Showing posts with label caroline munro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caroline munro. Show all posts

Friday 5 June 2020

VAMPIRE HUNTERS : HAMMER FILMS : VAN HELSING TO KRONOS WHEN IT WAS ALL CHANGE!


#HAMMERFILMS #VAMPIREHUNTERS : HAMMER were quite brave and sometimes successful, if a little too late when they moved with times . . a tweak and change with style was something they also tried with their vampires and vampire hunters. One of the best and most imaginative was '#CaptainKronos : Vampire Hunter'.. with very entertaining side kick Grost and charm and sassy attitude from #CarlineMunro, it looked like a game changer, but sadly not to be. A real loss, me thinks ☹️😕 Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE I am asking if everyone would rate this film and some of its qualities alongside #PeterCushing's #VanHelsing and a film like, 'The Brides of #Dracula' .. or no?? - Marcus









Thursday 16 January 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE MUNRO AT HAMMER @WHITBY PLUS WINNERS READY?


PLEASE JOIN US in wishing actress CAROLINE MUNRO a VERY Happy Birthday today! A wonderful actress and an absolute sweety! Her Peter Cushing connection is of course her appearance in Hammer films Dracula AD 1972' in which Peter Cushing played Van Helsing and her co starring role in Amicus films 'At The Earth's Core' with Peter Cushing and Doug McClure. I know of no one who works harder on the convention circuit to make meeting her a special event! Many Happy Returns and Have Smashing Day, Caroline!


THE VERY POPULAR CAROLINE MUNRO PCASUK Dracula AD 1972 Gallery : 
Just HIT HERE!








THE LAST of the PCAS Cushing Christmas Competitions.. Number five, closed a few days ago. TOMORROW we will be revealing the winning entries and FIRST PRIZE WINNER NAME and RUNNER UP WINNER NAME too! First prize is copy of the #Indicator / #Powerhousefilms blu ray box set HAMMER Volume Four : Faces of Evil, which contains FOUR #Hammerfilms releases, 'The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll', 'The Damned', 'Taste of Fear' AND... 'The Revenge of #Frankenstein', starring Peter Cushing as The Baron, in the sequel to the first Hammer Frankenstein film of 1957, 'The Curse of Frankenstein'!

THE EXTRAS on the Indicator Box Set release are also really quite special and include the 'never before released' behind the scenes footage of Cushing on set during the making of 'The Revenge of Frankenstein' at #Braystudios! A full spec of the box set and it's extras, you can see below! As well, as winning this great box set, your win will also include a copy of Indicator's recent blu ray remastered release of the 1957 fab crime thriller, starring Michael Redgrave AND #PeterCushing, 'Time Without Pity'. . . there is also a copy of this blu ray for the 'Runner up!' SECOND WINNERS NAME drawn out of the deep and creepy hat! Are YOU our LUCKY WINNERS? Find out Tomorrow! 😉😃 - Marcus


JOIN PCASUK ON  INSTAGRAM HERE!

Wednesday 11 September 2019

HEY! YOU WANNA BUY A MAHAR???!


HEY! WANNA BUY A MAHAR?? Hmm the PERFECT PET! No? 😊Those of you who remember Peter Cushing's film 'At the earth's Core' with Caroline Munro and Doug McClure back in 1975, will remember these terrifying telepathic flying reptiles who lived deep in a Welsh mountain . . I know them well 😉


THIS PUPPET IS ACTUALLY made made from latex over a heavy steel armature, with metal wires protruding from the back and hooks on the wings for use during flying shots. It is hand-painted for additional detailing, including faux blood over the claws and beak, as well as the outline of a ribcage on the chest. There appears to be some considerable wear from production use and age. The rubber latex has cracked and broken away in some areas, revealing the metal skeleton. The left foot is no longer present. Dimensions: 110 cm x 56 cm x 96 cm (43 1/4" x 22" x 37 3/4") and has a £1,000 - £1,500 tag! This and many OTHER props and goodies are all part of the amazing Treasures from film and Television LIVE auction from Sept 30th until 1st Oct 2019! With all It's all bids online.... wouldn't this look great in a kennel in your back garden?? 😉 Good luck 🙂 - Marcus


HERE IS A LINK to the PCASUK REVIEW and GALLERY on Amicus Films 'AT THE EARTH'S CORE'! JUST CLICK HERE! 


