Tuesday 31 October 2017

HAPPY HALLOWEEN : IT'S TRICK OR TREAT WITH A DOUBLE BILL OF CUSHING LEGENDS!


#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! AND SO, HERE WE are again! Seems like only a year since the last one!!! HA! I am a SUCKER for Halloween, and this year, it's my first time celebrating it in the US. It's different. Let's just say, the front of the house looks like a Hammer House of Horror playground for Wednesday Addams, and I have spent most of this morning, filling little trick or treat orange ghosty bags, with sweets (candy) Monster stickers and rubber spiders! They tell me to expect . . .  upwards of 50 visitors to the front door, wearing various monster, ghosts and ghoulies. Nothing new there then! I'm prepared! How about you? PLEASE share any pics here of your GET ups, GET Together's and GET downs ...decent please...the vicar and Aunty Mary is watching tonight 😉 


After the fuss DIES down, I'll be kicking back with some phantom punch, and watching our #PCAS HALLOWEEN DOUBLE BILL of Peter Cushing movies, which you too can watch here at #PCAS #Facebook, the #PCAS #Youtube Channel and the #PCAS website... See BELOW . .. Laters. Stay SAFE and HAVE FUN! -Marcus





DRAGGED FROM THE PCASUK YOUTUBE CHANNEL screaming and howling, here's a tasty little 1975 offering from TYBURN FILMS starring Peter Cushing, David Rintoul, Ron Moody and Lynn Dalby, LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF . . . sure to chill your blood and have you screaming for more . . . .



AND IF IT'S MORE YOU WANT . . . a lethal dose of a VAMPIRE LEGEND from the FAR EAST, this just might be just enough, to send you off to bed, knowing all is well, while Cushing's Van Helsing will forever be around, to fight DRACULA and his Skipping and Hoping Vampire zombies, well that and the KUNG FU Clan. . ENJOY and a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Til NEXT YEAR....



 

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . . 

Monday 30 October 2017

AMICUS THE SKULL : BIG FALL : MOMENT OF TERROR MONDAY AND TRICK OR TREAT PLANS?


THIS WEEK'S #MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY! comes from Amicus films, 'THE SKULL' (1965) starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee . .and here, Peter Woodthrope, who some of you may recognise from his portrayal of Zoltan the hypnotist, Hammer films, 'The Evil of Frankenstein' also with Peter Cushing from the same year. The floating SKULL of the The Skull of the "Marquis de Sade" was a true device of terror, and a concept devised by author and screenplay writer, Robert Bloch.


RARE STILLS GALLERY BEHIND THE SCENES from THE SKULL in  The Amicus Films of Peter Cushing PART ONE Right HERE!


BLOCH WORKED on a few Amicus films, The Skull probably being the best of the bunch. Peter Cushing plays the tormented Christopher MAITLAND . . .a surname that is a death sentence in an Amicus film, as script writer and producer has used the surname so many times in his films! This is great clip. I LOVE the way that Woodthrope's, Bert Travers falls through no one, but TWO glass skylights...and if you listen carefully, it sounds as he went through another too . .. . A TRUE Moment of TERROR! BEST print on the market, would have to be the EUREKA BLU RAY. Great visual quality and sound...and a load of extra features too PLUS It's REGION ZERO! ENJOY! - Marcus




OVER AT THE Peter Cushing APPRECIATION Society Facebook Fan Page   WE'RE ASKING ABOUT YOUR PLANS FOR TOMORROW EVENING? JOIN US?




IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGEJust click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . .   

Sunday 29 October 2017

THE TEN THINGS I NOW LOVE ABOUT . . . THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR! CALLUM MCKELVIE FESSES UP!



THIS HALLOWEEN I’ve decided to give what many would consider a real ‘horror’ a second chance. Few films are as openly lambasted within the Cushing-Canon as The Blood Beast Terror, Peter himself even went as far as to label it his worst….ever. Only the fledgling Tigon productions second Horror film, after the remarkable The Sorcerers from 1967 the debut of director Michael Reeves, The Blood Beast Terror seems something like a step backwards. Whereas The Sorcerers concerned contemporary social and youth movements, Blood Beast is a period piece, featuring a dogged Victorian policeman hunting down a fearsome monster created by a mad-scientist.




It’s pretty trope-filled stuff. Not only that, but The Blood Beast Terror is directed by veteran director Vernon Sewell, who at this stage was reaching the twilight of his career. When viewed in this light and compared to the other films Tigon was putting out (Witchfinder General, Blood On Satan's Claw even lesser films such as The Beast in the Cellar show slightly more inventiveness) it’s easy to see why Blood Beast Terror gets the wrap it gets. Also….it’s pretty bad in places. However with that said, I for one DON’T think its Cushing’s worse and so compiled here is a little list of ten things I like about The Blood Beast Terror.



