‘Everything that makes life worth leaving!’

The Vault of Horror is a 1973 British anthology horror film made by Amicus Productions. Like the 1972 Amicus film Tales from the Crypt, it is based on stories from the American EC Comics series written by Al Feldstein. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Vampire Lovers; Scars of Dracula; Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) from a screenplay by Milton Subotsky.

None of the stories are actually from Vault of Horror comics. All but one appeared in Tales from the Crypt, the exception being from Shock SuspenStories.

The film is also known as Vault of Horror, Further Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Crypt II.

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Cast:

Terry-Thomas (The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Dr. Phibes Rises Again), Dawn Addams (The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll), Denholm Elliott (To the Devil a Daughter; Hammer House of Horror), Curd Jürgens (The Sleep of Death), Tom Baker (The Mutations; Doctor Who), Michael Craig (Inn of the Damned; Turkey Shoot), Daniel Massey (Shadows of Fear; The Cat and the Canary) and Anna Massey (Frenzy; Haunted).

Framing Story

Five strangers board a descending lift, one by one, in a modern office block in London. They reach the sub-basement, though none of them have pressed for that destination. There they find an elaborately furnished room which appears to be a gentlemen’s club. The lift door has closed and there are no buttons to bring it back, nor any other exit. Resigned to waiting for help, each tells of a recurring nightmare…

Midnight Mess (Tales from the Crypt #35)

Harold Rodgers (Daniel Massey) tracks his sister Donna (Anna Massey) to a strange village and kills her to claim her inheritance. After settling down for a post-murder meal at the local restaurant, he discovers the town is home to a nest of vampires…

The Neat Job (Shock SuspenStories #1)

Obsessively neat Arthur Critchit (Terry-Thomas) marries Eleanor (Glynis Johns), a young trophy wife who is not quite the domestic goddess he hoped for. His constant nagging about the mess she makes eventually drives her mad. Upon his shouting at her, “Can’t you do anything neatly?”, she kills him with a hammer and cuts up the corpse, putting all the different organs into neatly labelled jars.

This Trick’ll Kill You (Tales from the Crypt #33)

Sebastian (Curd Jürgens) is a magician on a working holiday in India, where he and his wife are searching for new tricks. Nothing impresses until he sees a girl (Jasmina Hilton) charming a rope out of a basket with a flute. Unable to work out how the trick is done, he persuades her to come to his hotel room, where he and his wife Inez (Dawn Addams) murder her and steal the enchanted rope. Sebastian plays the flute, and the rope rises; Inez climbs it, only to disappear with a scream…

Bargain in Death (Tales from the Crypt #28)

Maitland (Michael Craig) is buried alive as part of an insurance scam concocted with his friend Alex (Edward Judd). Alex double-crosses Maitland, leaving him to suffocate. Two trainee doctors Tom (Robin Nedwell) and Jerry (Geoffrey Davies) bribe a gravedigger (Arthur Mullard) to dig up a corpse to help with their studies. When Maitland’s coffin is opened, he jumps up gasping for air…

Drawn and Quartered (Tales from the Crypt #26)

Moore (Tom Baker) is an impoverished painter living on Haiti. When he learns that his work has been sold for high prices by dealers and critics who told him that it was worthless, he goes to a voodoo priest and his painting hand is given voodoo power; whatever he paints or draws can be harmed by damaging its image. Returning to London, Moore paints portraits of the three men who cheated him, and mutilates them to exact his revenge…

When the story of the final dream is told, the five ponder the meaning of their nightmares…

Reviews:

“All in all, The Vault of Horror contains enough to warrant repeat viewings. Whilst it is sometimes a product of its time and the film’s twist can be seen from space, it has that strangely comfortable feeling you only get from the output of companies like Amicus and Hammer Horror. It’s like settling down into a cracked leather chair next to a roaring fire with a glass of brandy. It just seems to work.” John Noonan, HorrorNews.net

“Vault of Horror is a great anthology – more camp than Asylum or Tales from the Crypt, but infinitely more enjoyable than the turgid Torture Garden. A surfeit of 70s locations, some great character actors, and a healthy dose of humour don’t hurt, either.” British Horror Films

“Whereas Francis often managed to inject some atmosphere into his Amicus omnibus movies, Baker’s flat direction can’t overcome the lengthy and plodding expository scene, making this the least interesting of the series in spite of the excellent photography and Tony Curtis’s pleasing sets.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“Art direction, music and photography are all uniformly impressive, and Roy Ward Baker pulls the directional strings with consummate professionalism. Added to this is a smart line in grim humour (and an amusing in-joke that sees Michael Craig flicking through the paperback tie-in to Tales from the Crypt), which at times succeeds in achieving a little of the EC Comics style…” Allan Bryce, Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood

“The first story is the most memorable and Glynis Johns does a wonderful comic turn in the second. The rest of the film has little to offer in the way of thrills.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976

” … director Roy Ward Baker goes through the paces in a somewhat workmanlike manner, relying mostly on the writing, editing and performances to carry the stories, with minimal instances of clever staging or stylised atmosphere. This is all the more unfortunate when Baker actually does flex his directorial muscles, as these snippets of visual inspiration call deeper attention to how flat the rest of the film often is. Having said that, it’s still worlds more stylish than Freddie Francis’ uncharacteristically flat direction in most of Crypt.” Mitch Davis, Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s

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Cast and Characters:

• Daniel Massey as Harold Rogers
• Terry-Thomas as Arthur Critchit
• Curd Jürgens as Sebastian
• Michael Craig as Maitland
• Tom Baker as Moore
• Anna Massey as Donna Rogers
• Glynis Johns as Eleanor Critchit
• Dawn Addams as Inez
• Edward Judd as Alex
• Denholm Elliott as Diltant
• Robin Nedwell as Tom
• Geoffrey Davies as Jerry
• Terence Alexander as Fenton Breedley
• John Witty as Arthur Gaskill
• Jasmina Hilton as Indian Girl
• Ishaq Bux as Fakir
• John Forbes-Robertson as Wilson
• Maurice Kaufmann as Bob Dickson
• Arthur Mullard as Gravedigger
• Mike Pratt as Clive
• Marianne Stone as Jane
• Erik Chitty as Old Waiter
• Tommy Godfrey as Landlord
• Jerold Wells as Waiter

Choice dialogue:

Maitland (Michael Craig): “There’s no money in horror.”

Filming locations:

Millbank Tower, London, England

Sheen Lane, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, England
(Where Tom Baker’s character, Moore, hails a taxi)

Twickenham Studios, London, England

Beyond the Vault of Horror:

There is a shot, apparently from the original closing sequence, in which the characters walk to the graveyard with dead, skeletal faces. It may be that this shot has been lost, or was deemed too crude, edited out and used for publicity purposes only. Does anyone know?

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The dead have come calling’

The Messenger is a 2015 British supernatural mystery horror film directed by David Blair (Mystics) from a screenplay by Andrew Kirk.

The premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 June 2015 and is being distributed by Metrodome.

Cast:

Robert Sheehan (Misfits), Lily Cole, Joely Richardson, Tamzin Merchant, David O’Hara, Deirdre O’Kane, Andrew Tiernan.

Official synopsis:

We all want to believe in life after death and imagine loved ones looking over us, feel their presence in a draft of air, or the faint essence of a familiar smell. It’s what we crave, knowing they wait for us. But Jack isn’t waiting – they won’t leave him alone. Some might call Jack a troubled soul, at odds with the world, unable to conform. If you saw him in the pub – disheveled and drunk, talking to himself – you’d stay well away, think he was disturbed somehow, crazy. But Jack has a sharp mind and a razor wit. It’s not that he doesn’t want to live a normal life, he can’t. They won’t let him…”

Reviews:

“Only a partially successful venture due to a script lacking invention and narrative hooks, The Messenger is nonetheless a showcase for homegrown talent and particularly Robert Sheehan. The movie’s distinctively British feel is also a soothing antidote to all the generic horror mystery fodder that comes from across the pond.” Ben Rawson-Jones, Digital Spy

“Really, The Messenger is another case of wasted potential. Sheehan shows some considerable chops with his performance, but it’s muddled by the fact that his character is such an unlikable jerk. The rest of the cast fare worse due to their flat characters, and the story just phones it in without putting effort into making the proceedings interesting, leaving the items that are interesting hanging or dropped entirely.” Pat Torfe, Bloody Disgusting

“On the whole, The Messenger is beautifully, inventively shot, and has its moments of power and impact. However, rarely do these moments link together to form a coherent or convincing  plot, with the conclusion tipping dangerously into the realms of soap opera melodrama. It is Sheehan’s electrifying performance which ties it together, and, as such, the film works best if viewed as a character study rather than a horror or psychological thriller.” Isabelle Milton, The Upcoming

Cast and Characters:

• Robert Sheehan as Jack
• Lily Cole as Emma
• Joely Richardson as Psychiatrist
• Tamzin Merchant as Emma
• David O’Hara as DCI Keane
• Deirdre O’Kane as Mum
• Andrew Tiernan as Father
• Jack Fox as Mark
• Alex Wyndham as Martin
• Ali Cook as Geoff

Filming locations:

Peak District, Northern England

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Enjoy your stay’

Eden Lodge is a 2013 British horror film co-produced, written and directed by Andreas Prodromou (In the Red [short]). The Lost Boys Pictures production also had a working title of Breakdown.

The film was released on DVD in the UK on August 31, 2015 by Signature Entertainment.

Cast:

Georgina Blackledge, Cyd Casados (The Boogeyman), Ivy Corbin, Ellie Dickens, Ben Gardner Gray (Kidulthood), Georgio Costa Houtris, James Killeen, Aggy Kukawka, Garry Mannion.

Plot:

A young family are stranded at the Eden Lodge. The people they meet are being killed one by one. They must fight to save their marriage, their family, and most of all their lives…

Review:

Stuck in perplexing release limbo for a couple of years, Eden Lodge is a slightly cliched, class-ridden, yet reasonably agreeable entry that seems to want to replicate the downbeat aesthetics of 1970s horror (“shut your demon mouth!). For a low-budget production, technical credits and acting are all respectable, and there’s grim drama for sure. Not brilliant, but not bad either.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Trailer:

Choice dialogue:

“Why do we punish who are closest to us? I suppose its because we love them modest of all.”

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Gods & Monsters

Lurid Trumps are a card game based on the fondly remembered Top Trumps of the 1970’s and 1980’s, themselves based on an even older game called Quartets. The third in a series of four covering the so-called Video Nasties films banned in Britain during the 1980’s, the final two sets will cover the Section 3 films – those which were not banned outright but which could still be seized by local authorities and the owners/sellers tried at magistrates courts.

Produced by UK-based company, Gods & Monsters, Lurid Trumps are a card game playable by two or more players. Each player is dealt an equal number of cards from a shuffled pack, keeping the face of the card shielded from prying eyes. From the dealer’s left, each player in turn reads a category and score from their top card – the highest value wins, the winner taking all the cards played in that hand and placing them at the bottom of their stack. The ultimate winner is the player left with the most cards.

The first two series of Video Nasties Lurid Trumps covered the 72 films banned outright as a result of the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required all home released videos to be assessed and rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The 72 films listed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) were each given a rating on their respective cards. The categories are:

Gore Score

Gratuitous Sex

Infamy Level

Nasty Rating

Each is given a rating out of 100 – no one card is impossible to beat. With the first two sets having sold out within days (and now commanding absurdly high prices on internet auction sites), Gods & Monsters have now released the penultimate set, covering the murky world of titles classed as “Section 3”. These films were liable to get a conviction under the lesser section three of the Obscene Publication Act:

3. In section 3(5) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (exempted supplies), for paragraphs (b) and (c) substitute—

“(b)does not, to any significant extent, depict any of the following—

(i)human sexual activity or acts of force or restraint associated with such activity,

(ii)mutilation or torture of, or other acts of gross violence towards, humans or animals, or

(iii)human genital organs or human urinary or excretory functions, and

This would mean the confiscation and destroying of video tapes ordered by a magistrate but were not considered to be capable of getting a conviction at the High Court – though there were examples of guilty pleas at Magistrates Court.

The list of the Section 3 titles is as follows:

Abducted

Aftermath

The Black Room

Blood Lust

Blood Song

The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

Brutes and Savages

Cannibal (aka Last Cannibal World)

Cannibals

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Child

Christmas Evil

Communion

Dawn of the Mummy

Dead Kids

Death Weekend

Deep Red

Demented

The Demons (Jess Franco)

Don’t Answer the Phone!