 

Saturday 7 September 2019

ONE TOO MANY AND ONE MORE LOOK AT GLENDA!


TAKEN FROM CHRISTOPHER LEE'S autobiography, 'Lord of Misrule' this is Lee's thoughts on his time taken making the Dracula saga . . did he make too many? On posting this today at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, we've asked our friends and followers, What do THEY think of this statement?


ON POSTING that banner and Christopher Lee quote, along with various interesting comments today, a few have also messaged me to ask where did that unusual 'HORROR OF DRACULA' poster come from? Well, it's a very rare day-bill for the 1970’s (1st Australian release) of the 1958 classic ‘Hammer’ production. I don't own it sadly! In Oz they had quite a playful way of producing their play-bill designs . . here is one below of a montage of images, pasted together for quickly hand-written up publicity hand outs .  


AND FOLLOWING ON the Christopher Lee Dracula post . . here is a neat rarely seen and addition to a series of photographs taken in a photo session with Christopher Lee and several models / actress who appeared in Hammer films 'Dracula AD 1972' by the UK 'newspaper' The Daily Mirror'. I love the sellotape tacked onto the flat in the background 😀 It is a very interesting and quite weird series of photographs, that also at one point had photo fans and collectors, convinced that actress Linda Hayden, was featured in some of the photos and poses . . even Hayden herself! You can learn more about that in a photo feature, I wrote sometime ago, RIGHT HERE!





MORE FEATURING AN ANOTHER ACTRESS who appeared in Hammer's 'DRACULA AD 1972' HERE is a LINK to a past PCASUK FEMME FATALE FRIDAY GALLERY with CAROLINE MUNRO! JUST CLICK HERE! 


Wednesday 17 July 2019

HUGS FROM DRACULA AND THE GANG SMILED ON . . .


REQUESTED: HERE'S A PHOTOGRAPH I posted a little while ago on here and at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page, requested now for a repost by Mandy K, Cheryl T and others . .who missed it!  This has to be the most tactile and affectionate photograph, I have ever seen of Lee with an actress . . off studio camera and on set! 


AS I HAVE always said on the subject of Lee feelings on appearing on both 'Satanic Rites of Dracula' and 'Dracula AD 1972'. Lee may not have professionally liked the idea of the films and their plots, but I don't think he sulked or pouted around the set . .  as some would have you believe. And I think, this pic is a fair indication, that what director Alan Gibson said on making both films, that everyone got on, it was relaxed and they had fun! Let's face it, it's not everyone who can say they got a hug from Christopher Lee...!



Saturday 20 April 2019

FANTASY DIVAS CINEMA CRAMMED AND STICKY TOO!


THERE ARE MAGAZINES that you purchase for features, some for certain writers and maybe some for the great editorial and pics! #CINEFICCION does all those things for it's readers and subscribers 🙂 Many years ago, I remember collecting stickers, transfers and collectors cards, it was a lot of fun. I was sad when it ...vanished. Issue 9 of CINEFICCION, as an amusing tribute to such good days, has a fold-out section, with such stickers! It's a nice touch.



AS WELL AS THAT, there is a whole section on Hammer actresses, with exclusive interviews, and a section on Josh Kennedy's 'House of the Gorgon' ..and much much more besides. There are even FIVE different covers, dedicated to the Hammer actresses featured with. Nope it's not written in English. but the whole visual communication of Cineficcion is quite smart and very universal. Well done, Dario and all contributors, another superb issue 😉 Here is just a snip of some of the content... and those stickers :);) - Marcus


YOU CAN ORDER YOUR COPY HERE!

Thursday 24 January 2019

REVIEWED DRACULA AD 1972 : WARNER BROTHERS REMASTERED BLU RAY : GIFS AND SCREEN CAPS!


