DEATH MACHINES / Crown International Pictures - 1976

Here's a wild 'n' weird flick filmed in freakin' Stockton, CA... The story's about an evil Oriental Dragon Lady who has three martial arts fighters injected with a serum that turns them into zombie-like assassins, and then sends them out against her enemies!

It stars Ronald (OMEGA COP) Marchini as White Death Machine, Michael (SNAPDRAGON) Chong as Asian Death Machine, Joshua (THE WEAPONS OF DEATH) Johnson as Black Death Machine and Mari (only two acting credits) Honjo as Madame Lee.

Something weird's going on when one of the crime syndicates in Stockton is targeted. A Caterpillar tractor runs over one of the mobsters while calling the boss with some info!

Here's Madame Lee and her little bitch helper. She's behind the deaths of her crime enemies and has even more surprises in store for them.

She has a truck try and take out the dude sitting at the window table, but, when everyone notices the approaching headlights, well, they scramble like eggs!!

Madame Lee invites the head crime boss over for din din, and gives him a box to open... Inside is the head of one of his thugs, sending him a clear message!

In the meantime, Madame Lee has three martial arts greats kidnapped and injected with her obedience serum! The coppers have captured White Death Machine but he gets loose at the station and literally beats the crap out of like 20 officers before he escapes!

After he has escaped, White Death Machine goes to a local dive and is simply trying to eat a cheeseburger, when, some bikers start harassing him, you know, what the Hell else?! WDM starts kicking ass again when a guy hits him with a metal bar stool, taking him out!

But, guess who shows up?.. Yeah, Black and Asian Death Machines!!..

Hey look, 7-UP!!

Oh shit, now what?!!

Hey look, Coca Cola!!

Dude gets tossed out the door where he demolishes a well placed oil can pyramid!

Hey look, Pennzoil!!

Anyway, the gang's back in business. When a trade is made with another crime syndicate, our guys pull out a bazooka and blow their plane up before it even gets off the ground!

Things don't work out that great for Madame Lee and her bitch, bringing our tale to an end!

The best part is when our heroes are back to normal and are on their way out of Stockton, making for an even better ending!! We're back tomorrow with some Special Dungeon Cargo!

4 + 1 PAPERBACK BOOKS MADE INTO 1950'S & 60's HORROR MOVIES!

When I was digging out my paperback copy of "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" the other day, I was reminded that I had a couple of other paperback movie books in my library, and here they are! It's pretty obvious by the prices how long I've had these!  First up is the Jack Finney Dell first edition that was made into the terrific 1956 movie "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!"

Here's a very cool Berkley Books cover of the H.G. Wells classic that was made into the 1960 film,

"The Time Machine!"

John Wyndham's awesome Crest novel made for a killer 1962 film called "The Day Of The Triffids!"

The Bantam novel "The Circus Of Dr. Lao" by Charles G. Finney turned into "7 Faces Of Dr. Lao" in 1964!

And in a complete reversal, here's a Ballantine book that was a novel based on the screenplay for Mel Brooks' 1974 movie "Young Frankenstein!"
Those were all from my personal collection, I'm sure a lot more would turn up in a good internet search! (I actually ended up trying that and I was surprised how few I found!)

10 MOVIES TABONGA! LOVES TO WATCH AGAIN!

Here are a few of my favorite movies I like, err, love, to put on while I'm working on my monster art. Generally speaking, I enjoy the schlocky titles the most because they always put me in my happy place. Born in the late forties, I was there during the atomic bomb tests, the UFO invasion, rockets, etc. I saw 67 horror and sci-fi flicks at the theater from 1953-59 and it influenced me big time. I love rubber space monsters the most, I do not like modern movies, they're too long, have too much story and are too busy, complex and glossy. Give me a simple 60 minute story, so much more enjoyable for me than the overblown crap we have today...

Although THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES doesn't even come close to matching the great poster art, this movie has a ton of charm and one I love to watch again! An interesting character is the mute helper, HIM! He likes to look at his girlie mags!

Eegah!! and I saw THE BRAIN EATERS when it came out, it was so whacked out. We didn't think much of it at the time, but, it has grown on me over time and may be the flick I play the most! (I have seen some of these titles like 20 times or more!!)

Damn, we love the Hell out of CALTIKI, director Mario Bava works his magic with the blobs and throws in the creepy character, Max, for a double horror treat!

