The Pit of Paramanjara

Death Line (1972)

2005-06-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

"MIND THE DOORS!"

Donald Pleasance at his best. The creepy atmosphere of the London Underground is the perfect setting for an unrelenting excercise in graphic and gruesome horror, but with a great sense of humour. From the art direction to the acting, the whole thing feels very real.

Some may find it rather too gruesome, and it’s alternative American title; ‘Raw Meat’ is abysmal. Other than that, there is nothing to fault this classic British horror!

A Masterpiece!

THE FILM

‘Beneath modern London buried alive in its plague-ridden tunnels lives a tribe of once humans. Neither men nor women, they are less than animals… they are the raw meat of the human race!’

U.S. tagline for ‘Raw Meat’

A civil servant (James Cossins) returning home after a night on the tiles is attacked on a London Underground station. He is found unconscious by a young couple (Sharon Gurney and David Ladd) who alert a policeman. When they return, the body has disappeared. Further investigations by Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasance) and Detective Rogers (Norman Rossington) lead to a chilling discovery.

THE PRODUCTION

Death Line is possibly one of the most underated British horror films of all time. When lesser films have since gained cult popularity, Death Line still seems to have attracted only a handfull of devotees.

Director Gary Sherman had seen the BBC Play for Today: Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971) in which Patricia Hayes played an alcoholic bag-lady. A part which won her the best actress award from the Society of Film and Television Arts.

It was directed by Ted Kotcheff, who went on to direct Rambo: First Blood (1982) and Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), and written by Jeremy Sandford who had previously penned the ‘kitchen sink’ drama The Wednesday Play: Cathy, Come Home (1966) for the BBC.

The play won best production at the same awards, and was voted the best original television production by the Writers' Guild and also won the Critics' Circle award for best television play.

Some of this docu-drama dealt with the existence of a group of homeless people who had taken to living in the disused catacombs beneath London.

In an interview with Fangoria magazine published in Issue 221 he said,

“It talked about the tube tunnels that these people live in and that was the first time I had heard of them. That’s when I started doing my research and found out there were over 500 miles of them under London. Then I started finding out why, and I just started getting all the material I could find.”

It was an American International production from a story by Gary Sherman and co-written with Ceri Jones who took the sole Screenwriting credit. The original title had been The Ghoul of Dover Street before it underwent a number of changes and became Death Line.

The title was changed from Death Line to Raw Meat in the U.S. by the head of AIP, Samuel Z. Arkoff. It was such a late descision that Sherman was unable to object to it. A title Sherman so dislikes that he now says that he pretends Raw Meat doesn’t exist.

It was filmed on location in London with much work being undertaken on the city’s famous underground system. A setting that has been used in such cult films as Quatermass and the Pit and An American Werewolf In London. The London Underground based horror film Creep (2004), in which a woman is stalked by a flesh-eating man-monster, owes much to Death Line for it’s setting and premise.

Popular British science fiction series Doctor Who, even had the underground over-run by Yeti (Doctor Who: The Web of Fear) and Dinosaurs (Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs).

Interviewed by Fangoria in 1995 shortly before his death at the age of 76, Donald Pleasance had this to say about Death Line,

“I did amire the attitude and the social resonance of Death Line. I rather enjoyed the crack it allowed me at playing a character with no class at all but a fgood deal of arrogance – all in compensation for the fact he’s not a particularly effective policeman and knows as much”.

He added;

“I am grateful to Death Line - a little film, of course, but with a big social conscience and a sort of epic sense to its horrors - for allowing me to come as close as I ever would to working on a Hammer type film. Naturally Death Line wasn’t a Hammer - not by a long stretch - but it had that attitude, that intelligence and, too, that sense that the burdens afflicting the masses tend to stem from their exploitation by the ruling class.”

THE CREW

GARY SHERMAN - Director

Screenwrote Phobia (1980) and Fire And Rain (1989). Directed Dead and Buried (1981), Mysterious Two (1982), Follow Me If You Dare (1982), Vice Squad (1982), After Shock (1990) and Murderous Vision (1991) which he also executively produced. Directed & Screenwrote Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1986) and Lisa (1990). And was executive producer, director and screenwriter on Poltergeist 3 (1988).

PAUL MASLANSKY - Producer

Produced Castle of the Living Dead (1964), The She-Beast (1966), Eyewitness (1970) and directed Sugarhill (1974). He went on to produce comedy western Cactus Jack (1979), which starred Kirk Douglas & Arnold Scwarzennegar. This led to his producing all seven of the Police Academy films from 1985-94, plus the Police Academy television series (1997). The last Police Academy film (Mission to Moscow) featured Christopher Lee.

He also executively produced the Police Academy clone Ski Patrol (1989). Also the Producer of Return to Oz (1985), The Russia House (1990), Honeymoon Academy/For Better Or For Worse (1990), Cop and a Half (1991) and Fluke (1995).

ALEX THOMSON - Cinematographer

Was a Camera Operator on Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death (1964) before going on to become Cinematographer on such films as Alfred the Great (1969), The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), The Cat and the Canary (1978), Excalibur (1981), The Keep (1983), Electric Dreams (1984), Legend (1985), Labyrinth (1986), Raw Deal (1986), High Spirits (1990), The Krays (1990), Alien 3 (1992), Cliffhanger (1993), Demolition Man (1993), Black Beauty (1994) and The Saint (1997).

GEOFFREY FOOT - Editor

Worked on British comedies Blue Murder at St. Trinians (1956) & The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery (1966). Aswell as the Norman Wisdom comedy Trouble In Store (1953), and the bawdy sex comedies Confessions of a Pop Performer (1975), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1977), Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977) and Stand Up Virgin Soldiers (1977).

Was also employed as Editor on John Hough’s Eyewitness (1970) & The Legend of Hell House (1973). And on historical biopics Rob Roy (1953), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) and Genghis Kahn (1965). He also edited the horrorish The Watcher in the Woods (1981) starring David McCallum and Bette Davis.

DENNIS GORDON-ORR - Art Director

Dennis Gordon-Orr also worked on Never Too Young To Rock (1975) featuring Freddie Jones, John Clive and Peter Noone and Cuba (1979) starring Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott and David Rappaport.

JOHN HORTON - Special Effects

John Horton tackled the Special Effects on Death Line and came out on top. The corpses are bloody gruesome and the gore is in good supply. His dead bodies have such an unsettling aura of realism, and are filmed in such a matter of fact simplicity (no quick flashes, but lingering tracking shots) that makes them all the more believable. Stomach churning stuff.

THE SOUNDTRACK

The bizarre title and the incidental music were written by Wil Mallone, with Jeremy Rose also contributing incidental music.

THE CAST

DONALD PLEASANCE - Inspector Callhoun

Donald Pleasance enjoyed a long and varied career in horror films, from the glorious The Flesh and the Fiends (1959) to the mildly peculiar Edgar Allen Poe’s… Buried Alive (1989), which also featured John Carradine in one of his last roles.

Like Christopher Lee, he also played a Bond villain, in the guise of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). By way of a little anorak fact, a photo of Pleasance in his Blofeld Make-up is seen in The Uncanny (1978), in which he plays a fading star of the big screen. He also appeared in Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) the sequel to which featured Christopher Lee.

He is probably best known by modern cinema audiences as Dr. Sam Loomis in John Carpenter’s Hallowen films; Halloween (1979) and Halloween 2 (1981). He continued his association with the franchise in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). He worked with Carpenter again in Escape From New York (1981) and Prince of Darkness (1987).

During the 1950’s he appeared on television in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Also turning up in House of the Damned (1954), 1984 (1954), A Tale of Two Cities (1958) and Look Back In Anger (1958).

In the 1960’s he made an appearance in the Twilight Zone episode The Changing of the Guard (1962). The 70’s saw him make a guest appearance in Columbo: Any Old Port In A Storm (1973) and in the 80’s in Dick Turpin: Dick Turpin’s Greatest Adventure (1981).

In later years he also made appearanes in the BBC’s Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery (1989) and Lovejoy: The Prague Son (1992).

NORMAN ROSSINGTON - Detective Rogers

His film career spanned many genres. Comedy; Carry On Sergeant (1958), Carry On Nurse (1959), Carry On Regardless (1961), I Only Arsked! (1958), The Wrong Box (1966) and alongside Benny Hill in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). Stars with The Beatles in A Hard Days Night (1964).

Drama; A Night To Remember (1958), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Longest Day (1962), Young Winston (1972), S.O.S. Titanic (1979).

He can also be seen in The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), The Prisoner of Zenda (1979), The Krays (1990) and Let Him Have It (1991).

Appeared with Christopher Lee in House of Long Shadows (1982) along with John Carradine, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.

DAVID LADD - Alex Campbell

Son of Hollywood actor Alan Ladd, and brother of producer Alan Ladd Jr.

After appearing in Death Line, The Wild Geese (1978) and Beyond the Universe (1981), he became co-producer on The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987) and produced The Mod Squad (1999), A Guy Thing (2002) and Hart’s War (2002).

SHARON GURNEY - Patricia Wilson

Appeared on television in The Portrait of a Lady (1968), Armchair Theatre: The Dolly Scene (1970), Cold Comfort Farm (1971) and Jason King: Zenia (1971).

Her film roles included parts in Women In Love (1969), The Corpse aka Crucible of Horror (1970) and La Chambre Rouge (1972).

HUGH AMRSTRONG - The ‘Man’

In his interview with Fangoria Gary Sherman said that Hugh Amrstrong had been a performance artist who after working on Death Line, disappeared to South America. However the International Movie Data-base credits him as appearing in The Beastmaster (1982) and How to Get a Head in Advertising (1989) post Death Line, and pre Death Line in Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1969). As a point of interest it is claimed that Marlon Brando very nearly portrayed the last decendant of the tunnel collapse victims.

CHRISTOPHER LEE - Stratton-Villiers, MI5

Christopher Lee has made cameo appearances in many films throughout his long and varied career from; Hamlet (1948) and Moulin Rouge (1952), to Talos the Mummy (1998) and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005).

JAMES COSSINS - James Manfred, O.B.E.

Was a familiar face in films and on British television for many years, with his recognisable balding head and beautifully maintained moustache.

He starred in; The Lost Continent (1968), Wuthering Heights (1970), The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), Young Winston (1972), Hitler; The Last Ten Days (1973) and Gandhi (1982).

He also turns up in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) which of course starred Christopher Lee as the eponymous villain Scaramanga.

Comedy appearances included roles in; How I Won the War (1967) alongside Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Michael Hordern & Ronald Lacey.

He would go on to appear with Michael Crawford again, in an episode of the 70’s BBC sitcom Some Mother’s Do Ave Em.

Can also be seen in A Dandy In Apsic (1968) which also featured Peter Cook.

His other horror film appearances include The Deadly Bees (1967) for Amicus and Hammer’s The Anniversary (1968), The Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971) & Fear In The Night (1972) Also; Possession (1973) and Sphinx (1981).

CLIVE SWIFT - Inspector Richardson

Best known for his portrayal of Richard Bucket the down-trodden husband of Hyacinth in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

His other television work has also included; Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks (1985) & Inspector Morse (1989).

Appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972), John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and Richard Attenborough’s A Passage To India (1984).

RON PEMBER - Lift Operator

Appeared with Christopher Lee & Boris Karloff in Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) & alongside Lee again in Julius Caesar (1970) which starred Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud, Robert Vaughn, Richard Chamberlain, Diana Rigg and Micahel Gough.

He is also another of Death Line’s cast who appeared in the biopic Young Winston (1972).

Turns up in The Land That Time Forgot (1975), Aces High (1976) and The Glitterball (1977)

As well as the Jack the Ripper drama Murder by Decree (1979) starring Christopher Plummer.

Made numerous television appearances including roles in The Avengers: Double Danger (1961) & The Avengers: Bizarre (1969).

JACK WOOLGAR - Platform Inspector

On television appeared in The Avengers: The Living Dead (1967), Doctor Who: The Web of Fear (1968) and Sherlock Holmes: A Study In Scarlet (1968) starring Peter Cushing.

And on the big screen in Hammerhead (1968), Where’s Jack? (1969), Raging Moon (1970), Say Hello to Yesterday (1971), Gawain and the Green Knight (1973) and Swalows and Amazons (1974).

HEATHER STONEY - W.P.C. Alice Marshall

Made something of a career for herself in police drama series on the small screen. In Z Cars episodes; Down and Out (1962), Charity Begins ...! (1964), Think On (1965), and Wilful Destruction (1965). Went on to appear in Z Cars spin-off series Softly, Softly on the episode Major Incident (1968) before being promoted to PW Det. Sgt. Green in the same series from 1971 to 1973.

COLIN McCORMACK - Police Constable 1

Appeared in The Winter’s Tale (1980) and First Knight (1995).

JAMES CULLIFORD - Publican

Appeared in BBC’s acclaimed drama series Elizabeth R (1971).

HUGH DICKSON - Dr Bacon

Appeared in Hammer’s film version of Quatermass & the Pit (1967), and on television in; Dimensions of Fear (1963), Elizabeth R (1971), Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense: Last Video Testament (1984), House of Cards (1990), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999), The Infinite Worlds of H.G.Wells (2001), Murder Rooms: The Kingdom of Bones (2001) and The Lost Prince (2003).

