The final film in Hammer studios Frankenstein series brings back peter Cushing as the naughty doctor and teams him up with a young admirer and emulator of his work(Shane Briant). The monster is played by David Prowse who among other hulking monsters over the years would go on to famously play Darth Vader. Taking place in an insane asylum this is a decent enough watch though I often find the endings to these Hammer monster movies a bit of a letdown and this one is no exception there. It also leaves the ending open for more adventures of our wacky mad scientists which sadly didn't happen.
Played in England on a weird double bill with a Shaw Brothers kung fu flick from 2 years prior:
Peter Cushing and Calvin Lockhart(of COTTON COMES TO HARLEM fame) are featured in this British horror film that some call a blaxploitation werewolf movie. Despite the funky soundtrack and a couple of black characters it really isn't much like an American blaxploitation flick. Still a fun one that starts out like THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME before settling into a more typical whodunnit tale. There is a bit where they stop the movie and take a "werewolf break" so you can guess who's the wolfman(or wolfwoman) so that's something. The monster itself is kind of a letdown though being just a big fluffy dog
Released on VHS under this more exploitative title!:
So this is sort-of a vampire movie except the blood-sucker here is actually a lady who occasionally turns into a moth-monster to feed on human victims. Apparently this is based on some old-time folklore but it seems pretty far-out here set in classy old England. Peter Cushing stars and does his best to take the role seriously. I've read that he considered this the worst movie that he'd been in but I didn't think it that far down from some of his Hammer flicks, just a bit cheesier. I found it enjoyable enough for what it was though. Tigon studios usually gets relegated to 3rd place behind Hammer and Amicus and I guess this is a good example of why.
Released in Italy as MONSTER OF BLOOD:
Played in England with this Italian Christopher Lee horror:
Played in America as THE VAMPIRE BEAST CRAVES BLOOD with an obscure Italian horror from 1962:
and at this Canadian drive-in theater with an obscure Argentinian horror from 1967 and some American drama about a priest questioning his faith from 1969:
The DVD I own of this has the way more horror-ish title of BLOOD SUCKERS while the actual onscreen title is the duller FREEDOM SEEKER. The worse title might be a bit more fitting since a lot od this film plays like an action-adventure about a group of friends searching for their lost British compatriot in Greece. There is a lady vampire involved though and that leads to a bloody orgy scene/60s psychedelic freak-out. Too bad that's the really only exciting scene in the film and this never reaches the classy heights of similar Hammer Studios productions of this time-period. Peter Cushing only shows up for a few small appearances while Patrick Macnee, from THE AVENGERS TV show, has a significantly larger role. AKA INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED
Originally released in America on a double-bill with Filipino horror BLOOD THIRST:
This Amicus anthology features Peter Cushing on a train with five other passengers including Christopher Lee and a young Donald Sutherland. He ends up telling them all their futures using a deck of tarot cards. Spoiler alert: none of them has a very bright future since this is a horror film with "horror" right there in the title. The 5 tales include a werewolf one, a vampire one, a killer plant one( which is sort-of a short version of DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, which had come out 2 years prior), a voodoo curse one featuring a jazz band and lots of music and what's probably my fav, a killer disembodied hand(yes just like Thing from THE ADDAMS FAMILY) that stalks snobby art critic Christopher Lee. Pretty simple yarns but they're all effective enough and the acting is top-notch throughout. AKA THE BLOOD SEEKERS and THE HOUSE OF HORRORS
Played, for some reason, with a western in the U.K.!:
This old 1940s spook show had a very influential name!:
Peter Cushing plays what is probably his most twisted villainous role as a doctor who resorts to killing women for his fiancé who has suffered from a face-scarring accident he himself inadvertently caused. There's obviously an EYES WITHOUT A FACE nod here, which was a popular film to rip-off at the time, but it takes things into an interesting and weird enough place to keep me watching. My favorite part of this film is really towards the ending when a gang of no-good hooligans(in particular an ugly fellow named Groper who licks to lick things)show up with intentions of robbing Cushing and his gal pal and instead find a decapitated head among other strangeness. It all culminates with a naughty laser that offs most of the cast. AKA CARNAGE and LASER KILLER
There is an "international" cut of this which is shorter but contains nudity.
