Showing posts with label sue lloyd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sue lloyd. Show all posts

Sunday 14 October 2018

SLASH AND SHOCK : PC'S ONLY BRUSH WITH MR NASTY OF CINEMA : OR WAS IT?


OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE we posed this question: It's Cushing film you either love or hate! When CORRUPTION was released on DVD by Sony Entertainment a while ago . . they certainly cranked up the violence factor, but using the Japanese poster. as it's DVD box cover. It's seen by many as Cushing's most gory and violent film. If so, is there a Cushing film you would personally put in second place??? Some interesting answers . .




FOR THE ABOVE FEATURE JUST CLICK HERE!




OUR REVIEW ON THE GRINDHOUSE BLU RAY REMASTERED
BLU RAY: CLICK HERE! 


COME JOIN US AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE: HERE! 

Tuesday 21 August 2018

TERENCE FISHER TAKES A SPIN ; TUESDAY TOUGHY : JANET HARGREAVES DIES 81


THIS WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY! This weeks TOUGHY features a rare and quite splendid photograph of director, Terrence Fisher. The answer to last week's TOUGHY is below! Have fun, I will give you the answer to this one, right here next week. THIS POST also appears at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE today too, where no doubt, many will be debating the two questions. IF YOU would also like to join in the fun, simple click HERE  and click LIKE there and maybe, YOU will come up with the answer!



BELOW THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY!



IT'S VERY SAD TO HEAR of the passing of an actress, who made her name on the small screen, playing a very popular and sinister villain, in the TV soap series, Crossroads. In the 1970's along with actress Sue Lloyd, the character – whom Hargreaves once described as a “Technicolor villain” – was labelled “unhinged” and “deranged”, and kept millions nightly glued to the screen. From 1971 until her explosive final storyline nine years later, Rosemary became increasingly bitter – and unstable – while seeking to hold on to those closest to her. Her final episodes pulled in millions of viewers.

DURING THIS TIME, Janet Hargreaves also played a small role with Peter Cushing in the last of Hammer's Frankenstein saga, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', playing 'on-the-edge' Challer, one of the many hand picked excellent character actors, who chillingly twitched and stared, as the unfortunate inmates of the Baron's hospital ward. Janet also played the role of 'Mother' in the Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who story, 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' in the late 1980's. Janet didn't get many roles on the big screen, but her face was known to many UK TV viewers. 



WHEN WATCHING 'Monster from Hell' with my Grandmother for the first time back in the late 1980's, she let out a shrill note of surprise, when the inmates shuffled on screen. 'Goodness, that's Rosemary Hunter, from Crossroads!!' My Gran was a big fan of the soap. Janet Elizabeth Hargreaves, actor, born 31st May 1937; died 4th August 2018, remembered today 
 

ALL POSTS here at the website are also shared and posted at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE. EVERY DAY we invite everyone at the page to take part in comments and opinions about the images and features. It's a very interactive FAN PAGE! Please come join us! JUST CLICK HERE!  

Tuesday 19 July 2016

#MONSTERMONDAY : CORRUPTION SIR JOHN A MONSTER OR VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE?


#‎MonsterMonday‬: YESTERDAY OUR CANDIDATE for Monster Monday was Sir John Rowan from Corruption (1968) a plastic surgeon whose fiancée Lynn Nolan's (Sue Lloyd) face is badly disfigured in an accident, caused in part by a jealous rage of his. Throughout the film Sir John goes to extreme lengths to get the material needed to restore her face, (the glands taken from other women).Now the question is, is Sir John a true monster or just someone driven to do terrible things by combination of guilt and love… We had some great comments on the facebook yesterday. Your Opinion?


Thursday 3 October 2013

GRINDHOUSE 'CORRUPTION' BLU RAY RELEASE PRINT QUALITY TO DIE FOR


Very obviously inspired by Georges Franju’s classic Eyes Without A Face, Robert Hartford-Davis’ 1968 film Corruption (also known as Carnage) stars Peter Cushing as a surgeon named Sir John Rowan. When the movie begins, he and his fiancé, a model named Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd), are attending a party held by a photographer (Anthony Booth) friend of hers. It’s full of swinging sixties style beatniks shaking their rumps to the sounds of the day and it all seems to be going well until the photographer asks Lynn to pose for him. As he encourages her to sex it up a bit, she obliges but Rowan isn’t having any of this and before you know it he’s trying to pull the camera out of the photographer’s hands and in the ensuing skirmish, a flood light falls and lands on Lynn’s face.

