HAMMER - THON WEEKEND AT HORROR CHANNEL

Hammer film and Peter Cushing fans are in for a treat… Horror Channel is to screen an Easter Hammer-thon with back-to-back Hammer classics. Some of Hammer’s most popular films, including THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN  starring Peter Cushing. THE DEVIL RIDES OUT with Christopher Lee and THE BRIDES OF DRACULA  with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, will be broadcast across the weekend from 3pm till 10pm on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March.

Plus, Horror Channel will be presenting Hammer Thursdays from Thursday 7th April for six weeks. This will be a Hammer movie at 9pm followed by a double-bill of Hammer House Of Horror at 10.50pm. First movie up is COUNTESS DRACULA.

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF 

Saturday 26th March

3.00pm –
In Oliver Reed’s first film role, he excels as Leon Corledo, a young man raised in the home of Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans), his kind and loving adopted father. When he leaves to find work, Leon discovers that he has increasingly violent urges. Although these tendencies are calmed by Leon's love for the beautiful Christina (Catherine Feller), he ultimately cannot contain his curse and transforms into a werewolf, terrorising the Spanish countryside.

4.50pm – THE BRIDES OF DRACULA
Director Terence Fisher followed the excellent Horror of Dracula with this richly-coloured sequel. Though imprisoned in the family estate by his mother, Baron Meinster (David Peel) is released from his silver chains by an unsuspecting French teacher (Yvonne Monlaur), through which he gains access to a number of young women at a girls' school. Fortunately, master vampire killer Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is on the case.

6.35pm -THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES
A spooky, atmospheric outing from Hammer Films, who diverged into the world of zombies, two years before Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. The plot, centres on a mad Cornish squire, who solves a labour crisis in his tin mines by turning local villagers into voodoo-controlled zombies. Dr. Thompson (Brook Williams) and his daughter Alice (Jacqueline Pearce) soon discover the unpleasant nocturnal habits of the shambling undead slaves…

Sunday 27th March
3.00pm - THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

The second in the Hammer Frankenstein series and considered Terence Fisher’s best. He may be calling himself "Dr. Stein," but general practitioner (Peter Cushing) in the village of Carlsbruck is none other than our old friend, Victor Frankenstein. No one seems unduly concerned when the patients in a charity clinic begin losing their arms and legs during Dr. Stein's emergency operations -- no one except his young rival, Dr. Kleve (Francis Mathews).

4.50pm - THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN
Directed by Freddy Francis, this is the third in the Hammer Frankenstein series, Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) returns destitute to his home village to recommence his experimental research into the reanimation of dead tissue, and stumbles upon his old monster suspended in ice. Though he revives the creature, Frankenstein must seek the help of hypnotist Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) to repair its mind. Zoltan then assumes control of the monster, using him to wreak havoc.

6.35pm -THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
The Devil Rides Out is a satanic shocker in which Christopher Lee stars alongside Charles Gray as two men who discover their recently deceased friend's son is involved in the occult, and must battle the evil forces of darkness to save him. Made in 1968, it brings the classic Dennis Wheatley novel vividly to life with a strong cast led impeccably by Lee.

HAMMER HORROR COLLECTION : PCASUK HALLOWEEN COMPETITION 2014 PRIZES : ARE YOU IN?

PETER CUSHING, CHRISTOPHER LEE, HAMMER FILMS...AND MUCH MORE....ARE YOU IN?? Your PCASUK HALLOWEEN COMPETITION 2014 PRIZES! We have TWO complete box sets of the exclusive 'Hammer Horror : The Blu Ray Collection' worth £98.00 ($159.00)...courtesy of our very generous sponsors SHOCK ENTERTAINMENT up for grabs!

