The
clock is ticking over at the UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society
Facebook Fan Page! There's a pair of Peter Cushing's 'CORRUPTION' blu
rays up for grabs with just SIX HOURS to enter the competition. Winners
names to be announced tonight at MIDNIGHT. Fiendish question and worth a
try!
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Sunday 22 September 2013
GRINDHOUSE RELEASING: WIN A COPY OF PETER CUSHING'S 'CORRUPTION' IN SIX HOURS!
Labels:
anthony booth,
blu ray,
competition,
corruption,
grindhouse releasing,
peter cushing sue lloyd,
retro cinema,
sixties horror.
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.
Labels:
booth,
brit horror.,
corruption,
david lodge,
hazel court,
laser killer,
retro cinema,
sue lloyd,
the awful dr orloff,
uncut
Monday 29 July 2013
CORRUPTION: CENTENARY DELUXE EDITION STREET RELEASE DATE OCTOBER 8TH 2013
Labels:
bill murray,
blu ray deluxe,
corruption,
peter cushing,
rick melton,
sue lloyd,
the dark side.
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!
Labels:
blu ray,
carnage,
corruption,
grindhouse,
kate omara.,
laser killer,
peter cushing,
sue lloyd
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.
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.
Labels:
carnage,
corruption,
exploitation,
kate omara,
laser ray,
peter cushing,
robert hartford davis,
sue lloyd
Friday 1 February 2013
BEHIND THE SCENES SNAP OF PETER CUSHING, SUE LLOYD AND DIRECTOR ROBER HARTFORD - DAVIS 'CORRUPTION ' AKA 'CARNAGE'
A behind the scenes moment with Director
Robert Hartford-Davis, Sue Lloyd and Peter Cushing during the making of
CORRUPTION aka CARNAGE (1968)
Labels:
carnage,
corruption,
laser killer,
peter cushing,
retro cinema,
robert hartford davis,
sixties horror.,
sue lloyd
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..
Labels:
carnage,
corruption,
peter cushing,
robert hartford davis,
sue lloyd,
trailer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)