1: It’s pure Victorian pulp . . .
So if The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula / Horror of Dracula are adaptations of classics of Gothic literature, then Blood Beast is the closest thing the 60’s brit-horror boom got to bringing a cheap, lurid penny dreadful, that’s been lost to time to the screen. Ok so its trope filled. Ok so the character stereotypes are out-dated and over used, but who doesn’t love a mad scientist, sinister butler and femme-fatale monster? The film utilises a number of gothic horror tropes but revels in them, whilst certainly not new or exciting, it’s a fun little escape into that lurid Gothic world . .



2: It knows what it’s doing and has fun with it . . .
Building on point one, the film apparently has fun with these tropes. In one memorable sequence there is an amateur dramatic performance of a horror play, spoofing some Frankenstein films. Now I’m not saying the film is in anyway being Meta in a particularly clever way, but it seems somewhat self-referential, a slight wink and joke to an audience that are watching a film based on the more lurid aspects of penny-dreadfuls and the Grande Guignol




3: Robert Flemying . . .
So it’s pretty well documented now that the part of Doctor Mallinger was to be played by legendary horror actor, Basil Rathbone. Needless to say the idea of Rathbone matching wits with Cushing is certainly an appealing one but sadly shortly before shooting began, Rathbone was taken ill and died suddenly. Needing a replacement fast, Tony Tenser, the legend behind Tigon films remembered the actor Robert Flemying who had appeared in a film he had distributed, 1962’s The Horrible Dr Hitchcock. Now it’s easy to get caught up in what could have been, which is unfair as it takes away from what is actually a powerful performance. Flemying and Cushing play off each other very well, particularly towards the latter half of the film when each has a suggestion that the other knows more than he is letting on. . .



4: Wanda Ventham . . .
The Moth-Lady herself, Wanda Ventham (known for making three prominent appearances in several episodes of Doctor Who throughout the years) is given plenty of screen-time and looks striking. Her performance is a powerful one and her scenes with Flemying have a genuine level of tension and menace . . .


5: The Title . . .
Need I say more?


 


6: The Supporting Cast . . .
The Veteran actor, perhaps best known to fans of Doctor Who as two of its most memorable villains, Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion and Mavic Chen in The Daleks Masterplan is particularly creepy as Granger. Glynn Edwards Sergeant Allan has some particularly humorous moments of dry wit with Cushing leading too…


7: That last-line . . .
Edwards: ‘They’ll never believe this at the yard
Cushing: ‘They’ll never believe it anywhere’




8: The Moth . . .
Whilst certainly not going to win any awards for best monster make-up of the decade…there is something undoubtedly charming about the giant furry Moth costume. The final flying sequences are….pretty damn awful, but the Moth’s appearance is distinctive enough to be entertaining in its own right . . .


9: Roy Hudd . . .
I’ve mentioned a lot of the cast in this, but as of yet have made no mention of the best actor (aside from…well you know who) in the film. Roy Hudd as the Morgue attendant makes this whole thing worthwhile. Hudd stated that he and Cushing worked together, rejigging the sequence to make it funnier and the result is the highlight of the film equalling any of Miles Madison’s scenes in the earlier Hammer pictures  . . .



10: Peter Cushing . . .
Ok so a bit predictable maybe, but was he ever not going to be on this list? The Blood Beast may not have the meatiest of roles for him in the character of Inspector Quennell, but it does give a good example of Cushing giving his all…in a production which some would argue doesn’t deserve it. Whilst there’s plenty to enjoy in this film, the real joy is Cushing nailing it against all the odds . . .
 






IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . .  

THE DRACULA SHOT THAT NEVER MADE IT : CUSHING THE MERCILESS AND GOOD SHOES, MAKETH THE MAN!


#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! My Granny always said, 'You can always judge man by the quality of his shoes..!' With Christopher Lee busily polishing his custom made Italian brogues here, Granny would have obviously rated him quite high on her crib sheet. That's a nice shine too. Lee obviously doesn't trust to leave his shoes outside his hotel room door...after that LAST episode, with one going missing.


The Prince of Darkness . . .. 'Dracula, Prince of Darkness'
 (Hammer films 1966)



ALL TOGETHER NOW: 'FLASH! AHH...AHHH!' What a song! What a movie! Think on this . . .what if GEORGE LUCAS has decided not to make #STARWARS back in 1977, but instead, waited until 1980...and made, FLASH GORDON instead???? . . .Cus-HING as MING would have been interest-ING though...maybe? No? Mark H and dear Carrie, would have been perfect, not sure about Karen Allen though . . 🙂 This stunn-ING mock up cinema poster is the work of El Ray Network, I believe.



#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAYS! Can YOU spot the shot, with Marsha Hunt, that never made it to the final UK edit of #DRACULA AD 1972...starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, before the big bow out, in the Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)




IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . . 
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