Frank Lemongello wrote, directed and starred in two horror films, 1960’s THE SLIME CREATURES and 1962’s THE DEMONIC NOGGIN.
Both films were produced by Lemongello's LG Films. THE SLIME CREATURES, the more expansive of the two, was shot on a thirty-thousand-dollar budget in the wilds of Utah and uses a cave and snowy climes to great effect.
The slime creatures are suitably oozy and presented well enough and briefly enough not to descend the movie into camp. The only downfall in the script is that Lemongello’s character has three long speeches that tend to drag down the film.
Doctor Nesbit:
"Let’s try to talk to them. Reason with them."
Captain Deke Powers:
"Are you out of your mind! I saw what those slime creatures can do. They decimated an entire town, killing the entire population. . . Sure, it was a very small town. . . some might say an insignificant town. . . a fly speck on the map. . . in the middle of nowhere, hell they didn’t even have a Dairy Queen, and sure the population only topped off at one hundred and four people. But dammit, those one hundred and four people were Americans. And it is my job to protect Americans from enemies, whether they be a threat from another country, below the surface or outer space . . . We failed those one hundred and four people . . . We cannot fail the rest of America!"
Of course, the professor doesn’t heed Captain Powers warning, tries to chat with the slime creatures and ends up a pool of slime, slush and bones for his troubles.
In THE DEMONIC NOGGIN, Lemongello assigns himself a smaller role, playing the assistant to his mad scientist older brother, who is trying to conquer life after death. . . or is it to conquer death after life? His brother, Hans, played by veteran character actor Clete Bissell, slowly descends into madness and lunacy chasing his prize. So much so, that he uses his brother as the final subject for his experiments.
With THE SLIME CREATURES stumbling at the box office, LG Films could only raise a twenty-thousand-dollar budget for THE DEMONIC NOGGIN, and it does show. There are only five sets, all interiors. Lemongello did write two long speeches for this one, but with the experienced Bissell delivering both of them with scenery-chewing aplomb, they add greatly to the movie and don’t feel like brakes being applied to the action.
HANS:
“Just imagine the possibilities. . . Everlasting life is at my fingertips. I could place the smartest brains on the strongest bodies . . . I’ll be able to create a race of super intellectual and super strong humans, who could pulverize my enemies, but still be thoughtful enough to open a door for a lady."
Clete Bissell was approaching the end of his acting career when he starred in THE DEMONIC NOGGIN. He also appeared in other creature features, such as, THE MYSTERY OF THE UNLIT LIGHTHOUSE (1951) and THE HORROR OF BIKINI COVE (1958).
A lifetime cigarette and cigar smoker, who was not averse to huffing smoke from chimneys, Bissell was killed when he was struck by a bus on November 13th, 1968.
These would be the only films produced by LG Films, as nether fared well at the box office.
Lemongello’s name would pop up one more time as the screenwriter for the 1975 made for TV horror movie DEATHCAVATOR.
Plot: The restless spirit of a construction worker, who died due to an onsite accident, that was caused by the unsafe business practices of his bosses, inhabits an excavator to seek revenge of those guilty of his death and the ensuing cover-up.
The best scenes are, no surprise, the kill scenes, which feature the glowing, glowering ghost of the deceased, operating the Deathcavator, exacting his revenge from beyond the grave. The deaths consist of the bucket smashing into the heads of the victims and feature a fair amount of the red stuff for a made for TV movie.
A review from The Lowell Sun newspaper read: "Deathcavator is another in a long assembly line of made for television thriller movies that feature menacing motorized vehicles. This time out, Hud Davis, who plays the title character in ABC’s Detective drama, Jack of all Trades, plays a bewildered construction worker who finds himself in the middle of multiple unexplained deaths on his construction site. Short on plot but long on plot holes, that one could drive an entire fleet of construction vehicles through, Deathcavator is mindless entertainment for sure, but it is entertaining in its own unique, though perverse way. Deathcavator airs this Wednesday at Eight-thirty on Channel 7."
Then into the latter seventies and into the eighties Lemongello would produce telethons to help raise funds for sufferers of various "debilitating" ills such as, Hay Fever, Dandruff and Borborygmus. The most famous being The Buddy Hackett Telethon for the National Halitosis Association (1976-1980). For the 1978 telethon actress Jane Wyman kicked off the show with a deadly serious question: "Do you, or a loved one suffer from Butt Breath?" Guest included Uri Geller who proclaimed that he had suffered with “psychic halitosis.”
Lemongello retired from the business with loads of money and reportedly . . . clean breath.
