Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 114 Trivia Quiz

Answer: a horned fanged reptilian hominid

Dr. Gilbert McKenna is a scientist at an atomic research facility in Los Angeles. He is accidentally exposed to radiation for about five minutes. Subsequent medical examination does not reveal the sort of epidermal burning expected. While he is being kept in hospital for a few days' observation, he is taken to a solarium to enjoy the sunshine.

The sun's rays turn him into a horned fanged reptilian hominid. The lobby card for "The Hideous Sun Demon" said, "The blaze of the sun made him a monster." From that point, he switches back and forth: sometimes a handsome man and others a lacertine monster in slacks and an unbuttoned shirt.

Answer: Flesh-Eating Teenagers

Leonard Nimoy has a very small part in "The Brain Eaters" (1958). English actress Vera Day has a minor part in "The Woman Eater" (1958). Brianne Murphy, then the wife of Jerry Warren (who wrote, produced, directed, and edited the film) played a small part in "Teenage Zombies" (1959). "Flesh-Eating Mothers" is an R-rated feature-length movie made in 1988.

The Flesh Eaters are an American punk-rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1977. "Eaters of the Dead" is a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton made into the film "as The 13th Warrior" (1999). James Mascia wrote and Felipe Obando illustrated both volumes of the graphic novel "Flesh Eating Cheerleaders from Outer Space" (2022).

There is no record of a feature-length 1950s movie named "Flesh-Eating Teenagers".

Answer: dissolved in a vat of acid

In the conclusion of the story of Frankenstein's monster, told in flashback in this motion picture, the monster threatens Elizabeth, Victor's beloved, on the roof. Victor accidentally shoots her, using up his bullets. He throws a burning oil lamp which knocks the monster through a sky light, dropping him into a (conveniently located) vat of acid.

This has the double effect of killing the monster but also of destroying all evidence of its existence.

Answer: Lon Chaney, Jr.

With the exception of a few lines at the beginning of the picture. in which Butcher Benton vows to kill his lawyer Paul Lowe, played by Ross Elliott, and his henchpersons Squeamy Ellis and Joe Marcellia, played by Marvin Press and Ken Terrell, Chaney does not speak. Rather than in dialogue, his emotions were shown in extreme close ups of his face. Also in 1956, he played Dr. Munroe, reduced by botched brain surgery to the speechless creature Mungo, in "The Black Sleep".

Some film historians have suggested that his alcoholism had so progressed by 1956 that he was unable to remember his lines.

Answer: all of them

In "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", the Gill Man is attracted to Kay Lawrence, played by Julia Adams, captures her and takes her to his cave. In "The Neanderthal Man", the eponymous creature kills Buck Hastings and carries his date, Nola Mason, played by Beverly Garland, off into the bush.

In "Man Beast", a native guide named Varga, who is part Yeti himself, imprisons Connie Hayward, played by Virginia Maynor, in order to breed with her. "Scary ugly monster carries off beautiful helpless young woman" has been a sort of trope in horror and science fiction movies since the 1940s.

Answer: a jump cut (and sound) which startles the viewer

In making film or video, a "jump cut" occurs when the scene abruptly changes, violating continuity and disorienting the viewer. This is normally counted as a fault in shooting/editing the exposure. When a jump cut is done purposefully to shock and startle the viewer, it is termed a "jump scare". A jump scare often includes not only an abrupt change in the scene but a startling noise, as well.

One of the earliest jump scares was in producer Val Lewton's "Cat People" (1942). The character Alice is walking home on a deserted street late at night. Suddenly a bus pulls loudly in front of her. This classic scene gave its name to the 'Lewton Bus Technique' although it was film editor Mark Robson who created it. Another occurs in "The Thing From Another World" (1951) when the crew quietly opens a door and an alien creature is right there! Other memorable jump scares occur in "Them!" (1954) and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). One of the most effective jump scares in cinema history occurs after the closing credits in "Carrie" (1976).

Answer: two: the Black Ghost and the White Ghost

The film begins with the Black Ghost, who is real, killing an amorous teenage couple, which attracts police attention to the nearby house. Actress Valda Hansen played Sheila, an accomplice of Dr. Acula. Her role was to impersonate the real White Ghost to add authenticity to Acula's seances.

This is not the only motion picture that ever coupled a real ghost with a fake ghost. It happens in both "The Ghost Breakers" (1940) and "Spook Chasers" (1957). A related twist occurs in "The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959) where a fake haunted house is haunted by a real ghost.

Answer: acting

Suave, handsome and multi-talented Cesar Julio Romero Jr. (1907-1994) enjoyed a nearly sixty-year career on radio, television and the screen. He commonly played a Latin lover, an elegant fellow, quick to sing and dance. But he also enjoyed playing villains such as the Joker in 22 episodes of the "Batman" television series.

His film credits in horror and science-fiction movies include "Lost Continent" (1951), "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956), "Batman" (1966), "Latitude Zero" (1969), and "The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe" (1974).

Answer: Austria

Sir Ronald Burton obtains an invitation to the Austrian castle of evil Count von Bruno through the British embassy in Vienna. The background of the story, told at the beginning of the film, occurs in Africa where Count von Bruno is swindling natives by persuading them that he is a god. Burton, Sterling and Brown expose him and he seeks revenge against them all.

Answer: The Blob (1958)

In "The Black Sleep", surgeon Sir Joel Cadman administers a potion which mimics death from which the recipient may recover. In "Return of the Fly", Phillipe Delambre continues his father's experiments in teleportation. In "Terror Is a Man", Dr. Charles Girard is changing a panther into a therianthrope or "manimal".

There is neither a crazy doctor nor any other mad scientist in "The Blob".