GERRY CRAMPTON - Tunnel Worker

Stunt co-ordinator on The Dirty Dozen (1967), Cromwell (1970), Psychomania (1971), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Gandhi (1982), The Bride (1985), Biggles (1986), Willow (1988), Revelation (2001), The Biographer (2002) and Chaos and Cadavers (2003)

Stunt co-oridnator on television series UFO (1970), The Far Pavillons (1984), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Still Crazy Like A Fox (1987), Death Train (1993), The Odyssey (1997) and The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (2001).

Also performed stunts on The Prisoner (1967) television series. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Patriot Games (1992), Son of the Pink Panther (1993), The Three Musketeers (1993) Mary Reilly (1996), Dragonheart (1996), Daylight (1996) and New Tricks (2003).

He was heavily involved in Tim Burton’s film version of Batman (1989), albeit uncredited, as stunt arranger: second unit, Jack Nicholson stunt-double and stunt performer.

Performed uncredited additional stunts on James Bond films; Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1964), Goldfinger (1964), You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Stunt Double, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and A View To A Kill (1985).

TERENCE (TERRY) PLUMMER - Tunnel Worker

Performed stunts in war films; The Heroes of Telelmark (1965), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Was a stunt man on The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and Son of the Pink Panther (1993) and in gangster films; The Long Good Friday (1980) and Sexy Beast (2000). Also a stunt performer on An American Werewolf In London (1981), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Willow (1988), My Left Foot (1989), Batman (1989) and Rob Roy (1995).

He appeared uncredited in James Bond films; From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), You Only Live Twice (1967), The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Also in Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983) & Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).

Has performed stunts on television in The Avengers episodes A Surfeit of H20 (1965), The Danger Makers (1966) and The Superlative Seven (1967). The Saint: The Desperate Diplomat (1968), Blake’s 7: Deliverance (1978), Minder: Looking For Micky (1979), Dempsey & Makepeace: Extreme Prejudice (1986), Edge of Darkness (1986), two episodes of Boon, Special Delivery (1987) and Never Say Trevor Again (1988). Also appeared in Jeckyll & Hyde (1990) starring Michael Caine and Coogan’s Run (1995) starring Steve Coogan.

GORDON PETRIE - Tunnel Worker

Appeared in Circus of Fear (1966) with Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Cecil Parker and Victor Maddern.

SUZANNE WINKLER - Prostitute

Had a role in Z Cars: Joanna (1974).

Other parts were played by June Turner - The 'Woman' and Gary Winkler - Police Constable 2.

CONCLUSION

Death Line is a masterpiece of simplistic excess. The use of real-life locations creates an atmosphere of super-realism. Everything comes together in a symphony of terror, horror and humour. I have nothing but praise for this film. Fantastic!

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

2005-06-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

"Think of the sword in your hand and it will be so..."

THE FILM

Beyond the Edge of Darkness there is a world of Sword and Sorcery

"This is the story of heroic deeds and the struggle for the triumph of good over evil and of a wondrous sword wielded by a mighty hero as the Legions of Darkness stalk the land"

Two brothers fight for possesion of the powerful Mindsword. Hawk must bring together the 'table of five'; Gort a giant from the edge of the world, Baldun the last of the Dwarves, Crow last of the Elves and Ranulf a one handed bowman to help him rid the land of the forces of evil.

THE PRODUCTION

Okay, so it may not possess the grandeur, scale and dynamics of Conan the Barbarian, but this British sword & sorcery 'epic' is fascinatingly entertaining.

I first came across Hawk the Slayer sometime before my tenth birthday, as I was very much into He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at the time.

With most films which I have come to have a great effection for, I was introduced to Hawk the Slayer by my father. Well, it was him I watched it with at least.

At the time I was entertained purely by the content of the film, and then as I got older I developed a nostalgic love for it.

I'm intrigued by many facets of the production. It has always seemed to me that this was a pilot for a proposed television series. The budget seems to suggest this and many people are killed by various means but (in a very tv friendly way) there is never any blood. It was also an ITC production which also lends weight to the made-for-television/TV pilot theory, and some of the plot developments and revelations leave the whole thing open for a series.

In fact a sequel (and possible movie series) were intended. Hawk the

Sadly the adventures of Hawk were not to continue.

The somewhat thin plot, basically a kind of Sword and Sorcery Star Wars, concerns the bitter rivalry between the good and rightgeous Hawk and his evil and disfigured brother Voltan, and their battle for the Mindsword.

Hawk enlists a gang of followers to aid him in his battle with Voltan's forces and the scene is set for a fight to the bitter end.

The plot couldn't be considered predictable as the story flits between set pieces and flash-backs which give a little bit of background to Hawk and Voltan's relationship. Infact there are enough surprises to keep you perpetually bemused.

It is not in what the overall story is about but rather the events which take place within it which are so entertaining and interesting.

There is a strange sense of finality to the whole film, as if it is set in the dieing days of myth and legend. Hawk's friends, appearing to be the last of their respective races, for instance.

It may not look as visually exciting as The Beastmaster or Krull (incidentally Bernard Bresslaw (Gort) appears in Krull as a Cyclops) due to its mainly studio based production and location work filmed in the woods at the back of Pinewood Studios, but it is far more interesting than either.

It's strange existence at all gives it an edge over many films. I'd love to find out more about this film because there is something truly fascinating about it. Its musical score is wonderfully bizarre but excellent, its costumes superb and its cast ecclectic. The 'star-name' of the film is obviously Jack Palance but the rest of the cast have appeared in many other films and television series. In fact the cast list runs like a veritable Whos Who of British film and television actors.

For example;

John Terry (Hawk) appeared in Full Metal Jacket (1987) as Lieutenant Lockhart, The Living Daylights (1987) as Felix Leiter opposite Timothy Dalton's James Bond. Played Slim in Of Mice & Men (1992) which starred John Malkovich and Gary Sinise as Lennie and George respectively.

Morgan Sheppard (Ranulf) has appeared in numerous UK television series including; Z Cars - The Five Whistles & Contact (1962 & 1976), Dial M for Murder - The Man in the Middle (1974), The Sweeney - Jackpot (1975), The Professionals - Stopover (1979), Minder - Come in T-64, Your Time Is Ticking Away (1979), Hammer House of Horror - Carpathian Eagle (1980), Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense - Paint Me A Murder (1986).

And US television productions; MacGyver - Deadly Dreams & Lessons in Evil (1989 & 1990), Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Schizoid Man (1989), Quantum Leap - Mirror Image (1993), played semi-regular role as The Professor in Seaquest DSV (1993-94), Babylon 5 - The Soul Hunter & The Long Twilight Struggle (1994), Murder She Wrote - Twice Dead (1995), Frasier - The Club (1995), American Gothic (1996), Star Trek: Voyager - Bliss (1999), Diagnosis Murder - The Unluckiest Bachelor in LA (2000), Charmed - The Day the Magic Died (2003), Alias - Echoes (2005).

His film appearances include; WWII horror The Keep (1984) and alongside Max Von Sydow in Needful Things.

Annette Crosbie (The Abbess) is best known for playing Margaret, Victor Meldrew's wife in, British sitcom One Foot In The Grave.

Bernard Bresslaw (Gort) appeared in many of the Carry On films.

Ferdinand Mayne (Hawk and Voltan's father) appears in Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers.

Declan Mullhulland (The Slave Trader) was the original Jabba the Hutt, before the crappy computer graphics were superimposed over him for the rematered 90's re-release.

Derrick O'Connor (Ralf) turned up as the tongueless hitman priest in End of Days.

Graham Stark (Sparrow) appears alongside Peter Sellers in a number of the Inspector Clouseau films.

Roy Kinnear (Inn Keeper) was a prolific character actor and appeared in the immensley popular Musketeer films which also starred Christopher Lee.

That Was The Week That Was (1962)
The Avengers: Esprit de Corps (1964)
The Avengers: The Hour That Never Was (1965)
The See-through Man (1967)
Bizarre (1969)
Jason King: An Author In Search Of Two Characters (1972)

The Goodies: Lost Tribe of the Orinoco (1971)

Warren Clarke (Scar) was one of Malcolm MacDowell's Droogies in A Clockwork Orange.

Patrick Magee (Priest) also appeared in A Clockwork Orange.

If you are a fan of British films then this Shepperton filmed action adventure is worth a look, and if you can't see beyond the somewhat dated special effects you should at least enjoy spotting the familiar faces. The soundtrack composed by co-creator Harry Robertson, whose other films have included The Ghoul and Twins Of Evil, has elements of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds to it. The soundtrack on its own is superbly entertaining and yet another intriguing element to the production.

Intriguing, fascinating, rather endearing piece of sword and sorcery with a wonderful soundtrack.

The creatures seen briefly in the haunted wood are dreadful.The Bottom LineIts bizarreness alone has seen it achieve cult status. Sound characters, a wonderful cast and soundtrack. A curio of British film-making from one of its darkest periods of productivity.

Lorca & The Outlaws (1985)

2005-06-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

The Stars Ignite As The Sun Sets...

"Far into the future on the desert planet Ordessa, a legend is being born. It is here that the robots have begun their reign over mankind. But one man, Lorca, and his young band of rebels have escaped the robots and will find a way to free their world. When Lorca reveals that the human workforce is soon to be replaced by Robots, an explosive fight for freedom against those who lust for power begins........"

Back-cover blurb from 1980's PolyGram UK Video release.

THE FILM

In the 21st Century, humankind is ruled over my a Droid Government who enforce their command with the use of a Robot Military Police. One such unit, under the command of Captain Jowitt is sent to Ordessa, a mining planet where trouble is brewing between the law enforcers and the workers. One of these rebels, Lorca strives to defeat the Robots with the help of other outlaws, who share his desire to be rid of their cruel masters.

THE PRODUCTION

In 1985 VTC & Rediffusion Films presented A Lorca Film Production - Lorca & The Outlaws. Later released in the USA under the name Starship (nothing to do with the band of the same name by the way).

Anyone who has ever seen a VTC production will know that they are not renowned for their high production values. However, Lorca & The Outlaws is actually not that bad. Out of the three VTC films I have seen, the others being 2019 and Endgame (both Mad Max influenced science-fantasy action adventures), Lorca & The Outlaws is definately the better produced and directed. Though there are some slow sections in this Anglo-Australian production there is a decent amount of action to keep your eyes stimulated, if, at times, not your mind.

The production crew includes; Roger Christian - Director, Owen Williams - Production Designer, Chris Beckwoldt - Art Director, Derek Trigg - Editor, John Metcalfe - Director of Photography, Michael Guest - Producer, Charles Aperia and Guy Collins - Executive Producers.

Screenplay by Roger Christian & Matthew Jacobs.

Music composed and performed by Craig Huxley. Additional music and songs composed by Tony Banks, Songs performed by Peter Gabriel, Toyah (Wilcox) and Jim Diamond.

Lorca & The Outlaws British born writer/director, Roger Christian has worked on many high-profile films over the years. As Set Designer on Star Wars (1977), Art Director on Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) & Alien (1979), Director/Screenwriter of Nostradamus (1994), Second Unit Director on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999) Song-writer on Tequila Sunrise (1988) and Director of The Sender (1982), The Final Cut (1995), Underworld (1996) and Battlefield Earth (2000).

There are decent action sequences and there is quite an epic feel to the production. A scene in which one of the Robots is caught in an explosion and staggers from the wreckage a staggering inferno is a highlight. Also the use of giant dumper-trucks is fun and visually strong .

The Robots themselves are simply but well designed and quite menacing, and their point-of-view shots are effective. These POV shots appear in Widescreen, betraying its original filming in PANAVISION, the general VHS copy that was released was a Fullscreen pan-and-scan version.

Filmed on location in Western Australia and New South Wales and at Shepperton Studio Centre, London England. The location work in a large desert like quarry is convincing as the surface of an alien mining planet. Use of industrial premises as locations is also visually strong.

THE CAST

The cast includes such unknowns as John Tarrant, Donough Rees and Cassandra Webb. Aswell as more familiar Genre character actors.

The diminutive Deep Roy, appeared on television in the Doctor Who story The Talons of Weng-Chiang starring Tom Baker, and in films; The People That Time Forgot, Flash Gordon, The Never Ending Story, Return To Oz, and more recently Tim Burton's new versions of Planet Of The Apes and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Australians; Ralph Cotterill (Howling 3 - The Marsupials & Bad Boy Bubby) and Hugh Keays-Byrne (Cotterill's co-star in a number of pictures including; Resistance, Burke & Wills and Where The Green Ants Dream) supply the villainous ingredients.

There is also an early appearance of actress Rebekah Elmaloglou, as 'Little Girl', who later went on to appear in the Australian soap-opera Home & Away.

John Tarrant plays Lorca the young rebel who sets out to defeat Captain Jowitt (Ralph Cotterill) and the robot military police who hold sway over the barren planet of Ordessa. Jowitt calls in Danny (Hugh Keays-Byrne, better known for his role as the demented motorcycle gang-leader 'Toecutter' in Mad Max.) a bounty hunter to help do away with Lorca and his troublesome friends. Some of whom are Kid (Deep Roy), a friendly robot. Abby (Donough Rees), a feisty and spirited young rebel and Susi (Cassandra Webb), another gutsy member of the rebellion. Unfortunately Tarrant is not the best leading man by a long shot. I don't wish to appear mean to the chap but he is a poor choice for the heroic lead. He just doesn't convince as the young leader of a rebellion. There must have been someone more suitably talented out there who could have played the role better. Perhaps acknowledging Tarrant's acting limitations there are long sections of the film where he doesn't even appear.