Once she gets out of the hospital, she’s obviously got some serious burn wounds. Those flood lights run hot, but thankfully Rowan’s skills as a surgeon just might be able to provide a solution. He’s got access to a special laser that he uses on Lynn and before you know it, her face looks as lovely as ever. To celebrate they head to the coast but upon their return it seems that it didn’t work so well after all. As such, Rowan decides a skin graft is in order and so he sets out into the seedy side of town in search of supply which leads him to the apartment of a pretty blonde prostitute. She tells him he’s her last client of the evening and he cuts her up. After that, he does what he does and Lynn’s face is once again back to normal. Her sister, Val (Kate O’Mara), and her fiancé, a doctor named Harris (Noel Trevarthen), start to wonder just what exactly is going on but Rowan is clever and sneaky until Lynn’s face once again needs new flesh to retain its beauty. When the four of them head to the coast to relax, things go from bad to worse when Lynn once again needs new flesh and a young girl named Terry (Wendy Varnals) shows up just in time…

This one has got a bit of a reputation thanks in no small part to Cushing’s displeasure with the picture. This one, particularly in the seedier version presented here (more on that in a minute), is noticeable stronger than pretty much anything else you’re likely to see Peter Cushing in and the uncut murder of the prostitute finds him in a much nastier situation than he probably initially wanted to be. With that said, the movie is quite well made. Cushing’s performance here is a strong one. He’s classy in that way that he always was and you never get the impression that he’s treating the material as if it were beneath him. He shows genuine concern for his (much younger) ladyfriend when she gets injured and he’s also mature and sophisticated enough that we can completely buy him in the role of an ace surgeon. Sue Lloyd also does fine work here. She’s sexy and confident initially but after her injury it becomes increasingly obvious that more than just her skin was damaged. Her psyche starts to show signs of cracking and this in turn spurns Rowan ever forward in his increasingly grisly attempts to make her happy. This provides an interesting dynamic between our two leads. The supporting cast members are also fine but the movie really does belong to Cushing and Lloyd.

The production values here are quite strong. Through the scenes involving the laser, particularly towards the end, make obvious their low budget origin but the cinematography from Peter Newbrook is never less than excellent. The film makes very good use of some particularly bizarre and even unsettling camera angels during the murder set pieces which really play up his manic disposition in the film and succeed in making him look completely deranged. The score from Bill McGuffie is also pretty solid, helping to ramp up tension in a few key scenes. This one may owe more than a passing nod to Franju’s earlier film, but there’s enough about it that is its own to make it more than worth a look, particularly for fans of British horror and specifically Peter Cushing.

Note (mild spoilers): This disc from Grindhouse Releasing includes the uncut theatrical version of the movie in addition to the international version alternate cut of the film. Although the international version runs a little shorter, it does in fact contain quite a bit more nudity and violence. The most obvious example is the scene in which Rowan kills the prostitute. In the theatrical cut she goes to undress and he knifes her. In the international version she takes off her top and gets down to her stockings after which he thrashes her around on the floor a bit, roughs her up, and then slits her throat, her naked breasts fully exposed and slathered in blood. The murder that happens on the train car is also a bit rougher as is the murder on the rocks at the coast.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Corruption is presented on Blu-ray in a fantastic looking AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. Picture quality is excellent here. Film grain is left intact but it’s never overpowering or distracting and outside of a few minor specks here and there, you won’t see much in the way of print damage at all. Colors are reproduced beautifully, you’ll notice this not only in the opening hippie party/photo shoot scene but also once the action moves to the coast and the characters run across the algae covered rocks where the green hues look perfect. Black levels are good, detail is consistently impressive not only in close up shots but medium and long distance shots as well. There are no obvious compression artifacts nor does there appear to be any edge enhancement or noise reduction at all.

The English language DTS-HD Mono mix is also pretty good. There are no alternate language options, closed captioning or subtitles provided on this release. There are a few spots where the high end gets a little shrill but otherwise the audio is perfectly fine for an older mono mix. Dialogue is perfectly easy to understand and the levels are properly balanced. The score sounds good as do the effects.

