TWO new banners to help mark our 60th Anniversary at our OFFICIAL PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. We have some little pockets of
joy, planned for later this year. Meanwhile, here is Peter Cushing in a
very popular photograph used in the Telegraph newspaper to accompany an interview about Helen. And a rare colour transparency, of Peter Cushing's Baron Frankenstein, showing off his latest creation in the shape
of WOMAN... the fabulously sensitive actor Susan Denberg, in
Frankenstein Created Woman (Hammer films 1967)
CATCH OUR GALLERY OF CLIPS OF PETER CUSHING'S APPEARANCES ON THE MORECAMBE AND WISE SHOWS OVER A TWENTY YEAR SPAN AT OUR YOUTUBE PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY CHANNEL: HERE
Cushing Connections: The film the 49th Parallel staring Leslie Howard,
Laurence Olivier who can tell us the PETER CUSHING connection with this
film??? And how he nearly got himself arrested??
Nothing gives me more pleasure than giving away prizes in our competitions!
Especially when they areDOUBLE prizes. ALL SIX winners of our
VALENTINE'S DAY I LOVE HORROR FILMS COMPETITION can look forward to a
PAIR of darn good double bills of Cushing/ Hammer/ Amicus documentaries
arriving in the post in the next few days. Donald Fearney's MILTON SUBOTSKY'S AND MAX J ROSENBERG'S AMICUS: VAULT OF HORRORS and LEGEND OF HAMMER VAMPIRES documentaries are being
shipped today... and with the Amicus doc
alone being almost three hours long... I think there will be enough in
this double bill to entertain, until the NEXT PCAS competition! If you would like to purchase a copy of either documentary, please
contact me by facebook message, and I will happily provide you with the
details. Stocks of both titles are now down to double figures.BOTHdiscs are REGION FREE.
Here at PCAS, I take pride in offering PRIZES that count! I scout out the best of Peter Cushing goodies out there, and then find companies and distributors to sponsor our competitions. I cover the expense of post and packaging, all our competitions are free, no catch, no passing of emails and mailing lists. Dvd's, blu rays, box sets, books, magazines, lobby cards, t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, posters, bespoke artwork, autographs, rare movie props...even dinner with a Cushing Film Director!! But, not everything out there makes it to selection for inclusion in our competitions. Being a life long fan, I only select what I would love to have as an addition in my collection too!
Whatever the PCAS competition, whatever the prize, you can always guarantee a very good response. Everyone has fun and enters into the spirit, and after announcing the winners, it's not unusual to read a long thread of messages of congratulations, to the lucky winners. As I always say, I only wish I had more prizes to give away!
There can be few directors who worked for Hammer films, who did so much to develop that Hammer-in-house style. Terence Fisher, WAS Hammer. Along with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and the players who helped under pin the rich vision of fairy-tale come Gothic nightmare style. Even
when the 'monsters' were 'shaky' the script, with more holes than a
Swiss cheese... the look, pace and world beautifully styled by Fisher,
just sat so well.
Old Friends... Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing at the Festival du Film Fantastique de Paris in 1974
Peter and Thorley Walters share a joke, during the making of 'Frankenstein Created Woman' at Bray studios in 1967.
Terence Fisher at home during the time of his last film for Hammer
In the last ten years of his life, Terence had not one but two accidents,
both involving cars and I believe, in the same location!
Terence Fisher at home with his wife, Morag.
Start out finding out MORE on Terence Fisher and his non Cushing work for Hammer films, with this feature and gallery about STOLEN FACE at our supplement website, THEBLACKBOXCLUB.COM
#ONSETSATURDAY
This week we visit that Amicus favourite, THE BEAST MUST DIE, with a
rare shot of ANTON DIFFRING in the make up chair of Paul Rabiger. An
interesting film in the Cushing portfolio, is a horror film, a thriller,
a who done it??? The answer is probably, it's all three! With it's excellent
'WEREWOLF BREAK' a quite eclectic cast, headed by Peter Cushing, Charles
Gray and werewolf hunter, Calvin
Lockhart, who sounds like he's just popped over during a tea break from
the Royal Shakespeare company's production of 'As You Like it'. It's not
one of my favourites, and the music score I find so bad, I have been
known to watch the entire film with the volume down. Amicus films,
didn't have those memorable scores, like many of the Hammer films, and
went down the route of employing Douglas Gamley (1924–1998) to score
this one, and many of the portmanteau films. Just my opinion, but I am
not a fan.
Mind you, he's not quite as bad as Elisabeth Lutyens ...who
scored Dr Terrors House of Horrors. Her avant-garde blackboard
scrapings, set me on edge. Maybe, that was what they were meant to do???
What is YOUR favourite AMICUS film score??
A quick look at the PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY YOUTUBE CHANNEL will reveal a bit of an overhaul. All clips now have relevant custom thumbnails and descriptions, making clips easier to find. Interviews, trailers, vinatge clips, documentaries and promos, lots to see. We've also gathered clips into themes and play-lists. We are currently compling a selection of clips and segments of Peter Cushing many appearnces on the MORECAMBE AND WISE SHOWS. I've assembled a small selection of GIFS taken form the clips on offer for your viewing so far. The quest of Peter Cushing's desparate struggle to get his £5 appearance fee, from his first guest appearance on the show, was one of the duo's longest running jokes from 1971 until it's very satisfying climax in Eric and Ernie's Christmas Show of 1980. When the comic pair jumped allegiance from the contract with the BBC to the independent TV station, ITV they took their material AND the running joke with them!
Over the next few weeks we'll be adding more clips and gifs. Plus there's an extensive feature on the ins and outs of Peter Cushing's time with one of the best loved comedy partnerships in British Light Entertainment coming up here soon....
ALL CLIPS TO BE FOUND AT OUR PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW!
NEWS: The British publisher teams up with the studio known for 'Let Me In,'
'The Woman in Black' and classic Peter Cushing gothic horrors.
It's welcome back to the house of Hammer. Announced at comic book retailer
conference ComicsPro Friday, Titan Comics will launch a new line of
comic books based on properties from classic horror movie studio Hammer
Films later this year. Hammer, the home of British horror, was founded in 1934 but truly came
to prominence in the 1950s with a string of horror features including The Quatermass Experiment, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Devil Rides Out and 1958's Dracula, the movie which arguably made the careers of both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Throughout the 1950s, '60s and into the '70s, "Hammer Horror" became a
reliable shorthand for a particularly gothic aesthetic filled with
dramatically lit castles, creepy old men with upperclass English accents
and chills that managed to be both over-the-top and surprisingly
effective.
Following the studio's disappearance in 1979 after almost falling into
bankruptcy, Hammer Films returned in 2008 with a string of updated
horror titles including The Woman in Black, The Quiet Ones, The Resident and Let Me In, a remake of the Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In.
Titan's Hammer line, which aptly launches in time for Halloween, will
feature a mix of classic Hammer titles and all-new properties. In a
statement accompanying the announcement, editor David Leach said,
"Hammer is the home of some of the most groundbreaking horror and genre
films in motion picture history. Together, we're going to make some
terrifyingly good comics."
The British-based publisher has built a reputation for its licensed material, with series based on Doctor Who, Heroes Reborn, Assassin's Creed and NBC's The Blacklist in its portfolio. Its next high profile launch starts in May, based on Showtime's Penny Dreadful.
