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Post by dem on Dec 9, 2009 8:57:43 GMT
Dean Owen - Reptilicus (Monarch, June 1961) Blurb SPAWN OF HELL
Reptilicus, the gargantuan prehistoric monster, crouched on the ocean bottom, ready to take off on another destructive rampage. A depth charge thundered. One of the beast's legs ripped from the body and was blown out of the sea. General Grayson looked at the girl beside him, wondering if he would live to enjoy Connie's warm, vibrant flesh again. Svend Alstrup, his aide, was remembering Karen's wanton seduction of him and hoping for a repeat performance.
Suddenly, Grayson panicked, realizing that if they blew the animal to pieces, each section could grow into a new monster. That was the ultimate danger — a whole new generation of giant, reptilian monstrosities roaming the earth and annihilating civilization.
He gave the order to cease firing ...Too many books on the go, but couldn't resist a quick dip into this one. Dudley Dean McGaughy ('Dean Owen') wrote pulp westerns and crime novels under a variety of names, so perhaps not the obvious choice to pen novelisations of The Brides Of Dracula, Konga and this Godzillalike. There seems to have been some controversy surrounding the book, as Mr. Owen went for a sexed up adaptation that so upset screenwriter Sid Pink he sued the publisher. Perhaps Mr. Pink had a point: the novelisation opens with the immortal line, "Purposely, she had worn the tight, gray woollen dress so he would notice the breasts he had found so fascinating back in the Lapland village", but then it's so important to hit the ground running. More adventures with Jessyca's bazooms once I finally finish Devil's Peak and Phobia (both of 'em great fun, BTW)
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 9, 2009 10:34:55 GMT
I started reading this post, spotted the author's name, and thought "I'm not going to mention yet again the review of Monarch's Brides of Dracula that accused its author of being 'the breast-obsessed Mr Owen' " but he's made his little predilection a bit obvious from the start of this one as well!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 9, 2009 10:50:13 GMT
I'm reminded of the old joke about little radios being implanted in breasts so that men would pay attention to women when they spoke...but then that would be utterly non pc so i won't mention it.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 9, 2009 10:58:54 GMT
Curse you overpriced secondhand booksellers! I can't find a copy of this for less than £12-00. And it's not worth THAT  |
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Post by andydecker on Dec 9, 2009 11:35:48 GMT
 Good to know that our last hope for defense is so cencentrated on their task  This sounds absolutly idiotic. I never watched this, but I bet the novel is a lot more interesting than a low budget monster movie from this time.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 9, 2009 14:30:25 GMT
Why do I know that 'General Grayson' quote? Have we had that before somewhere?
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Post by carolinec on Dec 9, 2009 15:59:30 GMT
I'm reminded of the old joke about little radios being implanted in breasts so that men would pay attention to women when they spoke... I thought that was really funny, Craig. And, you know, it might actually work!  |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 9, 2009 18:16:37 GMT
Would work for me...
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Post by PeterC on Dec 9, 2009 20:17:50 GMT
Well, adjusting the frequency would be fun....
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Post by dem on Dec 18, 2009 12:02:02 GMT
I started reading this post, spotted the author's name, and thought "I'm not going to mention yet again the review of Monarch's Brides of Dracula that accused its author of being 'the breast-obsessed Mr Owen' " but he's made his little predilection a bit obvious from the start of this one as well! The good news is, it's not only Jessyca who has a pair of breasts in Reptilicus, every single woman has got 'em! Svend Alstrup is having the time of his life! No sooner has Jessica split the scene than mad Professor Martens' flighty daughter has enjoyed "the savage lance of his manhood." I'm not sure that £12 is at all steep for this essay in terror! Will come back to Reptilicus later, as I'm all out of shape just now, but here's the gel on another of Dean Owen smash hit fruity film tie-ins. Dean Owen - The Brides Of Dracula (Monarch, May 1960) Blurb: Mark Of The Vampire
Everyone in the village of Badstein knows how to eliminate the vampire preying on its young daughters: Find the coffin he sleeps in during the day and drive a wooden stake through his heart.
But how can you find your quarry if you don't know who he is and your suspects are many?
There's dark-complexioned Latour, given to wandering at night and sleeping during the day ... and handsome Baron Meinster, supposedly traveling in the Orient but rumored to be hiding in his ancient chateau . . . and the stranger, Professor Van Helsing ... It could be anyone.