Extras start off with an audio commentary by UK horror journalist Jonathan Rigby and Peter Cushing biographer David Miller which is the highlight of this release’s supplemental package. These guys know their stuff and have a lot of respect for the material but manage to offer up both a history and an analysis of the picture without ever coming across as too highbrow or dull and scholarly. We get some interesting insight into Cushing’s life and career up to this point and some welcome information about the other cast and crew members involved with the production. They cover the locations, the material and its sometimes controversial nature, and its release history and generally just give a rock solid overview of the movie and its origins. They also talk about Cushing’s personal feelings on the picture, noting that he found it ‘particularly nasty.’ They provide some interesting historical and social context for the movie, noting that it was a very contemporary and brutal film compared to those being made by his contemporaries, they being Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, around the same time. Well paced, incredibly informative and a lot of fun to listen to, this is everything a great commentary should be.

From there, we move on to the interviews starting with a fourteen minute piece with actor Billy Murray who gives a nice introduction to his career and talks about his experiences on the set. Not surprisingly, he has nothing but kind words to say about Cushing (who he stayed in contact with for the rest of Cushing’s life), though he makes a subtle dig at Hartford-Davis for not crediting him with coming up with the film’s ending. He notes that he’s not really a fan of horror films because they scare him, though he does note that he enjoyed making it. He also notes that he wore his own clothes in the film and that the money he was offered wasn’t bad at all. He also describes the director as a bit of a playboy, and how his character and those who accompany him may have been influenced by the Manson Gang. He also notes that he auditioned for A Clockwork Orange and didn’t get the part.

Up next is actress Jan Waters, who plays the prostitute in the film. She talks for nine minutes about the time she spent on the set for this picture, her interactions with her fellow cast members, her impressions of Peter Cushing (who she describes as kind and courteous but also a rather serious man) and Robert Hartford-Davis and her thoughts on the film itself. She notes that it’s an early role, discussing how she had to go off to the studio to meet the director and read for the part, after which she was scheduled. She talks about how the script was being constantly rewritten and about what happens to her character in the film.

Actress Wendy Varnals is also interviewed and she also reminisces for sixteen minutes about working on the picture and shares some stories from the set. She talks about this being the last film that she ever did, discusses her being stopped on the street while attending Oxford and being cast in a play which lead to her acting career getting a bit of a start. She also talks about other occupations she did, primarily as a writer in the sixties where she wrote about fashion and music. She also talks about how she got typecast and which lead to her becoming disenfranchised over this as she was ‘bored to death’ with it. She too describes Cushing as a nice man and that he was very gentlemanly and generous.

Last but not least, Grindhouse have included an interesting seven minute archival audio interview with Peter Cushing conducted at Pinewood Studios in August of 1974. Here he talks about the differences between what he considers horror films versus those that he considers fantasy films – meaning that they’re entertainment films, rather than pictures based on real world atrocities like war pictures. He talks about his wife, he talks about attending screenings of his pictures and going to the cinema for pleasure and offers up some bits and pieces about his career. Always the consummate gentleman, Cushing comes across as a class act here, sharing his thoughts on sex and nudity in cinema as well as his thoughts on more extreme films, where he cites The Exorcist as an example.

We also get a collection of three alternate scenes, the first of which is from the first prostitute murder. This material was shot to allow the distributor to ‘spice up’ the film for international markets and it’s gory, bloody and chock full of boobs. In addition to that we get a very brief additional shot that takes place on the train and an even shorter additional shot from the murder on the rocks that takes place towards the finale.

Rounding out the extras are a few (surprisingly extensive) still galleries featuring all sorts of promotional material gathered up from all over the world, a pair of trailers for the feature, five different TV spots and a pair of radio spots as well. And of course, this wouldn’t be a Grindhouse Releasing disc without a score of trailers for other releases either already available (An American Hippie In Israel) or coming soon. The extras also include the original annotated director's shooting script and production notes which you can skim through on the disc, which is kind of unique and not something that you see included in bonus features too often.

There’s also an Isolated music and effects track that can be selected from the audio set up menu. Menus and chapter stops are included and as this is a combo pack release, the clear Blu-ray case also houses a DVD version of the movie as well. Inside the case is a booklet of liner notes and on the flip side a poster version of the cover art by Rick Melton.

