Saturday Morning Horror - 1966

 

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The Spookiest Saturday Morning Cartoons of 1966
SATURDAY MORNING HORROR

Last year, I did a series of posts for the Countdown to Halloween about horror movies and Halloween themed music from 1966, which I tagged as "Halloween 1966."  This post was originally supposed to be part of that, but I ran out of time on the countdown last year, and never finished it.  So I decided to dust it off, finish it up, and post it now, for this years countdown.

1966 was a good year to be a monster kid.  Classic monster movies, like Frankenstein and Dracula, were popular again due to their being shown to a new generation of fans on TV.  Monster themed toys, like Marx Toys' Cinema Creatures, and Aurora Monster Model Kits, were on the toy shelves.  Television had the premieres of Dark Shadows, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Star Trek and Batman.  Other shows that aired in 1966 included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, and The Addams Family.

Even the Saturday Morning Cartoons were not immune to monster-mania.  I'm going to count down the top 6 spooky, scary, or monster-filled cartoons that were available to kids on 1966 Saturday mornings, starting with the least scary, and working my way up to the most horrifying!

6. FRANKENSTEIN JR.

Frankenstein Jr. was one of the co-stars of the cartoon show Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, which paired Frankenstein Jr cartoons with cartoons about The Impossibles, a combination rock band/superhero team.  Frankenstein Jr. was giant robot that looked like Frankenstein, who was controlled by a young boy and his scientist father.  Together they would fight crime and disasters.  Basically, it was an American version of the Japanese cartoon Gigantor.  This was really more of a superhero show than a horror one, but any show that features a giant Frankenstein robot has got to be on the list.

5. SPACE GHOST

Like Frankenstein Jr., this is really a superhero show, not a horror one.  But, heck, it's got "ghost" right in the title, right?  Plus, Space Ghost did fight a variety of scary aliens, so the show did have it's share of monsters!

I think the closest thing to straight up horror it did was the episode "The Creature King," featuring a Doctor Moreau style mad scientist alien.  Check it out:

Space Ghost - The Creature King




 4.  KING KONG

Here's another show that's more of an adventure show, and not really scary.  It's sort of like a poorly animated version of Jonny Quest.  But any show that stars King Kong, one of the greatest movie monsters of all time, has got to go on this list!  Plus, this show had a great theme song:

 King Kong Animated Series -1966 (Intro)



3. WINSOME WITCH

Winsome Witch was a cartoon segment of The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show.  It followed the misadventures of a friendly witch who flies around on her broom getting into weird adventures.  It's a bit like I Dream of Jeannie crossed with Casper the Friendly Ghost.  Like most Saturday Morning Cartoons, it's not actually scary, but at least this one does have elements of the supernatural in it, so we're on the right track.  Here's the cartoon's intro:




2. MILTON THE MONSTER

Milton the Monster was a friendly Frankenstein-type monster, who lived in the Haunted House on Horror Hill with his mad scientist father Professor Montgomery Weirdo, and Weirdo's gay husband (or maybe just his lab assistant?) Count Kook.  This show is full on comedy horror along the lines of the Addams Family or The Munsters, and is chock full of weird monsters, skulls, bats, and Gothic imagery.  This was the perfect show to warp the impressionable minds of the kiddies on Saturday mornings.

Check out the show's creeptastic theme song:

Milton the Monster (Intro) 


AND NOW, CLICK BELOW TO REVEAL THE SCARIEST SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON ON THE AIR IN 1966!

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)

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HALLOWEEN 1966 & KARLOFF THE UNCANNY

DAY 26 - 5 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) - Movie review plus screencaps

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the last film of AIP's "Beach Party" series.  At this point the Beach Party formula was getting pretty stale, and they had lost the stars of the previous films, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, so the producers decided to shake things up by changing locations from the beach to a haunted house.  The result was a hybrid horror/teen musical/comedy flick that is pretty dumb, but still fairly entertaining.

The Ghost in the Graveyard

One of the best elements of this film are the sets.  AIP was also producing a series of Edgar Allan Poe movies at the same time, and was able to reuse some of the same spooky sets for this film.  They even borrowed some footage from the film "The Haunted Palace" for the opening sequence.  This made for a comedy film that still has a lot of horror "atmosphere" to it.

