THIS WEEK'S #MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY!
comes from Amicus films, 'THE SKULL' (1965) starring Peter Cushing,
Christopher Lee . .and here, Peter Woodthrope, who some of you may
recognise from his portrayal of Zoltan the hypnotist, Hammer films, 'The
Evil of Frankenstein' also with Peter Cushing from the same year. The
floating SKULL of the The Skull of the "Marquis de Sade" was a true
device of terror, and a concept devised by author and screenplay writer,
Robert Bloch. Bloch worked on a few Amicus films, The Skull probably being the best of the bunch.
PETER CUSHING plays the tormented Christopher MAITLAND . . .a surname
that is a death sentence in an Amicus film, as script writer and
producer has used the surname so many times in his films! This is great
clip. I LOVE the way that Woodthrope's ,Bert Travers falls through no
one, but TWO glass skylights...and if you listen carefully, it sounds as
he went through another too . .. . A TRUE Moment of TERROR! BEST print
on the market, would have to be the EUREKA BLU RAY. GReat visual quality
and sound...and a load of extra features too PLUS It's REGION ZERO!
ENJOY! - Marcus
MORE ON THE SKULL IN OUR FEATURE AND GALLERY : HERE!
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
AT A REMOTE lhamasery in the Himalayas, scientist John Rollason studies
rare mountain herbs with the help of his wife Helen, and associate
Peter, while awaiting the arrival of an American named Tom Friend. Over
Helen's objections and warnings by the High Lhama, he sets out with
Friend on an expedition to find the elusive Yeti, accompanied by another
American named Shelley and a young Scotsman, McNee, who claims to have
seen the thing.
FOOTPRINTS are found in the snows and McNee seems
queerly affected the closer they get to their quarry's likely habitat
but the biggest shock to Rollason is discovering Friend is a showman who
only intends to exploit their find, with Shelley his
game hunter-marksman. The conflict between science and commercialism only
increases when an enormous anthropoid is shot, and the horror only
increases as the party realizes the other Yeti intend to retrieve their
fallen comrade and have powers to do so which seem extra-human...
A FULL FEATURE WITH RARE STILLS GALLERY CAN BE FOUND : HERE!
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 .
#TOOCOOLTUESDAY!AND SO, HERE WE are again! Seems like only a year since
the last one!!! HA! I am a SUCKER for Halloween, and this year, it's my
first time celebrating it in the US. It's different. Let's just say,
the front of the house looks like a Hammer House of Horror playground
for Wednesday
Addams, and I have spent most of this morning, filling little trick or
treat orange ghosty bags, with sweets (candy) Monster stickers and
rubber spiders! They tell me to expect . . . upwards of 50 visitors to
the front door, wearing various monster, ghosts and ghoulies. Nothing
new there then! I'm prepared! How about you? PLEASE share any pics here
of your GET ups, GET Together's and GET downs ...decent please...the
vicar and Aunty Mary is watching tonight
😉
After the fuss DIES down, I'll be kicking back with some phantom
punch, and watching our #PCAS HALLOWEEN DOUBLE BILL of Peter Cushing
movies, which you too can watch here at #PCAS #Facebook, the #PCAS #Youtube
Channel and the #PCAS website... See BELOW . .. Laters. Stay SAFE and
HAVE FUN! -Marcus
DRAGGED FROM THEPCASUK YOUTUBE CHANNEL screaming and howling, here's a tasty little 1975 offering from TYBURN FILMS starring Peter Cushing, David Rintoul, Ron Moody and Lynn Dalby, LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF . . . sure to chill your blood and have you screaming for more . . . .
AND IF IT'S MORE YOU WANT . . . a lethal dose of a VAMPIRE LEGEND from the FAR EAST, this just might be just enough, to send you off to bed, knowing all is well, while Cushing's Van Helsing will forever be around, to fight DRACULA and his Skipping and Hoping Vampire zombies, well that and the KUNG FU Clan. . ENJOY and a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Til NEXT YEAR....
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 . .
#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY!
A lovely and rare transparency of Peter Cushing with 'that head' from
the 'Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) served up on a background platter of
the ultra rare press-book from the same film...
This is our last #frankensteinfriday post today, and in fact for a
little while. I am putting the day away to bye byes. I think you are all
a little Frankenstein Friday'd OUT! SO a new themed day next FRIDAY and
also NEXT MONDAY #MonsterMonday has a long well earned sleep too, so TWO new Cushing Themed DAYS next week. - Marcus
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 .
#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY!#NEWS: #HAMMERFILMS 1964 Classic THE GORGON had a BLU RAY release in the US back last year and now AUSTRALIA gets its dip too! It's the same master that was used for the US Mill Creek Entertainment release last year. What Australian label Via Vision Entertainment is giving us, is pretty much the same, it's cheap and cheerful packaging, there are no supplemental features on the disc. Audio is English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. BUT it is Region-Free.
It appears that Sony Pictures has only one master of The Gorgon that is available for licensing, right now. The master is a not restored or remastered and judging by our YOU REVIEW from Frank Turturici we posted here about the Mill Creek release, there's some we posted here about the Mill Creek release, there's some room for improvement, but the film looks good in high-definition. So, if you want to fill that gap on your shelf, holding your Cushing / Lee / Hammer Horror collection now. . . . This REGION FREE Australian release could be the very thing for you!
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
#GETTHECUSHION:
Where it all began for Peter Cushing and his career in fantasy and
fear. Although many are not aware by this point in 1954, Cushing had
already many years as an actor in the theatre both in the UK, and the
USA and a period in film in Hollywood. . . . soon after the two live
broadcasts of this drama, Cushing would come to the attention of Hammer
films . . . .
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.
#TOOCOOLTUESDAY...
Many think that 'Shatter' was Peter Cushing's last appearance with Hammer
films... Not at all, back in 1980, Hammer under the guidance of CEO Roy
Skeggs produced a great television series entitled, Hammer House of
Horror, hour long dramas, all in a contemporary setting.
PETER CUSHING APPEARED in the seventh episode (broadcast on October 25, 1980 )
entitled 'Silent Scream' a twisted little tale that also starred a young
Brian Cox and Elaine Donnelly.
DURING THE WEEK leading up to
the broadcast, very little was known about the story of the episode.
Hammer were cute in their publicity, all that was released for the press
to use in the editorial, was a chilling photograph of Peter Cushing
screaming in terror...but at what, we would have to tune in, to find
out! Peter gave gave several interviews to newspapers and Sunday
supplements, which again ran the photograph.
OVER AT THE PCASFACEBOOK FAN PAGE we'd interested to hear any thoughts you may have on the episode, how
it compared with the other episodes in the series etc... What I do
remember of the episode was it was very COOL and even better on DVD in a
great little box set!
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 reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th
2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!
SEVERAL YEARS AGO in another life, wearing a different hat, I was often called upon to be a guest on a panel, judging competition entries for national and international films and documentaries. Many of the films and programmes were produced by amateur film makers and enthusiasts. Some were made by students from universities and film schools . . . The entries were of varying standards and levels of competence, but all had been produced with enthusiasm and passion. For over twenty five years I had worked in television, managed my own production company and had the pleasure of nurturing and helping young people and adults, in theatrical performance (performing arts) and the visual arts. It was a unique job, and a very rewarding time. Nothing gave me greater pleasure than to meet someone who had spent, months and months shooting and editing, shaping and creating, that flickering image, their story on that big screen! It's true, as I have said, many fell short of a standard to win a prize, or to maybe show promise of the first steps of what could be a promising career. But occasionally a warm glow would start in the pit of my tummy, a flutter, followed by a smile of recognition, when a zinger came along that DID tick all those boxes. Joshua Kennedy's 'Dracula AD 2015' IS one of those zingers...
Charles Caleb Colton (1780–1832) an English cleric and writer of some note once wrote, "Imitation is the sincerest [form] of flattery". Colton was at times brilliant in the pulpit, and could have been a successful and charismatic force in the church. Unfortunately he was more than a little eccentric, even though he had at one time considerable wealth, he gambled it away and was in debt until the end of his life...and that end came, when he required surgery. An operation he dreaded so deeply, that he eventually killed himself rather than undergo the procedure! But, if what Colton wrote, is true, Hammer films should be bursting with pride! 'Dracula AD 2015' is a love letter, a beautiful filmatic quilt, not patches, but scenes, sounds and emotive sequences sown together, to warm the bones, hearts and souls, of anyone who still blows the dust off their VHS broadcast recording, of a Hammer films 'double -bill' courtesy of BBC2 in 1981!
I knew writing this review would be tough, because so much of Kennedy's homage to Hammer's Dracula films, is emotionally charged. It's hot wired into the memory bank of any Hammer-aficionado who loves those films. However, that is not to say, this production can only be enjoyed by a cliche, romantic fan boys or Hammer die-hards. No, there is much here, even for someone who has never heard of Dracula, Peter Cushing, or 'that bloke in the cloak, Christopher Lee. And what there is, I'll happily share with you . . .but without giving too much away . . .
DRACULA AD 2015 is probably the Dracula film that Hammer films would be making now, if they were still around as the old gang, I guess. A film with drama, imagination, suspense and the age old 'everything works out in the end' plot, allproduced by the cozy family of people who cared about the films and the quality of what they produced. It's one thing that is evident in Kennedy's film too. This a group of young people, who love what they do and do it well. They know Joshua and each other well, and actors always take risks and give great performances when they are with a director and team they can trust.
Which brings me, to those actors. Josh has 'cast' the film very well, using some of the same templates that Hammer used too. I am not sure if it was sheer luck ordivine intervention that provided Josh with actors that nearly all, project some either physical or spooky degree of nuance, of the actors and characterswho appeared in the original Dracula Hammerfilms! And it's not just Hammer's plots and iconic set pieces that get the nod, there's much enjoyment to be had for any horror film buff here, picking out the scenes and characters from a dozen or more references, among them Chaney Jnr, Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye and quite a few more. Se if you can spot them!
In every Dracula film, it's the guy who plays the Count, that bolts the whole structure together. When Hammer made their Dracula series, Lee was the draw. Powerful, sexy and feral. When he wasn't in a few of the productions, it was like a cart without it's horses. The vehicle was sound, but had no way of getting anywhere! Not so with Dracula AD 2015. Dracula is played with a delicate touch by Xander Pretorious, and he is well supported by a multi textured cast. Another thing that Kennedy got right, actresses that sound, act and look believable. . . something that Hammer often got really wrong and casting that still makes some uncomfortable and cringe-worthy viewing.
Bessie Nellis is someone to watch, in the film and in the future. With a role like Ingrid Stensgaard..there it is again, the temptation to play big and busy is where many a female vamp has 'stuck a stake in the cred department', before they've even started. Nellis understands the gift of stillness in front a camera. Focus and concentration is all. It takes guts and maturity to use that rule as your guide, but the reward is a performance, that all eyes are drawn to, when you are on screen. Her seduction scene with the Count, crackles with electricity. Her haunting and truly 'other-wordly' scene with Madelyn Wiley, was sheer animal magic. Wiley gets some great scenes too and plays Diana Farmer's exit,with a performance that Barbara Shelley, would certainly be proud of.
Someone has to play the 'girl in peril' and Kit Kennedy thank goodness takes the role and makes it more than a scream fest. Like everyone here, Kit has a relaxed and natural presence before the camera. She makes Jennifer Fordyce real, in the moment, fresh and believable. I felt the same about Hannah Rose Ammon performance, as I did about Caroline Munro's in Dracula AD 1972... gone too soon! I would have loved to have seen more! Everyone loves the 'slightly pushy, but dizzy character, who comes unstuck' in a horror film and Ammon, never gives away, what is around the corner and her fate. Next, the suspicious sounding, Thorley Ripper! I am sure Universal fans are going to love what Jeremy Kreuzer does with this. It must be hard to play 'crazy' without tipping into 'crazily over the top', Kreuzer hits it just right, spot on. Crazy as a fox!
Director Terence Fisher believed, every audience had to have breathing time. After a shock, give them time to recover, before you lull them into the next shocker. And with stories like this, someone must play, well.... normal! It may feel like a thankless task, but no build up, results in no tension or climax. Here Cody Avord and Jake Williams, provide the stability of, the reliable boy friend and his buddy, but they certainly get a lot to do, some classic staking scenes re-enacted and a face off with a vampire too. Actors Philip Miller and Michael Kitchen in Dracula AD 1972, provided the same service. Except Miller's 'Bob' death scene never made the edit, despite being shot and Kitchen...remind me again? Finally, Claire Daniels, plays 'nightmareseduction with a certaintrademark style', the stamp of a Freddie Francis seduction scene, from Dracula Has Risen From The Grave', complete with the sepia filters, and manages to give Veronica Carlson a run for her money too!
It would be unfair to give away key moments of the plot here, as some come as genuine surprises. It's not a straight follow the numbers, remake of Dracula AD 1972, Joshua Kennedy has been cute to key in some of the best elements of what made Hammer and Universal fantasy flicks great. The staking, the resurrection, the passion, the bite, the glamour and the sex. It's all here, and delivered with such confidence. Kennedy makes a great vampire hunter, in the Peter Cushing mold. He has the energy, authority and credibility of an actor and director many years older. His stamp can be seen throughout all his films. That wicked sense of humor and fun, that has brought the likes of actresses Martine Beswick and Caroline Munro, to come on board several of his productions. Munro actually has a voice-cameo in Dracula AD 2015 . . playing the Mother of Hannah Rose Ammon, who plays Munro's daughter,Caroline Monlaur. See what he did there!
I have watched Dracula AD 2015 several times, in order to get the full picture, and on one such screening, watched with a group of Hammer fans. Many a lead up to a scene was met with, 'They aren't going to do that sceneare they?'...which was followed by, 'That was great!' 'Well done' and ' pulled it off. . ..wow!'. Also quite a few scenes were given a cheer or chap of appreciation. Dracula, cloak flapping striding through New York and running for his life across a subway platform, made quite a few very happy. As did the opening prologue to the film and THAT title sequence. Back in 1972, I am sure Drac Buffs almost choked on their popcorn and coke, when the film zipped into a dutch tilt to the sky, and revealed a passenger plane and a hip and trendy London skyline with Chelsea hot pants and Trafalgar Square to boot!
In Dracula AD 2015, that theme tune, still has a punch, as Kennedyacknowledges the power and emotional connection to the music, in particularMike Vickers soundtrackfrom the opening to Dracula AD 1972and James Bernard's classic Dracula theme and incidental arrangements from the Hammer Dracula series.It's a technique that is used throughout the film and because of it's connection to the original films, works amazingly well, setting the atmosphereand tone of the entire film.
Last, but not least... when watching the film, take note of the lighting. Beautiful blues and throbbing rosey reds, if I didn't know better, I would think I was watching an Eastman colour print!Lighting camera operators were unsung heroes, back in the day of Hammer films. Kennedy has the lighting and shades, nailed too. He multi tasks, it's his script, editing, direction and camera work. And, it all worksvery well indeed.
If I was Kennedy, I would be entering every film festival and competition from here, across the Atlantic and back. This film needs to be seen and enjoyed, but also it needs the opportunity to winthe praise it deserves...well done to everyone involved you made my viewing full of many warm glows and flutters!
Marcus Brooks: Peter Cushing Appreciation Society : petercushingpcas@gmail.com