The Final Word:

Corruption is a solid thriller/horror picture that takes a familiar concept and gives it an interesting spin. Though it is very much a product of its time, those with an interest in the swingin’ side of British cinema will get a kick out of all the period detail but the real reason to want to watch this one is for Cushing’s completely unhinged performance. Grindhouse Releasing offers up both versions of the movie in beautiful shape and with a great selection of extra features as well. A ridiculously strong release overall.

Review by rockshop.com: HERE

Friday 16 August 2013

PEDRO DE QUEIROZ ASKS 'CORRUPTION' SLEAZE OR QUALITY?


CORRUPTION - SLEAZE OR QUALITY? Clichéd, sensational, and drab-looking. It’s hard to deny this 1967 Peter Cushing vehicle directed by exploitation expert Robert Hartford-Davis deserves such adjectives. It’s equally hard to deny it’s a unique and forceful experience, even for those who hate its power. Why? 



Here’s the plot – Sir John Rowan (Cushing), a brilliant surgeon, has to recurrently kill people in order to make a serum to restore his beautiful fiancée’s scarred face – a stock subject matter for a horror film ( “The Corpse Vanishes”, a 1942 Monogram programmer for Bela Lugosi comes to mind ) executed with the same graphic surgical emphasis shortly before seen in George Franju’s respected “The Eyes without a Face” (1959) and Jesus Franco’s not-so-respected rip-off, “The Awful Dr. Orloff” (1962). Sir John then goes about carrying a Jack-the-Ripper-type case of medical tools and murdering women. After an explosive ending, the movie, apparently for want of somewhere else to go, tacks on an epilog borrowed from another classic, Ealing Studio’s “Dead of Night” (1945). From this derivative platform, the script by Donald and Derek Ford (who had previously used the Jack the Ripper motif in the fine “A Study in Terror” where the infamous Victorian killer meets Sherlock Holmes) departs to focus on its own interests. First, characterisation and psychological nuance. Sir John is a case study in the pathology of perfeccionism.
 

Before the opening credits are over we see him working tirelessly on the operating table, commenting that “the more successes, the more one fears failure”, and napping in a dimly lit, crammed library dominated by a dignified bust – of himself? – with a book still open on his lap. Many have said it’s uncongruous for him to be infatuated with vain, unpleasant Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd from “The Baron” teleseries ...). Well, assuming this uptight, middle-aged bachelor hasn’t got where he is without a fair amount of renounce the love of a beautiful model much younger than himself would be enough to make him infatuated – “obsessed”, as his colleague Dr. Harris (Noel Trevarthen) rightly points out – with her. Not only is he making up for the lost years, she is also another trophy, another “success” in his career. When he finds himself guilty of the accident that horribly burns her face, there are literally no lengths he wouldn’t go to to rescue her. He doesn’t need to kill desirable girls. He chooses them. One could argue they’re easier to handle than a strong male target. But when the prospective victim is a younger girl whose life isn’t “lost”, he resists. “I have sworn to preserve life, not to take it”, he says, his face lit up by a table lamp. The assumption is that a life of contention has groomed aggressivity toward sexually arousing women.

The movie isn’t mysoginistic, the protagonist is. As for Lynn, neither the script nor the actress overplays her femme fatale function as with, say, Hazel Court in the Roger Corman Poe adaptations. We believe in her physical and emotional pain (“People turning away as they see me!...” She’s a model! The dialogue has the intelligence of using the characters’ biographic and professional backgrounds to tighten the screw) and she sounds truthful when she says she’s chosen Sir John for “the man” rather than the money or title. And Steve Harris is a find. As the nominal hero, he’s clever enough to figure John’s actions and motives, but his Jiminy Cricket interventions are tiring and ineffectual, and when he finally acts in the climax, he does so in such a misjudged and clumsy way he just precipitates disaster. In one blow the filmmakers make up a credible character, subvert a pivotal cliché, and slap censorship and moralism in the face.


The film also sheds a new light on the old hat story by firmly setting it in the kitchen sink places and realities of swinging London, with the main result of providing a contrast between the old world represented by Sir John and the emerging landscape of the 60’s. The final act when the house is invaded by beatniks (a less conspicuous borrowing, this from John Huston’s “Treasure of Sierra Madre”, but totally filtered and legitimated) is remarkable in that each party is freaked by the other. The demented Groper (David Lodge of “Carry On” fame), wearing a black Sgt Pepper uniform is a sturdier, diabolical mirror image for John Lennon, pointing out the destructive side of on the road lifestyle. The film preceded the Mansion murders by a year. Interestingly, Corman’s “A Bucket of Blood” had also anticipated the phenomenon in a different way. A film so concerned with the eruption of beastly instincts in diverse contexts couldn’t have been softly staged. Its aggressive style is an asset, as are the seedy and commonplace settings.