1972 is one of the greatest years for horror films and this Spanish/British co-production is further proof of that. You get the rare treat of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee both being on the same side, a plot that mixes horror and sci-fi in an ORIENT EXPRESS setting featuring a prehistoric monster and an alien force, and most importantly the great Telly Savalas acting his ass off. Bloody eyeballs, dodgy science, white-eyed zombies and good claustrophobic horror elements make for a great ride.
The original Spanish version, titled PANIC ON THE TRANSIBERIAN, features a funkier soundtrack. This version is 88 minutes long while there's a shorter, 85 minute T.V. version out there also. Allegedly re-released at some point as THE POSSESSOR. Known in Japan under the snazzy title of ZOMBIE EXPRESS TO HELL.
This is kind of a goofy one for Hammer studios because it deals with a monster from Greek mythology coming back from the dead and possessing a woman, oh and then turning people into stone and killing them. No, not Medusa, but her sister Maguera, the lesser known of the three Gorgon sisters(in actual Greek mythology the 3 gorgon sisters were Euryale, Stheno and Medusa, so I'm not sure where they got this name from but it is slightly easier to pronounce. Maybe they borrowed it from that giant Japanese robot in THE MYSTERIANS). As usual Hammer makes everything look great(except those very fake-looking snakes in Maguera's hair) and you get to see Christopher Lee in a rare heroic role. Also since the Gorgon only appears during a full moon it all plays like a weird female version of a werewolf tale which is cool.
The 3rd movie in Hammer studio's FRANKENSTEIN series(though that doesn't really matter since it's not really a sequel to any of the previous entries and just retells Frankenstein's origin). Strange that they called this one THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN since Dr. Frank isn't particularly evil here and is shown being treated like crap right from the beginning. He also gets taken advantage of by a drunken hypnotist, fellow with the awesome name of Zoltan(Peter Woodthorpe), who uses the creature(British Pro-wrestler Kiwi Kingston) for his own nefarious purposes. It's all a pretty by-the-numbers film. The monster looks like a crappy version of the Universal Karloff design, a deaf-mute gal who looks like Bjork becomes his only friend and the monster's downfall, humorously, has to do with him very quickly becoming a raging alcoholic. Peter Cushing does his usual great acting as the obsessed doctor but I can see why Christopher Lee wouldn't have been interested in being in this.
The whole Hammer FRANKENSTEIN series:
1. THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
2. THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958)
3. THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964)
4. FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967)
5. FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969)
6. THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970)
7. FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974)
Working my way through The Hammer Horror DVD set this is one that I'de never heard of but it's pretty good. This mostly has to do with Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed who are always excellent and the fact that the film moves along pretty briskly unlike many other Hammer films from this era. If you're looking for an actual horror film though this one barely qualifies being more of a dramatic tale of booze smuggling villagers (and pirates) and the king's army who are out to stop them. The titular "Night Creatures"(who reminded me of those bullies in THE KARATE KID who wore the skeleton pajamas) are not really a main focal point and the original British title of CAPTAIN CLEGG is more fitting, if not as exploitative. To sum it all up a good film that's not exactly a good example of Hammer horror but worth a look for something slightly different from the famous studio.
The follow-up to Hammer's 1st Dracula movie. In this one Dracula is already dead so we don't get any Christopher Lee returning instead we get a Baron Meinster(David Peel(not to be confused with the New York hippie singer David Peel)) as our lead vampire and a bunch of his lady-vampires. So I guess technically this should be titled THE BRIDES OF MEINSTER but who the hell is gonna watch that? Anyway we do get Peter Cushing back as Van Helsing and since it's a Hammer film everything looks really great including the sets and the leading ladies. This doesn't really live up to the first film and doesn't get as sexy as the latter films but still a decent monster romp for a Saturday afternoon.
Paired on an unlikely double-bill with this film about the perils of teenage pregnancy!:
British anthology written by the guy who wrote PSYCHO(Robert Bloch) and released by Amicus studios featuring a bunch of big English names like Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Charlotte Rampling and Britt Ekland. Oh and that guy in the wheelchair from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE(Patrick Magee) whose strange over-acting style I always enjoy. The main story involves, you guessed it, an asylum, with a bunch of wackos who don't seem all that nutty except that they all tell these ridiculous stories which we get to see play out in individual segments. There's a wife murderer, a magical life-giving suit, a brother murderer and a little killer robot(which is the story that seems to stick in people's memories the most out of these). While British horror isn't my favorite this one is OK, especially for something rated PG, and is so inoffensive you could probably show your grandma and not worry about freaking anyone out. Also there's some nice wallpaper that I couldn't help but notice during some of the more boring scenes.
