Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 23 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Venus has no moon(s).

Queen Yllana led a revolt against the men of Venus, killed off almost all of them, but kept the mathematicians and scientists in a penal colony on Venus' moon Tyrus. Venus has no moons; it is one of the only two planets in the solar system without at least one. There is no moon anywhere named Tyrus. In the video game "Gears of War," Tyrus is a fictional planet.

Answer: Dripping in Blood

"Blood of Dracula" (1957) is a British film about vampirism in an English girls' boarding school. "Blood of the Vampire" (1958) is a British film about a doctor who requires the blood of prison inmates to live. "A Bucket of Blood" (1959) is a Roger Corman horror-comedy set in the beatnik culture of Southern California.

There does not appear to have been a 1950s motion picture named "Dripping in Blood."

Answer: an artificially-created radioactive isotope

A research scientist, Dr. Howard Denker, bombarded the element "serranium" with "alpha particles" for 200 hours, creating an isotope which absorbed electricity and emitted radiation. People exposed to it died from radiation sickness. The artificial isotope required a dose of energy every eleven hours, causing it to double in size, emit deadly radiation and a burst of intense magnetic energy. If not stopped within a week, it would become so large and heavy as to affect the Earth's rotation on its axis, altering its orbit around the Sun, and killing everyone one Earth.

Answer: Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) starred in "From the Earth to the Moon" (1958) as Victor Barbicane. Barbicane was the inventor of the munition which powered a rocket ship to the Moon. Cotten was a distinguished actor in other genres and played very few roles in science fiction motion pictures.

Answer: The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

In "The Little Shop of Horrors" (1960), Welles plays the owner of the flower shop in which Seymour Krelborn tends his carnivorous houseplant Audrey Junior. In "Attack of the Crab Monsters," the character Jules Deveroux is part of the team sent to study the effects of radiation on the flora of an island.

He has a French accent to match his last name. An earthquake causes a boulder to fall and sever his hand at the wrist. He is later killed when one of the crab monsters grabs him around the neck with its giant claw.

He is not exactly dead, however, in that his brain is absorbed by the monster who can then speak to the other people using Deveroux' voice, French accent and all.

Answer: the UK

This motion picture was made in Great Britain by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman for Tempean Films. They shot a script by Jimmy Sangster who had a long association with Hammer Films. It was shot at Alliance Film Studios, St Margaret's, Twickenham, Middlesex, England. Fans mistakenly assumed that "Blood of the Vampire" was a Hammer production because of its tone and Sangster's writing credit.

Answer: No

Prior films with this style title include "I Was a Male War Bride" (1949) and "I Was a Communist for the FBI" (1951). "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" was followed quickly by "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" (1957), which was also made by AIP. Other films followed: "I Was a Teenage Zombie" (1987), "I Was a Teenage Mummy" (1992), "I Was a Teenage Serial Killer" (1993), and perhaps most frightening of all "I Was a Teenage Intellectual" (1999).

Answer: acting

Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) was born in England, lost a leg fighting in World War I, and made a success as a stage and film actor. After twenty years on stage in London, he made the transition to motion pictures there. He then came to Hollywood and acted in just under 100 movies. He performed in a number of science fiction and horror films: "Riders to the Stars" (1954), "Gog" (1954), and "The Fly" (1958).

Answer: the shores of the Caribbean

Critical reviews of "The Unknown Terror" have carelessly identified the locale in which the film is set variously: Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The film does not disclose its precise setting. One of the characters, Dan Matthews, played by John Howard, calls it "the shores of the Caribbean." Exteriors were filmed at the Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, California.

Answer: The Amazing Colossal Man

Bob is courting Sally and invites her to go to a drive-in movie in his convertible. They settle into the Rosecrans Drive-In (a real place) for the show. In a shameless act of self promotion, director Bert I. Gordon has them watching a scene from "The Amazing Colossal Man" (1957) which is another Bert Gordon picture. Bob proposes, Sally accepts, they kiss and will doubtless never forget the romantic setting of a film about an angry giant man in a diaper.