The Ghost, The Corpse, and the Crystal Ball

The film features two veterans of classic horror in supporting roles.  Boris Karloff plays "The Corpse," a recently dead man who must perform one good deed to get to heaven.  For his good deed, he decides to make sure his estate goes to the heirs he has named in his will, and not his evil attorney, who he believes is going to try and swindle it all for himself.  Karloff was having chronic back problems at this point in his life, so all of his scenes were filmed on one set, where he spent almost all of the time sitting in a chair.  He was able to watch the rest of the characters through a crystal ball, and he could communicate with the titular Ghost in the Invisible Bikini though it. She would then influence the outside world to make sure his good deed was accomplished.  It's always nice to see Karloff on screen, but he really doesn't have much to do in this film.

Reginald Ripper and J. Sinister Hulk

Reginald Ripper, the evil attorney, is played by Basil Rathbone.  Rathbone's role is more substantial, and he actually gets to interact with the rest of the cast, unlike Karloff.  Rathbone plays things a little too straight in this film, for my taste.  The film's a comedy, so I would have like to see him ham it up a little more than he did, although I still enjoyed his performance.

Eric Von Zipper Examines a Severed Head

Adding continuity to this film from the other Beach Party films is Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper, along with his biker gang, The Rat Pack.  Lembeck's shtick was getting a little tired after seven Beach Party flicks, but he is still fun to watch, and has the best jokes in the film.  Replacing Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley.  Walley is instantly forgettable, she made virtually no impression on me when I watched her on screen.  Tommy Kirk is incredibly bland and vanilla, and he and Walley have absolutlely no romantic chemistry.  If Frankie and Annette had stuck around, this would have been a pretty strong film, But Kirk and Walley really drag the film down, it's like there's a personality vacuum whenever they are on screen.

These Guys Make the Osmonds Look Hardcore

The film is also peppered with lame musical numbers from Nancy Sinatra, The Bobby Fuller Four, Picolla Pupa, and Quinn O'Hara.  Honestly, I had no idea who Picolla Pupa or Quinn O'Hara were before I saw this movie.  Nancy Sinatra and The Bobby Fuller Four, though, are both talented acts who have some pretty good songs, but, unfortunately, those aren't the songs they perform in this movie.  Imagine how cool this film would have been if the Bobby Fuller Four had performed "I Fought the Law" and Nancy Sinatra had performed "These Boots are Made for Walkin'."

Sinister Scenery

I guess that's a problem, when I can't help but imagine what the film would have been like with different actors and different songs.  But, on it's own, the film was still pretty entertaining.  I can recommend this film to fans of campy 1960s comedies, or horror fans who want some really light fare for a change of pace.

Rating: 3 Robots (out of 5)

More screencaps after the jump...

Halloween 1966, Volume 4: Creeps and Spooks

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HALLOWEEN 1966

DAY 24 - 7 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

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Vampires, witches, demons, ghouls...  these are the creatures of the supernatural!  Clawing their way out of their graves, emerging from the shadows, lurking about in forgotten basements and cellars, taking wing against the backdrop of the midnight moon!   What's that sound?!?!  They're coming to get us!  Here they come!  Here are the... Creeps and Spooks!

The main tracklist is:

• Christine Pilzer - Dracula
• The Ventures - Vampcamp
• Vic Mizzy - The Ghost & Mr. Chicken
• The Detergents - Igor's Cellar
• The Munsters - At the Munsters
• Vic Mizzy - The Addams Family
• Patterson's People - Shake Hands With the Devil
• The Chants R&B - I'm Your Witchdoctor
• Syndicate of Sound - The Witch
• Them - I Put a Spell on You
• Donovan - Season of the Witch
• The Walker Brothers - In My Room
• Danny Hutton - Monster Shindig
• The Seeds - Evil Hoodoo
• The Last Word - Sleepy Hollow
• Milton the Monster Show Theme Song
• The Turtles - Grim Reaper of Love
• The Yardbirds - Ever Since the World Began

In addition to the main tracks, this music mix also contains 1966 audio clips from Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Witches, The Addams Family, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, Kill Baby Kill, and Our Man Flint.