This is the 7th film in Hammer's Dracula series and while I like the idea of Dracula Vs. swingin' 70's British hippies, this movie, for the most part, is pretty dull. Many Hammer films are slow and talky and often the old-timey setting is pretty unexciting. This time they set it in the modern-day(1970's) so at least you get an acid-rock band and some partying acid-heads. The whole Dracula part though is so predictable and standard that it's really hard to get into the film on any level. It starts with a flash-back which wasn't in the previous movie(SCARS OF DRACULA) and then ends in a pretty similar way. Hammer couldn't have come up with something at least a little bit original here? Pretty disappointing despite the presence of Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, some super red blood and a couple of scantily-clad English birds including most notably the lovely Caroline Monroe.
In Denmark this is known under the title VAMPIRE HUNTER HOTPANTS which might be one of the most amazing titles ever!:
In some European countries this didn't come out until 1973:
This along with CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and all their various sequels ushered in a new era of monster movies which led to stuff like FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine becoming popular and THE MUNSTERS being a hit TV program. So these films are historically important and are basically remakes of the old Universal monster flicks but with some ultra-red blood thrown in and much more British-ness. As I kid watching these movies on TV I found the parts without Drac to be a real drag but now I can appreciate the building of tension and atmosphere a lot more. Christopher Lee portrays the title monster and while he's no Bela Lugosi he's certainly more athletic and cuts a pretty imposing figure. AKA DRACULA and DRACULA 1958
There's a slightly longer Japanese cut that was released a couple of years back that I've yet to see.
Amicus studios in England made a bunch of anthology-type horror movies. This isn't one of them but I think maybe it would have worked better as a shorter story in one of those. As it is this is one of the stupider movies I've seen in a while. Apparently the skull of the Marquis de Sade turns people into psycho-killers. Now I'm no literary historian but I believe the Marquis de Sade was just some guy who wrote books about S & M and didn't murder people but what do I know? Peter Cushing is our star here and he plays a collector of strange antique items. He ends up getting attacked by a skull on obvious strings and it's all very dumb and very British. Christopher Lee is in this also but doesn't do much. Also that paralyzed guy from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE that tells Alex to "please try the wine" shows up in a small part and I always enjoy seeing him besides that though I would say stick with the Amicus anthologies instead. Perhaps even FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE or THE MONSTER CLUB would be nice.
This is the 8th Dracula movie in the Hammer studios series and while I'm generally more of a fan of the classic Universal monster flicks this one at least gives us some Satan stuff which includes naked gals being sacrificed to Beelzebub and some sexy chained-up vampire chicks to spice things up. Dracula in this one decides to bring back the plague and wipe out humanity. I'm not exactly sure what this accomplishes but it does seem pretty evil. It was the last film with the classic pairing of Christopher Lee as Drac and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and while they do a good enough job it also has a lot of boring stretches and a pretty uneventful ending involving Dracula fighting a thorn bush. I think I agree with the general consensus that this is skip-able unless you're a big Hammer films fanatic. Released in America as COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE BRIDE
Pretty decent underwater nazi-zombies flick starring John Carradine and Peter Cushing. Carradine really only appears for the first third or so of the film and I always end up staring at his creepy arthritis-riddled hands whenever he's onscreen. Cushing pops up later on with a German accent and looks very thin and skeleton-esque.
The main drawback this film has is that it's rated PG and the fascist zombies prefer drowning and/or choking their victims to death instead of the more popular gut-munching which makes this flick totally gore-less so don't bother with it if that's all you're looking for. The other minor quibble I have with the plot is how the first thing they do is show us the sole-survivor of the zombie attack so we know how it's all going to end up right from the opening. Talk about destroying any sense of suspense. Besides these things though I think the movie is off-kilter and different enough to at least give it a look if you're a horror fan.
I always assumed, due to Cushing's involvement, that this was a British film but apparently it was filmed in Florida. The director Ken Wiederhorn went on to do KING FRAT which is probably the stupidest ANIMAL HOUSE rip-off movie ever made so that's something to be proud of.
One of the working titles of this was DEATH CORPS but I guess since a poster exists it mighta been released as that also:
