PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION NUMBER FOUR NOW LIVE WITH BUMPER PRIZE!

PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 4#! IS NOW LIVE at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FACEBOOK PAGE HERE! You can ONLY enter the COMPETITION THERE! A reminder . .  these competitions are open to everyone... whoever, wherever you are! 

THIS PRIZE comprises of SEVEN DVD's... 1) Sherlock Holmes! A box set of FOUR episodes on dvd of #PeterCushing's BBC series from 1968. Included is 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', though by many to be the best tv adaption of the #Doyle story. Each episode comes in it's own case with sleeve. These are believed to be the only remaining episodes from the Cushing 16 episode series, as it was standard practice at the time for the #BBC to wipe tapes and reuse them. Win this competition, and they are yours!

2) 'The Amicus Vault of Horrors'! (region 0) Directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 146 minute documentary has to be the most comprehensive doc on the history of Amicus films. Narrated by Roy Hudd and featuring interviews with Milton Subotsky, John Carson, #DavidWarner #LindaHayden and many others, you'll find masses of rare footage, rare stills and publicity material, with a script by John Hamilton and editing by Jim Groom, this fear feast leaves no Amicus stone, unturned! 

3) 'The Legend of Hammer Vampires' (region 0) Narrated by Edward (Kiss of the Vampire' & 'Phantom of the Opera' De Souza, directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 96 minutes of exclusive interviews with many of the key personalities, along with unseen footage and rare stills, that cover the entire history of Hammer's Vampire films and the Dracula franchise. All sales stocks of this documentary are now gone . .. WIN your copy HERE!

WE HAVE TWO batches of this PRIZE for you to WIN. All you have to do is answer the COMPETITION FOUR QUESTION below, send your ANSWER to us, as usual VIA the #PCAS #Facebook MESSAGE BUTTON ONLY! If your answer is correct, it will be dropped into the hat and fingers crossed, pulled out as a WINNER on January 2nd 2020! Good Luck!

COMPETITION QUESTION: Peter Cushing first played the character of Van Helsing, in Hammer films first 'DRACULA' film in 1958... also known as 'The Horror of Dracula'. This was also Christopher Lee's first performance for Hammer as Dracula... for many the climax of the film, is the dramatic slaying of the Count, with Cushing's Van Helsing crossing TWO CANDLE STICKS, forcing Dracula into the light of the rising sun! Cushing is on record to have actually suggested the 'candle stick' idea on the set, during the filming . ..
but he has also given credit to ANOTHER feature film, where he believes he FIRST saw the 'crossed candle sticks' idea used.

YOUR TASK: NAME THAT FILM 😃😉

A) Laurel and Hardy meet Dracula? B) The A to Z of Vampire Killing? C) Home Hobbies: Making Candles? D) Berkley Square? E) Candle Square? F) Candle Shoe?

CHOOSE your answer and send it to us as your entry ONLY using the PCAS Facebook Message Button ONLY!

Have Fun and Good Luck 😉
Marcus

LIVE! ANOTHER TWO CHRISTMAS COMPETITIONS : YOUR XMAS CHANCE TO BAG GREAT PRIZES HERE!

PCASUK #CHRISTMAS #COMPETITION 2#! HERE IS YOUR CHANCE to bag a copy of SECOND SIGHTS FILMS excellent BLU RAY release of the 1972 Cushing / Amicus Classic '#ASYLUM'. We gave away quite a few of these as FAB prizes a few weeks ago, thanks again to SECOND SIGHT! If you missed out, here is another chance! 

THIS COMPETITION, is now LIVE HERE at the Facebook PCAS Fan Page and  like ALL our competitions is open to anyone, everyone, wherever you are 😊 Have fun, biut you can ONLY ENTER at our Facebook Fan Page. Good Luck and many thanks to SECOND SIGHT FILMS for their support with this and our other competitions this week 😉 

SECOND SIGHT FILMS WILL RELEASE this BLU RAY on January 6th 2020, and you can place YOUR ORDER for your copy, right now at their website, RIGHTHERE!

THIS COMPETITION ENDS and CLOSES on Wednesday 1st January 2020 MIDNIGHT GMT. WINNING ENTRY REVEALED Thursday 2nd January 2020!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and GOOD LUCK!! - Marcus

YOU CAN READ OUR PCAS review of the Second Sight Films BLU RAY release, RIGHT HERE!

HERE AS PROMISED... here is the 4th PCAS #Christmas Competition, LIVE RIGHT NOW HERE at the Facebook PCAS Fan Page! You can ONLY ENTER at our Facebbok Fan Page!There are a few more to come, up until New Years Day. Good luck with this one too! Please read the details on the #Competition Banner..