Enter the Devil

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein

The Evil

The Executioner

Final Exam

Foxy Brown

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Part 2

GBH

Graduation Day

Happy Birthday to Me

Headless Eyes

Hell Prison

The Hills Have Eyes

Home Sweet Home

Inseminoid

Invasion of the Blood Farmers

The Killing Hour

The Last Horror Film

The Last Hunter

The Love Butcher

The Mad Foxes

Mark of the Devil

Martin

Massacre Mansion

Mausoleum

Midnight

Naked Fist

The Nesting

The New Adventures of Snow White

Night Beast

Night of the Living Dead

Nightmare City

Oasis of the Zombies

Parasite

Phantasm

Pigs

Prey

Prom Night

Rabid

Rosemary’s Killer (aka The Prowler)

Savage Terror

Scanners

Scream for Vengeance!

Shogun Assassin

Street Killers

Suicide Cult

Superstition

Suspiria

Terror

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Thing

Tomb of the Living Dead

The Toy Box

Werewolf Woman

Wrong Way

Xtro

Zombie Holocaust

Zombies Lake

Zombies -Dawn Of The Dead

As with the previous sets, the cover card will feature a key figure in the history of the Video Nasties saga: following in the footsteps of Mary Whitehouse (Series 1) and former BBFC zealot James Ferman (Series 2), Series 3 will feature Graham Bright, an MP who was particularly outspoken about films he’s never actually seen, going as far to suggest that some of the films had the power to even corrupt innocent dogs who may be watching! Having been made a Sir (British democracy at its finest?), keen dog-protector Bright is now a highly-paid Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, although he finds it difficult to attend meetings that finish “too late in the evening”…

Lord of Tears is a 2013 Scottish horror film directed by Lawrie Brewster (short: So Brightly in the Dark) from a screenplay by Sarah Daly (Kids vs. Monsters). Finance was partly raised via a Kickstarter online campaign. The film first shown in October 25, 2013 at the Bram Stoker International Film Festival in Whitby.

Plot:

James (Euan Douglas) is an average school teacher that has been estranged from his mother for years and has only returned to her home to settle her estate after her death. This somewhat baffles his friend Allen (Jamie Scott Gordon), as his own father is undergoing a serious illness and is unlikely to recover.

James discovers that he stands to inherit two houses from his mother: one small and average, the other a large mansion that he is urged to never again visit. Confused, James ignores her request and moves into the house in hopes of making sense of everything. He then finds evidence that he had a mental breakdown as a child, brought about by visions of a creature known as the “Owl Man” (David Schofield)…

Reviews:

“It’s hands down one of the most haunting and unique movies of the year. It could’ve done with some trimming, especially during a couple of the end sequences, but that’s my only complaint – and it’s a small one. It’s a low-budget supernatural throwback that maintains an unshakable sense of unease throughout until it’s shocking (and appropriate) conclusion.” Patrick Cooper, Bloody Disgusting

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“Lord of Tears is very compelling viewing, atmospheric with a great sense of loneliness, regret, sadness and horror, beautiful and at the same time chilling it stands out from the pack.” Daniel Simmonds, The Rotting Zombie

“The effect of the owl-headed man simply standing in the forest is the stuff of nightmares. The film dissects the meanings of the owl in various cultures and highlights just what makes the common forest creature so damn creepy.” Ambush Bug, Ain’t It Cool News

“Brewster maintains the tension throughout the slowburn of the film’s first half and builds with small reveals of Owly intercut with other recurring elements of James’s nightmares. Tight sound and visual editing combine with the musical score, by Andy MacDonald and Craig Sutherland, to keep this going as the film rushes to its conclusion.” The Horror Hothouse

Cast and Characters:

• David Schofield as the Owlman
• Lexy Hulme as Eve Turner
• Euan Douglas as James Findlay
• Jamie Scott Gordon [Jamie Gordon] as Allen Milton
• Alan Ireby as Solicitor
• Neil Cooper as Michael Milton
• Nancy Joy Page as Flora May Findlay
• Graham Robertson as Henry Findlay
• Jock Ferguson as Taxi Driver

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook

WH

The Jack the Ripper Museum – which opened on 4th August 2015 – is located at 12 Cable Street, London, E1 8JG.

The unveiling of the museum’s frontage in late July 2015 caused immediate controversy because it had originally been announced as “the first women’s museum in the UK” when planning permission was sought from Tower Hamlets Council. The skull and cross-bones on the front of the museum was subsequently removed by its owners.

As reported by The Guardian, Andrew Waugh, founder and director of Waugh Thistleton Architects claims he was duped about the purpose of the project: “It is salacious, misogynist rubbish,” he told Building Design online. “The local community was duped, we were duped. They came to us and said they had no money but that this is a real heartfelt project. It is incredibly important to celebrate women in politics in the East End. We really ran with it. We did it at a bargain-basement fee, at cost price because we thought it was a great thing to do.”

None of Jack the Ripper’s female victims were murdered in Cable Street, the crimes took place in the nearby Whitechapel area. In fact, the killings were known as the Whitechapel Murders. The front of the museum has two fake blue plaques: one for George Chapman, one of several Ripper suspects, who lived on the premises for a time, and another for Elizabeth Stride, a Ripper victim, whose body was taken to a morgue near the Cable Street spot.

Former Barclays Bank and Google diversity chief Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, who is behind the scheme, has said:

“We did plan to do a museum about social history of women but as the project developed we decided a more interesting angle was from the perspective of the victims of Jack the Ripper. It is absolutely not celebrating the crime of Jack the Ripper but looking at why and how the women got in that situation in the first place.”

On 2nd October, London’s Evening Standard reported that Dr. Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, would be leading another protest by the Women’s Death Brigade, backed by far-left political party Class War.

Official blurb:

“The museum is dedicated to the history of the East London in the 1880’s, providing a serious examination of the crimes of Jack the Ripper within the social context of the period.  For the first time it tells the story of the man known as ‘Jack the Ripper’ from the perspective of six of the women who were his victims. As you explore the museum, you will discover everything there is to know about the lives of the victims, the main suspects in the murders, the police investigation and the daily life of those living in the east end of London in 1888. Once you have all the clues, will you be able to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper?

As you make your way up the stairs, you’ll see details of each murder recorded on the walls. The victims’ names, ages and murder locations are shown, along with newspaper reports and illustrations of the crimes.”

Background of the victims:

Official site | Evening Standard | Londonist | “From Hell…” Jack the Ripper on Screen – article

‘Nature has a dark side’

The Hallow – originally titled The Woods – is a 2015 horror film directed by Corin Hardy from a screenplay co-written with Felipe Marino. A British-Irish co-production filmed in Ireland, it premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2015.

Main cast:

Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley.