Ralph Cotterill is machine-like as the human in command of the Robots. At one point one of the Robots comments that Jowitt is, "More like us than human." Though Captain Jowitt, later talking with his Robot second-in-command, says, "You underestimate humans. You can't help it you were designed by people who felt the same way."

Hugh Keays-Byrne as Danny the Bounty Hunter revisits his Mad Max role of Toecutter. He whispers his lines with villainous relish. Though Mad Max is a far superior production and Keays-Byrne's role in it more three dimensional than the part he plays here, his appearance in Lorca & The Outlaws brings much character to the proceedings.

Deep Roy's character of Kid, Lorca's robot ally is akin to Twiki from Buck Rogers. There is more to this little droid than his sci-fi brethren though. A much more rounded and likable character on the whole, although Deep Roy doesn't supply the voice of the diminutive robot.

THE MUSIC

Craig Huxley's enthusiastic music is at times intrusive and nowhere near as dramatic or exciting enough, Tony Banks' musical additions however are excellent as always.

A note of interest for fans of Progressive Rock supergroup Genesis; Tony Banks' music from the film is available on his album 'Soundtracks' which also includes his tracks from the film Quicksilver starring Kevin Bacon.

Tony Smith, Genesis' long-time manager, was executive music producer on the project.

All Tony Banks tracks were produced by Tony Banks and John Eden.

The tracks included are;

'You Call This Victory', music by Tony Banks, lyrics written and performed by ex-Phd frontman Jim Diamond (who has also worked with Steve Hackett, one time guitarist with Genesis).

'Lion Of Symmetry' music by Tony Banks, with lyrics written and performed by Toyah Wilcox. Toyah even appears singing part of the song on a Hologram Music Clip in one of the Nightclub scenes. As does Peter Gabriel (original lead singer with Genesis) performing San Jacinto from his fourth self-titled album, Peter Gabriel.

Tony Banks' instrumental keyboard compositions for the film are collectively entitled 'Redwing Suite'. With each segment broken up into individual tracks; Redwing - Lorca - Kid and Detective Droid - Lift Off - Death of Abby. The track 'Lorca' was later re-used to form the basis of 'Queen of Darkness' on Tony Banks' solo project Bankstatement.

CONCLUSION

A brave attempt at epic Sci-Fi adventure which, due to some dodgy acting and slow pacing, falls a little short. Good design and overall direction though. Peter Gabriel's cameo appearance is of interest and Tony Banks soundtrack is a good addition to his back-catalogue.

A true Space Oddity.

BIGGLES (1986)

2005-06-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Biggles is 20 years old this year! Can you believe it? No not the character he’s much older obviously. I mean the Motion Picture sometimes know as Biggles: Adventures In Time (but that may only be in America).

I remember going to see this at the cinema with my Dad and Brother so I must have been 8 or 9 at the time. We saw it in a little cinema in Aldershot just on the edge of an island of waste-ground in the town centre. I’m not sure if it is even there now. We also saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there but that’s another story.

When I was about eight my Dad took myself and my brother to see Biggles at the cinema. I remember that I wasn't actually looking forward to it all that much. I had never been that interested in the Biggles books, to me they sounded a bit boring, but then I had never read any of them so what did I know. I thought it was just going to be a bit of a dull war film, but when the film had ended, I left the cinema very excited.

What follows is an article/review that does not delve into the work of every single contributor to this film, but rather takes an in-depth look at some of its key players. If you feel I have missed anything interesting (or added too much that is not) don’t hesitate in letting me know!

BIGGLES (1986)

"Biggles is a fine officer!"

A very British slice of Sci-Fi Adventure Fantasy in a similar vein to Doctor Who. The WWI sequences are excellent. Especially the aerial dog-fights, trench scenes and the testing ground sequences. Cushing shines as Colonel Raymond. His re-introduction to the young Biggles is wonderful. The soundtrack is superbly 80’s!

THE FILM

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. My names James Bigglesworth, my friends call me Biggles."

World War One flying Ace Captain James Bigglesworth is drawn into an adventure that sees him use his skill and ingenuity to defeat the German army and their secret "bloody" sound weapon. Along the way he finds an unconventional ally in an American named James Fergusson.

THE PRODUCTION

Biggles finally took to the skies as a Compact Yellowbill film production in 1985 under the command of Director John Hough, in a story created by Kent Walwin and John Groves. Kent Walwin and Pam Oliver produced with Adrian Scrope executive producing.

The film was actually in the tentative planning stages for ten years before it finally got of the ground. Yellowbill was set up in 1975 and one of its first achievements was to acquire the rights to Biggles. They wanted to produce a film featuring a very British type of hero and felt that Biggles was a franchise that had similarities to James Bond. However, they felt that American audiences wouldn't be familiar with the Biggles character so set about developing a rather unconventional storyline that would help to introduce the heroic pilot.

The way they did this was to create the character of James Fergusson, an American from the 1980's working for a company making 'Celebrity Dinners'. He is unwittingly thrown into an adventure across time when he discovers that he is Biggles' 'time-twin'.

After a visit from a mysterious elderly stranger (Colonel Raymond) Fergusson is engulfed in a flash of blue lightning and finds himself on the battlefields of the First World War, where he meets the eponymous pilot. He saves Biggles from a burning plane but then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he is once again back to his own time.

And so the stage is set for a ripping yarn in which Fergusson must aid his time-twin in destroying a secret weapon developed by the Germans during the Great War. On the way we meet Biggles' faithful friends Algy, Bertie and Ginger played by Michael Sibbery, James Saxon and Daniel Flynn respectively and also encounter Biggles' nemesis, Captain Von Stalhein played by Marcus Gilbert.

James Saxon will probably be best known to a certain age bracket of kids of the 80’s as the conniving Darcey De-Farcey in Roland Rat, The Series (1986). He other comedic roles included parts in Brush Strokes (1986), Murder Most Horrrid: A Severe Case of Death (1994), Chalk (1997) and a string of appearances in the unfathomably successful CITV series T-Bag (not a gangsta rapper and not to be confused with anything else I may add!). Cropping up in T-Bag and the Revenge of the Tea Set (1989), T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom (1990), T-Bag’s Christmas Ding Dong (1990) and T-Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma (1992).

He also appeared in such television staples as Poirot: The Lost Mine (1990), Boon: Daddy’s Girl (1990), Casualty: Cascade (1990), Minder: Last Orders at the Winchester (1993), Medics (1993), Maigret: Maigret on the Defensive (1993), Between the Lines: Honourable Men (1993), Lovejoy: Never Judge a Book by its Cover (1993), A Touch of Frost: Nothing to Hide (1994), Sharpe’s Honour (1994), Poldark (1996), Jonathan Creek: Satan’s Chimney (2001) and Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2002)

To Doctor Who fans he will be instantly recognized as the man who played Oscar Botcherby in Robert Holmes’ last Doctor Who script The Two Doctors (1985).

Marcus Gilbert, as well as taking over handsome man-next-door duties from Anthony Head on the Gold Blend adverts, also had a role in Doctor Who as Mordred in Battlefield (1989). Gilbert was also seen in The Masks of Death (1984) which starred Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and John Mills as Watson. Robin of Sherwood: The Swords of Wayland (1985) and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: Tennis Court (1986). Other movie appearances included Rambo III (1988) and Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992).

In the film which finally saw production, Captain W. E. Johns' World War I flying Ace, Captain James Bigglesworth was played by Neil Dickson (later to feature in episodes of American science-fantasy series Sliders playing Col. Angus Rickman) with veteran actor Peter Cushing playing Biggles' commanding officer, Colonel Raymond.

Dickson had roles in I, Claudius (1976), Secret Army: Lisa – Codename Yvette (1977), Blakes 7: Traitor (1981), Rockcliffe’s Babies: Black Arrow (1988) and Boon: Beef Encounter (1988).

His work then took him to America where he has since appeared in episodes of Dynasty (1987), Matlock: The Ambassador (1988) & The Foursome (1991), Baywatch: The Runaways (1995), Nash Bridges: Dirty Tricks (1997), Mike Hammer, Private Eye: The Art of Murder (1998), Diagnosis Murder: First Do No Harm (1998), Starhunter: Siren’s Song (2000) and Alias: Reckoning (2001).

Much of his more recent work has involved providing voices for computer games, cartoons and movies, including Revenant (1999) as Locke D’Averam, Medal of Honor: Frontline (2002) & European Assault (2005), James Bond: Everything or Nothing (2004) and Age of Empires III (2005) and the film Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

<>He also crops up in Sharpe’s Waterloo (1997), Romy and Michele’s High School Renuion (1997) and The Story of O: Untold Pleasures (2002).

Alex Hyde White, son of actor Wilfred Hyde White played James Fergusson. Hyde White was later to play Henry Jones Snr (albeit mostly as back-of-head and hand shots) to River Phoenix's Indiana Jones in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Check out the credits at the end of the film if you don't believe me! He has more recently appeared in such hit US shows as The West Wing (2003) and Without A Trace (2005)

Peter Cushing is wonderfully cast as Colonel Raymond, in his last film role. He brings an air of authority and credibility to the production. Cushing was quoted at the time with saying, "I have a feeling that Biggles will do for its young men what Star Wars did for its principals: they all made it big."

A prophecy that sadly wasn't to prove entirely accurate. Although all concerned went on to appear in further films, television series, adverts and even lending their vocal talents to computer games, none ever achieved the status of Harrison Ford.

Actually another member of the cast, apart from Peter Cushing, had appeared in Star Wars. William Hootkins who played the role of Fergusson's colleague Chuck Dinsmore, was also among the cast of that particular Space Fantasy, playing an X-Wing pilot.

Fiona Hutchison appears as Debbie, Fergusson's fiance and business partner. Along with William Hootkins she would later appear for John Hough in American Gothic. The part of Marie, Biggles' love interest, was played by Francesca Gonshaw. Gonshaw is probably best known for her role as Maria the French Cafe waitress in the BBC's long running comedy series, 'Allo 'Allo! She also turned up in the promotional video to Peter Gabriel's Digging in the Dirt single.

THE CREW

JOHN HOUGH (Director)

Directed episodes of The Avengers from 1968 to 1969 as well as an episode of The New Avengers (1976). Also The Protectors (1972), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985) and three episodes of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1986).

His films have included Hammer’s Twins of Evil (1970), Treasure Island (1972), The Legend Of Hell House (1973) and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988).

For Disney he made Return From Witch Mountain (1978) starring Christopher Lee and Bette Davis, Escape from Witch Mountain (1980) starring Donald Pleasance and The Watcher In The Woods (1980) starring Bette Davis And David McCallum.

Rod Steiger and Yvonne De Carlo starred in Hough’s American Gothic (1988), which also featured two Biggles actors, namely Fiona Hutchinson and William Hootkins.

ERNEST VINCZE (Cinematographer)

Has worked on a number of films, among them, The Secret Policeman’s Ball (1981), Shanghai Surprise (1986) and Last Orders (2001). His television credits include; Jeeves and Wooster (1990), The Camomile Lawn (1992), Shooting the Past (1999), The Strangerers (2000), Sea of Souls (2004), Holby City (2005), and more recently as director of photography and cinematographer on the entire run of the new Doctor Who series (2005-06).

JAMES ACHESON (Costume Design)

On television he costume designed Doctor Who stories The Three Doctors (1972) and The Carnival of Monsters (1973).

His costume designs were also seen on Time Bandits (1981), The Meaning of Life (1983), Water (1985), Brazil (1985), Highlander (1986), The Last Emperor (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Frankenstein (1994), Restoration (1995), The Wind in the Willows (1996) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

More recently he leant his talents to Super Hero tales Daredevil (2003), Spider-Man (200), Spider-Man (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

BIGGLES ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

One of the great points of interest of the film is its incredibly 80’s soundtrack. It features a mix of pre-existing and new songs by various groups, with instrumental pieces by composer Stanislas Syrewicz. The album was released by MCA Records in 1986, catalogue number MCF 3328.

The scenes set in the testing ground are incredibly atmospheric and Stanislas' accompanying music, Discovery, help make the whole thing very eerie indeed. There are some shots in this sequence that are surprisingly gruesome actually.

Marie’s Theme is also another great track, a subtle love refrain, with moments of soaring majesty. It is also the most ‘conventional’ of all the instrumental pieces on the album.

Interspersed with some of the tracks are sections of dialogue from the film. These add a great dimension to the album.

The soundtrack includes an edited version of Knocking On Your Back Door by Deep Purple (taken from their album Perfect Stranger), Knock ‘Em Dead Kid by Motley Crue, as well as specially written songs by Stanislas, featuring the vocal talents of Yes front-man Jon Anderson on Do You Want To Be A Hero? and Chocks Away. Which is a frankly bonkers track, sounding like a Circus being devoured by ravenous synthesizing machine creature. Good fun though!

Another standout track is No Turning Back performed by The Immortals (aka John Deacon and the Immortals. And yes, that is THE John Deacon, bass guitar player with Queen). The DVD re-issue of Biggles includes the video (albeit a poor quality home recording from the looks of it) to No Turning Back that features a cameo appearance by Peter Cushing!

