Monster of the Day #250

“There are…gasp…some things Man was never meant to know. Now….gasp…I have paidthe price for trying to microwave a jawbreaker.”

  • Ericb
  • Yes, Criterion doesn’t do b-movie genre fare often, but when it does, it does them right.

  • John Campbell

    I know I shall feel the wrath of Jabootu, but shouldn’t that say “There are…*gasp*…some things Man was never MEANT to know. Now…*gasp*…I have PAID the price for trying to microwave a jawbreaker.”

    Or is this the fantabulous ruminations of a redneck who just said “Hey man watch this”…

  • Good catch, JC. Thanks!

  • roger h

    It looks like Meat Wad from a live action version of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”.

  • Ha, it *is* Meatwad!

    So, really, none of the six people who still read this website have caught onto (or at least mentioned) this week’s theme?

  • Gamera

    Six people Ken? Sorry, been getting ready to go on vacation for the next two weeks and then had a cousin pass away earlier this week so I’ve been somewhat busy.

    I assume the theme has something to do with mutating astronauts?

    PS: did the Soviets ever do a mutating cosmonaut movie?

    PPS: Love that DVD cover Eric, very cool find.

  • John Campbell

    I kind of realized it today when I was looking over the past few days.

    I guess I should have said something…

    Surely there’s more than just 6 people who follow the ephemeral exaltations of the mighty Jabootu?

    (Okay so I feel a pressing need to use $3 words today…)

    I’m betting it’s like 8 or 9 people.

  • John Campbell

    To quote Meatwad “Oh HELL NO!”

  • Ericb

    “So, really, none of the six people who still read this website have caught onto (or at least mentioned) this week’s theme?”

    Rather passively worded but I implied as much in my comment yesterday:

    “I know it’s an unhappy-astronaut-back-on-earth-after-an-unpleasant-experience-in-space movie”

  • Ericb

    Oh, and I was surprised to read that this was a British film. I guess the forests standing in for New Mexico should have provided a clue like the “Canadians” with the British accents in Fiend Without a Face.

  • Eric — You did, but didn’t note that it was a theme. I don’t know, you guys usually figure them out after the first day. I staggered the MoDs purposely to lie low on the theme, but was surprised no bother explicitly called it out.

    First Man in Space was, I think, made by the same people as Fiend Without a Face.

  • Ericb

    I figured it out on the 2nd day, I actually thought it was too obvious to call it out. This was unusual for me, I actually saw four of the five movies featured on MotD. I’m usually lucky if I actually have seen one or two of them.

  • Rock Baker

    First Man Into Space. Someday. Someday! I’ll be able to fill this rather shocking hole in my “watched list” of 50s sci-fi films! I’ve seen clips, and I have a very nice lobby still, but the movie has eluded me. Slippery fox, this one!

  • It’s in a Criterion DVD set called Monsters and Madmen, collecting this, Atomic Submarine, Corridors of Blood and The Haunted Strangler. Perhaps you can get it via your local library.

  • Rock Baker

    Sounds like a winner to me!

    Fiend Without a Face should be in there though, since Criterion did a release of that one (and it played double bill with Haunted Strangler, and shared Marshall Thompson with today’s flick).

  • BeckoningChasm

    Given the other entries this week, I knew this guy had to show up eventually.

  • fish eye no miko

    You could also call this, “Don’t Leave Earth or Horrible, Horrible Things Will Happen to You!” Week

  • John Campbell

    Fish eye, that is sucha chick thing to say!!

    (It seems I’m feeling suicidally dangerous too!!)

    I kid! I kid!

    Don’t kill meh!

  • Adam K

     I’m just passing through — always liked Jabootu, but got lost when the site moved and changed and changed again, so I’m catching up with this.

    Anyway, I just wanted to say….the British element of this film is that my grandfather, Terence Cotter, did the sound for this.  He was a sound guy for newsreels (not Pathe, the other guys) and did the occasional film. 

  • Ken_Begg

    Adam — Cool! That must make the film especially fun to watch. The last time I saw it was at B-Fest several years ago, so I’ve had the rare pleasure of seeing it up on a big screen.

  • Adam K

     I haven’t seen it for years, I have to admit, but always liked it even without the family connection.

    Love the site, by the way, but am finding it a bit harder to navigate than I used to.  Old age, I think.

  • Ken_Begg

     Different format, too. Hopefully it starts working for you soon.