TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #30 - Dracula Pack XVI

So then dear friends, we have reached the end! For here are the final two cards in the unhallowed vaults of the Tomb of the Trumps! But as a great man once said - no tears please: it's a waste of good suffering! So then, what are the last cards in our hand? 

Well, first off we have this hirsute chap! 

Now then, the last time we encountered a lycanthrope in these decks we did have a spot of bother identifying his origins. However in the case of these particular fellow, I'm sure his furry face is instantly recognisable to all fans of vintage horror flicks! For this is the titular transformer from AIP's I Was A Teenage Werewolf! 

Made in 1957, this fondly remembered flick was the first of four creature features made by AIP to star teenage monsters - the others being I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Blood of Dracula and How To Make a Monster. And in I Was A Teenage Werewolf, troubled teen Tony Rivers (played by a young Michael Landon) is sent to a psychologist to sort out his Rebel Without A Cause tendencies. Unfortunately for Tone, the head shrinker in question turn out to be a budding mad scientist (played by Whit Bissel) who treats him with a serum with brings out his primitive traits... Which of course will result in poor Tony ending up having to comb his face before he goes out and eating his fellow students! 

Of all these AIP teen horrors, I Was A Teenage Werewolf has probably had the largest and most long-lasting legacy, for it launched Michael Landon's career, and inspired several imitators. Hanna Barbara clearly drew inspiration from it/ripped it off wholesale for their 1970s cartoon Fangface, and again to a lesser extent in the 1980s for The Drak Pack which featured the teenage children of famous monsters. Also in the '80s, we had Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf,  which in turn spawned a sequel and, in the last couple of years,  a TV series. Meanwhile the original Teenage Werewolf made a memorable cameo in Stephen King's epic novel It as one of the guises of the shape-shifting horror Pennywise.

So then, on to the very last card... And stop blubbing at the back! 

The Zetan factor strikes again! Presumably this fellow is an associate of the Zetan Priest we encountered in the Devil Priest pack! Now then, judging by the bestial teeth and simian snout many folks have pegged this mysterious chap as being none other than Boris Karloff as Mr Hyde in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from 1953. And it does look to be a good fit! See for yourselves! 

But it is not quite an exact match. For where is the widows peak and beard? And the Zetan Warlord has an impressively furrowed brow! So then I have an alternative suggestion, as this card has always reminded me of something else, from an entirely different realm of fantastic fiction. For from first seeing these cards, the Zetan Warlord has always put me in mind of the Ogrons from Doctor Who! In particular, this publicity shot from the fabled Radio Times 10th Anniversary Special  - 

The Ogrons appeared in two stories in 1970s Who - Day of the Daleks in 1972 and returning the following year in Frontier in Space. Also they made a cameo appearance in another story that ran between the two - Carnival of Monsters in early 1973. And undoubtedly they made additional guest appearances in countless childrens' nightmares...

Now I reckon this famous publicity shot of them is a better fit for the Zetan Warlord - for we have a similar high domed forehead, and heavily shadowed faces as well as the simian features. And let's not forget too that our Unknown Artist had borrowed from the same era of Doctor Who several times before, nicking creatures and aliens for the Venusian Death Cell, Fire Demon, and of course, the Zetan Priest!

And so guys and ghouls, the time has come to seal up the heavy doors of the Tomb of the Trumps. However despite getting to the end of both packs of cards, some mysteries still remain, and a handful of cards are still lacking a definitive origin. So then, should new evidence be unearthed, rest assured the tat-haunted Tomb will open up once more... 

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #29 - Dracula Pack XV

Welcome dear friends to the penultimate edition of Tomb of the Trumps! Yes, we are down to the last four cards in the second and final pack of vintage Horror Top Trumps, and I'd love to say I've saved the best 'till last but as we've been running through the packs alphabetically that would be a blatant lie! However we do have perhaps one of the odder cards in today's rogue's gallery...

Now a doubled headed gorilla might well suggest a very lazy card creation. Draw an ape, add an extra bonce, chuck in a little bit of blood and a severed limb to keep the kiddies happy, and voilà we have a brand new monster at very notice! Job done! 

However, this card was actually inspired by a real movie. No, honest it is! Have a gander at this still from The Thing With Two Heads from 1972! 

Now if you think that's strange, prepare to be astounded! For this twin noggined primate isn't actually the titular horror in that movie! And while this atrocious ape was an early creation of make-up wizard Rick Baker, this creature is revealed early in the movie as just a dry run for the experiment a less-than-sane doctor is going to perform! Now transplant surgery has been a staple of horror a good while, going all the way back to Frankenstein. However there has never been a movie quite like The Thing With Two Heads... and probably for very good reason... I think I'll just let the poster explain it all...