Hartford-Davis gets as close as possible to Expressionistic principles within these limits in the grotesque wide-angle shots distorting the countenance and the surroundings of the protagonist; the opening credits with masked doctors and equipment blended into a single mechanism; or the last – and lasting – close-up of Cushing’s stern eyes accompanied by the soundtrack of women’s screams. This final sequence serves more to reiterate Sir John’s potential instability than to surprise us with some unexpected plot point. Equal care has been taken in considering the symbolic connotations of places and objects – the laser, the seaside, the noisy flying gulls, and so on. Last but not least – “Corruption” is very entertaining – its intellectual ventures remain almost always in the subtext and never interfere with its effectiveness as a genre piece – and VERY professional. Its deliberate drabness should never be confused with amateurism. It is purposefully achieved through the efforts of an excellent crew including cinematographer Peter Newbrook (later to photograph “The Asphyx”, 1970), composer Bill McGuffie (his jazzy score, ranging from soothing to frenzied, is the film’s voice, no less), and practically the whole cast. Peter at his creepiest, Lloyd, Lodge, the iconic and beautiful Kate O’Mara as the heroine, and perhaps especially worthy of mention , because never acknowledged, Valerie Van Ost as the victim on the train. The lady would make an even more notable appearance in another Cushing film - “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” (1973) – where she displayed enormous versatily and ease as the squeamish secretary turned wickedly anticipating victim and savagely sensuous vampiress.

PEDRO DE QUEIROZ PERGUNTA: 'A FACE DA CORRUPCAO' BAIXARIA OU QUALIDADE?


“A FACE DA CORRUPÇÃO” – BAIXARIA OU QUALIDADE?

Chavões, sensacionalismo, visual banal. Não dá pra negar que este veículo para Peter Cushing dirigido pelo especialista em apelação Robert Hartford-Davis em 1967 tem isso tudo. Também não dá pra negar que o filme é uma experiência única e poderosa, nem por aqueles que detestam sua força. Por que?


A trama: Sir John Rowan, um cirurgião brilhante, tem que matar pessoas periodicamente para extrair delas um soro capaz de restaurar o rosto desfigurado de sua noiva – um clichê de filme de horror (“Raptor de Noivas”, 1942, um filme B da Monogram com Bela Lugosi, é um exemplo) executado com a mesma ênfase em cirurgia explícita vista pouco antes no respeitado  “Os Olhos sem Rosto”(1959) de Georges Franju, e já imitado no não-tão-respeitado “O Terrível Dr. Orloff” (1962), de Jesus Franco. Sir John sai por aí carregando uma maletinha de instrumentos médicos a la Jack, o Estripador e matando mulheres. Depois de um final explosivo, o filme, aparentemente por falta de solução melhor, plagia o epílogo de outro clássico, “Na Solidão da Noite” (1945), da Ealing.



Partindo dessa plataforma surrada, o roteiro de Donald e Derek Ford – que já tinham abordado Jack, o Estripador no ótimo “Névoas do Terror” (1965), em que o famigerado assassino vitoriano encontra Sherlock Holmes – se concentra em seus próprios interesses. Pra começar, caracterização e nuances psicológicas. Sir John é um caso clínico de perfeccionismo patológico. Antes dos créditos iniciais terminarem, nós o vemos suando na mesa de operações, comentando que “quanto mais sucessos, mais se temem as falhas” e cochilando numa biblioteca abarrotada dominada por um busto imponente – dele? -  à meia-luz, com um livro ainda aberto em seu colo.


Muitos reclamam que não faz sentido ele se apaixonar pela vaidosa e desagradável Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd, da série de TV “The Baron”). Vem cá, admitindo que esse solteirão travado de meia-idade não chegou aonde está sem uma bela dose de renúncia pessoal, o amor de uma linda modelo muito mais jovem que ele bastaria pra deixá-lo bobo (“obcecado” por ela, diz seu colega Dr. Harris, com razão). Não só ele está indo atrás do tempo perdido, mas ela é um troféu, outro “sucesso” em sua carreira. Quando o rosto dela é queimado num acidente por culpa dele, não há do que não seja capaz para resgatá-la.