Reviews:

“The accelerating action becomes something of a horror orgy as the woods cough up a frightening array of creatures, and threats to the family come from all sides, including within. But audiences are unlikely to mind the overload given that the stakes remain high and the tension never flags in a film that delivers almost non-stop scares through most of its second half.” David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“At the film’s best, it’s a pale imitation of Straw Dogs, The Evil Dead, or The Descent; at its worst, it’s a point-and-awe celebration of mundanity. And that’s a shame because not only is the film shot to perfection, thanks to cinematographer Martijn van Broekhuizen, but it’s also capitalizing on an intriguing blend of genres that sparingly co-exist today.” Michael Roffman, Consequence of Sound

” … a feature-length excuse for promising director Hardy … The production embraces a thrilling mix of practical effects, animatronics, puppetry and prosthetics along with subtle CG enhancements to create a vivid collection of nightmarish fiends (dubbed fairies, banshees and baby snatchers by the locals).” Geoff Berkshire, Variety

“The Hallow is relentless when the creatures come after Adam, his wife and his baby. They just keep coming and break through every barricade, poke through every keyhole. Big loud jump scares are backed up by first rate creature design and staging of the attacks.” Bloody Disgusting

“The Hallow bravely puts its monsters front and centre, but does an effective job of building up to their appearance to a degree sufficient enough for us to accept them without unintentional laughter. The old-school effects bring these fanged fairy folk to life in a way CG simply can’t.” Eric Hills, The Movie Waffler

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

High-Rise is a 2015 British science-fiction thriller film directed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List; Sightseers; A Field in England; The ABCs of Death: ‘U is for Unearthed’) based on the 1975 novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard (Crash). It was produced by Jeremy Thomas (Naked Lunch).

Cast:

Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers), Sienna Miller, Luke Evans (The Raven; Dracula Untold) and Elisabeth Moss.

Plot:

London, 1975. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) is a young doctor seduced by the lifestyle in a high-rise, an isolated community, cut off from the rest of society in their luxury tower block, and its creator, the architect Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons). Taking up residence on the twenty-fifth floor, Laing discovers a world of complex loyalties, and also strikes up a relationship with Royal’s devoted aide Charlotte (Sienna Miller).

After Laing befriends Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), a documentary filmmaker relegated to the second floor who is determined to provoke the class injustices inherent in the high-rise, a dangerous social situation develops and the high-rise eventually fragments into violent tribes…

Reviews:

” … a deliciously dark satire that feels fresh and original in spite of the fact that it’s based on a book that was published 40 years ago. Ben Wheatley’s most visually arresting film, it’s fuelled by a superb soundtrack and fine performances. But it’s also a film that feels like it doesn’t have an ending, the journey startling but leading to a destination that ultimately disappoints.” Chris Tilly, IGN

“What began as a self-contained allegory on open class warfare becomes a showcase for stylistic anarchy, wherein the ensuing orgy of sex and violence serves to justify a near-total breakdown of cinematic form. Those with an appetite for aberrant creative visions could make “High-Rise” a hot cult property, though this unruly black comedy doesn’t work on any of the levels mainstream audiences expect.” Peter Debruge, Variety

“In some ways this is a creative adventure. It shows Wheatley for the first time stretching his talent to fit a film with stars and expectation. It’s not a disaster, but the faults stack up. It took nearly 40 years for High Rise to make it to big screen. After all that time, this is a bit of a dog’s dinner.” Henry Barnes, The Guardian

” … darkly comic, High-Rise is almost flawless. The sets are stunning, the music is perfect and Wheatley has Ballard’s off-the-wall humour down to a T. But High-Rise is a film that asks a lot of its audience, glossing over some of the more crucial events (namely the breakdown itself) through montages and leaving the watcher to piece it together. The screen time is stretched too thin over the ensemble cast, leaving gaps in their stories here and there.” Natasha Furlong, The Upcoming

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Blood Harvest is a 2015 Northern Irish horror film written and directed by George Clarke for Yellow Fever productions.

The film is released on DVD in the UK on 25 January 2015 by Left Films.

Main cast:

Jean-Paul Van Der Velde, Robert Render (The Last Light; Onus), Griffin Madill, Alan Crawford (Battle of the Bone; The Knackery), Rachael Stewart, Matt McCreary.

Plot:

A mass of killings that hark to the workings of a serial killer, have been haunting the city of Belfast and its rural areas. Working hard to keep things hidden from the public eye in a challenge to solve the case before more killings follow, detective Jack Chaplin stresses his final theories on the supernatural, hinting at the work of vampires which soon sees him fired!

Not one to give up easily, Chaplin secretly works alongside his old partner, detective Hatcher, in a bid to bring the killers to a stop – one way or another. But the closer they get, the sooner they realise all is not as it simple as it looks…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations:

County Down, Northern Ireland

Trailer:

IMDb

‘No more clowning around’

Cleaver: Rise of the Killer Clown is a 2015 British horror film directed by MJ Dixon (Slasher House and sequel; Hollower; Grindsploitation) from a screenplay co-written with producer Jason Harlow (Another Evil Night).

The film was part financed by an IndieGoGo online campaign.

Cast:

Andrew M Greenwood (Creepsville; Slasher House), Vicki Glover (KillerSaurus) Stephanie Price, Kate Marie Davies, and Rachel Malone.

Plot:

1990, Oklahoma: Carlton Layton arrived home to find his wife having sex with another man, he went out to his van and donned the clown suit that he used as a children’s entertainer and proceeded to slaughter his wife and her lover. That night Carlton Layton escaped.

Five years later on Halloween Night, Carley, a young college student, is hired to take care of a little girl as her parents head out to a Halloween party, but someone one is waiting, someone wants the girl, someone who we know as ‘The Cleaver”…

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook

‘Evil has a new home’

The Last House on Cemetery Lane is a 2015 British horror film written, produced and directed by Andrew Jones (The Amityville Asylum; The Midnight Horror Show; Robert the Doll). It is a North Bank Entertainment production.

Main cast:

Lee Bane, Vivien Bridson, Georgina Blackledge, Tessa Wood, Ian Grey, Ian Smyth, Kelly Jones.

Plot:

Screenwriter John Davies has grown tired of living in London and moves to an old manor house in a sleepy West Wales village to get out of the rat race.