CHECK OUT OUR PCASUK REVIEW of Second sights Films BLU RAY release of THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' for yourself! RIGHT HERE!

IF YOU want to order your own copy of Second Sight Films blu ray of Amicus films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' starring #PeterCushing, #ChristopherLee, #JonPertwee, #IngridPitt and many others... it's released on January 6th 2020, and you can place your order directly at their site HERE!

MANY THANKS to the team at #SecondSightFilms for sponsoring our competitions . . . i Hope you are all having a Smashing Festival holiday 😉 Good Luck! - Marcus

WIN HAMMER FILMS BOX SET! THE FIRST OF THE PCAS XMAS COMPETITIONS NOW LIVE!

HERE WE GO! The first of many PCAS Competitions this week, is NOW POSTED at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE HERE 😃This competition like ALL our competitions is open to anyone, everyone, wherever you are 😉 Have fun. Good Luck and many thanks to Indicator for their support with this and our competitions this week! This competition ENDS and CLOSES on Wednesday 1st January 2020 MIDNIGHT GMT. WINNING ENTRY REVEALED Thursday 2nd January 2020 

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR COPY OF INDICATOR'S 'HAMMER VOLUME FOUR : FACES OF FEAR from POWERHOUSE : HERE! 

PS: THE BLACK envelope, with the PH 'Powerhouse' distributor initials on it in black and red here.. is a large size repro cinema poster of 'The Revenge of Frankenstein' which comes with the box set 😃A NICE addition to your prize and any Hammer / Cushing collection.. it will also be on offer with the next box set in one of other competitions this week 😉 - Marcus

MY FESTIVE FRIGHTENERS : TARA CHANDLER ASKS ' WHAT'S ON YOUR WATCH LIST'

OVER AT the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE PETER CUSHING Hammer Amicus fan #TARACHANDLER has sent us this great post 🙂 Quite an interesting selection for the Christmas Fright and Spooky Festival season??? What would yours look like??? Remember you can always send us messages of your choices, thoughts and viewing experiences, which we will SHARE on the MAIN NEWS THREAD.. so others can see and join in ...anytime 😉 🙂 - Marcus

TARA'S POST: "The holiday season is upon us - here is my list of must watch DVD’s for this festive period - this evening I watched my favourite; Countess #Dracula, with my favourite actress #ingridpitt - there are some amazing Cushing features, specifically Frankenstein Created Woman (in The Best of Hammer Collection box set) - some Amicus Productions in there too (Dr Terror’s...). What’s on your festive list!? I may add a few more to mine! " 🦇 🧛‍♂️

PETER CUSHING truly did love Whitstable, for sure 😃 Be it Summer or Winter . . or even #ChristmasDay for a quick dip (??) it IS somewhere quite special 😉

REQUESTED: MARK HAMILL MEETS Peter Cushing with Davie Prowse on the set at Elstree studios!

SINGER ACTOR AND ENTERTAINER KENNY LYNCH DIES AGED 81 AND REMEMBERING ACE HAMMER DIRECTOR

THE ENTERTAINER #KennyLynch has died at the age of 81. Best known for on-screen roles in TV shows including '#TheSweeney', films such as '#CarryOn Loving' and for his pop career, Lynch’s death was announced by his family on Twitter, who commented that he would be “remembered & missed by many”. As a musician, Lynch was one of the country’s first black pop stars, touring with the #Beatles and scoring two Top 10 hits, among them Up on the Roof – originally recorded by the Drifters – which was released in 1963..

LYNCH appeared with #RoyCastle in Amicus films 'Dr Terror's House of Horror's' in 1965. During a nigh-club scene in the Castle story of this first #Amicusfilms portmanteau movie, Lynch sang 'Give Me Love'.

Kenny Lynch and Co on the album sleeve of 

'Band On The Run' Wings in 1973 

REMEMBERING TODAY.. the birthday of director Roy Ward Baker, whose work with Peter Cushing includes 'Asylum', 'And Now, The Screaming Starts!'. 'The Vampire Lovers' with Amicus films. 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires for Hammer films and 'The Masks of Death' with #PeterCushing for Tyburn films.
 

STARTING AS A TEA BOY at the Gainsborough Studios in #London in 1934, raising to the role of assistant director with Alfred Hitchcock on 'The Lady Vanishes' by 1939, then onto a career as director in Hollywood, working with #MarilynMonroe...
 

ABOVE AND BELOW : TWO Amicus films classics RE-released by SECOND SIGHT FILMS on BLU RAY on JANUARY 6th 2020, ASYLUM directed by ROY WARD BAKER and 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' now available as Standard Releases and OPEN for PRE-ORDER here NOW! HERE and HERE! 

FULL REVIEW : 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU RAY : GALLERY AND GIFS

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of their SELL OUT releases of Limited Edition Blu-rays, of the classic Amicus horrors films, 'ASYLUM' and 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' SECOND SIGHT FILMS are delighted to announce that BOTH films are set to arrive as Standard Edition Blu-rays, complete with a slew of special features and new reversible sleeve artwork created by Graham Humphreys on 6 January 2020. Below is our PCASUK REVIEW and Gallery FEATURE on the STANDARD RELEASES. BOTH can be PRE ORDERED NOW HERE AND HERE. You can also read our review of the STANDARD RELEASE of 'ASYLUM' in this PCASUK REVIEW FEATURE HERE!

A FAIR FEW YEARS AGO, and more than I care to remember, my four children all then in their early teens  . . it's a long story... requested to have a peep at the kind of films, that their Dad prattled endlessly on the phone about, and why they were off limits to the likes of their sensitive nervous systems, and 'for a time when you are older'. Well, they announced, 'That time has surely come??' They had a point. More than once, during chill-time after family dinner, I sat and watched their tv choices, made up of various teen dramas, music shows and videos and was stunned to see what was considered to be 'children's television'! Is it OK to now say KNICKERS before the nine o'clock water-shed now?? They informed me it was . .  and that there was worse! It had all been checked by Mum, so I was sadly . . behind 'with the times'. 

EITHER WAY, I did take time to think on what should I let them view from the 'Collection of Peter Cushing Hammer and Amicus Horrors' VHS tapes. 'At The Earth's Core'? No, a little too soft. 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'? No, Baron FAR too angry. The 1958 'Dracula'? Nope, the ending would give them nightmares, for weeks 'The Vampire Lovers? . . . you are kidding me? Cruising the VHS spines, eventually brought me to Amicus films 1971, 'The House That Dripped Blood' starring both Peter Cushing AND Christopher Lee. It has tension, some black comedy, a bit of a fakie Cushing head on a plate, but no boobs, wobbly bits, romping and funny enough, not a drop of blood and consisted in true Amicus fashion  a framework of FOUR stories. So, they shouldn't get bored! Perfect! Problem was this film was one of the very first I proudly captured on VHS during a TV broadcast, one my fav Amicus films.. and so, was well worn and grainy from obsessive playing and pausing, funny enough on the Ingrid Pitt scenes! 😊😉 

IT WOULD HAVE TO DO, they were happy to watch pop videos that looked like they were shot during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with a cameraman tied to a Full Power Gymo Hip Vibrating  Machine, while being deliberately dazzled by light-house strength flood lights, compared to THAT viewing this would be dream like. The result? They LOVED it, but would have liked to have watched it, without the GRAIN, 'A bit like those old newspaper photographs we see in history classes' and . .  during the quiet, tense, and suspenseful scenes, it was slightly spoiled by, 'what sounded like Mum frying eggs in the background' ... sound hiss! Again, they had a point. But even though there was, hiss, grain, buzzing and. . Denholm Elloitt being a dead ringer for their maths teacher, Cushing being quite dishy and the unsettling fact that the character Dominck looked like our 'creep-guy' neighbour . . . it was a great shared experience and their first glimpse into the world of fantasy cinema and Peter Cushing. ...  

SO FAST FORWARD, to this week, 14th December 2019 and the arrival of another copy of 'The House That Dripped Blood' is ready for viewing  . .  supplied by Second Sight Films on BLU RAY and one of a few copies generously donated for inclusion as prizes in our annual PCAS CHRISTMAS COMPETITION . . . and collectively, the children, now sat together as adults, snacks on hand, drinks at the ready . .  watching the opening credits and what should be an interesting viewing ...  to be continued below . . .

THE VISUAL:
Here's a little detail, we should get into focus and something I haven't mentioned before. ALL the reviews I write and post here are based on my experience of watching them. I have little expert technical knowledge on the process f how these little gems get onto that disc, but as a paying viewer, I base my review on was the copy of good quality, worth the pennies and how it compares to other versions or releases I have of that particular. Discs are often donated as prizes for our PCAS Competitions, they come free, with no contract or deal, other than PCAS will post a feature about it's quality, content and where it can be purchased. That's it. PCAS covers the postage to competition winners, via loose change that is found in my suit at the end of the day! I am not bound to express any opinions on the release, except what I think, and my family who will at some point, watch the film with me! It's as simple, as that. I see it like recommending a PLUMBER to family or friends! 😃 If it's a good job done, I will have no problem recommending, if not .. and minus parting with hard earned cash, I feel like the DRIP... I will also tell you so 😉 

SO, IS SECOND SIGHT FILMS blu ray of 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' worthy of recommendation? I am very happy to say, YES! Since from the beginnings of Home Cinema, 'The House That Dripped Blood' has had many releases on VHS, DVD and now Blu Ray around the world! Why did I never replace my tatty VHS copy of the film over the year, if it had all those releases?? Because, THIS one is the first that I have watched that makes the grade I was looking for! The fits thing that impressed me on just watching the opening titles was the DETAIL. It's very sharp. That TITLE TEXT presented in that, often causes issues on DVD's and Blu Rays RED, looks amazing. Sharp against a contrast that in the past has always looked fuzzy. At last, not here. Throughout the film, the 1.85:1 1080p image has a texture that is common in nearly ALL Amicus films. 

I AM GUESSING producers Milton and Max, shot the Amicus releases on a grade of film that was common for somewhat lower budget productions. The same can be said of certain Hammer film productions too, 'The Vampire Lovers' and 'Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter' come to mind. Maybe it was a trend at the time as it's evident in a vast quantity of British films made in the late 1960's and up until the mid 1970's. Ray Parslow cinematography looks great through-out with Tony Curtis's set design and colours, never looking better. 'The House' manages to look subtly different in each story, changes of lighting can be spotted as the contrast, as expected looks balanced . . . dark corners LOOK DARK not a washy faded grey.

LOOK OUT for those weird looking colours and areas of mist and fog during Peter Cushing's very hallucinogenic and off-kilter nightmare scene in 'Waxworks'!😊😉 Now, we can see the effort and trouble Parslow applied, at every short notice in that 'Nightmare' scene. A scene that was improvised and suggested by director Peter Duffell, on the day of the shoot! Second Sight Films Blu Ray, at last presents the film, at last.. as it was intended to be SEEN and enjoyed . .

THE AUDIO: 

JUST LIKE in SECOND SIGHT FILMS Blu Ray 'twinning' release of Amicus films 'ASYLUM'Second Sight have chosen to transfer the film's audio using its original mono via an uncompressed 24-bit 1.0 channel linear PCM . A crisp mono score by Michael Dress, also brings us Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden'. .. String Quartet Number 14 in D minor! It provides a moody and unsettling soundtrack to Peter Cushing's 'Waxworks' story . . and sounds quite brilliant! Clear and balanced, played through my Sony headphones and Sony home cinema speakers..without distortion, with volume turned up quite loud! I have very good and understanding neighbours 😊😉 Kritzerland's excellent CD release of the Michael Dress score to 'The House That Dripped Blood' last year is superb, but THIS recording, is how I remember it. . . with the scenes noises and atmos! So, a BIG thumbs up on the film's audio. 

NOW THE EXTRAS and their AUDIO. We are treated to TWIN optional commentaries one by Director Peter Duffell and author Jonathan Rigby. Very good, informative with several little nuggets of little known info. Rigby keeps it bouncy and asks plenty of questions, we would all like to ask, if we had the opportunity. The second is by author Troy Howarth, who many will known from the reviews and features he contributed to the PCASUK website over the years. An enjoyable informative commentary! Michael Higgins second director, speaks in a ten minute interview, then a 17 minute vintage featurette called ' A Rated Horror Film', which features again Duffell, but supported by Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks. This isn't a new feature for some, as it was produced by Anchor Bay for their 2003 dvd release. There's a nice selection of trailers, then a SKIP LOAD of vintage stills, radio spots and ads, making a five minute gallery on a loop with other promo material that plays for 17 minutes! The difference between this STANDARD RELEASE compared to the LIMITED EDITION is you are minus the 40 page booklet and the sleeve artwork, but with such crammed discs, and reduced price tag, no one should be complaining.....

AND SO, IN RAPPING UP it's a very good release . . . not just my opinion, but my 'kids' too. Now in their 20's and 30's, my sons certainly appreciated the huge difference in visual quality, some elements of the stories now made sense with clear visuals and dialogue they could HEAR! My daughters . . one gave in on the extras, as the babysitter was soon leaving BUT really enjoyed the Cushing 'Waxworks' tale and Christopher Lee 'Sweets to the Sweets' story, the other and youngest, loved Ingrid Pitt's hair and certainly creeped out during 'Method For Murder' . . so the Blu Ray made all the difference. What I found most rewarding was they, all four expressed an interest and appreciation in the production values and the huge difference Second Sight's remastering and attention to detail has made to the film and it's presentation. So, well done, Second Sight Films you have produced a winner all round and have also made me, not so behind the times, after all! 😉😃