Ele não precisa matar mulheres desejáveis. É escolha. Pode-se argumentar que são mais fáceis de dominar que um homem, mas quando a vítima em questão é uma garota mais jovem cuja vida ainda não é “perdida”, ele resiste. “Jurei preservar a vida, não tirá-la”, ele diz, o rosto subitamente iluminado por um abajur. Presume-se que uma vida inteira de contenção alimentou uma agressividade contra mulheres sexualmente excitantes. O filme não é misógino, o protagonista sim.



Quanto a Lynn, nem o roteiro nem a atriz força a mão em seu papel de mulher fatal como, digamos, Hazel Court nas adaptações de Poe feitas por Roger Corman. Acreditamos em seu tormento físico e emocional (“Gente virando o rosto quando me vê...” Ela é modelo! Os diálogos têm a inteligência de aproveitar a experiência profissional e de vida dos personagens para intensificar o drama) e ela parece sincera quando diz que escolheu John pelo “homem”, não o título ou o dinheiro. Steve Harris é um achado. Herói nominal do filme, ele é bastante esperto para descobrir as ações e entender os motivos de John, mas sua impertinência de Grilo Falante é ineficaz, e quando ele finalmente age no clímax, faz de modo tão equivocado e desastrado que precipita a catástrofe. De uma tacada, os realizadores criam um personagem verossímil, subvertem um clichê básico e fazem um desaforo aos moralistas e censores.

O filme dá novo sentido à história velha ancorando-a firmemente na realidade e ambientes prosaicos da “swinging London”, resultando principalmente num contraste entre o velho mundo representado por Sir John e o panorama emergente nos anos 60. O último ato, quando a casa é invadida por “beatniks” (uma apropriação menos evidente, esta de “O Tesouro de Sierra Madre”, de John Huston, mas totalmente filtrada e legitimada) é notável por mostrar cada grupo horrorizado com o outro. O loucão Groper (David Lodge, conhecido pela série cinematográfica “Carry On”) é uma paródia diabólica e corpulenta de John Lennon usando um uniforme de Sgt. Pepper, só que preto, sugerindo o lado destrutivo da vida pé na estrada. Curiosamente, Corman tinha feito o mesmo de forma diferente em “O Segredo Negro” (1959).



Um filme tão focado na erupção de instintos violentos em contextos diversos não poderia ser encenado de forma suave. Sua agressividade tem razão de ser, assim como os ambientes derrubados e ordinários. Hartford-Davis se aproxima tanto quanto possível dos princípios expressionistas sem fugir desses limites na grotesca distorção do semblante e do entorno do protagonista pela lente grande-angular; na sequência de abertura com os médicos mascarados e os equipamentos se fundindo num único mecanismo; e na imagem final - o perturbador close dos olhos de Peter com os gritos das mulheres como trilha sonora. A última sequência funciona menos para nos pegar com um final-surpresa que para realçar o desequilíbrio potencial de John.O mesmo cuidado foi tomado com as conotações simbólicas dos objetos e locais – o laser, a beira-mar, as gaivotas voando ruidosamente...



Por fim e não menos importante, “A Face da Corrupção” é grande entretenimento – e MUITO profissional. Seu prosaísmo intencional não deve ser jamais confundido com amadorismo. É, sim, um resultado deliberadamente atingido pelo trabalho de uma equipe de alto nível, que inclui o cinegrafista Peter Newbrook (“The Asphyx”, 1970), o compositor Bill McGuffie (cuja trilha de jazz, indo do mais relaxante ao mais frenético é nada menos que a voz do filme) e praticamente todo o elenco: Peter, Sue, Lodge, a emblemática e bela Kate O’Mara no papel da heroína e, talvez especialmente, porque nunca reconhecida, Valerie Van Ost como a vítima no trem. A moça daria uma interpretação ainda mais notável em outro filme de Peter – “Os Ritos Satânicos de Drácula” (1973) – passando com enorme versatilidade e facilidade de secretária introvertida a vítima sacaninha e vampira selvagemente sensual .