No Turning Back (MCA 1057) was released as a 7” single backed with No Turning Back (Chocs Away Mix) in May 1986 but failed to chart. The 12” (MCA T1057) also included the track No Turning Back (Joystick Mix).

<>Chakk provided the track Big Hot Blues that appeared on their double album 10 Days In A Elevator (MCA Records MCG 6006) also released in 1986. Chakk’s bass-player Mark Brydon would go on to become a producer and one half of Moloko.

CONCLUSION

The production is very polished (bear in mind the state of the British film industry at the time), the costumes and location work are excellent and the Bi-plane dogfights, and aerial photography are superb. The end of the film was left open for a sequel, and its obvious that Yellowbill wanted to make a series of films based on Biggles' adventures. Seeing it as a possible franchise to threaten Bond. Much as the makers of Hawk the Slayer had envisioned that particular film. As we know, in both cases this wasn’t to be the case.

Unfortunately I suspect that the film wasn't much of a success at the box-office, and so a series failed to take off. Further films would have been nice (they were planned), maybe a Biggles trilogy, but perhaps had there been, the film as it is wouldn't have been as intriguing or interesting.

The plot perhaps upset a few Biggles purists and may even have had his creator Captain W.E. Johns spinning in his grave, but the makers managed to produce a thoroughly enjoyable tale.

If you can accept the implausibility of many of the Star Trek series forays into time-travel, and Quantum Leap and the Back to the Future trilogy's 'changing' of history plots, then you'll have no problems with Biggles.

The time travel aspect is well thought out and executed. Although, there is still the same old problem of creating a threat that could change the course of history, when we already know the outcome. The Allies did win the First World War and that is that, though maybe this was thanks to the intervention of Biggles and his time-twin James Fergusson? Who knows?

I truly adore this film and fully recommend it, having seen it at the cinema on its initial 80's release, and possessing various copies of the video, the DVD, the novelisation, picture storybook, soundtrack and poster. Only the Microsoft computer game and the No Turning Back singles still elude me...

As an intriguing footnote, Neil Dickson appeared in the Pet Shop Boys music film It Shouldn't Happen Here dressed in First World War pilots gear. It looks as though his scenes, dressed thusly, will have to suffice as the only spin-off, of sorts, to Biggles.

“If you can fly a Sopwith Camel, you can fly anything!”

WITCHFINER GENERAL (1968)

2005-06-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

"The Mark of Satan is upon them..."

Vincent Price's best horror performance directed by Michael Reeves. Wonderful cinematography superbly depicts an era of fear and loathing in East Anglia.

THE FILM

"The year is 1645. England is in the grip of bloody civil war. On the one side stands the Royalist Party of King Charles, on the other Cromwell's Parliamentary Party, the Roundheads. The structure of law and order has collapsed. Local magistrates indulge their individual whims. Justice and injustice are dispensed in more or less equal quantities and without opposition. An atmosphere in which the unscrupulous revel and the likes of Matthew Hopkins take full advantage of the situation. In a time when the superstitions of country folk are still a powerful factor, Hopkins preys upon them. Torturing and killing in a supposed drive to eliminate witchcraft from the country..."
- Part of narrated introduction from the UK version of Witchfinder General.

During the Civil War period in 17th century England, a soldier returns home to find his fiance's father executed by Matthew Hopkins, a zealous witchfinder. The soldier vows revenge and sets of in pursuit of the murderous Witchfinder General.

1968's Witchfinder General was Director Michael Reeves' third and final film. It's American backers, keen to promote it as a Price/Poe picture, renamed it for its American release as The Conqueror Worm after one of Poe's short poems. The American version also featured a narration of this poem at the start of the film, but apart from that addition, the poem itself has nothing at all to do with it. Witchfinder General, its original and by far the better title, is how it has always been known here in the United Kingdom. I shall therefore refer to it by this title for the duration of this review.

Michael Reeves based his film on the novel Witchfinder General by Ronald Basset, itself based on the life of Matthew Hopkins, one of the most vicious Englishmen who ever lived.

While Cavaliers and Roundheads were locked in bloody combat, Hopkins - self appointed Witchfinder General - waged a savage war against the helpless under the pretext they were servants of Satan. Mercilessly he satisfied his appetite for lust and cruelty by spreading a trail of terror through the Eastern Counties. And with every innocent death his purse grew heavier.

THE PRODUCTION

This film was a Tigon Production with Arnold Miller, Philip Waddilove and Louis M Heyward producing and Tony Tenser as Executive Producer.

It starred horror veteran Vincent Price (House Of Wax, The Abominable Dr Phibes, Theatre Of Blood, The Monster Club, Edward Scissorhands, Whales In August, et cetera), Ian Ogily (From Beyond the Grave, Michael Reeves' The She-Beast & The Sorcerors. Simon Templar in the television series The Return of the Saint, Rupert Davies (Dracula Has Risen From The Grave & The Oblong Box), Hilary Bryer, Robert Russell, Nicky Henson (Psychomania), Wilfred Brambell (Albert Steptoe in BBC's Steptoe & Son, a small role in the Original television version of Nigel Kneale's The Quatermass Experiment), and Patrick Wymark appeared as Oliver Cromwell.

Michael Reeves had originally wanted Donald Pleasance to play the part of Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, but American backers insisted on Price playing the part. Reeves wasn't too pleased with this but needed the financial help so conceeded to their wish. After a take in which Price was customarily hamming it up, Reeves told Price to please stop rolling his eyes, and act naturally. Price a little taken aback replied, "I have made hundreds of films. How many have you made?" To which Reeves countered, "Two good ones!" Price began laughing and from then on the two got on famously. Price was later to comment that Reeves was right and that as a result Witchfinder General was probably the best horror film he ever made.

On its original release many people commented on how unashamedly gruesome it was. People expecting to see a tongue-in-cheek Price vehicle would have been very surprised indeed. Reeves replied to the criticism with the question, "What was more wrong, to laugh at horror or be horrified by it?" Horror should be just that, horrific, not something to be made fun of. People should be shocked by horror, not amused by it. The scenes of torture and violence in Witchfinder General are therefore not played for laughs.

The exquisite music composed for the film by Paul Ferris has since been used by many other people for use on advertising campaigns and such-like, leading people to believe that it was actually stock 'library' music. The composer actually makes a cameo appearance as the boyfriend of one of the 'witches' burnt at the stake by Matthew Hopkins. For the role he adopted a pseudonym; Morris Jar, an in-joke adapting the name of composer Maurice Jarre.

The location work is brilliant and I have even visited the castle seen in the last part of the film a couple of times. I stood in the chamber where the bloody climax of the film is reached. This is the closest I will ever come to meeting Vincent Price, one of my idols. The right location, unfortunately 30 years too late.

Price is one of my favourite actors and this one of my favourite productions. I was fortunate enough to catch this film at a screening during Darkness Over Britain, a horror weekend held here in the UK at a small independent cinema (The Corner House, Manchester). Video is all well and good but nothing compares to seeing these pictures in the way they were originally intended to be viewed, on the silver screen.

The back cover blurb from Redemption's UK video release read,

"Possibly one of British cinema's best ever horror films. Vincent Price performs superbly as the sadistic witchfinder Matthew Hopkins and the ever present sense of menace is never far from the screen. This film's great success spawned numerous imitators including Mark of the Devil and Franco's The Bloody Judge."

The Aurum Film Encyclopedia has this to say about the production,

"The colours of death and decay imbue the movie with a muted but eerie intensity, relentlesly building up to an explosion of unconscionable violence"

CONCLUSION

A classic of British cinema with high production values and heaps of cult appeal. A loose dramatisation on the life of one of Britain's most 'evil' men, is almost as gruesome as the real-life escapades of the infamous self-appointed Witchfinder General himself.

ASYLUM (1972)

2005-06-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Mind.
Welcome to Dunsmoor asylum.
Enjoy your stay…

Crazy ideas from the mind of Robert Bloch, deftly directed by Roy Ward Baker. It's eerie setting, strong cast, creepy stories and expert direction make this one of the best horror anthologies produced in Britain during the 1970's. A terrifying treat!

THE FILM

Dr. Martin (Robert Powell), attends a job interview for the post of Senior Houseman at Dunsmoor asylum. He is tested by Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee) to see if he can work out which of the people he will be introduced to is in-fact the head of the institute, Dr. Starr. He visits inmates in turn, each of them telling him their own strange and horrific tales.

THE PRODUCTION

Shepperton Studios, Middlesex, England.
1972 saw production of a further anthology of horror stories from Amicus. Asylum (also known in some quarters by the abysmal title; House of Crazies) was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenburg, and written by Robert Bloch.

The stories are;
“Frozen Fear” in which Richard Todd has trouble disposing of his murdered wife’s remains.
“The Weird Tailor” stars Peter Cushing who enlists a poor tailor to produce a suit from a magical material.
“Lucy Comes To Stay” features Britt Ekland in the title role as Charlotte Rampling’s troublesome best friend.
“Manikins of Horror” sees Herbert Lom control a batch of tiny murderous robots with the power of his mind.

Roy Ward Baker has said that Asylum was one of his favourite films. In his autobiography he wrote,

“There is no point in describing the stories or in picking out individual performances, they were all excellent, although I must just mention Herbert Lom’s piece, which was utterly convincing. It was all shot in one day too, not that that’s important. And the joint efforts of Charlotte Rampling and Britt Ekland were really smart. I like the picture because it all fits together so neatly, with terrific pace, too.”

Milton Subotsky was the production head of Amicus Productions Ltd, the company he formed with partner Max Rosenburg. They specialised in producing quick, cheap horror films and had a great deal of success with their anthology films - Dr. Terror's House of Horror's (1965), Torture Garden (1966), Tales From The Crypt (1971), The Vault of Horror (1973) amongst the best known. Others being, The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Tales That Witness Madness (1973), From Beyond The Grave (1973) and of course Asylum (1972). Amicus also produced the gothic And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973) starring Peter Cushing and Herbert Lom.

Asylum is one of the best, and one of my favourites, of all the horror anthologies made during the 60's and 70's. Never critically acclaimed, but always immensely popular with audiences, the success of these films during this period was perhaps largely due to the guest casts which they invariably attracted. And the inventiveness, and slightly tongue in cheek nature of some of the stories. As a sign of its greatness, Asylum won the Grand Prix Convention Francaise du Cinema Fantastique in 1973.

About his work for Amicus, Milton Subotsky said,

"I got into horror films because I like fantasy. I like fairy tales, satires, anything imaginative or fantastic. Nearly all the films we've made have been films of imagination, not just horror films. We've done science fiction too, we did the Dr Who films and The Mind Of Mr Soames. We've always done films that were non-realistic."

Max Rosenburg requested that they reverse the sequence of two of the stories in Asylum, which didn't please Bloch very much. Bloch had what is now the first sequence as the third sequence, thinking it should start on a more pedestrian note and gradually work up to more physical horrors. Rosenburg had come to the film fresh and hadn't seen any of it until it was finished. He said he liked it but thought that the sequence of stories should be switched saying that if you didn't hit the audience in the first two reels, you could forget it. The film is wonderful but one feels that perhaps had the sequence been left as Bloch had written it, the film may have been even better. Maybe someone will release a DVD version with the option to view the film in either edit. Now there’s an idea…

Director
Roy Ward Baker’s directorial work spans seven decades and includes: Morning Departure (1950) starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough. The superb Titanic drama; A Night to Remember (1958) starring Kenneth More and David McCallum. Flame in the Streets (1961) starring John Mills and Sylvia Syms. The Singer Not the Song (1961) Starring Dirk Bogarde and John Mills. Two Left Feet (1965) starring Michael Crawford and David Hemmings.

During the 1960’s he regularly worked for Hammer. He directed the big screen version of Nigel Kneale’s classic science-fiction television serial, Quatermass & The Pit (1967) starring Andrew Keir and Barbara Shelley. Strange family drama The Anniversary (1968) starring Bette Davis. An episode of anthology television series Journey To The Unknown (1968) written by Robert Bloch. And Science Fiction oddity Moon Zero Two (1969) featuring Warren Mitchell and Bernard Bresslaw.

In the 1970’s he continued to work for Hammer directing undead lesbian temptresses in The Vampire Lovers (1970) starring Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Peter Cushing and George Cole. The last Gothic set Dracula film, Scars of Dracula (1970) starring Christopher Lee, Patrick Troughton and Dennis Waterman. Gender-bending science fantasy, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) starring Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick. And Peter Cushing’s last appearance as Van Helsing in Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1973).

He directed further Horror productions for Amicus: And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) starring Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Stephanie Beacham and Ian Olgily, and The Vault of Horror (1973) Starring Tom Baker, Curt Jurgens and Denholm Elliott. He also directed one more horror anthology for Milton Subotsky, The Monster Club (1980) which starred Vincent Price, John Carradine, Donald Pleasance, Britt Ekland, Simon Ward, Geoffrey Bayldon and Patrick Magee.

For British television he directed episodes of cult ITC series’, The Saint (1963-68) starring Roger Moore. The Baron (1966-67) starring Steve Forrest. The Champions (1968) starring Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo and William Gaunt. And Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969) starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope.

Other ITC productions he directed were, Department S (1969) and its spin-off series, Jason King (1971-72) both of which starred Peter Wyngarde. The Persuaders (1971-72) starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. The Protectors (1973) starring Robert Vaughn and The Return of the Saint (1978) starring Ian Ogilvy.

