Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 103 Trivia Quiz

Answer: a group of nuns

The group of explorers appears to be trapped inside the Earth. They detonate some dynamite which causes an underground volcano to erupt. The lava pushes a huge altar stone on which they are sitting up a shaft to the surface at high speed. The stone and its passengers are ejected from an otherwise dead volcano on the Lipari Islands. All of them but Alec land in the Mediterranean Sea from which they are rescued by Italian fishermen.

The blast blows Alec's clothing off. His naked body lands (harmlessly) in a tree from which a group of nuns rescues him.

Answer: Monster Manor

"The Black Castle" (1952) starred Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Rita Corday, and Lon Chaney Jr. "The Castle of the Monsters" (1958) was filmed in Mexico in Spanish as "El castillo de los monstruos" but was shown in the U.S. with subtitles. "Black Cat Mansion" (1958) was filmed in Japan in Japanese as "Bōrei kaibyō yashiki". "Monster Manor" is a series of eight juvenile graphic novels by French author Paul Martin, written in the 2000s. "Escape from Monster Manor" is a first-person shooter video game published by Electronic Arts in 1993.

There was an episode of "Police Story" in 1976 titled "Monster Manor". There was also a television talk show called "Monster Manor 1313" which ran for 19 episodes in 2021-2022. There does not appear to have been a 1950s science-fiction/horror film named "Monster Manor".

Answer: Power is shut off to their cavern hideaway.

The Astronians capture and store the energy from atomic blasts in their secret cavern. This energy is contained using electricity stolen from nearby power lines. Dr. Martin determines that cutting off the power for as little as ten seconds would cause the energy to detonate.

He goes to the power station and compels a worker there to turn off the power, at gunpoint. When the power is shut off, there is a huge nuclear explosion which kills all of the Astronians and destroys all of the giant carnivorous creatures in their menagerie.

Answer: Jackie Coogan

After a career as a child actor that included work in silent films, Jackie Coogan renewed his career as Uncle Fester on ABC Television's "The Addams Family" (1964-1966). In "Mesa of Lost Women", he played Doctor Aranya, a brilliant but loony scientist who put spider stuff into human beings and human-being stuff into spiders to produce monstrous mutations.

Answer: Annabelle Loren, Frederick's wife

Annabelle Loren told her husband Frederick that it would be fun to host a haunted house party for their friends. Frederick went ahead with plans for the party but, instead of inviting their friends, invited five strangers: test pilot Lance Schroeder, magazine writer Ruth Bridges, psychiatrist Dr. David Trent, secretary Nora Manning, and the home's owner Watson Pritchard.

Answer: Carry On, Vampire

This motion picture was initially released in the U.K. as "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire". The thought was to connect it with the previous dozen "Old Mother Riley" movies. The U.S. distributor at first wished to call the movie "Vampire Over London" and made prints of it with that title.

There was some discussion of changing the name to "Carry On, Vampire" but the makers of the successful "Carry On" film series objected and sued. It was finally released in the U.S. in 1963 (!) as "My Son, the Vampire" to capitalize on the popularity of Allan Sherman's comedy record "My Son, the Folksinger".

Answer: Masters of the Spiral Nebula Ghana

A young couple witnesses the landing of a small missile. It contains a message to the leaders of the world demanding that they cease space exploration. It refers to humanity as a "disease". The message is signed by the Masters of the Spiral Nebula Ghana.

Answer: acting

Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) was a child actor whose roles on stage began when he was 17 months old. He made a whole series of "Mickey McGuire" shorts. As a teenager, he played Andy Hardy in a series of nearly twenty feature films. His later work was primarily in comedy. His only science-fiction film was the lead in Republic's "The Atomic Kid" (1954).

Answer: Los Angeles, California

Although "Indestructible Man" begins in a prison near San Francisco (probably San Quentin) and in a doctor's laboratory in San Francisco, the action centers on Los Angeles. Charles "Butcher" Benton, once brought back to life after execution, sets out for Los Angeles to get revenge on his lawyer and his accomplices in the crime for which Butcher was convicted.

Many landmarks in Los Angeles are shown in the film: the historic Bunker Hill neighborhood, Angel's Flight funicular railway, the Third Street Steps, the Rococo-Victorian interiors of the Bradbury Hotel, the Hall of Justice, and the New Follies Burlesque at 548 South Main Street.

Answer: His footage was shot well before his death.

Ed Wood shot silent footage of Bella Lugosi before the actor's death in August of 1956. Lugosi and Wood were working on three films: "The Vampire's Tomb", "The Ghoul Goes West", and "The Ghoul on the Moon". None of these films was ever made. Wood wrote the script for "Grave Robbers from Outer Space" shortly after Lugosi's death and decided to edit the unused footage of him into the film which ultimately was made as "Plan Nine from Outer Space". Wood hired his wife's chiropractor, Tom Mason, to stand-in for Lugosi in a few necessary scenes by hiding his face with the Dracula cape.