WATCH PARTY WITH 'THE GHOUL' WITH GALLERY AND MUCH MORE!

HAVING A GREAT TIME over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! right now! Where many of our #FRIENDS and #PCASUK #FOLLOWERS are seeing this Peter Cushing classic movie, for the first time! Prepare to be wrapped in the haunting fog of the moor, a house with terrible secret and a film with its foundations, strongly planted in another time. When producer Kevin Francis made this film, he wanted the script and the language on the screen to be of a past cinematic era. He succeeded... have fun with this one and feel free to leave your comments on this film in the thread! Take care and Stay Safe! - Marcus

ABOVE: A RE-RELEASE of the UNCENSORED 'TASTE of FEAR' VHS version of 'THE GHOUL' 

TYBURN FILMS THE GHOUL (1975) was originally certified by the UK BBFC at a duration of 93 minutes following cuts to (a) remove the third close-up of the knife embedded in Geoffrey's face (b) remove a knee to the groin delivered by Veronica Carlson to John Hurt. However, the subsequent theatrical version was only 87 minutes long following some last minute snipping by the distributors. The full 93 minutes version, with BBFC cuts restored, was subsequently released on UK video on the 'Taste of Fear' label. The differences are as follows: 

THE OPENING party sequence is extended by about 2 minutes 30 seconds via several additional dialogue extensions that largely serve to explain Carlson's character. In particular the conversation between her and Ian McCulloch when she is sitting in the car is nearly a minute longer and the subsequent three way conversation by another car involving Stewart Bevan is extended by about 40 seconds.

ABOUT 35 MINUTES into the film, directly after Peter Cushing asks Carlson whether there is anything she would like before dinner, the extended version has a new sequence lasting about 2 minutes and  30 seconds in which Carlson is escorted upstairs to her bedroom and takes a bath, in this sequence Carlson's left breast is briefly visible. This sequence is missing entirely from the theatrical print  and believed removed by the distributor at the time, through requests by BBFC.

AFTER THE BACH TOCATTA AND FUGUE strikes up on the soundtrack the extended version has an extra 1 minute showing Carlson emerge from the bedroom, clothed again, and go down the stairs where she then peeks in on Cushing in his chapel. In the theatrical version, it's a bit odd that Cushing is surprised by her given that in the previous scene they'd been together in his drawing room.

MATTHEW CONIAM'S FASCINATING dig, to FIND THE GHOUL. A past PCASUK feature, with a great gallery and some updates! FIND IT : HERE! 

CELEBRATING TWO CLASSIC HAMMER HORROR SCREAM QUEENS BIRTHDAYS TODAY!

PLEASE JOIN US IN WISHING MADELEINE SMITH a Very Happy Birthday today! She best known for her roles in three films for Hammer, Taste The Blood of Dracula (1970), The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974).

FEATURED IN OUR BANNER is what is probably one of her best performances as Sarah (The Angel) in Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell co-starring Peter Cushing, and Shane Briant. Mind you, she was pretty good in the UK tv series, The Steam Video Company in the early 1980’s. She has a very good sense of humour and timing too!

PLEASE JOIN US in wishing SUSAN DENBERG a Very Happy Birthday today! She's best known for her role as Christina in ‪#‎hammerfilms‬ Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) with Peter Cushing and known to Star Trek fans as Magda Kovacs in the Original Series episode 'Mudd's Women' in 1966. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN... Wherever you are!

 

SUSAN WAS ONE  of several HAMMER SCREAM QUEENS, that were featured in our series 'THAT FEMIMNINE TOUCH' written by BRUCE HALLENBECK.  

FIND SUSAN IN PART FOUR by just clicking HERE! Each part come with individual backgrounds to the actress features, plus a gallery of rare images and gifs!

PLEASE FEEL FREE to come and join us at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!

NOT ALL THE PC VAMPIRE SUPPORT WAS NICE! CALLUM MCKELVIE LOOKS BEYOND ROLES THAT WERE VAN HELSING NICE TIMES!

WHEN ONE THINKS of Cushing and Vampires, inevitably are minds are drawn to his excellent portrayal of Van Helsing in several of Hammers Dracula films. For many fans it’s one of his best roles and (if we count the two generations as one) a part he would return to four times. However, as defining as his portrayal as Van Helsing is, it somewhat over shadows that fact that he was in roughly four other vampire films (excluding Dr Terrors House of Horrors and The House that Dripped Blood simply as he does not appear in the segments featuring bloodsuckers). 

