Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 196 Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Numerous horror comedies and science-fiction comedies were made in the 1950s; "Scared Stiff" is one of them. The Bowery Boys made others: "Ghost Chasers" (1951), "The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters" (1954), and "Spook Chasers" (1957). Abbott and Costello made two: "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1953) and "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" (1955). Bela Lugosi also made two: "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (1952) and "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" (1952).

Others in the race include "Francis in the Haunted House" (1956), "The Headless Ghost" (1959), "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957), "Uncle Was a Vampire" (1959), and "Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow" (1959). These films opened the passageway for later motion pictures in which the subgenre soared: "Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967), "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975), and "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986).

Answer: Skull for a Bowl

The feature-length movies "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake" (1959), "The Screaming Skull" (1958) and "The Head" (1959) are all actual, not-made-up, existent, and authentic motion pictures. "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake" involves shrunken heads. "The Screaming Skull" involves a haunted Southern mansion. "The Head" involves Serum-Z, a drug which can keep the severed heads of a dog and a man alive.

Skull-shaped bowls are popular with some people celebrating Dia de los Muertos. In the song "The Black Rider" (1993), Tom Waits sang, "Well, I think I'll have the veal, a lovely meal / That's how I feel, may I use your skull for a bowl?" The 11th-century Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, a Sanskrit poem, describes libations of blood offered in a "skull for a bowl". Diligent research has not revealed a 1950s feature-length science fiction or horror movie named "Skull for a Bowl".

Answer: none, except maybe Dr. Paul Zakon or his machine

There is no specific monster in "The Electronic Monster". Dr Paul Zakon's misuse of Dr Maxwell's "dream machine" is itself a monstrous act. Zakon's morality-free Nazi attitude toward medicine is monstrous, as well. The purpose of Maxwell's device is to induce deep sleep during which pre-recorded dreams may be played in the minds of slumbering patients. Zakon perverts the beneficial use of this technology by using it to control his patients' minds and gain control of their assets.

Answer: John Crawford

John Crawford (1920-2010) played the role of Harris (sometimes credited as "Harrison") in "The Invisible Monster". Born in Colfax, Washington, he studied at the University of Washington's School of Drama. He worked as an actor from 1944 to 1989 in both the US and UK, in both motion pictures and on television.

He frequently played the heavy in Westerns and police procedurals. His film appearances in science fiction and horror films include "The Invisible Monster" (1950), "Zombies of the Stratosphere" (1952), "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), "The Severed Arm" (1973), and "Grave Secrets" (1989). Crawford's character in "The Invisible Monster" works for the Phantom Ruler, kidnapping people from the Eastern Bloc and such. Dale Van Sickel doubles for him when the script calls for the throwing of punches and the smashing of furniture.

Answer: to emphasise that the movie was rated "X"

The title planned for the motion picture adaptation of the BBC's 1953 television series "The Quatermass Experiment" was "The Quatermass Experiment". When it appeared that the British Board of Film Censors was going to rate the movie "X", the producers actually sought that "no-person-under-sixteen" restriction because they thought it would draw a larger adult audience.

The title of the picture and the promotional materials produced for it used "The Quatermass Xperiment" to point up the BBFC X rating.

Answer: Yes

The plot of "The Thing That Couldn't Die" was one of the plotlines of the television series "Dark Shadows" (1966-1971). The thread was called the "Head of Judah Zachery" (1970). In it, a warlock is decapitated in the 17th century. In 1840, Desmond Collins brings it home in a glass box. Of course, it turns out to be alive. The movie came first.

The 1972 Spanish film "Horror Rises from the Tomb" ("El espanto surge de la tumba") was also called "Blutmesse für der Teufel" ("Blood Mass for the Devil") in Germany, and "L'amour parmi les monstres" ("Love Among the Monsters") in France. When released to cable TV in the US, it was called "Horror Rises from the Tomb". The plot, no matter what the title, was about a medieval warlock named Alaric de Marnac who was decapitated for sorcery and returned centuries later seeking revenge. His still-living head was in a buried treasure chest. A sequel called "Panic Beats" was made a decade later.

Answer: a confused mixture

Halliwell had a bias in favour of classic movies and another against modern movies. He was not enthusiastic about science fiction nor horror films. When he described "Red Planet Mars" as a "lunatic farrago that has to be seen to be believed", he was not recommending buying a ticket to the cinema.

A farrago is a hodgepodge, mélange, dog's breakfast, ragbag, macédoine, gallimaufry, ragbag, mishmash, omnium gatherum, pot-pourri, jumble, mash-up, olla podrida, mess, motley collection, mingle-mangle, or miscellany.

In earlier Latin, farrago was used to describe mixed fodder, a collection of grains fed to cattle. C.f. the word "farro", meaning a particular kind of wheat. In later Latin, farrago came to mean any mixture.

Answer: producing

Eugene Harold "Gene" Corman (1927-2020) was producer-director Roger Corman's younger brother. He was a talent agent before his brother brought him into the movie-making part of the industry. They founded New World Pictures together. Working with directors such as his brother, Bernard L. Kowalski and Robert L. Lippert, he produced a stream of B-movies.

His producing filmography includes "Night of the Blood Beast" (1958), "Beast from the Haunted Cave" (1959), "Attack of the Giant Leeches" (1959), and "Private Parts" (1972).

He ended his career as vice president of 20th Century Fox Television.

Answer: California

Without specifying a specific city or region, the film reveals that OSI headquarters is located in California. It is from this HQ that scientific investigators Dr. Jeffrey Stewart and Dr. Dan Forbes are sent to investigate weird phenomena at a local appliance store.

The clocks there all stopped at the same minute. Everything made of ferromagnetic materials is magnetised. They detect ambient radioactivity and a man is found dead in an office/laboratory on the second floor.

Answer: He falls into a pit of boiling sulphur.

The adult male yeti, infuriated by Ōba's murder of his son, carries a village girl off to the cave. He prepares to toss her into a pit of boiling sulphur when the search party arrives. Chika, who survived the yeti's destruction of her village, attacks the Snowman with her knife.

This distracts the creature enough for Takeshi Iijima to shoot it. The beast releases the village girl, struggles with Chika, and tumbles with her into the bubbling cauldron, killing them both.