Tuesday 23 July 2013

GRINDHOUSE RELEASING GIVES 'CORRUPTION' IT'S FIRST U.S RELEASE AND ON BLU RAY


Grindhouse Releasing is bringing Peter Cushing's little-seen 1968 shocker CORRUPTION aka CARNAGE- Uncut to DVD and blu ray. Grindhouse will give CORRUPTION a series of theatrical screenings this year too. Here's a sneak peep of two versions of the cover art, designed with Grindhouse's usual flair...



Here's a what to expect from quite an impressive line up of extra features:

'Grindhouse Releasing is proud to present the FIRST-EVER U.S. home video release of the wildest, sickest and sleaziest swinging-sixties British horror thriller -CORRUPTION. The legendary Peter Cushing stars as a surgeon driven to murder and madness as he attempts to restore the beauty of his hideously disfigured fashion model wife. Co-starring Sue Lloyd and Hammer Horror beauty Kate O'Mara (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS). This special edition contains shocking scenes of GORE and NUDITY previously deemed too strong for American audiences.

Bonus Features:
• 2 DISC SET - Deluxe dual layer Blu-ray Edition + DVD combo
• Spectacular new hi-definition digital restoration of the original uncensored version - PLUS - the "International Version" of the movie with bloody violence and nudity presented for the very first time in America
• Interviews with stars Wendy Varnals, Billy Murray, Jan Waters and Peter Cushing
• Audio commentary by acclaimed UK horror journalist Jonathan Rigby and Peter Cushing biographer David Miller
• Isolated music and effects track
• Liner notes by Allan Bryce, editor of the celebrated British horror magazine THE DARK SIDE
• Extensive still galleries, trailers, TV spots and radio spots
• The original annotated director's shooting script and production notes
• Shocking reversible cover with original art by notorious illustrator Rick Melton
• Grindhouse Releasing prevues of coming attractions
AND OTHER SURPRISES!

Sunday 5 May 2013

A VERY NASTY BUSINESS : PETER CUSHING SUE LLOYD KATE OMARA 'CORRUPTION' AKA 'CARNAGE' TROY HOWARTH REVIEW AND GALLERY


In 1959, Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face made a tremendous impact on audiences. The film offered an odd mixture of the up market and the down market, with a poetic sensibility mixed with instances of graphic gore. Indeed, the film pushed the envelope further than anything Hammer Films had done at that time, yet Franju’s credentials with the art house crowd ensured that it was taken in a more serious manner. It also set the template for a series of “surgical” horror films, many of which borrowed the basic concept of a surgeon driven to madness by love. Spanish filmmaker hit pay dirt with his own variation on the formula, The Awful Dr. Orlof (1961), establishing himself – and Swiss-American character actor Howard Vernon – as a fixture in the horror genre. The British came to the party a bit late, but when they did so, via Corruption (1967), they managed to outdo the competition in terms of sheer sleaze and gratuitous violence.


The film came at an awkward period in Peter Cushing’s career. Cushing had established himself as a household name in the UK due to top lining a number of celebrated live TV productions, and he parlayed this into big screen infamy by aligning himself with Hammer Film Productions. The double-punch of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958) showed him to be an actor of tremendous versatility, equally at home in roles that were villainous and heroic, and he was soon inextricably linked with the horror genre. It was a role Cushing accepted with some reluctance, knowing full well that it would deprive him of more mainstream recognition – but it provided a steady income, and this was something that he and his beloved wife Helen were desperately in need of. Helen’s health had always been problematic, and by the time the mid-60s rolled around, her emphysema had deteriorated to a noticeable degree. Cushing was panic-stricken by the notion of possibly losing her, and the costly treatments she required insured that he was able to bank very little of the money he was making in his film work. Thus, he accepted virtually every role he could cram into his schedule – and though he took the work very seriously, he was only too aware that he was sometimes accepting projects with a less-than-distinguished pedigree. The actor had appeared in quite a few indifferent pictures through the years, but never in his career would he be faced with a project quite so sleazy and down market at Corruption.