Each box set contains the following Classic Hammer films:
 

Dracula: Prince Of Darkness
Plague Of The Zombies
Quatermass And The Pit
Rasputin: The Mad Monk
The Devil Rides Out
The Mummy’s Shroud
The Reptile
Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell
Frankenstein Created Woman
The Quatermass Xperiment
The Witches 

Special Features:
Audio Commentaries
Behind the scenes footage
Never before seen ‘Hammer Glamour’ Documentary
Original restoration Comparisons
Original Trailers
Bonus Films ‘Quatermass II’ and ‘x The Unknown’

This COLLECTOR’S EDITION is presented in hard back book style packaging and contains ELEVEN Hammer film fully restored BLU RAY releases and 2 bonus ‘World of Hammer’ DVD’s! I think you will find this years Halloween competition a lot of fun. Look out for more teasers and clues as we head up to Halloween on Friday.

 

Find Out More About Shock Entertainment Releases Here and Join Their Facebook page : HERE 

RARE PHOTOGRAPHS AND FEATURE : JACK PALANCE PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO COLLECTED POE' TORTURE GARDEN' (1967)

Sinister sideshow huckster Dr. Diablo (Burgess Meredith) offers to give a group of strangers a glimpse of their not-so-rosy futures in this anthology from Amicus…

Given the box office success of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1964), it may seem surprising that it took producers Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky several years to light upon the idea of delivering another horror film in the same vein. They had explored sci-fi via a pair of juvenile Dr. Who vehicles, and had explored horror in various forms via such Robert Bloch properties as The Skull (1965), The Psychopath (1966) and The Deadly Bees (1966), but somehow they had failed to capitalize upon the box office potential of the anthology format. The tide changed when they enlisted Bloch to pen a new anthology, which was then envisioned as another vehicle for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Things changed a bit when Columbia Pictures was enlisted to infuse some much needed financing, but the film’s box office takings persuaded Subotsky and Rosenberg to direct much of their energy to further multi-story offerings for the remainder of their partnership.

Things kick off with a splendid slice of grotesquerie starring Michael Bryant, Maurice Denham and Niall MacGinnis. There are no end titles, and as such there are no official on camera segment titles, but this segment is known as “Enoch,” and it casts Bryant as a ne’er-do-well who seeks to cash in on his uncle’s demise by using the old man’s money to get himself out of debt. Little does Bryant realize that the money carries a witches curse, and the witches familiar - a black cat - has every intention of seeing this legacy fulfilled. Director Freddie Francis slathers on the atmosphere with moody lighting and interesting camera angles; it marks one of his most successfully realized mood pieces, and helps to get the film off on the right foot. Bryant, who had not long prior “finished” filming a lead role for Orson Welles (in a project destined to be uncompleted, unfortunately) and was already established as one of the notable “leading lights” of the British theatre, gives an excellent performance in the lead, and it’s fun to see Maurice Denham and Niall MacGinnis reunited, as it were, from Jacques Tourneur’s magnificent Night of the Demon (1957).

The quality dips sharply in the next two segments, unfortunately. First up is “Terror Over Hollywood,” in which grasping wannabe starlet Beverly Adams unwittingly sells her soul for fame and fortune, and then “Mr. Steinway” tells the tale of how Barbara Ewing (Dracula Has Risen from the Grave) falls victim to - wait for it - a possessed piano. The former is dreadfully dull, done up in a bland, smothering “lite jazz” score by Don Banks, while the latter is simply too silly for words. Kudos to Francis for trying to make the latter halfway credible, but all the gel lighting and canted angles in the world can’t shake the silliness from the basic concept.

In the grand tradition of saving the best for last, the film wraps up with “The Man Who Collected Poe” - it is for this, fellow Cushing fans, that we are here assembled. The segment stars Jack Palance as the most obsessive collector this side of, well, Peter Cushing in The Skull. Determined to avail himself of some of the “treasures” of fellow fanatic Cushing, he decides to play dirty - but may or may not live to pay the price.

The segment allowed Cushing his only chance to share scenes with Hollywood heavyweight Jack Palance, who was then about to enter something of a dry spell with appearances in numerous B and Z grade productions. Even so, he already had an Oscar nomination (for Shane) under his belt, and the Golden God would become his in the future, thanks to his career-rehabilitating turn as Curly in the audience friendly family comedy City Slickers (1992). Palance was as intense as he was imposing - standing a full 6’ 4”, and built like a tank, he had been a boxer and a decorated WWII veteran before turning his sights to acting. Palance had the face of a heavy, and he knew it - far from resenting it, he capitalized on it and turned it in to an advantage. Palance wasn’t afraid of hamming it up, and it seems that on occasion a fondness for the bottle took its toll on his work (witness his turn as the head of a strange religious sect in director Jess Franco’s Justine, 1969, for a truly “bombed” appearance), but more often than not he was able to inject substance and interest into even the least defined of characterizations.

Torture Garden afforded Palance one of his few truly good horror genre roles. The character of Ronald Wyatt is a fanatic extraordinaire - his sheer giddiness and glee at handling the various items in Cushing’s collection of Poe memorabilia may seem over the top to some, but if you ever get a chance to attend, say, a horror film convention, you’ll realize it’s not far from the truth. Palance doesn’t underplay the part, but it’s not a role that calls for understatement, either. Wyatt is something of a functioning junkie, though his addiction is Poe rather than any illicit substance. Palance nails this aspect of the character with ease, and he never seems to be playing down to the audience. 

As one might expect, Cushing’s performance as his “rival” collector, Lancelot Canning, is more reserved. Even so, he also manages to express the character’s almost orgasmic love of his collection - handling the items with tenderness, talking of them as one might of a lost love, and also reveling in the fact that he has the upper hand on his American colleague. The two actors also display a real chemistry, and play off of each other very well. When Palance first visits Cushing’s home, for example, the former is so overcome with excitement that he can barely focus on the formal pleasantries. Ever the gracious host, Cushing offers a choice of drinks - upon saying “whiskey,” Palance blurts out an eager “yes,” and then Cushing proceeds to offer sherry as an alternative, whereupon Palance continues with “yes, thank you!” Wyatt is clearly not even paying attention, and Cushing’s sly double take manages to convey a sense of amusement without milking the scene for laughter. The two men then proceed to virtually worship at a portait of the late author, hanging in Cushing’s salon. Canning offers a pithy analysis of Poe’s genius, while Wyatt silently, somewhat mockingly, sizes him up. It’s clear early on that he realizes that he’s bigger, tougher and more cunning than his “opponent,” and if he doesn’t exactly have murder on his mind, he is nevertheless bound and determined to see the full extent of Canning’s collection. Wyatt plies Canning with alcohol, affording Cushing a rare chance to play “drunk” on screen. Cushing does so without resorting to over the top theatrics, subtly slurring his words but not going for slapstick in the process. The episode basically plays out as something of a bizarre ritual, as the two men, unified in a common obsession, test and tease each other, each itching to come out on top as the ultimate fanatic.

Here, as elsewhere, Francis directs with a keen eye for the visual. He offers a wide variety of interesting camera set ups, ratcheting the tension as Palance’s obsession tilts from barely contained to positively dangerous. He elicits excellent performances from his actors, and the pace is taut, with no longeurs to complain of. This stands in contrast to Subotsky’s allegations that Francis was good with visuals, but lousy with story - thus prompting the producer to perpetuate the myth that he salvaged much of his work in the editing room, a claim which Francis strenuously objected to.

Interestingly, this marked the only time that Amicus hired Hammer’s in house composer James Bernard to pen the soundtrack. Bernard sat out the Terror Over Hollywood segment, allowing Don Banks to deliver a more “modern” sound apropos to the subject matter, but his contributions to “Enoch” and “The Man Who Collected Poe” are strongly felt. Perhaps because of the fact that he didn’t score the film as a whole, it’s a score that doesn’t generate much attention among his fans - but truly, it deserves more appreciation. As in the best of his Hammer scores, Bernard’s music not only complements the mood - it helps to elevate it where needed.

Ultimately, Torture Garden is an uneven picture. Two segments work, two segments don’t - and on this level, it’s hard to give it a full endorsement. Fans of British horror would be remiss to skip those two key segments that do work, however, as they offer all the attributes one associates with the golden age of British horror filmmaking.

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