THE AMAZING 25MM VAMPIRE KILLER AND REMEMBERING QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES TODAY!

#COLLECTINGCUSHING! I once had a weenie-little figure of Peter Cushing as #Tarkin, he really looked wicked and mean.. but he hadn't accounted for the even more wicked and cunning of my tom-cat, Reg! . . chomp..chomp . . I thought you would appreciated this 😉 NOW ready as a pre order and will be available early JANUARY 2020. . . #PeterCushing as #Hammerfilms Vampire Hunter : VAN HELSING, now available as a.. 25MM figure! What do YOU think? If you know a Cushing fan, you are having Christmas Dinner with this year, why not pick up one of these ...and slip it in their table cracker??? a neat Cushing-Christmas surprise 😉😃

WITH HIS HOBBIES in #modelmaking, #theatremodels and the huge collection of #figures and soldiers Peter Cushing made over the years.. I think Cushing would have appreciated and liked this little figure, very much! 😊

THE MAKERS of this figure say only 500 will ever be made and each miniature comes with a numbered gift card! at ONLY £4.00 . You can PRE ORDER from : HERE!

TODAY, NOVEMBER 21st, had she lived.. would have been Ingrid Pitt's 82nd birthday. Any regular visitor here will already know, how highly we valued her friendship to our society, her skill as an actress and as a beautiful person who touched everyone's heart who ever met her. Today, we mark her birthday and make a little space, to share how much we still miss her . . . Happy Birthday, Ingrid 😊

ABOVE: A RARE #INGRIDPITT INTERVIEW, from the PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL ARCHIVE!

ABOVE: THE PCASUK INGRID PITT AT HALLOWEEN GALLERY
FROM 2014 : JUST CLICK HERE!

THE CONNECTION OF INGRID PITT, PETER CUSHING AND THE

 THEATRE ROYAL FEATURE: CLICK  RIGHT HERE!

THE PCAS GALLERY: THE ONE AND ONLY INGRID GALLERY: HERE! 

INDICATOR REMASTERED HAMMER BOX SET : FACES OF FEAR : RELEASING ON NOVEMBER 25TH 2019

REMINDER: COMING THIS MONTH From Indicator 'HAMMER VOLUME FOUR: FACES OF FEAR'

THIS SOUNDS like a pretty neat release. I don't possess a review copy of the films yet. But, the Revenge of Frankenstein I hope, is worth waiting for. We have needed a remaster of that film, for quite sometime. As of the extras, I CAN'T WAIT to see the raw OUT-TAKES from the film too. I have known of these existing for a while, but never had the opportunity to see them. WHICH EXTRAS do YOU like the sound of too?? 😊 - Marcus

HEADS UP! Ordering directly gets you a Revenge poster (with Jekyll on the reverse) while stocks last!   ONLY IF YOU ORDER HERE!

FOUR CLASSIC HAMMER FILM CHILLERS presented on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK. Accompanied by a wealth of new and archival extras – including exclusive new documentaries, audio commentaries, alternative versions, new and archival cast and crew interviews, a series of appreciations of their female stars, analyses of their composers’ scores, and extensive booklets – this stunning limited edition box set is strictly 26,000 numbered units.

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

New 4K restoration : Original mono audio
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by celebrated horror and fantasy authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (2019)
A Frankenstein for the 20th Century (2019): video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin
Hammer's Women – Eunice Gayson (2019): profile of the Hammer star by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson
David Huckvale on Leonard Salzedo (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde
Super 8 version: original cut-down home cinema presentation
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by filmmaker Joe Dante
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with new essays by Marcus Hearn and Kieran Foster, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews, and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL

 

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by film historians Josephine Botting and Jonathan Rigby (2019)
Interview with Paul Massie (1967): rare archival audio interview with the film’s star
Hammer's Women – Dawn Addams (2019): British cinema expert Laura Mayne explores the life and career of the UK-born star
David Huckvale on Monty Norman (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by Josh Olson
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with a new essay by Kat Ellinger, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

TASTE OF FEAR

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
Alternative presentation with US Scream of Fear title sequence
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary with Kevin Lyons, editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television (2019)
The BFI Interview with Jimmy Sangster (2008): archival audio recording of the celebrated filmmaker and screenwriter in conversation with Marcus Hearn at London’s National Film Theatre
The BEHP Video interview with Jimmy Sangster (2008): archival video recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring Sangster in conversation with Jonathan Rigby
The BEHP Interview with Douglas Slocombe – Part Two (1988): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the renowned cinematographer in conversation with Sidney Cole
Fear Makers (2019): interviews with camera operator Desmond Davis, assistant editor John Crome and clapper loader Ray Andrew
Hammer's Women – Ann Todd (2019): Melanie Williams, author of Female Stars of British Cinema profiles the English star and producer
David Huckvale on Clifton Parker (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer
Super 8 version of Scream of Fear: original cut-down home cinema presentation
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by Sam Hamm
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with an essay by Marcus Hearn, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

 

THE DAMNED

 

 

New 2K restoration
Original mono audio
Two presentations of the film: The Damned, the original UK theatrical release version; and These Are the Damned, the complete and uncut restoration which first premiered in 2007
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by film historians Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger (2019)
Beneath the Surface (2019): new interview with filmmaker Gavrik Losey, son of director Joseph Losey
Interview with actor Shirley Anne Field (2019)
Interview with screenwriter Evan Jones (2010)
Children of 'The Damned' (2019): new interviews with actors Kit Williams, David Palmer and Christopher Witty
Hammer's Women – Viveca Lindfors (2019): profile of the renowned actor by critic and film historian Lindsay Hallam
David Huckvale on James Bernard (2019): new appreciation of the celebrated composer
Beyond Black Leather (2019): appreciation by film expert I Q Hunter
No Future (2019): analysis by author and film historian Neil Sinyard
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by filmmaker Joe Dante
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with a new essay by Richard Combs, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units
All extras subject to change
REGION FREE

ORDER CLICK HERE! 

 

HENRY OSCAR REMEMBERED : BRIDES AND SHERLOCK

HERE IS AN ACTOR with a name, that probably most of us would have forgotten, but certainly we know his face 😉 Today marks the birthday of HENRY OSCAR or Henry Wale as some would have known him, back in the day. Oscar changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

ON FILM OSCAR played professional characters, dentist for Hitchcock, school teachers, doctors, bank mangers, all usually stiff, authoritative and at times pompous, this was probably why Terence Fisher cast him as Herr Lang, head of the charming 'School for Young Ladies' in Hammer films 'The Brides of Dracula' in 1960. Again, pompous, his ego is deflated when Peter Cushing flashes his 'Dr Van Helsing' 'calling card'! It's a lovely scene. Oscar was to work with Cushing again on November 4th 1968, in episode 9 'Thor Bridge' of Cushing's BBC 'Sherlock Holmes' television series, as Bates. Sadly this episode was wiped in the great BBC 'spring clean', so we have no idea or images just how that looked. But my guess is, just like in 'Brides' both Cushing and Oscar, would have squeezed and presented quite a show!

OSCAR ALSO APPEARED in a wide range of films, Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Four Feathers (1939), Hatter's Castle (1942), Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Beau Brummell (1954), The Little Hut (1957), Oscar Wilde (1960), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Long Ships (1963) and Murder Ahoy! (1964). Today, he isn't forgotten 😊Please join us in remembering and celebrating a Very Happy Birthday to Henry Oscar today! 😉

REMEMBERING MAX J ROSENBERG AND A HAMMER FILM PREMEIR!

REMEMBERING: Max J. Rosenberg (September 13, 1914 – June 14, 2004) Rosenberg was an American film producer, whose career spanned six decades. He was particularly noted for his partnership with co founder of Amicus films, Milton Subotsky who both found much of their success while working in England, producing #supernatural and fantasy cinema, many of which starred #PeterCushing and #ChristopherLee. Max was a clever businessman, Subotsky was the brains and imagination behind what was for most part, the only true competitor of the UK based #Hammerfilms. Sadly, the business partnership soured, then court and libel cases strangled the whole thing to death...a climax worthy of any Amicus film's big finish!

YOU CAN FIND OUR MORE about MILTON SUBOTSKY AND MAX ROSENBERG and AMICUS FILMS in our PCAS feature and REVIEW of THE UNCANNY RIGHT HERE 

 . . AND IN OUR SEVEN PART series on The AMICUS Films of PETER CUSHING HERE!

ABOVE: A RARE press photograph taken at the PREMIER of #Hammerfilms 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' with #PeterCushing, #VeronicaCarlson, #ThorleyWalters, #CatherineSchell and producer, Anthony Nelson Keys, posing for the press with two Hammer fans in fancy dress! Schell was in attendence while working on Hammer's other film at this time, #MOONZEROTWO! 

REVIEW OF SEVERIN'S THE UNCANNY BLU RAY AND THE POTTED SAGA OF MILTON AND MAX

THE PROGUE
THE UNCANNY, has a title that is weirdly appropriate and fits not only the whole weird set up of the film, and by that I don't just mean, the film's characters and the script! If when following the story, you have a feeling of 'deja vu', it's perfectly justified.  Severin Films has recently released  their long awaited blu ray of this bizarre British / Canadian feature film. Anyone worth their mustard and standing as a 'Fantasy flicks' fan will be familiar with the films of Amicus Productions and it's producers, a successful partnership of Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg. Milton based in the UK, soul provider of books and script properties to fashion into worthy productions and other Max, a hard nosed deal-man who rustled up the lolly and funding for these films and projects. It all worked splendidly for decades. A wielding of two men, dedicated to the product who started and founded their company with no legal document, only a 'gentlemans' hand-shake. Such was the trust they had in each other and their belief in their skill set! Together they formed said company 'Amicus' (roughly translates as 'Friend' in Hindi) and proceeded to make some of the best British horror / fantasy films that generated some impressive box office through the mid 1960's until the early 1970's.

THE LATE Max Rosenberg called Amicus "a studio without walls". He was a New Yorker, a law graduate with a successful distribution company who when he first heard about the Eady plan, a British subsidy set up to funnel government money into movie production and encourage filming in the UK., knew he had found the 'golden hen' for their at the time, tin pan plans. Milton Subotsky was a shy science-fiction film freak, also from New York, whose parents considered the movie industry disreputable. Nevertheless, he still managed to squeeze into the feature film business, producing 'Rock, Rock, Rock' with Rosenberg in 1956, before he moved to England in 1960. 

IN 1964,, the pair made that 'shake' and with that, the founding of Amicus, to take advantage of the Eady plan and put their plan into action.  There was no capital structure, so films got made through a combination of some private investment, funding from the 'Eady Plan', all not poured but rather, dripped into some  extremely low budgets. Their first portmanteau and 'proper' production, arrived in the 1965 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors'. It was made for less than £100,000, yet starred the two horror giants of the time,  Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was directed by Freddie Francis, who by then was already a highly acclaimed cinematographer. Rosenberg's technique for attracting high-profile talent was simple formula: he hired them on a competitive day rate, but only for a few days, so shooting schedules were brisk. Very brisk. The box office popular 1971 'The House That Dripped Blood' was filmed over a just four weeks.



IF WALLS COULD TALK! Part THREE of the AMICUS FILMS of PETER CUSHING, includes gallery and behind the scenes story on the making of 'The House That Dripped Blood' CLICK HERE!

THE MEAT
AMICUS may have, for some fashioned what could have be seen as quite way off horror hokum, but their most popular Peter Cushing portmanteau movie, 'Tales From The Crypt' was second only to The Godfather at the US box office in 1972, and also spawned a follow-up, The Vault of Horror! All of this came into being through hard-nosed opportunism and Subotsky's love of simple, well told tales, though many adapted with an ink and mind set, darker than most and writer called, Robert Bloch, which equaled Bloch-Office-receipts at the cinema. 

AMICUS IS SEEN by many to have been the only direct competitor to Hammer films, that other British production company, who also hit gold with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee just eight years before, Amicus dig in their flag. Where Hammer based their movies in far off European countries like Transylvania, where Counts are vampires and Baron's keep not wine and antiques in their dungeons and cellars, but body parts and heads, Amicus set their plots in contemporary suburban England, a staple funds saving choice, as all sets were usually cast off's from other films, still standing at Shepperton studios! The often leafy lane and cottage needed for a tale, were always a conveniently mere three miles from the studio gate! 

WE MAY TITTER, but it worked and worked extremely well. The Amicus films were typically quite brooding and claustrophobic; they were in some ways far darker without the Gothic, these horror stories could have been taking place in our homes, basements, garden sheds or kitchens! Many of the scripts tended to reflect some of Subotsky's obsessions. 'I, Monster', the weird Amicus Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde adaptation, is stuffed with Freudian theories. It's no secret that Subotsky's wife happened to be studying psychology at the time . . .!

THE BONE
Even though at heart, Subotsky was a dreamer, he could when needed also be a shrewd businessman. "Hammer was a business set-up," the late, legendary horror director Freddie Francis once said in 1995. "Had it dealt in garbage disposal, it would have been just as successful. Milton Subotsky from Amicus, on the other hand, was a real horror buff." Only Subotsky could 'rent' a star name for a day on a flat rate to include them as part of the cast and add value to the cast list rota on the cinema poster! Such was the amazing chemistry of how, Amicus worked, before Subotsky and Rosenberg had a huge spat and it all went south. Rosenberg though carried on producing a few films under the Amicus name and then became a distributor called Dynamite, who ironically and horribly, reedited and repackaged two Hammer films, 'Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' both with Peter Cushing, for distribution in the US on VHS and DVD. And Subotsky? Well . . . 

THE SCRAPS
IN 1975 AMICUS made its final bow with 'At The Earth's Core'. On viewing it at a local cinema with his son, Milton was appalled. When PCASUK interviewed Subotsky in a rare video interview in the early 80's, he found it hard to cover his disappointment at the film and contempt for Rosenberg's and director Kevin Connor's handling of the film, in his absence. 'I went to the trouble to invent and devise a complete language for the Pellucidarians in the film. But that was just ignored. When Peter speaks to them and they talk back in fluid English I nearly fell off my seat! And the climax in my screenplay was entirely different. A film that ends with fire works and explosions just shows lack of imagination!' 

AND SO with the final death throes of Amicus, Subotsky set up camp elsewhere. He formed "Sword & Sorcery Productions, Ltd.", tried to get funding for several projects like the 'Thongor' stories, even a film with Stan Lee's 'The Hulk' but to no success. But all was not lost, Subotsky produced the film  'Dominique' with Simon Ward, Jenny Agutter, Ron Moody, Judy Geeson... all actors who had worked with Peter Cushing... and Jean Simmons! In 1980, he co-produced the TV series The Martian Chronicles, adapted from the short story collection by Ray Bradbury. But in between there, he joined forces with Cinevideo, Rank and several other piggy banks in Canada, to make one other film, and this is where we started . .

THE UNCANNY
Wilbur Gray (Peter Cushing) visits Frank Richards (Ray Milland ) so he can get his book published. This book Gray has written are about cats. Cats watching everyone and controlling everything. He mentions the stories in the book are all true, and gives three examples. The first involves the murder of a cat-loving old woman (Joan Greenwood, Susan Penhaligon and Simon Williams ) who gives her entire fortune in her will to her cats. Not everyone is happy about the wills, but would have to get past the cats to get the the will. The second story is a tale of black magic between two girls (Chloe Franks and Katrina Holden Bronson) and the third story is a tale of murderous revenge (Donald Pleasence, Samantha Eggar and Catherine Bégin) ... by a cat.

SEVERIN 'THE UNCANNY' BLU RAY
I FIRST SAW this film, back in 2006 on a Network DVD release. I sadly missed any chance of catching it on the big screen, as it received such a poor reception theatrically back in 1977, no local flea pit would take it. So a chance to see the film, that for many years had been given the rough treatment in Fantasy magazines and fanzines, who seemed more caught up on the idea that this could only be a feral version of anything Subotsky had to offer, since Amicus was now dead and buried! On viewing, I was much surprised! It's not Amicus, but it is entertaining. The bleak and black sense of humor that often peeped out from the traditional Amicus suburbian alcoves and curtains, is now given the full room, which is quite a change for Subotsky, who stages the stories across London 1912, Quebec Province 1975 and Hollywood 1936! Despite Subotsky's well known dislike of unpleasant graphic scenes of blood and sex in his productions, he does pull out the stops in a few scenes. Remember, cats have claws and love to chew and bite! 

THE CAST is more than capable of holding these three tales together, Joan Greenwood is deliciously unpleasant, creepy and taster than cat nip, Susan Penhaligon, does 'hungry' very well and left me peckish to want to see more of her. Chloe Franks and Katrina Holden Bronson carry their lead roles in their tale as brat and victim to the hilt, while Donald Pleasence, Samantha Eggar and Catherine Bégin, are given the full nine yards in a camp and funny, saga of silent era Hollywood. Pleasence really does go for it, right up until the macabre climax. Meee-OUCH! This isn't 'Tales from the Crypt' or 'Torture Garden' it's Subotsky having fun. Personally, or me, it's the Cats Whiskers . .😉😚

SEVERIN FILMS must be congratulated on bringing the film to blu ray for the first time, given the film's, rocky reputation, this film has had more bootleg and dodgy VHS transfers to DVD, than Peter Cushing's 'dead on arrival' Tendre Dracula! Long before this film's release, we were teased with the news that the blu ray transfer came from . . a source, that has been “scanned from an inter-negative recently discovered in a London vault.”  . . sounds like a thread from one of Subotsky's stories! The surprising thing is sporadically, at the beginning of the film, it seems that this single layer transfer, looks every frame, like it was 'found from said vault'!. Not so bad, that we have a the surface of the bottom of an old and well used cats bowl to look through, but it has that 'no longer a kitten, more an old moggy look about it'. 

THIS IS A SHAME, as the definition is certainly better than a dvd but the surface of the film and the audio during the first few minutes, has been unnecessarily neglected. Having said that, the transfer is bright, colourful as should be, the audio is presented in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD with optional subtitles in English SDH. The dialogue thankfully is always clear. If you are watching and listening with headphones, it sounds exceptable and I can't say I heard anything distracting or any audio distortion. 

THE EXTRAS on this release are slim. A twelve-minute interview with actress Susan Penhaligon, entitled 'The Cat’s Victim' is the best of a handful, Penhaligon chats about her career and some of the early roles that leads up to her role in The Uncanny. She also spends a little time on working with Peter Cushing and some of the trickiness involved in working with live cats on set during the making of the film. There is also a theatrical trailer

THIS IS NOT A BAD transfer, considering the problems with finally finding a source, but I can't help thinking, the whole thing would have been so much better and deserving of a much awaited blu ray release, had another source been used.. but that sadly, wasn't possible, and there lies another Subotsky like tale, for another time...   

MILTON SUBOTSKY died of heart disease in 1991, at the age of 69. Max Rosenberg died in Los Angeles, California in 2004, he was 89