HERE IS A PETER CUSHING FILM, that has probably more column inches and photographs on all our PCASUK sites, than any other Cushing film. This is a weird situation, when you consider, that along with it's sequel,  HAMMER FILMS 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' no other Cushing / Hammer film, causes a more wider divide in opinions among fans, than this one does! I think 'DRACULA AD 1972' as we have already explored in our previous Warner Brothers review of 'SATANIC' was a brave attempt by Hammer studios, to take one of their biggest box office draws, in another direction.



ACTING ALMOST as a reboot, to catch a new audience of teenagers, who might be more atrracted to a Prince of Darkness, who treads his deadly and terrifying path, among the 'fashion conscious and trendy dudes' of the psychedelic seventies, hot pants, flares, pot and glam-rock to boot! Sadly, this was one direction that left many hardcore fans out in the cold. 'AD 72' sadly isolated, what was left of the audiences who had attended all previous five Christopher Lee Dracula movies. But Hammer CEO Michael Carreras saw that the tried and tested concept could not last much longer, even though the previous outing of 'SCARS OF DRACULA' had grossed sizable takings, for both Hammer and Lee, when released with a reboot of the Hammer's other box office winner with 'The Horror of Frankenstein'. It was time for change. 




WHAT SCRIPT WRITER DON HOUGHTON, delivered and director Alan Gibson produced with both 'AD 1972' and 'SATANIC' were both pretty much on the mark, for what was needed for that change of direction. The fact that Robert Quarry had starred in AIP's 'COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE' a TWO YEARS previous, and coined an interesting box office return, must have also influenced their choices. And so, Warner Brothers commisioned both AD and SATANIC, from Hammer films. The problem was, as was the habit with Hammer at this time, BOTH films arrived a little late. By 1972, fashion, tastes and music had moved on, for what is offered as 'trend' in both films.  the target audience of the past DRACULA features, would never have the tastes or tolence for such concepts as long hair, 'free love', flapping flares and psycho-colours, bright enough to burn the sensitive eyes of any dark dwelling vampire!











FOR DECADES, both 'AD 1972' and 'SATANIC' have been viewed, or rather not seen as worthy of being included in the 'fan love' list, of Hammer's Dracula rota. But just like fickle way of clothing and music fashion, what is out today, often returns from the 'dead as a doe-doe state', to be greeted and revisted with either the welcome of a long lost friend or, as in this case, maybe a view that sees, if the well loved Dracula features are from an era and time long past, so are 'AD 1972' and 'SATANIC'. They are ALL from the box office trends, of another time? The fans of vampire films today are much more flexiable, with vampire television series and movies, that actually rely on the concept of bringing 'the vampire' along with the Prince of Darkness into penthouse dwellings, rather than castles and gothic crypts. So, you can see why BOTH films are now finally getting their time,  and it has taken the Warner Brothers REMASTERING of the films, to finally SEE what the audiences saw on the big screen back in the day. . . .  


THE SYNOPSIS: As mention at teh beginning of this review, DRACULA AD 1972, has been covered in several features, galleries and reviews over teh years on this site. But for those who have never read the features or seen the film, here is a brief synopsis, WITH some spoliers :

IN 1872, COUNT DRACULA, (Christopher Lee) and his nemesis Lawrence Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) battle on the top of a runaway coach. The carriage crashes and Dracula is partly impaled by one of the wheels. In the struggle, Van Helsing manages to fully push the wheel into the vampire's chest, staking him. This done, Van Helsing collapses and dies from his own wounds. At that moment, a follower of Dracula (Christopher Neame) arrives, collects Dracula's remains and, a few days later, buries them near Van Helsing's grave at St Bartolph's Church. A century later, a new generation of Britons appear who move the tale along: in this case, a group of young hippies that includes Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham), granddaughter of Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), an occult expert and descendant of Dracula's old nemesis, and Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame), who closely resembles the disciple of Dracula seen in 1872. Alucard persuades Jessica and the others to attend a black magic ceremony in the now abandoned, deconsecrated St. Bartolph's, where he performs a bloody ritual involving one of their group, Laura Bellows (Caroline Munro). Jessica and the others flee in horror, after which Dracula is resurrected and kills Laura. 