Also directed cult ABC series’, The Human Jungle (1965) starring Herbert Lom, and The Avengers (1965-66 & 68) starring Patrick Macnee.

And for Thames television he directed Danger UXB (1979) starring Anthony Andrews, and Minder (1979-89) starring George Cole and Dennis Waterman.

He also directed the television movie The Masks of Death (1984) for Tyburn, starring Peter Cushing and John Mills as an elderly Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson respectively.

Producers
In 1964, Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenburg founded Amicus Productions and made many horror, fantasy and sci-fi films, the first of which was horror anthology Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965).

They went on to jointly produce the anthologies, Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Tales From The Crypt (1972), From Beyond the Grave (1973) and The Vault of Horror (1973).

Produced horrors, The Skull (1965), The Deadly Bees (1967), Scream And Scream Again (1970), I, Monster (1971), And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973), Madhouse (1974) and The Beast Must Die (1974).

Thrillers, The Psychopath (1966) and What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972).

Dramas, The Birthday Party (1968) starring Robert Shaw and Dandy Nicholls, and Thank You All Very Much (1969) starring Ian McKellen and Eleanor Bron.

Science Fiction, Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965), Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), They Came From Beyond Space (1967), The Terrornauts (1967) and The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970).

Subotsky produced Horror Hotel (1960) starring Christopher Lee. At Earth’s Core (1976) starring Peter Cushing and Doug McClure, and co-produced a TV miniseries based on Ray Bradbury's, The Martian Chronicles (1980) starring Rock Hudson. For fledging (and short-lived) late 70’s early 80’s production company Sword & Sorcery, he produced Dominique Is Dead (1979) and The Monster Club (1980).

He went on to co-produce three films based on Stephen King stories. Cat’s Eye (1985), an anthology of short tales with a linking narrative (the last of such films that Subotsky worked on), Maximum Overdrive (1986) and Sometimes They Come Back (1991) a television movie.

Rosenburg produced Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here! (1987), Primary Motive (1992) and was executive producer on Dance With The Devil (1997).

Screenwriter
Asylum is made up of short stories written by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. Bloch also wrote for other Amicus anthology productions, Torture Garden (1967) and The House That Dripped Blood (1971). As well as Amicus' The Deadly Bees (1966), The Psychopath (1966) and The Skull (1966), which was based on Bloch's short story, The Skull of the Marquis De Sade.

Camera Operator
Denys Coop B.S.C. was a Camera Operator on Graham Greene’s The Third Man (1949) with Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles, and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962) starring James Mason.

He was cinematographer on This Sporting Life (1963) starring Richard Harris and William Hartnell, Billy Liar (1963), The Birthday Party (1968) written by Harold Pinter, directed by William Friedkin and starring Robert Shaw and Patrick Magee. Ryan's Daughter (1970) starring Robert Mitchum, and Richard Attenborough's 10 Rillington Place (1971).

Also worked in this capacity on Amicus anthologies; And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) and The Vault of Horror (1973). He went on to be involved with the special effects that made Christopher Reeve fly in Superman - the Movie (1978).

Composer
Douglas Gamley composed, arranged and conducted the music for Asylum. He also composed the music for the Amicus prodcutions; Tales From The Crypt (1972), And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973), The Vault Of Horror (1973), From Beyond The Grave (1974) and the Milton Subotsky produced Chips Production; The Monster Club (1980).

Provided the music for horrors; Madhouse (1974) starring Vincent Price & Peter Cushing, and The Beast Must Die (1974) also starring Cushing. Comedies; Carry On Cruising (1960) and Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different (1971). Composed the music for fantasy adventure The Land That Time Forgot (1975).

Editor
Peter Tanner’s other film credits include the Ealing comedy, starring Alec Guiness; Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949), The Blue Lamp (1949), Wombling Free (1977), The Monster Club (1980), Hamburger Hill (1987), the Sherlock Holmes comedy starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley - Without A Clue (1988), Danny - Champion of the World (1989) and Robin Hood (1991).

His other editing for Amicus was on, The House That Dripped Blood (1971), I, Monster (1971), And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) and The Beast Must Die (1974).

Art Director
Tony Curtis (not to be mistaken for the actor of the same name) also worked in this capacity on Michael Reeves' The Sorcerers (1967) starring Boris Karloff & Ian Ogilvy. The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Tales From the Crypt (1971), The Vault Of Horror (1973), And Now The Screaming Starts (1973), Madhouse (1974), The Monster Club (1980), Venom (1982), Krull (1983) and as Production Designer on Half Moon Street (1986).

Executive Producer
Gustave Berne, worked on Theatre Of Blood (1973), Craze (1974), Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and The Stepford Wives (1975).

First Assistant Director
Anthony Waye worked for Amicus on The Skull (1965) and The Vault of Horror (1973). Also employed in this role on Dracula (1979) starring Frank Langella, David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Clash of the Titans (1981), and on James Bond productions; For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983). As Associate Producer worked on GoldenEye (1995), and was Line Producer on Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World Is Not Enough (1999).

Chief Make-up
Roy Ashton worked on 1936 Boris Karloff chiller The Man Who Changed His Mind, War drama Dunkirk (1958) and the classic Tigon gothic horror production The Creeping Flesh (1972).

He worked on the 1950’s Hammer productions, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). And in the 1960’s on, Never Take Candy From A Stranger (1960), Terror of the Tongs (1961), Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Paranoiac (1963), Kiss of the Vampire (1963), The Gorgon (1964), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), The Camp on Blood Island (1965), She (1965), The Reptile (1966), Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966), Dracula - Prince Of Darkness (1966) and The Plague of Zombies (1966).

He also worked on the Amicus anthologies; Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Tales From The Crypt (1971), Vault of Horror (1973) and the last of this cycle of anthologies which was produced by Milton Subotsky (but for Sword & Sorcery films), The Monster Club (1980).

Sound Mixer
Norman Bolland worked on The Birthday Party (1968), Tales From The Crypt (1971), Superman: The Movie (1978) and The Monster Club (1980).

Was sound recordist on The Creeping Flesh (1972), and The Passage (1979) starring James Mason, Malcolm MacDowell and Christopher Lee.

Sound Editor
Clive Smith worked on the cult television series’ The Prisoner (1967) starring Patrick McGoohan, and Quincy, M. E. (1976) starring Jack Klugman. Was also sound editor for Amicus on They Came From Beyond Space (1967), The Vault of Horror (1973) and Madhouse (1974). Went on to work on An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and Friday The 13th Part 3 (1982)

Dubbing Mixer
Robert Jones

Set Dresser
Fred Carter worked as Art Director on; Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), Force 10 From Navarone (1978) and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), and as Set Designer on And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973), The Vault of Horror (1973) and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976).

Wardrobe Mistress
Bridget Sellers worked on The Day of the Triffids (1962), Stanley Kubrik’s Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Creeping Flesh (1972), Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Ghoul (1975), Dominique (1979) and The Martian Chronicles (1980).

For Amicus was wardrobe supervisor on anthologies Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), Tales That Witness Madness (1974) and costume designer for I, Monster (1971).

Titles
G.S.E. Ltd were responsible for the titles on such films as Welcome to Blood City (1977) and The Creeping Flesh (1972).

Production Manager
Teresa Bolland worked on The Birthday Party (1968), Scream and Scream Again (1970), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), I, Monster (1971), Tales from the Crypt (1971), The Vault of Horror (1973) and From Beyond the Grave (1973).

Camera Operator
Neil Binney worked for Hammer on The Vampire Lovers (1970), On the Buses (1971) and Mutiny on the Buses (1972).

Was behind the lens on comedies, Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973), Carry On Behind (1975), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Nuns on the Run (1990) and Fierce Creatures (1997).

His other work includes, television series Minder (1979), Venom (1982), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Cat’s Eye (1985), Biggles (1986), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Memphis Belle and Alien³ (1992).

Chief Hairdresser
Joan Carpenter worked on horrors, Tales from the Crypt (1971), The Ghoul (1975) and The Monster Club (1980). Fantasy, The Land that Time Forgot (1975), At Earth’s Core (1976), Warlord of Atlantis (1978) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). She leant her talents to comedies, The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Privates On Parade (1982), Haunted Honeymoon (1986) and High Spirits (1988).

Continuity
In the 1960’s Pamela Davis worked on The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Day of the Triffids (1962), Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962), The Skull (1965), Alfie (1966) and Oliver! (1968).

In the 70’s, The Go-Between (1971), The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972) The Creeping Flesh (1972), Callan (1974), Legend of the Werewolf (1975), The Ghoul (1975) and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976).

And the 80’s, Dragonslayer (1981), Privates On Parade (1982) and The Doctor and the Devils (1985).

Casting Director
Ronnie Curtis also worked on Tales From The Crypt (1971), And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) and The Vault of Horror (1973).

THE CAST
What follows are short filmographies of the cast. Although incomplete, they include films and collaborations, which may be of interest.

Frozen Fear

Barbara Parkins
Starred in Valley of the Dolls (1967) and television movie The Mephisto Waltz (1971) with Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset and a satanic Curt Jurgens. Co-starred with Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella in The House Under The Trees (1971), and Lee Marvin, Roger Moore and Ian Holm in Shout At The Devil (1976). In the 1980’s appeared on television in The Calendar Girl Murders (1984) and Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986).

Richard Todd
Starred in war dramas The Dam Busters (1955) and The Longest Day (1962). Featured in the remake of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (1978) which starred Robert Mitchum and James Stewart. House of the Long Shadows (1982), in which he appeared, starred Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and John Carradine That same year he played a mayor role in the television serial Doctor Who: Kinda (1982).

Sylvia Syms
Starred alongside John Mills, Harry Andrews and Anthony Quayle in the classic war drama Ice Cold In Alex (1958). Appeared in the Tony Hancock comedy The Punch & Judy Man (1963), Shirley Valentine (1989) starring Pauline Collins and Tom Conti, and the film musical Absolute Beginners (1986) with David Bowie and Ray Davies. She worked on the last ever BBC produced Doctor Who story Ghostlight (1989).

The Weird Tailor

Peter Cushing
Starred in many films and television series from the 1930’s to the 1980’s, encompassing horror, thriller, science-fiction, comedy and drama.

Worked on many other films for Amicus, these were notably, the anthologies: Dr. Terror’s House Of Horror’s (1965) with Christopher Lee, Roy Castle, Donald Sutherland, Alan Freeman and Michael Gough. Torture Garden (1967) with Jack Palance and Burgess Meredith. The House That Dripped Blood (1971) with Christopher Lee, Jon Pertwee, Denholm Ellitt, Ingrid Pitt and Joanna Lumley. Tales From The Crypt (1972) with Joan Collins, Ralph Richardson, Richard Greene and Ian Hendry. And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973) with Ian Olgilvy and Stephanie Beacham. And, From Beyond The Grave (1973) with Donald Pleasance, Ian Olgilvy, David Warner, Ian Bannen, Ian Carmichael and Diana Dors.

He also made the horror’s, The Skull (1965) with Christopher Lee, Michael Gough and Nigel Green. Scream And Scream Again (1970) with Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Sallis. I, Monster (1971) with Christopher Lee, Richard Hurndall and Mike Raven. Madhouse (1974) with Vincent Price. And, The Beast Must Die (1974) with Charles Gray, Michael Gambon and Anton Diffring.

He starred in three Subotsky produced Science Fiction pictures, Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965) with Roy Castle. Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) with Andrew Keir, Philip Madoc, Bernard Cribbins and Ray Brooks, and At Earth’s Core (1976) with Doug McClure and Caroline Munro.

Barry Morse
Appeared in the Will Hay war-time comedy The Goose Steps Out (1942). Played Lt Gerard in the television series The Fugitive (1963 – 66). Featured in an episode of the American anthology series The Outer Limits (1964). Was a regular in Gerry Anderson’s live-action science fiction series Space: 1999 (1975-79).

Starred in the Peter Sasdy directed Welcome to Blood City (1977) with Jack Palance and Keir Dullea. Acted with George C. Scott in The Changeling (1980), and in the same year featured in the mini-series of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1980) with Rock Hudson.

Appeared on television during the 1980’s in A Tale of Two Cities (1980) with Peter Cushing, Kenneth More and Nigel Hawthorne, Whoops Apocalypse (1983), A Woman of Substance (1984) with Jenny Seagrove and Liam Neeson, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987).

Ann Firbank
Can be seen in Carry On Nurse (1959) and A Passage to India (1984).

John Franklyn-Robbins
Has appeared in Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks (1975) starring Tom Baker. The Jigsaw Man (1984), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994), Dr. Jekyll & Ms. Hyde (1995) and Emma (1996).

Lucy Comes To Stay

Britt Ekland
Appeared in the bawdy British comedy Percy (1971) and in Get Carter (1971) with Michael Caine. Was a bond girl in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) starring Roger Moore and Christopher Lee.

She appeared opposite Lee again in the highly regarded cult classic penned by Anthony Shaffer, The Wicker Man (1974), which also starred Edward Woodward. Played the mother of a young Milton Subotsky in The Monster Club (1981).

Charlotte Rampling
Starred in Georgy Girl (196?), Henry the VIII and his Six Wives (1972), and with Sean Connery in the frankly bonkers Zardoz (1973).

