!

Then he has a major flashback!

Damn, that knife looks familiar!

 

 Damn, that woman looks familiar!!

Jennifer Jayne slips Chris Smith a Mickey, and nothing looks familiar any more!

When he comes to, what else should he expect but a dead body in the shower?

Now what the Hell is going on?

Just screw it! Have another drink!

One thing you'll find out is that Chris Smith is not the killer everyone thinks he is! Speaking of killer, the music from the killer soundtrack was writing by Don Banks in one of his swingier moments, with music direction by the workhorse Phillip Martell! Catch it if you can!!

THE CREEP / 13 O'clock Theater, Wray Film Productions - 2001

It's my first post of 2014, so, I thought I'd feature our first lil' Dungeon flick all about a for real creep that lives just outside the city limits, that's right, in a big old hole in the ground! Above is the DVD case artwork.

I got to make the props, this 13 O'clock clock was lots of fun, it strikes 13 and has a coo coo skull instead of coo coo bird!

Forry was a great sport, there was no problem getting him to host the show. My favorite time with him at his place was when we all sat on his bed discussing the details, in his badroom!! We love you Forry, forever and a day...

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip sampler from our flick for your earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the 13 O'clock clock, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... THE CREEP!

The story comes from a little dream Eegah!! had where he said his hair was all greasy and discheveled, and then the title comes up... THE CREEP! Pretty weird, huh? The Creep, aka Eddie, lives in a hole in the ground, only comes out at night, eats out of a garbage can, has a bad attitude and carries a club and ice pick! Our pal, Rodney Lee, plays the part perfectly.

We even used real bums off the streets, like this blind guy who agreed to be in this scene... Just kidding, that's actually Eegah!! there on the ground!

Any old brick just laying around is another calling card of Eddie's.

Greg Carpenter was our assistant director and played a cop. He's now stuntman, Dr. Danger, with his own show on the History Channel!!!

Eddie begs for candy on Halloween by getting on his knees to make it look like he's just a kid!

Eddie's checking out this gal in her slip through her bedroom window, but, he's caught when he bumps his face on the glass!

Mel Sparks plays Det. Stickler and Joey Garza plays Det. Lopez. Joey appeared on THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW and turned down the lead role for CHICO AND THE MAN!!

Eddie's underground hideout is discovered when two kids are playing in the fields one night and catch Eddie coming out of his hole. They tell their moms and the moms then contact the police.

In the meantime though, Eddie's being especially devious because of the full Moon that night. Here's a couple that are soon to be the Creep's next target!

The detectives find these two rotten heads in Eddie's underground room, and, it solves two decapitation murder cases from a year earlier!

Eddie finishes off his night with one last gruesome murder, using his ever-handy ice pick!

This is a great shot as he trudges back to his lair. Our photography director was Forry's favorite, Karen Chow-Del Rio, who works for Warner Bros. and directed the recent THUMBS series.

Finally, Eddie's cornered by the two detectives after a lengthy pursuit on foot.

As a last attempt to escape, he runs blindly into the street where!...

...He gets run over by an ice cream truck!!

And, don't forget.. You can purchase THE CREEP on DVD directly from us by using the PayPal link there on the right, or, leave us a comment that we will not publish. This is a sealed, professionally produced DVD and features Forry Ackerman in his 96th movie appearance! We will also throw in our second feature, SILVER ANGEL vs THE DEATH ZOMBIES on DVD-R, in a plain envelope, Eegah!! and I play robots! Both discs for only $10 - YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE - There's FREE SHIPPING!

SCREAM FREE! - The Boston Tea Party - California Spectrum - "Free Grass" (1969)

Merry Happy everybody, and welcome to 2014 down in The Dungeon! We've got an amazing array of films on tap for this year that's even got my head reeling, so let's just get that shiny multifaceted ball spinning with a classically bad movie that personifies everything about everything there is to personify! "Free Grass!"

This movie has it all, and a whole lot of nothing, all at the same time! It's amazing! It's called "Free Grass" or "Scream Free" depending on who you're talking to, and it's got some cast members who were riding the crest of the highest cinematic wave a mere eight years earlier! Talk about flying high in April, and knocked down in May! It's about sixties drug culture with a whole lot of footage of nothing but music and imagery, and some really long, drawn out sequences about potentially nothing!