At first he enjoys himself, embracing the quieter pace of life and starting a relationship with his beautiful neighbour Cassie Konrad. But strange, unexplained occurrences begin to occur in the manor house. John discovers he is surrounded by a supernatural presence and begins to research the house’s past, discovering secrets more terrible than he ever imagined…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Jones throws every incongruous freaky thing he can think of into the film, including impromptu dentistry and the word MURDER written on a mirror in blood; I could forgive him for not explaining all these things, but he doesn’t even bother making them all feel like they belong in the same movie.” Daniel Lackey, The Nightmare Gallery

“If there’s one saving grace in The Last House on Cemetery Lane, it’s the acting. The cast Jones assembled have the chops to pull off the horror elements but the only problem is that they’re not given anything worthwhile to work with. They do their best to squeeze whatever they can from the material but as it’s very thin to begin with, there’s really not much they can do overall.” This Old Haunted House

Choice dialogue:

Mrs. Connelly, letting agent: “All that blood and violence isn’t my cup of tea.”

Trailer:

IMDb

‘Fear the unknown’

House of Afflictions is a 2014 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Nottingham-based filmmaker Anthony M. Winson (The Witching Hour; Unholy).

In the US, Wild Eye Releasing are releasing the film on DVD in February 2016.

Cast:

Michelle Darkin Price, Stefan Boehm, Penelope Butler, Lindsey Parr, Simon Crudgington, Katie Richmond-Ward, Stella Lock, Karl Brown, Evie Mason.

Plot:

Late 1970’s: Kate Beckley (Michelle Darkin-Price) was once the UK’s best selling crime author but it has been years since her last novel due to a tragedy which befell Kate and her husband John, their daughter Julia disappeared…

Kate is coming to terms with the fact that Julia may never be found and has decided to start writing again Unfortunately she is finding it difficult due to constant distractions around her so decides to hire a temporary home to write. Almost instantly Kate begins experiencing paranormal occurrences. Has Julia come back? Or is there something more sinister lurking in the house?

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook

‘It was never meant to be opened.’

The Other Side of the Door is a 2016 British-Indian supernatural horror film directed by Johannes Roberts (Sanitarium; Forest of the Damned; F) from a screenplay co-written with Ernest Riera.

In the US, the film is released by 20th Century Fox on March 11, 2016.

Cast:

Javier Botet, Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky, Suchitra Pillai-Malik, Logan Creran, Jax Malcolm.

Plot:

A family lives an idyllic existence in India until a tragic accident takes the life of their young son. Inconsolable mother Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies of The Walking Dead) learns of an ancient Indian ritual that will bring him back to say a final goodbye. She travels to an ancient temple, where a door serves as a mysterious portal between two worlds. But when she disobeys a sacred warning to never open that door, she upsets the balance between life and death…

Trailer:

IMDb

70s Monster Memories is a 2015 British book from the writers of We Belong Dead magazine.

The 400 page full colour soft back book contains over seventy chapters covering nearly every aspect of 1970s horror fandom – books, mags, posters, trading cards, TV, model kits, comics, movie tie-ins, super 8 and much more.

Contents:

Foreword by Dez Skinn

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of by Eric McNaughton

For The Love Of Print and Paper by Vincent Simonelli

The Most Important Decade of My Life by John Llewellyn Probert

Zoinks!! (Or How I Would Have Got Away With It, If It Wasn’t for You Meddling Kids!) by Steve Gerrard

Horror Film Books of the 70s by Ian Taylor

The World of Horror by Cranston Macmillan

Aurora – The Golden Age of Monster Models by Robert Morganbesser

BBC Death & Horror Sound Effects LP by Daz Lawrence

He Was A Teenage Movie Critic: David Pirie by Darrell Buxton

Fanzines of the 70s by Richard Klemensen

A Time It Was: Dez Skinn Interviewed on House of Hammer by Tony Earnshaw

Something In The Night: The BBC Christmas Ghost Stories by Matthew E. Banks

Super 8mm – A Personal Journey Through The History of Horror At Home by Darren Allinson

Famous Monsters A Go-Go. An Interview With The Legendary Basil Gogos by Ernie Magnotta

Horror On Vinyl by Daz Lawrence

A New World of Gods & Monsters – The Books of Denis Gifford by Tom Woodger

The Monster Times For Changing Times by J.M. Cozzoli

An Invitation To Scaryland: The Horror Film Books of Alan Frank by Tony Earnshaw

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires LP by David Flint

Dave Swift, Memories of a Monster (Toy Collector) by Stephen Jacobs

The 70s Works of Nigel Kneale Graham Payne

Remembering Famous Monsters by Jim Knusch

Horror in the Cinema: Ivan Butler by Stephen Mosley

The Price of Fear…Brought To You by Vincent Price Peter Fuller

King Kong in Birmingham! by Dave Swift

Horrors From Screen to Scream by Paul Sparrow-Clarke

La Cabina: Allegory of an Era by Daniel Arana Garcia de Leaniz

Softly, Softly Catchy Ripper. Barlow & Watt and the Investigation of the Whitechapel Murders by Clare Smith

Scary Humour with Cracked’s For Monsters Only by J.M. Cozzoli

Monster Movie Reference Books:The 1970s Explosion by Dustin Jablonski

“Our Latest Diversification….” Hammer Presents Dracula by Tom Woodger

When A Ten Year Old Boy Met the Universal Monsters by David Brilliance

Horror Food by Daz Lawrence

Lorrimer Publishing. Cinema of Terror, Catastrophe, Kung Fu, Freaks, Vampires, Mystery & Monkeys! by Darrell Buxton

Poster Magazines by Richard Gladman

Memories of the Loch Ness Monster by Timothy Mitchell

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films: An Appreciation by Darrell Buxton

The Books That Made Us Scream – An a-Z Guide to 70s Tie-Ins by Dawn and Jonathon Dabell

Quasimodo’s Monster Magazine by Cranston Macmillan

I Was A Teenage Monster Kid by Tony M. Clarke

Public Information Horror by Daz Lawrence

Tele-Horrors of the 70’s:Fearsome Highlights by Troy Howarth

“You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Wallet!” by Steven West

1970’s Horror Vinyl:Releases in the U.S. by Ryan Brennan

The House of Hammer – A Personal Journey by Tim Greaves

Memories of A Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Peter Benassi

Marvel Comics & the Monsters by Moonlight by Martin Dallard

Memoirs of a 70’s Monster-Kid by Ernie Magnotta

Peter Underwood:The Legendary Ghost Hunter Who Wrote the First Biography of Boris Karloff by Ben Underwood