Directed by Lee Frost, and co-written with Wes Bishop, no one seems entirely sure what the hell this movie is going for... Horror? Comedy? An insanity plea? I'm tempted to say perhaps it was intended as some triple-headed transplant of all three. However I suspect a fourth motive at work, for a year earlier another low budget flick The Incredible 2-Head Transplant (1971) had staggered into theatres. This movie featured a sanity-deficient doc grafted the head of a murderer onto the body of a mentally challenged man. Now details of box office takings for this movie aren't readily available but I'm guessing it made enough for Frost and Bishop to reckon there was gold in them thar two-headed hills!   

Unsurprisingly this flick often features in lists of movies so terrible they are hilarious, or round-ups of the most oddball movies ever made. Certainly it has to be seen to be believed - but I wouldn't necessarily take that as a recommendation! Now then moving swiftly on, for that is perhaps for the best, what's this web-winged horror flapping down from the skies? 

Now at first, judging by the somewhat crude art on this card you may be forgiven for thinking that this was a quick filler sketch. After all, bats are a staple of horror imagery, and this one seems to have been drawn with little or no consultation to what bats actually look like! Indeed from the slap-dash rendering, it's all too easy to imagine our Unknown Artist being fatigued and possibly overcome by paint fumes when he drew it. 

However that said, I always found the fizzog of this particular vampire bat to be strangely familiar! Now then, in previous instalments of our journey through the decks we have discovered that as well as borrowing from film and TV, the world of horror mags and comics has been ransacked for inspiration more than a few times. And I couldn't help noticing while going through my old House of Hammers in search of a Killer Rat that this werewolf rather reminds me of the Vampire Bat...

However looking inside this issue of the classic horror mag (Issue 18 fact fans) we find the comic strip featured on the cover - a one-off strip written and drawn by comic legends Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. This mini-epic features Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and a werewolf all crossing paths, and along the way we find the following panels which look very much like inspiration for our somewhat odd looking flittermouse!

Now there's not an exact match in any of these to be sure, but they are close enough to prove a couple of things. Firstly they are near enough for the old Vampire Bat to seem oddly familiar to me, and secondly, that whatever source image our Unknown Artist was working from, I rather doubt it was a bat! Plus, judging by the lack of detail and the type of lines used, I would put good money on the original image being a small panel in a comic strip. And quite possibly the source being two small frames, one for the bat-wings and one for the bestial face. Perhaps one day, I shall open some old horror comic and find the Vampire Bat's doppelgänger... 

Next week, we reach the final pair of cards in the vaults of the Tomb of the Trumps... 

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #28 - Dracula Pack XIV

Welcome once again guys and ghouls to the tat-haunted Tomb of the Trumps! Once again we are delving in to the mysterious inspirations of the original Horror Top Trumps, and this week we open our investigations with this shrieking horror! 

Now for years I had always suspected that the old Sorceress was inspired by something in an old horror comic, or possibly, given the sketchy style, that rarest of beasts in these decks: an original creation! However enlightenment came when I was enjoying a Bert I Gordon binge a couple of years ago. Now Gordon is most famous for his movies that featured things getting very large such The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth Vs the Spider and The Beginning of the End - living up to his initials of BIG! However he did produce other genre movies aside from his giant monster epics, and The Magic Sword from 1962 saw Gordon taking inspiration from the legend of St. George and the dragon to produce a fantasy flick for the children's market. 

Now the movie tells of our hero George (Gary Lockwood) setting out with six knights to rescue a princess (Anne Helm) who is being held for ransom by the evil wizard Lodac, (the great Basil Rathbone). In classic folk tale fashion, the band of seven heroes face an assortment of different challenges, which will whittle down their numbers before reaching the final showdown with Lodac. And it is during  one of these challenges in their quest that we encounter the model for the Sorceress! 

Sir Dennis of France is lured into a trap by the beautiful Mignonette, played by Danielle de Metz, However she is soon revealed to be a hideous hag bent on slaying him, played by Maila Nurmi, best known to fright fans as pioneering horror hostess Vampira. Actually Nurmi had appeared earlier in the movie as a sorceress, a confederate with Lodac in the kidnapping of the princess fair, and thanks to some green glowing eyes in both scene we know it is the sorceress who is behind this transformation of the beauty into a crone. So then, here we have a card with an accurate title for a change!

And we are still in not-quite-classic B movie land with our next card! But now we are into the realm of science fiction, and this many legged horror hails from outer space!  