THIS WEEK AND THE NEXT I’ll be examining these ‘Other Vampire films’, starting with his two entries into the Karstein trilogy 'The Vampire Lovers' and 'Twins of Evil'. I’ve joined these two together, not only because they book ending entries in a trilogy, but also because they both feature Cushing as a sort of Pseudo-Vampire Hunter. Both roles are worlds away from a Van Helsing stereotype and at least one is remembered amongst his finest work.

THE 'KARNSTEIN TRILIOGY'  stands as one of Hammers finest achievements simply for the fact that it marks one of the few occasions, as the studio moved into the 1970’s that one it’s attempts to try something bold and new with its formula worked. Now in terms of some of the attempts that would be made later (Kung-Fu vampires anyone?) the changes here are not that extreme and merely reflect the studios reaction to an allowance of more extreme content.

MOST OBVIOUSLY it is the films explicit portrayal of Lesbianism that gained it a certain level of attention. The film is stolen by Ingrid Pitt’s first performance for the studio and first major role in a horror movie (though she was in 1966’s Sound of Horror). Whilst not her greatest work for Hammer (that would come later in Countess Dracula) it’s a strong start and one can easily see why she became a horror icon and early scream queen.

ABOVE: PETER CUSHING and INGRID PITT together in HAMMER FILMS 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS'. BOTH look comfortable in the roles. BOTH had also become great friends, along with Peter Cushing's wife, HELEN . . . 

PETER CUSHING'S ROLE in the film on the other hand is somewhat small, though integral and although he looks superb in his military uniform, it’s not usually counted amongst his best roles. None the less it’s an interesting take on the role of the Vampire hunter within a hammer film and the quest is made deeply personal to the General, whose niece is a victim of Carmilla. 

THUS THE GENERAL is the character who puts an end to Camilla’s bloodsucking ways and in perhaps the most famous scene in the film, decapitates her. It’s a great moment and Cushing imbues it with a sort of grim satisfaction, we may have seen the gentle side of the General to begin with but we now understand why he’s a war hero.

BELOW: JUST weeks after the tragic death of his wife, HELEN, PETER CUSHING plays a NEW HAMMER VAMPIRE FILM role. GUSTAV WEIL, the savior and helper? OR is he just as EVIL as the VAMPIRE COUNT? 

THE FINAL FILM in the Karstein series, 'Twins of Evil', sees Cushing in a role far removed from that in 'The Vampire Lovers'. Here he plays Gustav Weil, a vicious religious fanatic who prowls the local countryside in search of witches to burn. Clearly inspired by 1968’s Witchfinder General and many films that followed in its wake including 'Mark of the Devil' and 'Blood on Satan’s Claw', it’s a rare chance to see Cushing being genuinely terrifying.

EVEN IN FILMS where Cushing plays a villain, there’s usually an element of charm in his performance (his earliest portrayals of Baron Frankenstein) that have his character play out more as an anti-hero. Indeed only Hammer films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed in 1969, shows him in a position where he plays a character so utterly ruthless as to be genuinely frightening.

OF COURSE as his two young nieces find themselves under the sway of the evil Count Karstein, like the General Weil finds himself turning to the Vampire Hunting trade. In this film’s final moments, Cushing finds himself once again decapitating a vampire and it’s equally spectacular.

PETER CUSHING'S TWO non-Dracula vampire films for Hammer stand among some of the studios most interesting work. Cushing gives great performances in both and though one is clearly superior to the other, are interesting portrayals of Vampire hunters not in the Van Helsing mode.

WRITTEN by CALLUM MCKELVIE
TECH DEVELOPMENT: JAMIE SUMERVILLE
EDITED: MARCUS BROOKS
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS TRAILER: UvaSEP  HERE!

REMINDER OF TUESDAYS TOUGHIE : ANSWER TUESDAY 6TH MARCH!

 

REMEMBER! 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

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAYS! RISEN: HE IS UP AND ABOUT AND NOT HAPPY!

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAYS! Here's one straight off the contact sheet, requested by Rich Santos! Christopher Lee in 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave' (1968) From a colour contact sheet with many similar poses...this is one from the session, that you don't see that often. 

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAYS : HERE ARE three images from a photo session that Veronica Carlson did, with a photographer, whose name escapes me at the mo! It has long be thought that these unusual photographs were taken specifically for publicity on 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'. However, Veronica Carlson has recently revealed that that photo session was set up, between her and the photographer, it was only when the press office at #HAMMERFILMS saw them, they thought they were terrific and just what was needed to spice up the interest in their latest #CHRISTOPHERLEE ' #DRACULA release . . . so now you know!

If you LIKE what you find posted here . . Please visit us at our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and help 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.