Cinefantastique – The Most Fantastic Magazine of All Time by Robert Morganbesser

Thriller by Brian Clemens by Perry Thomas

Horror Top Trumps by Daz Lawrence

My Journey Beyond the Vincent Price Screen Adventures by Peter Fuller

The Books of Calvin T. Beck by Douglas Whitenack

Legend Horror Classics by Cranston Macmillan

Horror Double-Bills by Neil Ogley

Monsterkid Models of the 70’s by Eric McNaughton

Horror in Four-Colours by Jules Boyle

The Film Classics Library by Eric McNaughton

Movie Monsters: The Magazine with a Mortality by Rate Darren Allinson

But Was It Aaaaaarrrt?! by David A. Brooks

The New Avengers. The Acceptable Face of 70’s Horror by Cleaver Patterson

Collecting Movie Posters by David McConkey

Mego Mad Monsters by Michael Hauss

The Horror People by Stephen Mosley

For Adults Only! by Cranston Macmillan

Terror on the Tube: American TV Horror Movies of the 1970’s by Steven West

Dracula Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

No Cure for Crabs (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Enjoy the Pulp Paperbacks of the 1970’s) by Steven West

The Thirteen Monsters of Aurora by Martin Cage

The Dark Shadows Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

Monsters of the Movies Magazine by R. Bruce Crelin

Monsters of the Movies – The Mystery of Issue 2 Cover by Pierre Fournier

Shock Theatre Cards by David Flint

Creature Feature Cards by Eric McNaughton

Appointment With Fear by Wayne Kinsey

Afterword by Alan Frank

Publication date is 20th December. The book can be ordered via this link:

http://webelongdead.co.uk/product/70s-monster-memories/

The Corpse aka The Velvet House is a 1969 British horror film directed by Viktors Ritelis from a screenplay by Olaf Pooley (The Godsend; Lifeforce) for London-Cannon Films. In the US, it was released in 1971 by May Films as Crucible of Horror. Not to be confused with Crucible of Terror (1971).

The Corpse was unreleased in the UK until 1972 as a support feature to US import Psycho Killer by Grand National Pictures.

The film was featured in Season 2 Episode 13 of the late night TV show Elvira’s Movie Macabre.

“For most of its running time, it’s a nice little gothic thriller that’s a bit slow in the uptake and prone to abandon plot threats almost as soon as they are introduced, but it’s a fairly solid film until the final 10-15 minutes. Then it all goes to crap.” Terror Titans

” … this slow-moving shocker boasts adequate performances and solid production values, as well as imaginative cinematography, but the piece is undercut by a muddled storyline.” Every ’70s Movie

” … nicely atmospheric in portraying the English suburbs and countryside, although for most of the film one gets the impression that one is watching a suspense thriller rather than a horror film. Gough provides the standout performance as the father. Especially chilling (and funny, in an extremely dark sense) is his serenity before and after his savage beatings.” Thomas M. Simpos, Communist Vampires

“While the script was nothing to write home about, the performances from Gough, Sharon Gurney, and Yvonne Mitchell are all strong, and the director shows some imagination in the handling of the subject, with good use of unusual angles.” Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear: An Illustrated History of British Horror Films

Cast and characters:

• Michael Gough as Walter Eastwood
• Yvonne Mitchell as Edith Eastwood
• Sharon Gurney as Jane Eastwood
• Simon Gough as Rupert Eastwood
• David Butler as Gregson
• Olaf Pooley as Reid
• Nicholas Jones as Benjy Smith
• Mary Hignett as Servant
• Howard Goorney as Petrol Pump Attendant

Choice dialogue:

Walter Eastwood [Michael Gough]: Who touched my guns?

Filming Locations:

Merton Park Studios, London

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Nothing can stop it!’

X the Unknown is a 1956 British science fiction horror directed by Leslie Norman from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster (The Curse of Frankenstein; Dracula; The Mummy, etc). It was also promoted as X… the Unknown.

Following on from The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), their hit adaptation of the BBC TV series, Hammer Films continued to mine the same vein of 1950s paranoia induced by post-war scientific developments and radioactivity in particular.

The original director of the film was Joseph Losey (The Damned), an American director who had moved to the UK after being placed on the Hollywood Communist blacklist. Although Losey began shooting the film and some of his footage is included in the final cut, he was replaced by Leslie Norman due to either illness or Dean Jagger’s objections (accounts vary).

Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (1956) and The Blob (1958) are clearly influenced by X the Unknown.

Main cast: 

Dean Jagger (Revolt of the Zombies; Evil Town; Alligator), Edward Chapman (The Man Who Haunted Himself ), Leo McKern (The Omen [1976]), Anthony Newley, Jameson Clark. The supporting cast includes Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper.

Half the film’s budget, $30,000, was provided by RKO Pictures. which went towards the fee for imported American ‘star’ Dean Jagger. Despite this, an American distribution deal between Hammer and RKO fell through, and the film was distributed in the U.S. by Warner Bros.

Plot:

Lochmouth, Scotland, near Glasgow: A group of soldiers find a small and seemingly harmless hidden source of radioactivity in a wide pit area. But their is an explosion and Private Lansing, who was closest, dies of radiation burns.

Dr. Royston (Dean Jagger), from a nearby Atomic Energy Laboratory, is called in to investigate, along with Inspector McGill (Leo McKern), from the UK Atomic Energy Commission.

That night, a local boy goes to a tower on the marshes, where he sees a horrific off-camera sight…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … highly imaginative and fanciful … There’s little letup in the action, and suspense angles are kept constantly to the forefront.” Variety

” … little more than a competent 50’s monster-rampage flick. It is hampered by some unusually desperate pseudoscience, which somehow manages to sound even less credible than it normally would for being spelled out by Dean Jagger’s otherwise thoroughly reasonable and down-to-earth Dr. Royston.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“… photographed in shadowy monochrome by Gerald Gibbs, with a sense of muted hysteria and despair underlying the stalwart attempts to defeat a radioactive thing which erupts in the Scottish highlands. Trash to people who don’t like sci-fi or horror movies, but in a lot of ways it communicates the atmosphere of Britain in the late ’50s more effectively than the most earnest social document.” Time Out

Cast and characters:

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Adam Royston [Dean Jagger]: “For the time being, let’s not conjure up visions of nameless horrors creeping around in the night.”

Peter Elliott [William Lucas]: “It was like something out of a nightmare, it was horrible!”

Major Cartwright [John Harvey]: “The trouble was some of these scientific types is they can’t see the easy way out of anything. It’s got to be complicated if it’s going to work.”

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

’40 luscious beauties marked for murder’

Cover Girl Killer is a 1959 British psycho-thriller film written and directed by Terry Bishop (Model for Murder). It predates films with similar themes such as Night, After Night, After Night (1969), The Centerfold Girls (USA, 1974), Strip Nude for Your Killer (Italy, 1975), Mary Milligan vehicle The Playbirds (1978) and Snapshot (Australia, 1975).