Laura's body is discovered, drained of blood, and a police investigation begins, headed by Inspector Murray (Michael Coles). Murray suspects an occult element and interviews Lorrimer Van Helsing, who is shocked to learn the details of Laura’s death. He realises that Johnny Alucard (whose name is Dracula written backwards) is a disciple of Dracula, and that the Count must have returned. In the meantime, Alucard brings another of Jessica’s friends, Gaynor Keating (Marsha Hunt), to St. Bartolph's, where she is killed by Dracula and Alucard willingly has himself turned into a vampire. The vampiric Alucard kills a passerby and lures Jessica’s boyfriend, Bob (Philip Miller), to a café they frequent, where he turns him into a vampire as well. While Lorrimer is out, Bob goes to the Van Helsing house and persuades Jessica to come to the café, where he and Alucard capture her and take her to Dracula.


AIDED BY ONE OF JESSICA'S FRIENDS, Lorrimer tracks Alucard to his flat and battles him. Alucard accidentally kills himself with the running water in the bathroom shower. At St. Bartolph's, Lorrimer finds Bob's dead body, slain by sunlight before he could reach his resting place, and Jessica in a trance, with Dracula planning to take his revenge on the Van Helsing family by turning her into a vampire. Lorrimer sets a trap for Dracula by placing a pit of stakes underneath the graveyard and waits for him to return at nightfall. The two have a struggle in which Lorrimer attempts to kill Dracula with a silver knife, but the knife is pulled out by Jessica, still under Dracula’s command. As the pair go outside, Lorrimer throws holy water at Dracula, which burns his hands and causes him to fall into the pit of stakes that Van Helsing had previously prepared. Realising Dracula is still barely alive, Lorrimer uses a shovel to push Dracula into the stakes even further. Dracula dies, his body crumbling into ashes, and his spell over Jessica is broken. As Jessica embraces her grandfather, the title "Rest in Final Peace" is shown.



SO HOW DOES THE REMASTERED BLU RAY LOOK?
CONSIDERING DRACULA AD 1972, is now almost 47 years old, the film technically has never looked better! Since 2005, Warner has had a quite good quality region free DVD on the market, a big step up from a VHS version. It is THIS dvd that has fed the fans of the film for over the last 15 years. Then, a few years ago a German Blu-ray based on the same transfer created for the 2005 DVD was released in multiple regions. The team at the Warner Archive Collection actually reviewed that transfer and rejected it as unusable to use in this blu ray transfer. Thankfully, a 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was produced from a NEW 2K scan by Warner's MPI facility, of a recently manufactured interpositive. Amazingly what we have for the DRACULA AD 1972 blu ray release are images that are indeed comparable to FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave', 'Taste The Blood Of Dracula' and 'The Mummy' in the previously released Hammer Horror Classics collection Warner Brothers release. The colour correcting for this release was achieve  by using the Ektrachrome publicity transparencies as a reference. All age-related damage has been repaired . . .  by hand, frame by frame, taking out what must have been thousnads of dust, scratch and dirt frames, over the films 96 minute duration. All details, blacks and densities are all quite defined and superior to anything we would have seen of this film previously, and the film's grain pattern has been finely rendered. The compression at Warner's Archive Collection is customarily presented at a high rate of just under 35 Mbps, which completes the film's 1080p resurrection. DRACULA AD 1972 mono soundtrack has been taken from the magnetic master and encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. Word has it that the soundtrack was in an impressive shape and thankfully, required minimal cleanup. The dialogue is clearly rendered, the basic sound effects too. Again, on this blu ray, I heard some subtle sound effects, I had not heard before! Both actual DRACULA death scenes now carry detail and subtleties you may not have been able to see before on the dvd's. 



SO TO WRAP, the remastering is way beyond what many expected for DRACULA AD 1972. What has been for sometime the least loved of the Hammer Dracula saga, shows up in very grand style, presenting what it has always been ..  Something different, stepping out beyond what was respected but had become predictable, embellished by it's two outstanding actors, to push the drama and action to a new level, for a new audience. Today, the thrill is still there, and is now wonderfully remastered, presented in such quite superb picture quality, spookily it offers the chance of again for a NEW audience to see and experience, what has been for sometime.... such fab frightening fun! 


IT'S NEVER LOOKED BETTER!  ORDER YOUR COPY : HERE!




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