The songs At the Munsters and The Addams Family are actually from 1964, but both of those shows were still on the air in 1966, so I decided to include them anyway.

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The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2012

HALLOWEEN 1966

DAY 23 - 8 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) - Movie review plus screencaps

HALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT!  
As a special trick for the Halloween Countdown, I've inserted several FALSE screencaps into this review, that are not actually from The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.  As you read this review, see if you can figure out which screencaps are real, and which are the Halloween Tricks!

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

I just watched Don Knotts play an aspiring newspaper reporter, who has to spend the night in a haunted house, and finds himself entangled in a murder mystery, in this 1966 horror comedy from Universal.  You, know, I didn't have particularly high hopes for this movie, but I was hoping for something better than what I got.  This "horror comedy" really isn't funny or scary.  I didn't laugh once.  All the jokes were really stale, and they tended to repeat them over and over, as if they would somehow get funnier the second, third, fourth, or fifth time around. 

Don Knotts Makes a Face

The haunted house sequences were not especially scary, but they were kind of fun, in a Disney's Haunted Mansion sort of way.  But those sequences were far too brief, probably taking up no more than twenty minute or so of the film's 1 hour and 30 minute running time.  The rest of the sequences were just set around the town, as Don Knott's performed his usual schtick with the various townspeople.  Now, don't get me wrong, Don Knotts is a funny guy, but there's nothing in this film that we haven't seen him already do on the Andy Griffith Show, or any of his other movies or shows, and he usually does it with a lot more spark than we see him do it here.

The Haunted Organ

This film does have a few minor points in it's favor.  As I mentioned, the haunted house sequences were fun.  And, the film has a really neat score by Vic Mizzy, who also composed the theme songs for the Addams Family and Green Acres, among others.   I also enjoyed the spooky fonts used in the opening credits.  But, you know when you have to talk about the fonts used in a movie, that you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for something to praise.  I really can't recommend this film to anyone, unless maybe you're a die-hard fan of horror-comedies, but, even then, there are a ton of other movies you would probably want to watch first.

Rating: 1 Robot (out of 5)

Those Ghosts Don't Stand a Chance!

More screencaps after the jump...

Halloween 1966, Volume 3: Weird Things

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HALLOWEEN 1966

DAY 17 - 14 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

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Things that slither in the mud.  Things that hide among the trees.  Things that howl at the moon.  Things that lurk beneath the seas!  Things, and the men who act like things; men who are barely more advanced than our troglodyte ancestors; cave-dwelling, animalistic, primitive, freaks!  These... are the WEIRD THINGS!

 The main tracklist is:

• The Godz - White Cat Heat
• The Fastest Group Alive - Bears
• Wade Denning and the Port Washingtons - King Kong
• The Who - Boris the Spider
• Perrey-Kingsley - Jungle Blues from Jupiter
• The Driving Stupid - Horror Asparagus Stories
• The Swamp Rats - Hey Freak
• The Troggs - Wild Thing
• The Woolies - Who Do You Love?
• The Groupies - Primitive

In addition to the main tracks, the mix is also peppered with animal sounds, and 1966 audio clips from Space Ghost, The Reptile, and The Death Curse of Tartu.

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Halloween 1966, Volume 2: Criminals and Psychos

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HALLOWEEN 1966

DAY 10 - 21 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

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Volume two of my "Halloween 1966" collection delves into the EVIL minds of the criminals, the psychos, the killers, the gun-crazy, and the villains!  Listen, if you dare...

The main tracklist is:

• Burgess Meredith - The Capture
• Napoleon XIV - Marching Off To Bedlam
• The Easybeats - Going Out Of My Mind
• Count Five - Psychotic Reaction
• The Swamp Rats - Psycho
• The Beau Brummels - Bang Bang
• The Mammas and the Pappas - Straight Shooter
• Neil Hefti - The Mafista
• Sam Chalpin - Batman
• The Standells - Paint it Black
• The Troggs - Evil
• Burgess Meredith - The Escape

In addition to the main tracks, the mix is also peppered with 1966 audio clips from Star Trek, Batman, and The Undertaker and His Pals.