James Villiers
Appeared in the very first 'Carry On' film; Carry On Sergeant (1958), on television in The Human Jungle (1965) with Herbert Lom, Hammer’s The Nanny (1965) starring Bette Davis, and Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (1971) which starred Valerie Leon and Andrew Keir.

Acted in The Wrong Box (1966) which featured John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Tony Hancock and Peter Sellers, among its stella cast. He can also be seen in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981) starring Roger Moore.

Megs Jenkins
Had roles in the film version of Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! (1968) and in The Innocents (1961), one of the numerous film adaptations of Henry James’ novella The Turning of the Screw.

Manikins Of Horror

Herbert Lom
Starred alongside Alec Guiness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker and Danny Green, as one of The Ladykillers (1955) in the Ealing Comedy. Appeared as Napoleon in War And Peace (1956). Was one of the myriad of famous faces in Hell Drivers (1957) which boasted Stanley Baker, Sean Connery, Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, Sid James, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum and Peggy Cummins among it’s cast.

Played Tigranes in Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960), Ben Yussuf in El Cid (1961), Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island (1961) and the title role in Hammer’s version of Gaston Leroux’s classic novel The Phantom of the Opera (1962). Starred in the ABC television series The Human Jungle (1965).

He is probably best known for playing Chief Inspector Dreyfus to Peter Seller's Inspector Clouseau. In this role he starred in, A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), The Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) and The Curse of the Pink Panther (1983). Returned to the role once more in The Son of the Pink Panther (1993).

Featured with Michael Caine in the film Gambit (1966), and with David McCallum and Robert Vaughn in The Man from U.N.C.L.E – The Karate Killers (1967). Played Van Helsing to Christopher Lee’s definitive portrayal of the Vampiric Aristocrat in Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula (1969) which also starred Klaus Kinski.

Has acted in Amicus’ And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973), the Agatha Christie ‘who-dunnit’ And Then There Were None (1975), with Oliver Reed and Richard Attenborough. And the remake of the classic Alfred Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes (1979) starring Elliot Gould and Cybil Sheppard.

Appeared on television in Whoops Apocalypse (1983), and the film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone (1983) with Christopher Walken. Can also be seen in King Solomon’s Mines (1985) with Richard Chamberlain, and in the papal comedy The Pope Must Die (1991) starring Robbie Coltrane.

In the Nineties acted alongside his Asylum co-star Robert Powell again, in an episode of BBC comedy series The Detectives, starring Jasper Carrott.

Patrick Magee
Starred with Stanley Baker in The Concrete Jungle (1960), and Zulu (1964) which introduced the world to Michael Caine. Richard Harris and Alec Guiness in historical drama Cromwell (1970), and with Simon Ward, Ian Holm, Anthony Hopkins, John Mills and Edward Woodward in bio-pic Young Winston (1972).

He appeared in many horror films including; Roger Corman’s adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death (1964) with Vincent Price, and starred with Richard Attenborough in Séance on a Wet Weekend (1964).

Turns up in The Fiend (1971) with Tony Beckley and in Hammer’s Demons of the Mind (1972) with Michael Hordern. Worked with Boris Karloff in Die, Monster, Die! (1965), a film loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Colour Out of Space".

He was something of an Amicus regular with roles in The Skull (1965), Tales from the Crypt (1972), and also, And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973).

Acted with Robert Shaw in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party (1968) directed by William Friedkin. Worked for Stanley Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975).

On television he played a pet shop proprietor fascinated by lycanthropy in the episode: What Big Eyes of Nigel Kneale’s anthology series, Beasts (1976).

In the 1980’s, shortly before his death, he leant his talents to the Jack Gill, Chips Productions; The Monster Club (1981) and Hawk The Slayer (1981). His last film appearance was in the Academy award winning Chariots of Fire (1981).

Robert Powell
Appeared in The Italian Job (1969) as one of Michael Caine’s gang of daring robbers, the bizarre horror tale The Asphyx (1972), The Who rock musical Tommy (1975), the title role in Jesus of Nazareth (1977), and the remake of The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978). In the 1990’s he starred alongside Jasper Carrott in the police comedy series The Detectives.

Geoffrey Bayldon
Is one of the most familiar faces on British film and television. He appears in the superior film on the subject of the tragic sinking of the Titanic, A Night To Remember (1958). Suspect (1960) with Peter Cushing, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) starring Dick Van Dyke, A Dandy in Aspic (1968) with Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, Mia Farrow, Harry Andrews and Peter Cook.

In the horror genre he worked for Hammer on Dracula (1958) and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), and for Amicus he also worked on The House That Dripped Blood (1971) and Tales From The Crypt (1972). His last foray into Horror, to date, was in The Monster Club (1981).

His comedy appearances include the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) as ‘Q’ with David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. Inspector Clousea (1968) starring Alan Arkin as the hapless French Policeman. Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973) with Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) this time with Peter Sellers back in the famous Clousea role, and the film version of the popular prison set BBC sitcom Porridge (1979) starring Ronnie Barker.

On television appeared in The Avengers episodes The Deadly Air (1961) and Escape in Time (1967). Guest starred on The Saint in episodes, The Scorpion (1962) and The Art Collectors (1967) and in the Danger Man episode A Very Dangerous Game (1965) with Patrick McGoohan.

He played the lead in children’s fantasy series Catweazle (1969-70) and guest starred in Space: 1999 episode One Moment of Humanity (1976) and The Tomorrow People episode Into The Unknown (1976).

Played the Crowman opposite Jon Pertwee in Worzel Gummidge (1979-81). Starred alongside Tom Baker in Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit (1979). Featured in The Bruce-Partington Plans (1988) installment of The Return Of Sherlock Holmes and made an appearance in the BBC’s Chronicles Of Narnia (1989).

More recently he played the part of the Professor in the English language version of the popular French adventure game-show Fort Boyard (1998). And finally got to play the part of the time-travelling Doctor in Big Finish's series of Doctor Who - Unbound audio plays.

Supporting Cast

Sylvia Marriott
Had roles in the ‘unofficial’ James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983) and Empire of the Sun (1987).

Frank Forsyth
Appeared in British comedies such as Ealing’s The Lavendar Hill Mob (1951), seven of the ‘Carry On’ films; Carry On Sergeant (1958), Carry On Nurse (1959), Carry On Constable (1960), Carry On Cabby (1963), Carry On Jack (1963), Carry On Spying (1964) and Carry On Screaming (1966).

His horror appearances were in Hammer’s The Evil Of Frankenstein (1964), and Amicus’ The Skull (1965), The Psychopath (1966), The Deadly Bees (1967), They Came From Beyond Space (1967) and And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973).

And their anthologies Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), Torture Garden (1967), Tales From The Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973) and Tales That Witness Madness (1973).

Tony Wall
Played Napoleon in the television serial Doctor Who: The Reign Of Terror (1964) and appeared in Tales From The Crypt (1972).

Daniel Jones
Also worked on And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973) and The Vault of Horror (1973).

CONCLUSION

The combination of director, producers, writer, cast and crew go to make this one of the most enjoyable of the horror anthologies and one of the best constructed. The linking narrative, the boundary between the ‘delusions’ of the inmates and the reality of everyday life, is ultimately deconstructed, as nothing and nobody turn out to be quite what they seem.

Asylum is a highly enjoyable slice of murderous insanity. So seek out a copy, lay back and relax on the psychiatrist’s couch, and enjoy. You'd be mad to miss it!

THE MONSTER CLUB (1980)

2005-06-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Monster Club...

Vincent Price heads a wonderful cast of horror actors in this most curious of British horror anthologies. The individual stories are entertaining (The 'Humgoo' is particularly good) although the Monster Club customers in the linking section are ridiculously unconvincing. Their Costumes and masks making them Look more like refugees from a bankrupt Joke Shop than anything even remotely scarey.

THE FILM

Vincent Price stars as a vampire who one night accosts horror novelist R Chetwynd-Hayes (John Carradine) outside an old bookshop. Price invites Carradine to join him at an exclusive haunt of his, the Monster Club. There, Price tells Carradine about some of the strange creatures who have resulted from cross-breeding between monsters, and on occasion humans. The stories include the Shadmock, a creature whose whistle can kill, a village of Ghouls (featuring Patrick Magee) and Milton Subotsky appears as himself, introducing a short film which he informs everyone in the club is based on his childhood. It concerns his Father's mysterious night-time behaviour and a trio of bowler-hatted men carrying violin cases, lead by Donald Pleasance, who are trailing him. Britt Ekland plays the young Subotsky's Mother.

THE PRODUCTION

From 'Sword & Sorcery' (the makers of Hawk the Slayer), and Roy Ward Baker, the Director of A Night To Remember (1958), Quatermass and the Pit (1967), and Scars of Dracula (1970) came The Monster Club (1980), a Jack Gill presented Chips Production, produced by Milton Subotsky and based on the novel by R Chetwynd-Hayes.

The Monster Club is a horror anthology in the same vein as Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors, From Beyond The Grave, Tales From the Crypt and the Ward Baker directed and Subotsky produced Asylum and Vault of Horror. In many ways it marked the end of the British Horror film industry which began with Hammer and later encompassed Amicus, Tyburn and Tigon.

Made a year before its cult 'Sword & Sorcery' bed-fellow Hawk The Slayer, it's another production from the dark days of British film making, and is all the more intriguing for it. Like Hawk the Slayer this film brings together many familiar actors, including a few of the same cast, notably Patrick Magee, in one last delicious slice of British Gothic Horror.

The Monster Club features a number of musical acts including UB40 and B.A Robertson (Solo artist and co-writer of many Mike & the Mechanics songs) John Williams (of Classical Guitar playing fame, not the Star Wars John Williams) supplies the soundtrack for the 'Shadmock' section.

There are some rather good moments in this strange little film, but you'll just have to watch it to find out what they are. The best story is probably the one with the village of ghouls. It's quite atmospheric and the section with the illustrations of the Ghoul first coming to the village is wonderful.

Price's arguement at the end of the film for why Human beings should be allowed to become members of the Monster Club is actually quite thought provoking, and were it not for the duff looking Monsters listening to him in the background, would be rather dramatic. Ah well... you can't have everything can you.

If you like Hammer and its brethren then you will doubtless find much entertainment in The Monster Club. Price and Carradine both look quite old by this point, but that lends to the interest of the film. Giving us an example of their later work and teaming up Horror veterans for one of the last times. A highly intriguing little film...

The last decent horror anthology produced in the Hammer/Amicus style. Price, Carradine & Pleasance brought together as if to say farewell to the grand old days of horror film making.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974)

2005-06-06T04:45:00.000-07:00

Temptations Limited

Superb direction and production, wonderful stories, excellent cast. A veritable Who's Who of British Film & Television turn up to act out a series of bizarre and haunting tales of retribution in this glorious horror anthology.

THE FILM

Customers who have either stolen or conned antiques and collectables out of the owner of an old antique shop, have spine chilling experiences as a result.

THE PRODUCTION

From the imagination of horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (1919 - 2001) came From Beyond The Grave. A quartet of horror tales, 'The Gate Crasher', 'An Act Of Kindness', 'The Elemental' and 'The Door' which all originally appeared in his collection of short stories, 'The Unbidden'. The screenplay based on these works was written by Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou. R. Chetwynd-Hayes was later responsible for the last of the truely entertaining gothic horror anthologies, The Monster Club, which featured Donald Pleasance, who also turns up here.

In From Beyond The Grave, Peter Cushing stars as an elderly shop owner selling second hand goods and antiques. Customers who happen upon his little establishment, situated down a dingy back-street, get more than they bargain for from their transactions. Anyone who swindles or cheats the old shop keeper has strange and horrific experiences.

Stand out stories in this anthology are those concerning a mirror bought from the shop by David Warner, and the man that appears behind the glass who begins to hold control over the purchaser.

The other story being that about a young man (Ian Ogilvy) who buys a large old door with a face carved on it. When the door is fitted over a cupboard space in his new house, he and his wife discover one night that a room has appeared behind it.

There are some superb shocks and twists in the stories. All are terribly atmospheric with 'The Door' and 'The Gate Crasher' the best of the bunch, with 'An Act Of Kindness' coming in close behind.

Donald Pleasance giving a brilliant performance as usual with Angela Pleasance extremely creepy as the would-be bride for Donald's new friend played by Ian Bannen.

The Amicus produced From Beyond The Grave is one of the best, and possibly my favourite, of the horror anthologies made during the 60's and 70's. Others include (in no particular order); Asylum, Tales From The Crypt, Vault Of Horror, The House That Dripped Blood, Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors and The Monster Club.

Made in Britain in 1973, it was produced by Max Rosenburg and Milton Subotsky (Dr. Terror's House Of Horror's, Dr Who and the Daleks, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD, Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood, Asylum, Madhouse, The Land That Time Forgot, At Earth's Core, The Monster Club, Cat's Eye and The Lawnmower Man), with John Dark as associate Producer.

Directed by Kevin Connor (The Land That Time Forgot, At Earth's Core, The People That Time Forgot and Arabian Adventure) Cinematography by Alan Hume (The Legend Of Hell House, Carry On Girls, The Land That Time Forgot, For Your Eyes Only, Return Of The Jedi, Octopussy, Supergirl, A View To A Kill, Lifeforce, A Fish Called Wanda and Shirley Valentine)

Music directed, supervised and composed by Douglas Gamley (Tales From The Crypt, Asylum, Vault Of Horror, And Now The Screaming Starts, Madhouse, The Beast Must Die, The Land That Time Forgot, The Monster Club)

Editor - John Ireland, Art Direction - Maurice Carter and Bert Davey, Set Designer - Simon Wakefield, Costume Designer - John Hilling, Makeup - Neville Smallwood, Special Effects - Allan Bryce, and Camera Operator - Derek V. Browne.

THE CAST

The film's star and linking character is the inimitable Peter Cushing who had appeared in films as diverse as comedies and historical dramas before finding worldwide success in the horror films produced by Hammer. On British television he had appeared in Nigel Kneale's adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 in the 50's, and in later life leant his talents to such fantasy productions as Star Wars (Grand Moff Tarkin) and Biggles (Colonel Raymond).

Many of the British cast will, I suspect, look rather familiar. Included are the most well known films they've worked on. The actors and actresses are; David Warner, more often than not a 'bad-guy' has appeared in, amongst others; The Omen, Time After Time (as Jack the Ripper), S.O.S. Titanic, The Company Of Wolves, Time Bandits (as Evil), Tron, Star Treks V & VI, In The Mouth Of Madness, Titanic, Scream 2, Tim Burton's re-imagining of Planet of the Apes, and 2005's The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse as Dr. Pea.

Donald Pleasance, always brought great character and charm to his roles, whatever their motivations. He starred in Dr. Crippen (as Crippen), The Great Escape, You Only Live Twice (Ernst Stavro Blofeld), Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5 The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers (all as Dr. Sam Loomis), Escape From New York, The Uncanny, Death Line (US title; Raw Meat), THX 1138 & The Monster Club.

Angela Pleasance (Donald's real-life daughter here playing his screen daughter) has played in numeorus television series since the late 1960's. Including; Dixon of Dock Green, Casualty, The Bill, Crime Traveller, Midsomer Murders, Marple The Murder at the Vicarage, and BBC2's 2001 comedy horror anthology series Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible in the episode 'Scream Satan Scream'.

The Scots actor Ian Bannen appeared in many films, notably; Private's Progress (with Ian Carmichael and featuring Christopher Lee), Braveheart & Waking Ned.

Ian Carmichael, the quintessential Englishman, starred in; I'm Alright Jack (starring Peter Sellers), School For Scoundrels (with Terry-Thomas) and the remake of The Lady Vanishes (alongside Dad's Army's Arthur Lowe). More recently he has appeared as T.J. Middleditch in the Hospital based Heart Beat spin-off series The Royal.

Diana Dors, in her youth something of a sex-symbol and Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe, turned up in Theatre of Blood (starring; Vincent Price), Steptoe & Son Ride Again (with Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett), and Adam & the Ants 'Prince Charming' pop video.

The seasoned actress, Margaret Leighton's part in From Beyond The Grave was to be her last film role.

The young, dashing Ian Ogilvy was The Saint in the television series, The Return of the Saint. He appeared in And Now The Screaming Starts, Death Becomes Her and starred in the Michael Reeves films The She-Beast, The Sorcerors (with Boris Karloff) and Witchfinder General (alongside Vincent Price).

Nyree Dawn Porter, also appeared in And Now The Screaming Starts and on television starred in the BBC's The Forsythe Saga.

Ben Howard had roles in The Land That Time Forgot, A Bridge Too Far, and on television in Doctor Who - The Green Death (starring Jon Pertwee as The Doctor).

Lesley-Anne Down turned up in Countess Dracula (starring; Ingrid Pitt), The Return of the Pink Panther and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (starring; Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom).

Tommy Godfrey appeared in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother (starring Gene Wilder) and The Great Muppet Caper.

Jack Watson can be seen in The Gorgon (starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee), This Sporting Life (with Richard Harris and William Hartnell) and the classic chiller, Peeping Tom.

CONCLUSION

From Beyond The Grave is well worth a look. If you enjoy colourful British Horror films then this will be right up your street. Find a copy and pop it in your video player. Go on, treat yourselves... to a night of spine-tingling terror!

THE CREEPING FLESH (1973)

2005-05-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

"Do you believe in Evil...?"

Cushing and Lee at the height of their horrific powers. The Creeping Flesh is a splendid story with excellent direction and acting. A sumptuously atmospheric and colourful Gothic Horror which was more 'Hammer Horror', than Hammer themselves were at the time. A top-notch piece of British film-making.

THE FILM

While putting the finishing touches to a fantastically creepy painting, Anthropologist Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) is visited by a fellow man of science. Hildern recounts a haunting tale of his discovery of a highly advanced skeleton, found at a lower level than Neanderthal man, in Papua, New Guinea.

The remains, were brought back to England, and sequestered in Hildern's laboratory. While washing a finger of the skeleton, he witnessed flesh forming on the ancient bone. Having removed the digit, his experiments on it lead him to believe that what he had in fact discovered, were the ancient remains of something unimaginably evil.

THE PRODUCTION

The Creeping Flesh, John Heyman's World Film Services co-production with Tony Tenser's Tigon Films, began shooting in January 1972. Location work was shot near Tower Bridge, London and at Thorpe, in Surrey, England. The interior settings were adapted by the Art Director George Povis from sets left over from The House That Dripped Blood (1970).

Written by Peter Spencheley and Jonathan Rumbold, produced by Michael Redbourn, executively produced by Norman Priggen and Tony Tenser. Cinematography by Norman Warwick B.S.C., Camera Operator was John Harris, and Oswald Hafenrichter edited.

Sound Recordist Norman Boland also worked on Tales From The Crypt (1971) and Asylum (1972). Wardrobe Supervisor Bridget Sellers was Wardrobe Mistress on Asylum (1972) and costume designer for I, Monster (1971).

The flesh creepingly atmospheric score was composed by Paul Ferris who had previously written the music for (and made a cameo appearance in) Michael Reeves' 1967 horror classic Witchfinder General, starring Vincent Price.

Make-up was handled by Hammer regular Roy Ashton, whose work for them included; Curse Of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Never Take Candy From A Stranger (1960), Terror of the Tongs (1961), Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Paranoiac (1963), Kiss of the Vampire (1963), The Gorgon (1964), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), The Camp on Blood Island (1965), She (1965), The Reptile (1966), Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966), Dracula - Prince Of Darkness (1966), and The Plague of Zombies (1966).

He also worked on the Amicus anthologies; Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Tales From The Crypt (1971), Asylum (1972) and Vault of Horror (1973).

The Creeping Flesh was directed by Freddie Francis who had come to horror pictures fairly late in his film career. He was a camera operator on such films as the John Houston directed; Moulin Rouge (1963) which featured both Cushing and Lee, Beat The Devil (1953) starring Humphrey Bogart, Robert Morley and Peter Lorre, and was the second-unit and effects photographer on Houston's Moby Dick (1956).

As a cameraman he gained a much respected reputation for his photography on films like Room At The Top (1958), Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960), The Taming Of The Shrew, The Innocents (1961) which was based on Henry James' novel The Turning of the Screw and Sons and Lovers (1960) for which he gained an Oscar.

Through an association with Tony Hinds, he became involved with Hammer and directed Paranoiac (1962), The Evil Of Frankenstein (1963), Nightmare (1963), Hysteria (1964) and Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968).

Went on to direct the Amicus anthologies Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors (1964), Torture Garden (1967) and Tales From The Crypt (1971). Also for Amicus; The Skull (1965) based on Robert Bloch's short story 'The Skull of the Marguis De Sade', The Psychopath (1966) and The Deadly Bees (1966), both written by Bloch. Freddie Francis also directed The Ghoul (1974) and Legend of the Werewolf (1975) for Tyburn, the film company owned by his son, Kevin Francis.

Contemporary British press reviews of The Creeping Flesh were favourable.

The Guardian noted, "Good, solid work from Freddie Francis... a technician who invariably takes more care than most in the genre with storyline and trappings. Messers Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee benefit from the treatment."

The Sunday Times - "It employs the twin pillars of our native horror cinema... As a matter of fact, I thought Mr Cushing gave one of his best performances; and the screenplay, too, was on a higher level of invention than usual."

Films Illustrated - "Horror fans will welcome this return in class and style to the early Hammer films... The feel of the woodland scenes is more Danish or Swedish than English... and the period is flawlessly caught, intangibly as well as in plain view... Cushing's cultured performance looks even better within a strong storyline, and Lorna Heilbron is excellent as the repressed daughter."

The Creeping Flesh was simultaneously released in America as support to William A Fraker's A Reflection of Fear. Reviewers across the Atlantic were also impressed. Village Voice wrote, "The Creeping Flesh is directed with unexpected sensitivity and sophistication." and "The entire production is professionally crafted and the cast is tops, exploiting to the fullest their... characters." was Variety's opinion.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were again teamed in a gothic horror. The reason these two wonderful actors were so often paired up in films is because they worked so well together, and could even make the flimsiest of scripts work and make the resulting films a pleasure to watch just because of their involvement.

This was often the case on 'solo' outings too. Such an example is the frankly abysmal and bizarre 'comedy' No Secrets (1982) starring Oliver Reed (who throughout appears to be three sheets to the wind). It is truly dreadful, but then up pops Peter Cushing who doesn't downplay in the least. He doesn't quite save the film from drowning in its own awfulness, but he does manage to keep its head above water for as long as he is on screen. One wonders what on earth possessed him to appear in such tripe.

Christopher Lee's 'No Secrets' is the mind crushingly dire Talos The Mummy (1999). It starts well enough with Lee as an archaeologist digging about in Egypt. It actually looks pretty damn good in these early sequences. Then unfortunately there is an attack of possibly the worst CGI I have ever seen. Lee's character dies with the aid of the terrible computer graphics and from that point on the film nose dives into the sand. It should have simply buried its head there in shame. As with Cushing in No secrets, Lee is the only reason for watching, and for his short time on screen the film showed potential.

This isn't the case with The Creeping Flesh however, as it is wonderful anyway and is just made even better by Cushing and Lee's casting. The story and production was something of a return to the style of the Hammer Horrors of the late 50's, early 60's. This was strengthened by the use of regular Hammer cast and crew, such as Roy Ashton on Make-up and actors, Michael Ripper and Duncan Lamont.

As such, The Creeping Flesh is one of the best (and last) of the gothic horror's produced during the 50's - 70's period. At this time few 'original' horror's were being made in Britain. Amicus were churning out their excellent but formulaic anthologies and Hammer were busy regurgitating sequels to their Dracula and Frankenstein pictures, and cheap exploitation 'quickies'.

It was distributed by Tigon in Britain and in the US by Columbia. The UK version ran to 91 minutes and was given an 'X' certificate whereas in the US it was shown in a slightly edited version running to 89 minutes.

THE CAST

Peter Cushing came to prominence as a television star in Britain during the 1950's even winning the title of British TV Actor of the Year in 1955. He had starred in a number of films since 1939's Laurel & Hardy classic A Chump at Oxford, before this, but it was on television that he found the most public recognition.

It was this recognition which led him to be cast in Hammer's first foray into Gothic Horror with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), in which he played the title role with Christopher Lee playing his man-made monster. The film was such a success that they were paired again the following year in Dracula and then the year after that in The Mummy.

This on-screen partnership, which turned into a deep friendship, spanned many years, their last co-starring work being on The House of Long Shadows (1982), which also starred Vincent Price and John Carradine.

Some of their greatest films together were those early Hammer Horrors as well as The Gorgon (1964), She (1965) and later the under-rated, The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). For Eugene Martin they starred in Horror Express (1971), and for Amicus in Dr. Terror's House of Horror's (1965) and I, Monster (1971).

Michael Ripper will probably be a very familiar face indeed. He was one of Hammer's stable of talented and reliable character actors, and in his long career appeared in many 'cult' British films and television series, mainly horrors and comedies.

For Hammer he worked on such films as; X the Unknown (1956), Quatermass II (1957), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Mummy (1959), The Brides Of Dracula (1960), Curse of the Werewolf (1962) starring Oliver Reed, Captain Clegg (1962), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964), The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1965), Camp on Blood Island (1965), The Reptile (1966), The Plague of Zombies (1966), Quatermass and the Pit (1967), The Mummy's Shroud (1967), The Lost Continent (1968), Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968), Moon Zero Two (1969), Scars of Dracula (1970), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), and That's Your Funeral (1974).

For Amicus he acted in Torture Garden (1967) and The Deadly Bees (1967) and for Tyburn in Legend of the Werewolf (1975). His other films included; 1984 (1954), Reach for the Sky (1956), The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965), and comedies; The History of Mr Polly (1949), Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1956), The Army Game spin-off I Only Arsked! (1958), The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's (1961), The Punch and Judy Man (1963) starring Tony Hancock, The Great S. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) and Inspector Clouseau (1968) with Alan Arkin playing the hapless French policeman.