First scene: Hippie in trouble! What he has done, and to who, is not known, but he's running away from something!

This camper is in hot pursuit, and follows the young man right into this dirty alleyway!

End of story? No, it's just the beginning!

One of the gentlemen in the camper is Los Angeles's number one 60's radio DJ, Casey Kasem! One of Casey's essential credits is the voice of Shaggy in all the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, and he appeared in quite a few kickass low budget biker movies like "The Glory Stompers," "Wild Wheels," and "The Cycle Savages!"

Here we go, one of the stars of the 10 time Academy Award Winning film "West Side Story" was Russ Tamblyn! In 1956 Russ won the Golden Globe Award for "Best Promising Newcomer" along with Ray (Secret Agent Super Dragon) Danton!

Warren Finnerty is the third member of this group. In the same year as this film, Warren had a role as a rancher in "Easy Rider!"  Five years later and he'd be dead from a heart attack at age 49! So, Casey, Warren, and Russ are ruthless drug dealers/smugglers, and they don't let anything get in their way! That's what happened to the Hippie in the opening scene!

Bring into the picture the innocent and "Peace and Love" lovin'  Richard Beymer! Richard was also one of the co-stars of "West Side Story!" He's just chillin' at this club when Russ Tamblyn's character asks him to do a drug run to Mexico for him and his buddies! He doesn't want to do it, but decides it would be worth the money for a one time risk! Bad decision!

Richard falls in love big time for the lovely Lana Wood! Lana was not in "West Side Story," but her better known sister Natalie, was THE star! Lana has 7 or 8 films in pre or post-production right now! At this point the viewer is subjected to what seemed like a lifetime but was probably only 15 or 20 minutes of Richard and Lana falling deeply in love at first outta-sight! The reason I didn't bother telling you the individual character's names is because they are as follows: Dean, Link, Karen, Phil, and Barney! Doesn't really seem to make much difference, does it?

Richard goes on a successful drug run to Mexico, but when he gets back, the guys decide that he's no longer needed, kinda like the other guy at the beginning, but he's a little bit harder to dispose of, so they grab his girlfriend!

In the meantime, being the good buddy that he is, Russ Tamblyn's character slips Richard some L.S.D. After tripping all over the place for what seemed like another lifetime, Russ tells Richard that he thinks his girlfriend must be over at this other bar called The Red Velvet to see a super cool, psychedelic band playing called The Boston Tea Party! 

As far as I know, The Boston Tea Party only ever released this one album!  

Here's just a taste of one of the songs they perform in this club scene! I'm pretty sure it's a song off this 1968 Flick-Disc LP called "Free Service!" Good band!!

So they spend another lifetime tripping out in the bar before Russ tells Richard, no I guess she's not here after all! One thing that cannot be denied is there's a lot of filler in this film both good and bad!

 I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the trip in this movie, is a lot longer than the trip in the movie "The Trip!"

In a terribly insensitive moment Russ attempts a fake ceremony out on a cliff by the ocean to purify his tripping buddy by dousing him with gasoline and setting him ablaze! Richard somehow gains back his sanity just long enough to turn the tables, and then it's Russ who is blazing!

Casey keeps guard on the girl!

Even though he's still tripping, Richard has to find and release his kidnapped girlfriend against almost insurmountable odds!

The cops converge on the scene, and Richard and Snow White manage to escape just in time! In the end, Richard ends up with all the drugs which he proceeds to give away so him and her can start a new life together in Iowa or somewhere! Hence the second title, "Free Grass!"

The movie "Free Grass" is  a trip, a bad trip no doubt, and probably most of the people involved in it would just as soon forget about it, and that might be why it's almost impossible to find! The groovy Title Song performed at the end of the film just kind of puts an exclamation mark on the whole thing as it's performed by members of The West Coast Pop Experimental Band, performing as the little known California Spectrum! For more information on The West Coast Pop Experimental Band and California Spectrum, check out this in depth page from the "Acid Archives"!