MISSION MARS is just one of those movies that is so fun to watch! It stars two Dungeon Heroes, Darren McGavin and Nick Adams, and, has the unique Solarite monsters that will toast your sorry ass but good!!

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS is another story that tickles my horror bone and have watched this one more than any other Corman title! Love this pic of the Crab Monster dicing up our poor victim into little bite-sized pieces!! Saw this one when it came out in 1957.

Love INVISIBLE INVADERS, John Agar is perfect as Major Jay in this wild sci-fi tale. Him and his pals have to capture one of the Invaders and figure out a way to put a stop to their invasion!

MISSILE TO THE MOON is another favorite of mine, it has rock monsters, a giant killer spider and features the beautiful Moon Goddess, Sanita Pelkey. A freakin' ton of fun!!

The Grimaldi Bros. gave us MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE and I thank them for it! This flick is cheap but delivers many thrills and spills as a fungus terror tries to take over a space station...

Paul Blaisdell created the rubber suit worn by Crash Corrigan in this creepy space tale. IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE boards the spaceship on Mars and terrorizes the crew as they head back to Earth!

Saw THE FLAME BARRIER in 1958, lots of creepiness going on here with the space blob in the cave and the skeletons covered in Saran Wrap. Another fun movie I love to watch again!.. Okay, there you go, tune in again Wednesday when we'll have more interesting junk, just for you!

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - Hunter S. Thompson (1998)

 By the time you read what I'm writing, I'll have been in Las Vegas for a day and a half trying my best to outdo "Fear and Loathing," and "The Hangover!" From this point on, it's just another game of craps! Read the back cover above from my own personal copy of "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas," Hunter S. Thompson was one krazy cat!

 To some people, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" is unwatchable, to others, it's a living testimony to drugs, depravity and a gonzo lifestyle! The story happens over a couple of days time, it's hard to imagine what a whole life around Hunter S. Thompson would have been!

This is a quote from the actual first page of the book!

It's gonna be one Helluva trip!

I just read a Rolling Stone interview from 1998 with Johnny Depp, and it was quite insightful!
I suggest you read it yourself right here to get a true understanding of the melding of these two guy's minds!

Driving to Las Vegas, Dr. Thompson and Dr. Gonzo pick up this poor unsuspecting hippie hitchhiker! Although most of what I'm writing here is about Johnny Depp and Hunter S. Thompson, Benicio Del Toro as Dr. Gonzo is actually the wilder one of the two! You never know what this guy is going to do, and Benicio plays it to the hilt!! This is one character I have no problem describing as a mad man!!

Did you read the back cover and the list of drugs they were packing? This table full of drinks couldn't even make a dent in that buzz!

Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame directed this film which even adds to the psychedelic/cartoon effect times 33 1/3!

My, My, how times and attitudes have changed! Should be interesting over the next 10 or 20 years to see how it all pans out! I'm pretty sure that it's the next gold rush!

As to be in good form, I re-read the book on the way over!

I'm hoping to also find the prefect Bloody Mary!

Maybe we'll meet some hot chicks!

As a journalist, Hunter S. Thompson was supposed to go to Vegas to cover this big dirt bike race!

What fun!

The last time, and I do me the last time, I stayed at Circus, Circus, it was literally a circus! There was some kid mixed martial arts event going on, and there were children everywhere ready to give you a chop at a moment's notice!

They called it Gonzo journalism! When he could no longer party like a crazy person because of age and health, Hunter S. Thompson chose to end his life at 67 in 2005. Appropriately enough, Johnny Depp paid to have Hunter's ashes shot off in a canon!

Here's a real picture I pilfered from Wikipedia of Hunter and his lawyer just so you can see the look etc. were not that far off!

In the elevator with Cameron Diaz and Dr. Gonzo wigging out bigtime!

This is more of a hallucination than a story!

Of course, the ultimate stoners are also there to cover the huge law enforcement anti-narcotics convention!

Monkey see, monkey do!

I'm not sure if there are witnesses to testify how much of this story is truth and how much is fiction, but if only 25% is true, and I'm sure the percentage is much higher than that, Hunter S. Thompson raised the bar on partying to a new level, because you can't get much crazier than this and still live to talk about it!

I'm in Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Boxing Hall Of Fame dinner and induction ceremony! I think it's going to be very interesting what with the Mayweather - McGregor match coming up in the next couple of weeks, but I'll be back home by the time that circus gets going into full gear!

But for now, it's time to get out of Dodge!