Main cast:

Harry H. Corbett (Carry On Screaming!), Felicity Young, Spencer Teakle, Victor Brookes, Bernadette Milnes, Charles Lloyd-Pack (Dracula).

Plot:

Set in the sleazy world of a backstreet 1950s London nightclub: A serial-killer is believed to be murdering the models of glamour magazine Wow!, when bikini-clad cover girl Gloria Starke, is found dead by the River Thames, having gone on an assignment with mysterious TV producer who wears pebble glasses and a badly-fitting toupee (Harry H. Corbett).

Inspector Brunner (Victor Brooks) is put on the case. Meanwhile, John Mason (Spencer Teakle), the young owner of Wow! decides to conduct his own investigation…

Reviews:

“Cover Girl Killer is a great little movie, which actually seems a bit ahead of its time (despite its almost sweet approach to the subject matter), pointing the way to the sex and horror thrillers of the late 60s and 70s. After all, as the killer says: “Surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so-called entertainment.” British Horror Films

” … simple and effective crime-drama displays a plot elevating it above standard b-feature fare.” BritMovie.co.uk

“Unfortunately Corbett is about the only thing the film has going for it, with flat direction, generally poor performances and – as might be expected – little real sleaze content except that inherently attaching to its grimy, low-rent milieux.” Giallo Fever

” … notable for anticipating the post-Scream nature of self-reflection, especially with the ingenious sequence involving the hiring of an actor to pose as the killer and the fabrication of a planned film version of the very events we are viewing. Highly recommended for anyone interested in tracing the roots of the stalk-and-slash subgenre, and extremely satisfying viewing in retrospect.” Darrell Buxton, Hysteria Lives

Buy poster: Amazon.co.uk

“Fast moving and only slightly creaky, Cover Girl Killer is good value for money. A few too many scenes are allocated to the American hero, but this is counterbalanced by the super laid back pipe puffing investigating detective and by Corbett, effectively playing a dual role as both the psychotic, really creepy Spendoza and his smooth, unnamed ‘real life’ self…” Paul Bareham, Mounds & Circles

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Harry H. Corbett – Mr. Spendosa/Mr. Fairchild
• Felicity Young – June Rawson
• Spencer Teakle – John Mason
• Victor Brooks – Inspector Brunner
• Bernadette Milnes – Gloria Starke
• Christina Gregg – Joy Adams
• Tony Doonan – Sergeant
• John Barrard – Lennie Ross
• Charles Lloyd-Pack – Captain Adams
• Alan Edwards – Hodgkins
• Dermot Kelly – Pop
• Denis Holmes – Actor
• Julie Shearing – Rosie
• Tony Thawnton – Doctor
• Paddy Joyce – Stagehand
• Claude Jones – Constable Jones
• John Baker – Plainclothes Man

Buy mug: Amazon.co.uk

Choice dialogue:

Mr. Fairchild [Harry H. Corbett]: “The borderline between what we call insanity and what we call a hyper-sensitive intellect is not always clear, Inspector.”

Filming Locations:

Walton Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Mounds & Circles

‘Blood sacrifice of the Simbazi’

Curse of Simba is a 1965 British horror film directed by Lindsay Shonteff (Devil Doll; Night, After Night, After Night) from a screenplay ‘Lion Man’ by Brian Clemens [as Tom O’Grady] for Gala Film. Additional scenes and dialogue were provided by Leigh Vance.

Action scenes are set in Africa but were filmed in London over eighteen days on an budget that over-ran to £55,000 due to rain. 

In the UK, the film was reduced to 62 minutes and released by Gala Film Distributors. In the US, an 83 minute version was released by Allied Artists as Curse of the Voodoo double-billed with Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster. It is also apparently known as Voodoo Blood Death.

Main cast:

Bryant Haliday (Devil Doll; The Projected Man; Tower of Evil), Dennis Price (The Earth Dies Screaming; Horror Hospital), Lisa Daniely, Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Out of the Unknown; Frankenstein [1992]), Mary Kerridge.

Plot:

White hunter Mike Stacey kills a lion in Simbazi country in Africa, so he is cursed by the tribal chief.

When the curse that manifests itself with hallucinations follows him to England he consults an expert on the subject. The expert informs Stacey the only way to remove the curse is to return to Africa and personally kill the man who put it on him…

Reviews:

“… with suspense, flat acting and trite story add up to soggy thrills, and as a shoestring production it’s pretty threadbare,” Variety

“Curse of the Voodoo might just have passed muster on a dramatic level if the viewer genuinely cared about Stacey and his desperate efforts to avoid his strange fate. But the character as written is a thoroughly unpleasant bully and drunk, totally lacking in any redeeming qualities that might have evoked sympathy.” John Hamilton, X-Cert: The British Independent Horror Film: 1951 – 1970

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” … it’s all so predictable, leaden paced, uninvolving and lacking in tension and suspense that this attempt to intrigue the audience with the ‘natural or supernatural?’ mystery angle is doomed to failure…” Mike Hodges, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Films 1960 – 1969

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

” … a string of clichés that staggers from TV closeup to TV closeup with paralysing incompetence.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror 

“The most terrifying thing in this film is Mary Kerridge as Stacey’s dreadful mother-in-law.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956 – 1976

Buy: Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Bryant Haliday … Mike Stacey
• Dennis Price … Major Lomas
• Lisa Daniely … Janet Stacey
• Ronald Leigh-Hunt … Doctor
• Mary Kerridge … Janet’s mother
• John Witty … Police Inspector
• Jean Lodge … Mrs. Lomas
• Beryl Cunningham … Nightclub dancer
• Louis Mahoney … African expert
• Danny Daniels … Simbaza Chief

Beryl Cunningham shakes her booty in a nightclub dance sequence

Choice dialogue:

Major Lomas: “Mr. Radlett, this is neither Southend, nor Surrey. These people are farther from civilisation than stone-age men.”

Janet Stacey: “First of all a native outside the door. Soon it’ll be snakes on the ceiling.”

Filming locations:

Hampstead Heath, North London
Shepperton Studios

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Wrong Side of the Art!

‘You’ll be seeing this nightmare every night for the rest of your life.’

Night Watch is a 1973 British suspense thriller film directed by Brian G. Hutton from a screenplay by Tony Williamson and Evan Jones.

The film reunited Elizabeth Taylor with co-star Laurence Harvey from their Butterfield 8 (1960). Some of the story elements were inspired by the play of the same name by Lucille Fletcher (Sorry, Wrong Number) and 1944 film Gas Light.