Now despite the card's title, this isn't a beastie to be found in Howard Hawks's classic SF movie The Thing From Another World (1951). But this space monster does come from the strange worlds of  '50s cinematic science fiction - a low budget flick called The Angry Red Planet (1959).

Made by another mover-and-shaker in the realm of low budget fantastic film, Ib Melchior, the man who brought us gems such as Reptilicius (1961) and Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), this movie tells of a mission to Mars by brave astronauts from Earth. In the wilds of the red planet, they encounter all manner of alien threats including carnivorous plants and giant amoebas. Now when our heroes first come across our creature, commonly called the bat-rat-spider, they mistake its legs for strange Martian trees! Yes, that's how big as this hybrid terror is! No wonder it got the prime spot on the movie's posters! 

However I've never been entirely sure what that lone arm is doing in this picture... The flailing arm of a victim? A black power salute? I personally favour the theory that it's some maniac throwing a punch at the long legged beastie! Possibly for spilling his pint or maybe just "looking at me funny"! 

Anyhow that's all for this week - next time we reach the penultimate pair of cards - a truly gruesome twosome! 

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #27 - Dracula Pack XIII

Welcome once again guys and ghouls to the tat-infested realm of terrors that is the Tomb of the Trumps! And blimey! It don't half whiff in 'ere this week! Now just where is that stench coming from? Hold on folks, I think we've found our cadaverous culprit...

Of course you can't have a horror themed card game without a zombie or two, but the question is: which cinematic grave did this chap crawl out of? Now some horror trumpologists have suggested this fellow - the iconic cover star of this Lucio Fulci gut-munching classic

Now there is a certain resemblance but I'm not sure it's close enough. Plus there is a small problem of chronology, Zombi II aka Zombie (in the US) and Zombie Flesh-Eaters (in the UK) wasn't released until September 1979 in its native Italy, and somewhat later in other territories, and the Horror Top Trumps were release in 1978... So then back to the cemetery to dig again... 

Another contender is this classic screen revenant - Mr Grimesdyke from Tales from the Crypt (1972) an anthology horror from Amicus based on the infamous EC horror comics from the 1950s. 

Based on the tale Poetic Justice from the Haunt of Fear #12, the cinematic version sees the great Peter Cushing returning from the grave to wreak revenge on those who drove him to his death. However as wonderful as this decayed horror is - a brilliant make-up by Roy Ashton - although there are some similarities I'm not sure it's the model for The Risen Dead. 

Also suggested as a contender is a cadaver from early '70s Brit horror Death Line AKA Raw Meat in the US - a tale of cannibals living in the London Underground - specifically this still of one of their victims - 

However once again, while there are some similarities I don't think it's quite close enough! Indeed in general I think this one is not quite skeletal enough. So then, while there is not a shortage of corpses and walking dead with empty eye sockets, I can't seem to find one that matches well enough, for all our contenders are missing the distinctive clawed hand posture and decayed funeral suit. It looks like the secret of this card has been well and truly taken to the grave!

So then on to our next card! By the pricking in my thumbs something bony (and lot easier to identify) this way comes! 

At first you may think that this card would prove to be a tough nut to crack, for in the world of horror imagery there's nothing more generic than a good old-fashioned skellington! However this rattling hangman quite clearly has an obvious origin - for once again, our Unknown Artist has been leafing through old Vincent Price movie posters! 

Yes, although the poster is a little different - the stance is a little too widescreen for the dimensions of the old Horror Top trumps cards - this is clearly the same bony gent. And while the rendering of the ribs is certainly a bit shaky, it is very obviously modelled on the anatomy on show in the poster above, with the shading and expression on the skull showing a near perfect match. 

And old Mr Bones did actually appear in the movie too! Indeed House on the Haunted Hill was the second movie made by legendary director William Castle and featured one of his famous publicity gimmicks. For Castle, as well as being an inventive director, was a highly creative showman and came up with a variety of stunts and features to market his movies. Hence when House on the Haunted Hill hit the screens in 1959, Castle's publicity claimed the movie was filmed in "Emergo"! What this actually meant was that when the skellington appears in the finale of the movie, a matching puppet with light-up red eyes would be hoisted out over the audience, hopefully giving the illusion it that emerged from the screen. How well this worked is hard to say, but contemporary reports suggest that the skellington puppet did prove to be a popular target for popcorn boxes!

And so that rounds off another visit to the realm of old horror tat... But hold on, what's that?!? Look again at the Risen Dead card! On the tombstone in the background is a name - and as far as I can make out our Unknown Artist hasn't taken the usual route of sticking on a famous name as a jokey homage. However I can't help wondering if this is actually a secret signature! And this background grave reveals the Unknown Artist's real name! 

I'm fairly sure the first name is 'Derek' but the surname is a bit tricky to make out... Could this be the long-sought clue to the creator of the cards?

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #26 - Dracula Pack XII

Welcome dear fiends once again to the haunted chamber of tat that is Tomb of the Trumps! However this week for a change, we actually have some quality finds in our lurid art autopsies! And we kick off with a name that surely needs no introduction! 

Now the Phantom of the Opera has already made a couple of appearances in this series before, courtesy of the great Lon Chaney Snr. For his marvellous depictions of the disfigured Erik have already been ripped off, I mean, inspired a couple of early cards, The Hangman and the Lord of Death. 

However I'm sure it will come as absolutely no surprise that by the time we actually get to the old Phantom himself at last, in true Horror Trumps fashion,  the image gracing the card isn't him at all! For while this fellow at an organ certainly looks the part, he doesn't hail from any version of Gaston Leroux's classic horror tale. No, it's an entirely different well-loved horror icon, the abominable Dr. Phibes!  

Now in fairness, the legendary Phibes does owe something of a debt to the Phantom - for like Erik, he is a musical, genius, loves playing the organ, and the first movie features a starling unmasking scene where his disfigured skull-like visage is revealed. And what's more both are a dab hand at creating memorable set-piece deaths for their victims. 

Played by the great Vincent Price, the not-so-good Doctor wreaked havoc in two cult movies directed by Robert Fuest. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) saw the undying genius taking revenge on the surgical team that failed to save his wife by recreated the Biblical plagues of Egypt, while the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) saw him devising similarly ornate deaths for all those standing between him and the fabled Waters of Life. 

Now I am a huge fan of these movies, and for more information on this celebrated duology and the possible sequels that never materialised, tune into these pair of episodes from my podcast - I thank you!

HYPNOBOBS 25 – The Lives & Times of Dr Phibes I 

HYPNOBOBS 26 – The Lives & Times of Dr Phibes II

So then, onto our next exhibit! And rather appropriately this too is another cult classic getting a spurious new title in the Trumps-land!  

Now then, while you may be forgiven for thinking that this card was inspired by demoniac imagery from some medieval horrors, in fact this Satanic chap isn't in fact even a gentlemen! Actually this card is derived from a famous still from a classic Japanese film - Onibaba (1964)

Onibaba, which literally means "Demon Hag", was written and directed by Kaneto Shindo and was inspired by a Shin Buddhist parable. Critics are seemingly unsure as whether this movie should be classed as a period drama or a horror movie, but it is widely agreed to be a classic. Set in the 14th century, the story tells of two women, one older and one younger, who kill passing warriors and samurai and sell their armour and weapons for profit. However this set-up get more complicated when they team up with a soldier Hachi, and then things go badly awry when the older woman acquires a demon mask from one of her victims...

However for some bonus points, that's not the only rip-off in this card. Yes, that bloodied blade at the top has been borrowed too - for if you look closely you can see that it is the titular device in  this poster! 

Based  - very loosely  I might add - on the Edgar Allen Poe tale of the same name, The Pit and The Pendulum (1961) was actually the second of a series of movies inspired by Poe which were helmed by Roger Corman. They nearly all starred the great Vincent Price, and several, like this one, boasted a script by the great Richard Matheson too. A first class horror pedigree I'm sure you agree for a humble blood-splattered blade! 

Next time, there's a distinct touch of the grave to the next two cards we will be excavating here... 

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #26 - Dracula Pack XI

Welcome once again to that benighted realm of old horror tat that is the Tomb of the Trumps! No, don't touch that! You look with your eyes not with your hands! ...Anyhow, now that you're all behaving yourselves, let's unveils this week's lurid exhibits! First up, we have this goggle-eyed twonk! 

Now quite why this being was called Maggot we know not. For he is not some species of fly larvae, and is also clearly of a far too strapping build to warrant a name that implies being small and 'orrible. Although 'orrible and slimy 'e certainly is - enough to make me drop me aitches all over the shop! But enough quibbling over nomenclature, for considering some of the title/image combos served up by these deck, Maggot is definitely at the sensible end of things. So then where does this fellow originally hail from?

Well, as fans of tatty of TV SF may well have guessed, this beastie is actually one of the many silly aliens that menaced the Robinson family in the classic show Lost in Space! And here he is getting up close and personal with the nefarious Dr Smith! 

Yes, this was Keema who appeared in the episode The Golden Man in Season 2 of the cult series, and originally appeared in a somewhat less drippy from as, you guessed it, a golden man. Airing on December 28th 1966, this episode had the Robinsons encountering Keema who claimed to fighting against an evil frog - no, seriously! However in classic/cliche style (delete as applicable) it turned out that the nice and bling looking Keema was really the nasty one and the frog was nice. In traditional fashion, in the end the shifty sod was unmasked as being even more disgusting looking - yes, Keema didn't really look like a space glam rocker, but more like a meatball that had lost a fight with a pizza... 

Yes, this is one of those very rare instances where the Horror Top Trumps card actually is an improvement on the original! Anyhow, we are sticking with the outer space theme for our next exhibit! 

Now this knobbly horror will surely be easily identified by lovers of classic old SF flicks. And neatly enough, once again this is the revealed true form of a nefarious alien up to no good - the titular creature from 1958's I Married A Monster From Outer Space! 

Now if you don't know, this movie tells the tale of Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbot, no relation to Larry) who has just got hitched to Bill  (Tom Tryon). However very soon Marge suspected that he isn't quite the man she married. Is Bill ill? Unfortunately for Marge, Bill has been taken over by a monster from space, part of a covert invasion from a race facing extinction thanks to their own females dying out! Things look grim for humanity as these aliens just happen to be immune to bullets, but luckily for us, they prove to be powerless against dogs. And hence after their advance party has been torn to shreds by a pair of German Shepherds, the invasion is called off, and Marge is reunited with the real Bill who was stashed in their spaceship. 

And things turned out pretty well for Bill in real life too, with Tom Tryon making a successful leap from acting to writing, and penning a string of novels. And these days Tryon is probably bettered remembered as a novelist, having written several books such as The Other and Harvest Home that are now regarded as modern classics of weird fiction. 

Next week, we are once again in classic horror territory, with a pair of mis-titled cards featuring images from cult fright flicks! 

TOMB OF THE TRUMPS #25 - Dracula Pack X

Welcome! Come in! Sit down! No, not there... that might leave a stain... Yes, there will be fine! So then, welcome once again gentle reader to the Tomb of the Trumps, a weekly exploration into old horror tat that I genuinely think may well be eroding my sanity... But I'll be in good company then this week with these two demented gentlemen!  

Now then, once upon a time there was a horror flick entitled "The Mad Magician" - it was made in 1954 and starred the great Vincent Price. This early 3D shocker saw Price as a master of stage magic using his skills to take revenge on a host of enemies and rivals. However this card has precisely bugger all to do with that particular movie! Instead, what we have here is the return of a familiar face... 

Yes folks, it's the great Lon Chaney Snr. again! This is his fourth appearance over all, and his third appearance in this set - seriously, I'm beginning to think I should rename this deck the Chaney Pack! However this time it's not another incarnation of Erik from Phantom of the Opera (1925) - here we have the Man of a Thousand Faces in another of his terrifying own make-up jobs, as a vampire in London After Midnight (1927). Sadly this horror-themed mystery movie directed by Tod Browning, who would go on to direct classics such as Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932), is now sadly lost, although hopes persist a copy may turn up somewhere. Tod Browning himself would later remake the movie in 1935 as Mark of the Vampire starring Bela Lugosi as the titular fiend.  And in 2002 Turner Movies reconstructed a version using the extensive set of stills taken during the production and it has been released as part of Lon Chaney DVD collection. 

Anyhow, time to move on to our next card... Now don't confuse this chap with last week's Mad Axeman...

Mercifully, there are no melting Satanic goats involved this time, and this chap is considerably easier to identify. Now while "Madman" isn't a bad title for the card, "Mutant Man" would be nearer the mark. For this is exactly what he is - a unfortunate fellow mutated and driven homicidal by slow poisoning from dodgily dumped chemicals. 

He appears in the 1972 Brit SF horror flick Doomwatch, produced by cult studio Tigon and directed by Hammer regular Peter Sadsy. Now the movie itself was a big screen spin-off from a popular BBC series of the same title. Devised by Dr. Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis- the creators of Doctor Who's Cybermen - Doomwatch followed the investigations of a group of boffins faced with assorted ecological and technological threats to humanity. It's probably best remembered these days for the episode Tomorrow the Rat which saw a young Robert Powell being menaced by man-eating rodents. However the movie, while it did feature appearances from the regular cast of the TV show, cast two familiar faces to lovers of cult movies/TV as a pair of new characters to star in the big screen adventure. Hence we have Ian Bannen and Judy Geeson dispatched to a remote  isle where something nasty in the water is making monsters of the locals, proving yet again, that like The Wicker Man and Nothing But The Night, remote Scottish islands were to be avoided at all costs in the early '70s. 

Next time, we encounter two horrors whose origins lie beyond the stars.... Well in tatty old SF movies at any rate...