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Halloween 1966, Volume 1: Nightmare in Space

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HORROR IN SPACE

DAY 4 - 27 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

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My original plan had been to do one mix of songs for Halloween with the theme "Halloween 1966," featuring a variety of Halloween songs from that year.  I was going to post it later this month when I entered the Halloween 1966 phase of my Countdown to Halloween.  My mix of songs kept growing however, until I decided I needed to break it up into several different smaller chunks, each linked together by a loose theme.  The first volume is "Nightmare in Space,"  which works nicely with the "Horror in Space" posts I am currently making for the Countdown, so I decided to post this one early.

The main tracklist is:

• Perrey-Kingsley - Cosmic Ballad
• Florence Marly - Space Boy
• The Space Ghost Theme Song
• Perrey-Kingsley - Swan's Splashdown
• The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman
• The Eyes - When the Night Falls
• Q65 - I Got Nightmares
• The Answers - Just a Fear
• The Sonics - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

In addition to the main tracks, the mix is also peppered with 1966 audio clips from Star Trek, Batman, The Chamber of Horrors, and The Navy Vs. The Night Monsters.

The song "Space Boy" was originally recorded for the soundtrack of the 1966 film "The Queen of Blood" which I reviewed a couple of days ago.  It was never officially released, but has shown up on several Frank Zappa bootlegs over the years, as he co-produced and played some of the music on it.

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Queen of Blood (1966) - 64 Screencaps

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2012

HORROR IN SPACE

DAY 3 - 28 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN

Queen of Blood (1966) - 64 Screencaps:

An American International Release

Opening Credits

Queen of Blood - Title

Space

Planet

More screencaps after the jump...

Queen of Blood (1966)

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2012

HORROR IN SPACE
DAY 2 - 29 DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN
 

 Queen of Blood (1966) - Movie Review:

Alien Landscape

This 1966 Roger Corman produced sci-fi/horror concerns the first contact between Earth and an alien civilization, in the far off future of 1990.  The spacecraft carrying the alien ambassadors crash lands on the planet Mars, and the Earth's astronauts have to launch an emergency mission to Mars to look for survivors.  The first half of the film is a standard sci-fi movie about the astronauts efforts to move the timetable of their Mars program ahead of schedule to look for the alien survivors.  But the second half of the film changes gears to horror, as the earthmen rescue one female alien survivor, only to discover a horrible secret about the alien as they are trapped on their spaceship with her on their return trip to Earth.

Inside the Moonbase

The film has a good cast, including John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, and Dennis Hopper.  Dennis Hopper in particular is a pleasure to watch in his supporting role.  His loose, naturalistic acting style contrasts against the more stiff, action hero type acting from the rest of the cast.  He almost seems like a beatnik or oddball character compared to the other macho astronauts.   I only wish they would have given him more screentime, although he makes the best of what he has.

Saxonaut

Also effective is European actress Florence Marly as the titular villainess.  With green skin, a bizarre brussels sprout looking hair-do, and a skintight bodysuit, the "Queen of Blood" is wonderfully wierd looking and alien.  She never speaks a word of dialogue, expressing everything with enigmatic facial expressions, which helps add to her creepy, otherworldly quality.

Glowing Eyes

The film started life as spaceship footage Corman had purchased from several Soviet Union science fiction films from the 1950s. Writer/director Curtis Harrington then wrote a script to fit around this footage, and new scenes were shot quickly on a low budget, and spliced together with the Soviet footage to make a new movie. This film has a very off-kilter mix of beautiful sci-fi scenery from the Soviet films and corny dialogue scenes with the American actors.  The horror sequences, however, with the "Queen of Blood" stalking her prey, are really well shot and effective. Overall, the resulting film feels a bit disjointed and oddly paced, but is still quite enjoyable and worth watching overall.

Rating: 3½ Robots (out of 5)

Come back tomorrow when I'll be posting 64 swellegant screencaps from this film for Day 3 of Horror in Space!