Marianne Stone appeared alongside Richard Attenborough and William Hartnell in the classic British gangster film Brighton Rock (1947). Acted in British comedies; Private's Progress (1956) which also featured Ian Carmichael, Ian Bannen, Terry-Thomas and Christopher Lee, The Brother's In Law (1957), I'm Alright Jack (1959) starring Peter Sellers, Doctor In Love (1960), Carry On Jack (1963), The Intelligence Men (1965) with Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise, the Hammer influenced Carry On Screaming (1966), The Wrong Box (1966) starring, amongst others; Tony Hancock, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Charlie Chaplin's A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), Carry On, Don't Lose Your Head (1967), Carry On Doctor (1968), Doctor In Trouble (1970), There's A Girl In My Soup (1970), Carry On, at Your Convenience (1971), Carry On Girls (1971), Bless This House (1972), Carry On Matron (1973), Percy's Progress (1974) with Denholm Elliot and Vincent Price, Carry On Behind (1975), Carry On Dick (1975) and Michael Winner's The Wicked Lady (1983). Worked for Hammer on Quatermass II (1957), Paranoiac (1963), Hysteria (1964) and Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1965).

Turned up in other classic British made films; the superb Hell Drivers (1957), Jack the Ripper (1958), The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961), Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), and with The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night (1964) which also starred Wilfred Brambell.

Scotsman, Duncan Lamont was a Hammer regular and made his first of many film appearances during the Second World War. He worked alongside Alec Guiness in the wonderful Ealing comedy, The Man In The White Suit (1951).

Appeared in war dramas; I Was Monty's Double (1958) and The Battle Of Britain (1969). Played Marius in Ben-Hur (1959), and also starred in swash-bucklers; Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964).

In the 1960's he worked on Hammer productions; Frankenstein Created Woman (1965) and the Nigel Kneale scripted; The Witches (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). He had previously played the part of the ill-fated Victor Caroon in the original BBC television version of Kneale's The Quatermass Experiment (1953).

He went on to act in Nothing But The Night (1972) made by Christopher Lee's film company Charlemagne Productions Ltd. and on television in Doctor Who: Death To The Daleks (1974).

Welsh-born, George Benson acted in The Man In The Whit Suit (1951), the bizarre Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952), which paired Old Mother Riley an old British music hall act played by Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi (once again in his Dracula guise). This is perhaps an even lower point in Lugosi's career than his later work with Edward Wood Junior.

Appeared with the Count again in Hammer's Dracula (1958), known as The Horror of Dracula in America, and starring Christopher Lee in his first outing in the cape and fangs. He can be seen in The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's (1961), The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) which starred Christopher Lee as Homes's brother Mycroft, and on television in The Prisoner (1968)

Harry Locke was often seen in small 'service' roles in British comedy, musical, drama and horror films. Turns up in Passport To Pimlico (1949), Doctor In The House (1953), A Yank In Ermine (1955), Reach For The Sky (1956), Doctor At Large (1957), I'm Alright Jack (1959), Carry On Nurse (1959), Devil-Ship Pirates (1964), Half A Sixpence (1967), Oh! What A Lovely War (1969), Carry On Again, Doctor (1969) and Tales From The Crypt (1971).

Australian, Kenneth J. Warren appeared in; I Was Monty's Double (1958), The Navy Lark (195?), I'm Alright Jack (1959), Circus of Horrors (1960), The Criminal (1960) known as The Concrete Jungle in the USA, Dr. Blood's Coffin (1960), I Monster (1971), Demons of the Mind (1972), Digby, the Biggest Dog In The World (1973), S*P*Y*S (1974) and on British television in The Avengers.

Hedger Wallace appeared in three of the Amicus horror anthologies; Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors (1965), Torture Garden (1967) and Tales From The Crypt (1971). Also worked on The Oblong Box (1969) and the Freddie Francis directed, Burke and Hare Body-Snatcher horror, The Doctor and the Devils (1985).

Alexandra Dane can be seen in the 'forgotten' British horror classic Corruption (1968) starring Peter Cushing, Carry On Doctor (1968), Carry On Up The Khyber (1968) and Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky (1977).

Catherine Finn leant her vocal talents to Thunderbirds and appeared in the Amicus productions, The Deadly Bees (1966) and Torture Garden (1967).

Scots actress Lorna Heilbron played opposite Dudley Moore in the 1969 West End production of Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam.

Robert Swann later turned up in Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George (1994).

CONCLUSION

The combination of science and the 'supernatural' has always been a winning formula and The Creeping Flesh uses this to the full.

Peter Cushing is heart-breakingly fragile as Emmanuel Hildern, much of this emotion perhaps deriving from the recent death of his own wife, Helen. In contrast you feel nothing for Christopher Lee, as James Hildern, who is ruthless and conniving. A thoroughly disagreeable chap indeed.

Cushing and Lee always worked better when they were opposing forces rather than when they were on the same side. If you have never seen a British gothic horror film this would be a wonderful introduction to the genre. If you are familiar with it, then you will be delighted with this addition.

An intelligent story perfectly cast and directed, The Creeping Flesh shames many of the horror films produced at the time (and since) in Britain (and the world), for its sheer creative flair. A personal favourite of mine, I encourage you dear reader to seek out a copy and indulge your wicked side with this superior macabre fantasy.

Films with a similar theme include; The Mummy (1959), The Blood Beast Terror (1967), Quatermass and the Pit (1967) but the film that most closely resembles The Creeping Flesh is Horror Express (1971) which also starred Cushing and Lee.

HORROR EXPRESS (1972)

2005-05-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

"One of us the Monster? But we're British you know!"

Before Ridley Scott’s Alien there was Horror Express. The claustrophobic confines of a train in place of the Nostromo as the hunting ground for a killer of extra-terrestrial origin.
This Fantastically eerie gothic horror, with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee at their British best, is only let down by some of the dubbed voices. This is a minor quibble (it was an anglo-spanish production after all!)

THE FILM
Provincia de Szecuan, China, 1906.
Professor Alex Caxton (Christopher Lee), a British palaeontologist, transporting the recently discovered remains of a prehistoric man-ape on the Trans-Siberian express train, is surprised when his find goes missing.

He and fellow British scientist Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing) investigate and begin to suspect foul-play when corpses begin to mount up. They begin to suspect that the frozen remains have thawed out...

The Cossack Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas) and his men, board the train, but not even their military training has prepared them for what they are to encounter on the Horror Express.

THE PRODUCTION
An anglo-spanish production filmed in sumptuous Eastmancolor, made by Benmar Productions and Granada Films in Madrid, December 1971. Entitled Panico en el Transiberiano (Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express) in Spain, it is more commonly known as Horror Express.

Bernard Gordon produced with Gene Martin directing. The screenplay was written by Arnaud D'Usseau and Julian Halevy, based on a story by Gene Martin. Cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa and Special Effects by Pablo Perez.

Composer John Cacavas also wrote the music for Christopher Lee's last appearance for Hammer as Dracula in The Satanic Rites Of Dracula (1973) and Airport 77 (1977), in which Lee also appeared. Went on to compose music for many television movies, including; The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987), The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) & Kojak: None So Blind (1990) all starring Telly Savalas.

This is one of the best gothic horrors starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The other outstanding teaming of these wonderful actors at this time was The Creeping Flesh (1972). Horror Express and The Creeping Flesh both owed a lot to the early gothic horrors that Hammer produced in the late 50’s and early 60’s. However, during the 70’s Hammer seemed to move away from the creativity and originality that had endeared them to the cinema going public. Although not completely abandoning originality, they did begin to churn out sequel after sequel. It was up to other film-makers to use Cushing and Lee in stories with more interesting concepts.

Saying that, Horror Express and The Creeping Flesh do share similarities beyond their cast. Both concern the discovery of ancient remains by scientists, but one is a Gothic Science-Fiction Horror and the other is more concerned with the ‘super-natural’ concept of Evil as a physical entity.

Peter Cushing later said of his time working on Horror Express,

"I adored that film. We did it in Spain and Christopher Lee was so kind because it was one of the first I did after I had undergone a personal trauma. It was an enjoyable film to make and Christopher Lee was marvellous during it because he's so good with languages - he speaks about ten, bless him.

It's very tricky working in a foreign country when you're so used to English ways. I can hardly speak English, much less Spanish, but they were all so sweet during the making of that. It took just a little more time, naturally, for the Spanish to get across to me what they were after - and vice versa - but Christopher was, as always, a tower of strength.

It was indeed a very happy film to make. He and I had some nice exchanges of dialogue - we always work on those together, with the director of course. And I thought it was so clever of the producer who bought the two model trains used in the film Nicholas and Alexandra, (to have built them especially would have cost a fortune) and then wrote a script around them.

It was wonderful - all they had in the studio was a carriage on one sound stage and a carriage in another sound stage, so we worked in one which was dressed up as the guard's van, and the other one would be dressed up as, say, the dining car, and when we were finished in the guard's van we went and did all the scenes in the dining car. In the meantime they altered the guard's van into something else.

It was a picture I very much wanted to see when it was completed but I was in France making another one when it came out"

THE CAST
Yet again Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee (credited as Cristopher Lee in the opening titles) are paired in a superb Gothic Horror. Cushing and Lee appeared in numerous films together, although in the early days not always in the same scenes!

From Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet (1948) and John Huston’s Moulin Rouge (1952) to An Arabian Adventure (1979) and The House of Long Shadows (1982).

Their last work together was as narrators on the two part Hammer documentary, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994). Cushing died before the second installment aired and after its screening the BBC screened a specially edited montage of clips from his film and television career.

Peter Cushing’s early film work included roles in James Whale productions The Man In The Iron Mask (1939) and They Dare Not Love (1941). The rarely seen drama Vigil In The Night (1940), and alongside Hollywood legends in The Howard’s of Virginia (1940) with Cary Grant and A Chump At Oxford (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

In later life he worked on films such as Star Wars (1977), The Uncanny (1978), Top Secret! (1984) and Biggles (1985).

Christopher Lee made many uncredited appearances in black and white films in the 50's. Including as a German Officer in both Private's Progress (1956) and Ill Met By Moonlight (1957). In the 1970’s, wanting to shed his feared typecasting as Dracula, Lee starred in films as diverse as Death Line (1972), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Wicker Man (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
More recently Lee starred in television productions of Ivanhoe (1997) and Gormenghast (2000). On the big screen he appeared in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999) and he plays Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) and Count Dooku (Darth Tyrannus) in the second and third episodes of the Star Wars prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005).

He is soon to be seen as Willy Wonka's father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, in Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and heard providing the voice of Pastor Galswell in Burton's animated Corpse Bride (2005).

Telly Savalas' appeared in numerous films and television series. He turns up in such films as, Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Cape Fear (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Genghis Kahn (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Capricorn One (1978), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), The Muppet Movie (1979), Escape to Athena (1979), Cannonball Run II (1984), and leant his voice to the animated, Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1985).

He appeared on American television in the 60’s in such shows as; The Twilight Zone, The Fugtive, Bonanza, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Most people recognise Savalas from his lollipop sucking television cop role of Kojak, which he played during the seventies. He returned to the role in a number of television movies based on the series.

Inspector Mirov, played by Alberto de Mendoza (the Spanish 'star-name' of the film) crossed over again into English speaking cinema in the Agatha Christie who-dunnit, And Then There Were None (1975). Which also starred Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough, Gert Frobe, Herbert Lom, Orson Welles and Charles Aznavour.

Most of the Horror Express cast seem to have worked almost exclusively on Spanish productions. Only Angel del Povo and Jose Marco having appeared in other English language pictures, The Three Musketeers (Starring; Christopher Lee, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay and Charlton Heston) and
Romeo & Juliet respectively.

CONCLUSION
I first came across Horror Express in my early teens. It was being screened in a late night horror film slot on the BBC. I'm a big fan of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee so this is what made me tune in. I was rewarded with one of the best films that these two fine actors made together.

The story, setting, cast and special effects, are all brilliant, and it's rather a gruesome and creepy film too. The opening title sequence of glaring light and the sound of the train in motion, accompanied by Cacavas' whistling composition is fantastically atmospheric. They introduce you nicely and set the mood for the rest of the picture.

The setting is ingenious, and extremely atmospheric. The tension and horror heightened by the cramped confines of the train.

A tale of ancient remains, invasion and possession. An alien being stalking the dark confines of the Trans-Siberian Express with one thought on its mind. One by one the passengers succumb to its evil control until no-one is sure who they can trust. A classic.

So if you’re in need of a little break, purchase a ticket and take a ride on the Trans-Siberian HORROR Express. Just make sure you know who, or what, you’ll be sharing a carriage with…

Alan Fletcher - Tuesday the 24th May - Walkabout, Carver Street, Sheffield

2005-05-26T07:21:00.001-07:00

Alan Fletcher (T.V's Dr. Karl Kennedy from Neighbours) played to a packed house. Doors opened at 7 o'clock and by the time we arrived (at roughly ten past) there was already a very long queue snaking from the entrance, down the front, up alongside and around the back of the building. And then continuing some way up the street. Thankfully we were on the guest list so we didn't have to queue as long as many people did.

We were greeted with such brain poundingly loud music that I instantaneously got a headache. I have never been able to fathom why places feel the need to have the music pumped up to such dizzying volumes. Not only that but somehow the DJ's CD player played everything slightly too fast, which many people may not have noticed but if you could make out the vocals through the thumping bass and ear-piercing treble you may have thought you were istening to a covers album recorded by Pinky & Perky.

But I digress...

After a long wait, the DJ uttered something unintelligable, and in a matter of moments there he was! Alan 'Fletch' Fletcher with his new band 'Waiting Room'.

Into the Pit...

2005-05-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

The Pit of Paramanjara will be a place where I can review books, films, music, radio and television.

All opinions will be my own.

Some postings will have previously appeared elsewhere on the internet.