The story deals with a distinguished surgeon, Sir John Rowan (Cushing), who succumbs to madness when he accidentally causes his lover, Lynn (Sue Lloyd), to become hideously disfigured in a freak accident. In an effort to restore her lost beauty, via a series of unsuccessful skin grafting operations, he turns to murder…


Say what you will about the film itself, it still offers one of Cushing’s most intense and deeply felt performances. The actor was deeply uncomfortable appearing in some of the scenes that were required of him, but this does not manifest itself in a negative manner on screen. True, the scene of Cushing lost amid a sea of hippies at a very 60s “flower power” party is jarring – but it is sensibly played for laughs, with Cushing conveying a sense of being a fish out of water, desperately trying to appease his younger love interest. After the accident which destroys Lynn ’s face, Cushing becomes determined to correct his inadvertent actions, and in the process he loses control and succumbs to his worst impulses. There’s a particularly strong scene wherein Rowan, trying to keep his mounting frustration and rage under control, finally snaps at his young assistant (Kate O’Mara). Cushing plays the sequence for all the punch and pathos it is worth – it doesn’t even feel so much like acting as a moment of cathartic release, as if his own personal demons and anxieties were spilling over into the character.


Cushing would later decry the film for its excesses, but he recognized that it had the germ of a worthy dramatic concept. It’s possible that he entered into the film hoping that it would explore the dynamics of the relationship between Rowan and Lyn, but any such idealism surely faded soon into the production. When the time came to film a sequence wherein Rowan murders a prostitute, it surely must have felt like a very bleak day. The scene was filmed twice, once in a more conventional manner befitting the censorship mores of the UK and the US marketplace, and then in a more risqué manner, which depicts the “gentleman of horror” forcing a topless actress (played by Marianne Morris; she is substituted by a clothed Jan Waters in the more commonly available edit of the film) to the ground, slashing her with a knife, smearing blood over her naked breasts, and then beheading her. It’s a very intense set piece, though director Robert Hartford-Davis’ concept of how to best capture the insanity of the moment was to go wild with the fish-eye lens effects. Clubfooted direction to one side, it’s Cushing who gives the scene its impact - partially because it seems so very out of character, and partially because he conveys a sense of going over the edge that is almost unique in his body of work.


Sadly, the film isn’t worthy of Cushing’s efforts. As noted above, Hartford-Davis’ direction is flat and functional at best. He would go on to direct Cushing in an even more unfortunate project - Incense for the Damned, aka Bloodsuckers (1970), an incomplete hodgepodge of vampirism and flower power mysticism that was largely filmed on location in Greece - but his most interesting and accomplished picture remains The Fiend (1971), a demented slice of religious mania featuring typically intense performances from Tony Beckley (When a Stranger Calls) and Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange). His emphasis is squarely on the sensational in this context, however, which creates a dramatic vacuum where a far greater sense of emotional investment would have been appreciated. Nowhere is this more evident than in the depiction of the character of Lynn, played by Sue Lloyd. Lloyd is a capable and photogenic actress, but her portrayal is unsympathetic - and this is very much as she appears to have been written. Lloyd doesn’t manage to invest any real pathos into the character, regardless, thus making Cushing’s obsession with her seem bizarre and misplaced. It’s truly as if the two actors were making two different films - Lloyd picking up a paycheck for playing a bitchy femme fatale, and Cushing trying to capture a far greater sense of heartfelt sorrow and heartache. The remainder of the cast is similarly uninspired, with even the normally reliable character actor David Lodge (something of an unofficial member of the Peter Sellers “rep company,” having appeared in many of the great comic’s films, including A Shot in the Dark and I’m All Right Jack) coming off quite poorly as a goon who roughs up Cushing’s character at one point; the actor was miscast and likely knew it, and he resorts to broad overacting to compensate. Add in one of the most truly horrific music scores to be found in British horror (“courtesy” of Bill McGuffie, who really oughtn’t have bothered) and the end result is as offputting as it is poorly made. 


Even so, Cushing fans are still encouraged to give it a try - the “full strength” edition isn’t so easy to find, but certainly the tamer US/UK edit is easy enough to come by. If ever there was proof of Cushing’s utter commitment and professionalism in even the most unsavory of projects, Corruption most certainly fulfills that function. 

Friday 1 February 2013

Monday 3 December 2012

PETER CUSHING: TRAILER CAPTIONS FROM 'CORRUPTION' / 'CARANGE'


  
CAPTIONS FROM THE 1968 PETER CUSHING FILM 'CORRUPTION' AKA 'CARNAGE. A FILM SO BUSY TELLING US THAT NO WOMAN WILL DARE GO HOME ALONE AFTER SEEING THE MOVIE, THAT THEY'VE FORGOTTEN TO TELL US WHO IS ACTUALLY STARRING IN THE FILM..
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