Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 163 Trivia Quiz

Answer: An explosion is caused by fire on their ship.

Jeff Trent, Lt. John Harper, and Col. Tom Edwards fight with Eros and Tanna on board their flying saucer. Jeff knocks out Eros, damaging some of the equipment inside the spaceship. As it begins to spark and flame, the three Earthlings escape through the hatch. Tanna lifts off with the unconscious Eros on board.

The fire worsens, and the saucer explodes in the night sky over Hollywood. The ray which animates and controls the ghouls is thereby destroyed and all of them collapse into skeletons.

Answer: The Vampire's Curse

"The Curse of the Aztec Mummy" (1957) is set in Mexico. "Curse of the Faceless Man" (1958) is set in Italy. "Pharaoh's Curse" (1957) is set in Egypt. There are a great many novels named either "Vampire's Curse" or "The Vampire's Curse": Dan Greenburg's in 2006, S.J. Wright's in 2011, Mandy Rosko's in 2013, J.G. Gatewood's in 2020, Valerie Twombly's in 2021, and Travis Richey's in 2023.

There doesn't appear to be any 1950s movie with this title.

Answer: a small pile of clothing

The police begin their investigation as a missing-persons case. In short order, they discover that, in every spot where a person disappears, that person's clothing and effects are left behind in a heap on the ground. This is the case when the drug dealer Misaki disappears in the street.

When Nishiyama, a member of the drug gang, disappears he leaves behind his clothing and his gun. Sailors report that they found a "ghost ship" -- a vessel which was fully intact but without a crew. They find individuals' clothing but no individuals. One of the witnesses reports that he saw a watery mass envelope one of his shipmates, dissolving him and leaving behind only his clothing.

Answer: Allison Hayes

Allison Hayes (1930-1977) was a statuesque model and actress on both television and film. She appeared in a clutch of horror and science fiction films in the late 1950s: "The Undead " (1957), "Zombies of Mora Tau" (1957), "The Unearthly" (1957), "The Disembodied" (1957), and "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" (1958).

In the last, she played the lead, Nancy Fowler Archer, the giantess. She went on to a continuing role on television's "General Hospital". When "50 Foot Woman" was remade for cable television, her role was played by Daryl Hannah.

Answer: Bill promptly kills it.

Marge introduces the cute shaggy little dog to Bill as Junior. The dog senses the alien inside of Bill, doesn't like him a bit, and snaps, barks and snarls at him. Bill explains that it might be because dogs don't like him. Marge responds that he's had dogs all his life. Marge puts the puppy in the basement, tethered on a leash attached to its collar. Bill sneaks down to the basement. Marge hears squealing and rushes down the stairs.

She finds the dog dead, where Bill killed it. Bill claims it was an accident and says, "Well, he must have strangled himself. I think his collar was too tight."

Answer: There was no literary source.

The original idea for "The Hideous Sun Demon" was writer-producer-director-star Robert Clarke's. He said, in an interview, that he was inspired by "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson. He, Tom Boutross, and Phil Hiner produced the first draft of a screenplay.

It differed significantly from the final but did feature both a young man mutated by radiation and the trigger of sunlight causing his transformation into a reptile-man. The first final draft was written by E.S. Seely Jr.; the second final draft was written by Doane R. Hoag.

Answer: They grew from seeds floating through space.

The review in "The Los Angeles Times" complained that the movie never reveals how "these devilish pods found their way into a small California town". "The Hollywood Reporter" called the backstory of how the pods got there "rather sketchily handled". Dr Miles Bennell speculates, in the film, that they might be the result of atomic radiation on plant or animal life, of an alien organism, or of some sort of mutation.

One of the residents who has been parasitised explains to Dr Miles Bennell, "Then, out of the sky, came a solution! Seeds, drifting through space for years, took root in a farmer's field. From the seeds came pods, which had the power to reproduce themselves in the exact likeness of any form of life." The pods from outer space solve all of humanity's problems by eliminating love and hate, ambition and defeat.

Answer: directing and cinematography

Richard Earl Cunha (1922-2005) distinguished himself as a writer for motion pictures, as a cinematographer and as a director. He learned film making in the military during World War II and made training films at Hal Roach Studios. He was later director of photography for two television programmes: "Death Valley Days" and "Branded".

He both wrote and directed "She Demons" (1958). He both directed and shot "Giant from the Unknown" (1958). He was the cinematographer on "Bloodlust!" (1961) and directed "Missile to the Moon" (1958) and "Frankenstein's Daughter" (1958).

Answer: Thornton, California, USA

The film "Macabre" is set in the small California town of Thornton. Jim Tyloe, played by Jim Backus, is the chief of the Thornton Police Department. The exteriors were shot in downtown Chino, California; a building at 5193 D Street in Chino doubled for character Ed Quigley's funeral home.

The interiors, including the creepy graveyard, were filmed at ZIV Studios in Santa Monica, California.

Answer: a shakedown cruise

The officers and men of the U.S. Navy's newest atomic submarine, captained by Commander Peter Mathews, are on the boat's and crew's shakedown cruise in the South Pacific Ocean. A "shakedown cruise" in nautical parlance is a deployment of a new or refitted ship and/or a new crew as a sort of sea trial to ensure that both the ship and the sailors are working properly. A brand new ship is often subjected to a shakedown cruise as a condition of its acceptance from the shipbuilder.

The sonar on Mathews' boat detects a huge object approaching dead astern at high speed. He attempts evasive manoeuvres at flank speed, but the submarine is struck and disabled by the object, finding itself unable to surface. Upon breaking free of whatever has been holding it, the boat surfaces. The crew discovers that the stern diving planes are fouled with some sort of sea creature's flesh, and the stern of the vessel has become radioactive. The sub then returns to Pearl Harbor.