Meanwhile, the victims multiply —all female, all young, and all marked with the telltale sign of the vampire!
A Universal-International Technicolor Film
See The Movie — Read The Book!Not so much a straight novelisation, more a bizarre variation on the movie. Baron Meinster is still present and correct, bound by a chain to prevent his wandering abroad, but his nemesis, Lee Van Helsing, acts as if he’s never heard of vampires in his life. As with the film, despite the title, the Count isn’t involved in any shape or form. One of Owen’s innovations - the ending - preempts the climax of Kiss Of The Vampire by five years. I intend to have a closer look at Monarch when time permits as they were the kind of unashamed purveyors of ropey, often plain damn sleazy old tosh that we don't see enough of (at all?) these days. |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 18, 2009 17:42:36 GMT
Actually that was the original ending in the Brides of Dracula script but it got dropped and then used later!
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Post by andydecker on Dec 18, 2009 23:13:50 GMT
The vampire on the cover looks like Oliver Reed |
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Post by dem on Aug 30, 2010 21:19:45 GMT
A fatal flashback to Reptiticus recently reminded me I'd made a false start on this Dean Owen masterpiece toward the end of last year, and duty insisted we begin again. So ...
We join the action on the tundra, where nice Henrik Klint, 55, is leading a party drilling for oil on the outskirts of a Lapland village. His young, beautiful wife, former-high wire gymnast, Jessyca, shows up unannounced, keen to continue the affair she began with her husband's friend, mining engineer Svend Alstrup. Jessyca had deceived Alstrup into believing she was unattached and, unable to resist her steamy dialogue - "Sex is like death. You die each time. But oh, how pleasantly. Kill me slowly, inch by inch!" is particularly good - Svend finds it imperative that he exercise the "savage lance of his manhood". It's fair to assume her enormous globes also played their part in the seduction. Only afterward does Svend learn the truth and, horrified that he's unwittingly betrayed his best friend, he wants nothing further to do with her beyond the occasional sneaky peak at those big beauties (he's only human). Jessyca's presence disrupts the men and it's a relief to all when the cuckolded Henrik persuades her to return to the mainland for a non-stop shopping expedition. At least this frees the team up for long enough to excavate a huge fossilised bone and a strip of dinosaur flesh.
Svend gets on to his colleague, professional mad professor, Otto Martens, to examine the find. Martens 'copters in from Copenhagen to study their discovery together with his big-breasted daughters Lisa and Karen, plus some nondescripts (future Reptlicus bait if i am not very much mistaken), Dr. Peter Dalby and reporter Klaus Peterson.
"When he handled the piece of flesh his eyes lit up excitedly. "Thank God you sent for me, Svend ... This is a scientific find of incalculable value." He's referring to the dinosaur flesh, but to be honest, Jessicya's blouse-busters are carrying the story thus far. Nary a paragraph passes without her thrusting 'em in the face of some poor sap, just to watch him squirm! You actually miss them when they're not around.
Anyway, the Prof conveys the dinosaur remains back to a Copenhagen complex known as the Aquarium, where he subjects it to the usual prodding with electrodes and what have you. The flesh begins to regenerate ... at an alarming rate!
Dalby's round face showed a momentary concern. "Think of the chaos such a monster could cause in the world today.
"That will never happen, Peter. The experiment will be controlled all the way. I will never allow the growth to proceed beyond a certain stage."
Refer back to the cover and, unfortunately for the entire population of the planet, that "certain stage" evidently translates as "the height of the average skyscraper."
To be continued - after a very long "lie down"
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 27, 2011 22:58:47 GMT
For me the most noteworthy thing is that Owen gave Captain Brandt a first name, "Einer." I love Konga by him too.
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 6, 2011 15:41:50 GMT
Here's something strange I noticed. Reptilicus, which my copy says was published in June of 1960, lists Dean Owen as "Author of Konga and The Brides of Dracula." One problem. The Konga novelization has a publishing date of two months later: August 1960! How is it Owen is being trumpeted as the author of a book that wasn't even out yet?! |
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This sounds absolutly idiotic. I never watched this, but I bet the novel is a lot more interesting than a low budget monster movie from this time.