Main cast:

Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey (Welcome to Arrow Beach), Billie Whitelaw (Twisted Nerve; Frenzy; The Omen [1976]), Robert Lang, Tony Britton, Bill Dean (Beasts). Horror icon Linda Hayden has a brief role as a young woman killed in a car accident.

Plot:

London. One night, during a raging thunderstorm, Ellen Wheeler (Elizabeth Taylor), frantically tells her husband John (Laurence Harvey) that from the living room window she has seen a murder being committed in the old deserted house next door. John calls the police, but a search turns up nothing.

Ellen is revealed to be recovering from a mental breakdown that occurred after her unfaithful first husband, Carl, was killed a few years earlier in an auto accident with his young lover…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Quite cleverly, though, by closely following the visual and aural conventions of the genre (the thunderclaps whenever someone says something significant; the lightning flashes that reveal hidden information, the discordant music/noise on the soundtrack anytime Ellen becomes confused and threatened), Hutton sets us up to pull the rug out from under our expectations.” Paul Mavis, DVD Talk

“It’s a tight, well-paced thriller that deftly builds its suspense by playing with the audience’s mind as cleverly as it plays with that of Taylor’s character.” Dreams Are What Le Cinema is For…

” … a superior domestic suspense film, better than I expected it to be, and warmly recommended to those looking for a good seventies scare.” The Passing Tramp: Wandering through the mystery genre

“On the surface, the plot of Night Watch appears to be similar to many “women-in-peril” thrillers, but just when you assume you know the direction the film is taking, Night Watch explodes in a bloody finale that’s sure to leave a few viewers shocked.” Kimberly Lindbergs, Cinebeats

“… has a gratuitously bloody climax and a kick-yourself ending, but its amoebic plot is stretched almost to snapping point over 98 minutes.” David McGillivray, Time Out 

“The direction at times has the appearance of a pastiche of the worst of Hammer’s Gothic productions.” Alexander Stuart, Films and Filming

“Predictable coil-spring shocker which goes curiously flat despite a star cast and lashings of blood. Perhaps we have all been here once to often.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

“… the ancient plot and Taylor’s side of ham ruin the best efforts of all concerned.” Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear

“A flat mystery thriller that fails to create any feeling of suspense.” John Elliot, Elliot’s Guide to Films on Video

Cast and characters:

• Elizabeth Taylor – Ellen Wheeler
• Laurence Harvey – John Wheeler
• Billie Whitelaw – Sarah Cooke
• Robert Lang – Mr. Appleby
• Tony Britton – Tony
• Bill Dean – Walker
• Michael Danvers-Walker – Sgt. Norris
• Rosario Serrano – Dolores
• Pauline Jameson – Secretary
• Linda Hayden – Girl in car
• Kevin Colson – Carl
• Laon Maybanke – Florist
• David Jackson – Wilson

Choice dialogue:

Billie Whitelaw: “What, ruin a good love affair by getting married? No thank you.”

Wikipedia | IMDb

Demons of the Mind is a 1972 British horror film, directed by Peter Sykes (Venom; The House in Nightmare Park; To the Devil a Daughter) from a screenplay by Christopher Wicking (Scream and Scream Again), based on a story by Frank Godwin. It was produced by Anglo-EMI, Frank Godwin Productions and Hammer Film Productions.

The film’s working title was Blood Will Have Blood. Gillian Hills played a role originally intended for Marianne Faithfull and Robert Hardy was a substitute for Eric Porter (Hands of the Ripper).

Main cast:

Gillian Hills (Blowup; A Clockwork Orange; The Killer Wore Gloves), Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann vocalist), Robert Hardy (Berserk!; Psychomania; Dark Places), Patrick Magee (Dementia 13; The Black Cat), Michael Hordern (Whistle and I’ll Come to You; Theatre of Blood; The Possession of Joel Delaney), Shane Briant (Straight on Till Morning) and Kenneth J. Warren.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Plot:

Count Zorn, a wealthy widower, locks up Emil and Elisabeth, his two young adult offspring, afraid that they will go mad, as did his wife. He then invites Falkenberg, a doctor of dubious reputation, to supervise the young people’s mental health. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of their mansion, grisly murders are happening…

Reviews:

“an exotic, Wildean horror story, visually as extravagant and tantalising as a decadent painting … badly let down, though, by some grotesque overacting.” Time Out

“Although it is made with style …the content is meagre … The film’s principal distinction is its violence, mostly gratuitous and, in the case of the final bloodbath, thoroughly unpleasant.” Monthly Film Bulletin

“oblique, ambitious and suffused with an air of primal dread, Demons of the Mind deserved better.” Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films

” … a complex and unusual film which is sometimes confusing but always compelling.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams

“flashes of great originality and panache …a lifeless performance from Robert Hardy. EMI hated the film.” David Pirie, A New Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema

“Breathless, with excellent exposition of early psychoanalytical techniques, this is one of the best horrors of the period because it manages to be both thrilling and thought provoking at the same time.” Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear: An Illustrated History of British Horror Films

“Although Demons of the Mind is confusing and a bit hysterical, at least it is different; and in the copycat world of horror movies, that is worth something.” Tom Johnson, Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography

“a strange, bleak tale of abnormal psychology in which Hammer’s characteristic period settings and horror-film clichés such as the raging mob are, for once, used with imagination.” The Curmudgeon

” … a right load of old cobblers, which mixes costume drama with cod psychology and ends with a particularly gruelling amount of hand loppings, shootings, stabbings, and burning-crucifix-impalings. What makes it worth seeking out are the performances – Hordern’s nutty priest is a sight to see, Hardy is his usual hammy self and Magee is… well, Magee.” British Horror Films

Artwork by Tom Chantrell

Buy: Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Robert Hardy as Zorn
• Shane Briant as Emil
• Gillian Hills as Elizabeth
• Yvonne Mitchell as Hilda
• Paul Jones as Carl Richter
• Patrick Magee as Falkenberg
• Kenneth J. Warren as Klaus
• Michael Hordern as Priest
• Robert Brown as Fischinger
• Virginia Wetherell as Inge
• Deirdre Costello as Magda
• Barry Stanton as Ernst
• Sidonie Bond as Zorn’s Wife
• Thomas Heathcote as Coachman
• Sheila Raynor as Old crone

Choice dialogue:

Falkenberg: “The world is chaos. We must try and find some order, in our small part of it.”

Zorn: “The world will be a better place without me! And it won’t even know you’ve died.”

Filming locations:

Wykehurst Park House, East Sussex (also the setting for The Legend of Hell House)

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb