THE AMAZING WORK OF CREATURE FX ARTIST RUSS LUKICH AND THE SUPERB PETER CUSHING LIFE-SIZE ARTHUR GRIMSDYKE FIGURE!

HERE'S A FRIGHTENING AND VERY ACCURATE  life size figure recreation by artist RUSS LUKICH of Peter Cushing's vengeful character Arthur Grimsdyke from the British 1972 horror film 'TALES FROM THE CRYPT'. Yesterday, over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE I set the question 'was Peter Cushing's Grimsdyke, Amicus films most frightening movie character creation?' And you've replied, shared and commented in style, with over 40 comments and opinions, 23 shares and almost 450 LIKES! 

ONE THING IS QUITE CLEAR, there is still great affection for Peter's portrayal of poor ol Arthur, though many of you remember watching the film for the first time as a child or adolescent, and the memory of his 'rising and revenge', still fills you with nightmares! Grimsdyke has a firm position as one of Amicus films most popular frightening characters!

BACK IN FEBRUARY 2015, we reported on  Comicbook.com  covering AMC series, 'THE WALKING DEAD' tribute to Cushing's 'Grimsdyke': On tonight's episode of AMC's 'Talking Dead', host Chris Hardwick and special effects guru Greg Nicotero revealed that the walker pictured above and at right was, in fact, an homage to the classic 1972 Amicus films 'Tales From the Crypt' ghoul known as Grimsdyke. Here's a interesting feature carried by UK newspaper 'The Guardian' on his art of making the  Monsters and the Dead ..look great!  HERE!

COME JOIN US  and almost 35 thousand followers and freinds and the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! There are daily posts, features, rare photographs and PRIZE competitions, all celebrating and sharing the LIFE and CAREER of the gentleman of British Fantasy Cinema.. and more! PCASUK is open to everyone, whoever, wherever YOU are!  Join Us : HERE!

#HOWSYOURHEADHON? SORRY AM I BORING YOU??

#Howsyourhead? #PeterCushing and George Pravda in a scene from #Hammerfilms 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (1969) ..'clang of name DROP -a-comin' ☹️😴😞😀.. I once had a chance meeting with George back in 1979, we talked about this and his artificial prop head made for this delightful act of trephining 😮👀 He told me how they made his rubber head, that they had to make a whole head plaster cast of his head and 'I spent the whole morning with straws up my NOSE!' ... charming! Peter of course consulted a specialist, just to make sure he had the right drill bit and .. stomach for it! Hmmm, thrilling-drilling! 🤮 - Take care everyone, Marcus

YOU CAN SEE GEORGE PRAVDA, in some neat 'fly-on-the-wall' footage, along with #PeterCushing, #VeronicaCarlson, #SimonWard, #FreddieJones along with director #TerenceFisher, on set and making #Hammefilms 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' in our vintage footage, posted as part of the #Lock-Down #WatchWithCushing films and clips at our Facebook PCASUK Fan Page! 

INTERESTING FOOTAGE, where extra BLOOD is being applied to George Pravda's head make up. Although, his character on screen was never seen with this EXTRA gore in the UK theatrical prints. One must again, add this one to the 'footage for the Continental Print!'  . . .

 

ROY ASHTON MAKE UP ARTIST REMEMBERED

REMEMBERING Master Make Up Artist, Roy Ashton, who was born today 17th April 1909! There is so much you could say about Roy, but his work kind of says it all! So many amazing creations in what was the golden era of Hammer films, Amicus and Tyburn too! I was very humbled to spend time with him at his home and while he was working, and during these times saw at first hand what a true gentleman he was and quite the perfectionist, with a lovely dry wit and friendly character. Roy sadly left us in 1995, but left behind for us, a wonderful and original body of work, that still entertains and frightens us today! Personally, his letters I still treasure, his work I still very much am in awe of, for sure

OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE I have asked everyone to tell us and share their favourite 'Ashton Creation' in the comments below. BELOW is an impressive filmography of Roy's work. A #HappyBirthday, Roy Ashton a true magician and creator of things of nightmares and dreams too 

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
The Horror Dracula (1958)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
The Mummy (1959)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
The Curse of the Werewolf (1960)
The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
These Are the Damned (1962)
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Night Creatures (1962) Captain Clegg
The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
 

ABOVE: A WHILE AGO in one of our weekly PCASUK TUESDAY TOUGHY questions, we celebrated ROY ASHTON'S work with PETER CUSHING in 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972)

Paranoiac (1963)
The Old Dark House (1963)
The Crimson Blade (1963)
Nightmare (1964)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The Kiss of the Vampire (1964)
The Gorgon (1964)
 

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1964)
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964)
The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
The Skull (1965)
She (1965)
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
The Reptile (1966)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
Hands of the Ripper (1971)
The Devils (1971)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
The Creeping Flesh (1972)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)
The Ghoul (1975)

SEE OUR POSTS every day at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE HERE! and the EXPANDED version here!! EXTRA IMAGES and FEATURES every day here at our WEBSITE!

HAMMER FILMS : THE COMPANY WHO CHEATED DEATH : THE LODGE TRAILER

'While Hammer is looking at remakes too, some ownership is complex, though the characters are in the public domain: Frankenstein’s monster, mummies, #Dracula, #mobsters, psychopaths, and even cave girls . .'

HERE THEY COME AGAIN! For many, any film released now with the HAMMER name, can not possibly be 'A Hammer Film' . . as the set up, as they see it, has all but changed, except 'THE' name. But, a careful look at the history and style of #Hammerfilms over the decades changed a great deal from 1938 until their slow death in the late 70's This feature written by Mark Beech, can be seen HERE was published in FORBES just a few days ago. 

 'THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH' A PAST HAMMER FILM CLASSIC. REVIEW AND GALLERY

'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA' 

STILLS GALLERY FEATURE AND MORE! JUST PRESS LINK!

 'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN' AND  'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

BOTH BOX OFFICE WINNERS! REVIEW AND RARE STILLS GALLERY. 

JUST PRESS LINK.

ANOTHER HAMMER FILMS CLASSIC FRANKENSTEIN : 'FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED' JUST CLICK THE LINK!

WHATEVER YOU MAKE of it, they mean business . . and I mean the business of '#lolly, #cash and #dosh' BUT then so did Hammer films CEO Sir James Carreras .. back in their hey day!... 😊Have your say, please over at the Facebook PCAS UK Fan Page! I am all ears 😉

THE 1959 HAMMER FILM 'THE MUMMY'! RARE STILLS AND FEATURE. JUST CLICK LINK

HERE ARE SOME EXTRACTS form the Forbes feature . . 

'While Hammer is looking at remakes too, some ownership is complex, though the characters are in the public domain: The #Frankenstein monster, mummies, #Dracula, mobsters, psychopaths, and even cave girls. Hammer is also extending the brand with a publishing imprint with Random House, a streaming platform and social-media presence.'

'Horror films made worldwide currently gross as much as $1 billion annually. Last year such movies had a 7.5% market share and took some $900 million, according to The Numbers.com. The chief executive of Hammer, Simon Oakes, is optimistic that the company is in a unique position to capture a significant market share.'

'Oakes had worked for John Malone’s Liberty Global for many years and was looking at different film channel ideas. #Horror was an obvious area, and Oakes loved Hammer: “I realised it was one of the very rare brands in the media industry which is in the vernacular: You refer to a thing as ‘like a Hammer film.’ It has global potential like no other.” In 2007 he helped resuscitate the company with private-equity money, taking control of the library, archive, brand and name.

'The comeback breakthrough was Hammer’s first feature-length ghost story, #TheWomanInBlack, in 2012:“It was synchronicity, because it’s a famous novel and play. Jane Goldman came on board to write the screenplay. I took a big risk by casting #DanielRadcliffe, who was finishing the Potter series. It proved lucky. Our key demographic is 16 to 30 years old. It became the most successful British horror film of all time.”

'Hammer's latest is #TheLodge which had its world premiere at the #SundanceFilmFestival in January. It is now scheduled to be released in February 2020 by Neon.'

RARE FILM CLIP OF PETER CUSHING'S FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER ON SET PLUS THE 'EVIL' EXTRA US TV FOOTAGE!

RARE FOOTAGE! Following the popularity of the rare behind the scenes The Gorgon clips I shared with you a short while ago, here's another one! We are going back to October-November 1963 and the golden age of Hammer films, when the company, based at the tiny studios, along with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were making some of the best of the Hammer British Gothic bunch ...and above, here is a rare glimpse inside the legendary Bray Studios, in the Make up room of Roy Ashton . .

If you ever wondered, just how Cushing's Baron Frankenstein 'Creature' make up was applied... below is your answer.

BELOW IS actor Kiwi Kingston, with Roy Ashton, showing his solution to the problem of 'How to save the producers time and money, when it comes to applying make up when making a monster, who is ready for the camera and walk on set, in ten minutes!!' The studio hated the fact that prep, applying and daily making up a monster, took time...and time costs money. This solution, for the producers it worked . . but for Roy and the fans of Hammer horror, it was a compromise that sadly effected the credibility of the film...it's a complete over-head mask... and the audience knew it too. 

THE GIF CLIP ABOVE IS QUITE RARE, not often seen and proves even for a film like 'The Evil of Frankenstein' ...with a superb performance of the Baron by Peter Cushing, tight directing of Freddie Francis, very entertaining support cast of Sandor Elès , Katy Wild, Peter Woodthorpe, Duncan Lamont and Kiwi Kingston..and amazing sets, also used in Hammer films 'The Gorgon' from Bernard Robinson and Don Mingaye...even Universal Studios on-board... if you ain't got a great Monster...it's like a firework, that promises to shock...but fails when it doesn't that have THAT bang!

HAMMER TOOK A CHANGE in direction, with the making of 'The Evil of Frankenstein'. When the camera clogs first turned on Hammer's concept of a Frankenstein movie, they were very aware of having to start their concept from scratch. On hearing of Hammer's plans, Universal films wasted no time in despatching a warning to the producers, that if anyway Hammer's 'monster' resembled the famous Jack Pearce Boris Karloff creation in any way, they would be despatching a writ, with teeth, that would for sure make a real meal of their plans and production. Universal was also clear that their script and concept was also their property, and that Hammer should tread carefully. So make up artist Phil Leakey got to work creating a 'monster appearance' on Christopher Lee, that in no way could possibly be connected with the Pearce monster. So, was the case in the Hammer sequel, 'The Revenge of Frankenstein' too.

AFTER TWO MOVIES of managing quite well in creating the 'look' of a new monster appearance, with stories too that resembled little if anything in common with the Universal Frankenstein films, fate somehow took hold of the steering wheel and tiller, and Universal relaxed their hold on the 'monster look' and story concepts, and invited Hammer films into their party. Hammer films, Anthony Hinds wrote a script that rebooted the series, no connection to either 'Curse' or 'Revenge'  . .  and a 'monster', after weeks of designing and drawing, that gave more than a wobbly nod, to the Universal creation. The bolts, the flat top and big boots, were all in! 



AFTER THE SUCCESS of 'The Curse of Frankenstein' and 'The Revenge of Frankenstein', Universal wanted IN, along with Peter Cushing as part of the deal. 'Evil' would contain many of the Universal 'Frankenstein Tropes', and after it's cinema release would also be spread across the US television screens too. The problem was that 'The Evil of Frankenstein' came up short of duration of only 84 minutes and some scenes were deemed a little too intense for family viewing . .  so a whole new back-story was shot at Universal studios, where new and quite unrelated characters were slipped into the film. None of the film's established cast were included in the footage.. and Frankenstein's monster is seen by his boots only . . .

BARBARA SHELLEY IN GORGON MAKE UP : THE FILM FATES OF CUSHING AND CENTENARY OF SHERLOCK'S NIGEL STOCK

FOLLOWING ON from the rare behind the scenes clips we shared with you last week...here's a question for you, again concerning Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee's Hammer film the 1964 'THE GORGON' . .. it's known that actress Barbara Shelley who played Megaera's 'other side' Carla Hoffman, was quite happy to also play the make up laden, three pound head-dressed Gorgon Megaera too! She also stated she wasn't afraid of 'snakes' if they had to be used in the head-dress too! It was Shelley's contractual commitment to other work, that prevented her from playing the role. The whole planning and design of the Gorgon make up had taken much longer than planned.. she HAD to leave and move on to other work.

BUT LOOKING at her in the make up, makes you wonder . . what kind of Gorgon do you think she would have made on the screen. A point that is often made on the hit miss results of the big reveal and drama of the ending of the film... has been, would it have been easier to except the dual identity, if The Gorgon DID look a little like her other identity played by Shelley.... Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, we've asked what do YOU think?

THE MANY FILM FATES OF PETER CUSHING . . . in his own words, text from his second autobiography 'Peter Cushing: Past Forgetting' 1988, Weidenfeld & Nicholson. Cushing had many a dramatic ending for some of his roles, not as many as his good friend, Christopher Lee though 😮😃 . . AGAIN, over at our Facebook PCASUK Fan Page, we are asking . . which PC character 'bow-out' do you find the most interesting, dramatic, emotional? - Marcus

A HEADS UP! a VERY popular series that kicked off  when PCASUK first came to FACEBOOK, 'The Twenty Two  Screen Deaths of Peter Cushing', wrapped through lack of time, quite sometime ago. For those  who enjoyed these posts, you'll be pleased, maybe . . to hear we are  picking up where we left off, in just a few days time 😀😃 Look out for additions to the series soon . .

TODAY ALSO MARKS the Centenary of the birthday of actor, NIGEL STOCK! Stock, played a superb Watson in the BBC 'Sherlock Holmes' television series of the 60's, with Peter Cushing as Holmes. Sadly, Stock left us in 1986, aged 66. The marking of remembering Stock today, is being well supported with comments and opinions at the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page. .  

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! Ok... The last time two of these people were on screen together, the set up was quite different...there was a table then too, but the 'lady' was the meal 😮What film was that? Who are the two sitting at the table and name THIS film too! Btw.. we posted the little insert photograph a few weeks ago, but no one then could site where that strange photograph car from...well, today you just might find the answer 😉 At the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page we are suggesting to Lee fans, they SHOULD now nail this quite quickly . . yes? -Marcus