#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: FOUR FILMS TO WATCH THIS OCTOBER!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: Here's a new idea you might want to be a part of. Nothing new, but an experience worth sharing... the opportunity to watch a film, all on the same day! It doesn't matter what time, but be sure to be around the day after to share your thoughts and views on the film, we have all watched. We'll be setting up a banner on the days listed here...and you can pop in anytime, and share, chat, rant, gush on the thread below the banner!

FIRST ONE OFF THE BLOCK, is Peter Cushing's The Creeping Flesh! If you do not own a copy of the film, check out youtube, daily motion and vimeo, where all of these titles are shared . . . you'll just have to check their availability, in your part of the world. Territories do vary .. . . . Looking forward to it already!

 

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#TBT REAL STRANGE AND SPOOKY GOINGS ON IN CUSHING 'CREEPING FLESH' FILM! CAN YOU SPOT IT?

YOU WOULD EXPECT the set of a Peter Cushing horror film to be a spooking and slightly unnerving place. You wouldn't be surprised to see the occasional skeleton, disembodied body parts hanging around or things moving around by themselves, but aided by a out of shot prop or special effects guy. BUT WHAT ABOUT MOVING UNASSISTED BY THE PROP GUY???

The Creeping Flesh Blooper by PeterCushingAppreciationSociety

 

WELL, THAT CERTAINLY SEEMS TO BE THE CASE HERE! The film is THE CREEPING FLESH  a very enjoyable horror film, starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Lorna Heilbron, George Benson and even, Michael Ripper gets a quick look in. It's one of the few films that Tigon Films produced in the 1970's, along with 'Blood On Satan's Claw' and that other Tigon Cushing outing, The Blood Beast Terror in 1968. Low on budget, but occasionally, quite polished and original. No Dracula's or Frankenstein's here...but certainly at times, they give some of Hammer films early 70's releases, a good run for their money! Though for a limited time, a very good quality DVD was available of this film, believed to have been struck off a superior HD master print, after some copyright issues, the DVD release vanished from sales and can now only occasionally be found on ebay, for very silly money indeed.  It's a film that is still sadly awaiting a blu ray release with a deserving menu of extra features and the bits and bobs, that make horror film buffs froth!

I GUESS I AM ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES, that put my money down, before the asking price went up! Certain cretins think making the price go north, is a dead cert to get fans to part with their lolly. Not The Case. So, the film unfortunately for the meantime, is out of the grasp for many. But, the tom tom drums tell me a Blu Ray is a-comin-soon!

HOWEVER, BACK TO THE PLOT. . . .  Peter Cushing's, more than able co-star for much of this film is Christopher Lee, but actor GEORGE BENSON has a good deal to do in his screen time with Cushing and shares some major suspenseful scenes! Which brings us to the film clip above, featuring both Cushing and Benson. We spotted something MOST peculiar in this shot. Cushing's Dr Emmanuel Hildern is explaining some important plot details to Benson's 'Waterlow'...and then... well. See if YOU can spot it too? If you can why not visit us at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page, where we have just posted this clip too...and let us know what you have seen...or not! Have fun!

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#MONSTERMONDAY RETURNS WITH REQUESTED VINTAGE IMAGES AND STILLS

First request for our REBOOT of #monstermonday comes from PAUL CHADWICK who has requested images from TWO Peter Cushing films, HORROR EXPRESS (1972) and THE CREEPING FLESH (1973). Hope you like the images, Paul!

A SIGNED promotion photograph from The Creeping Flesh. Spot Hammer film regular, Michael Ripper in the foreground here!

Christopher Lee plays  Peter Cushing's brother, James Hildren in The Creeping Flesh. Here we see him trying to piece how he can...well, that would be giving away the story....!

A terrified Peter Cushing in The Creeping Flesh...and if you had seen what he has seen, you would be terrified too!

A RARE PHOTOBUSTA from The Creeping Flesh (1973)

Christopher Lee takes on a zombie Cossack in HORROR EXPRESS. The excellent zombies in this film gave us our first new convincing undead frighteners, since Hammer films, 'PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES' .

Peter Cushing poses for a promotion photograph  on board the footplate of the train that was used in the film, Horror Express.

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THE CREEPING FLESH: LORNA HEILBRON AND PETER CUSHING'S PLAYING OF PROF HILDREN

Peter Cushing commitment to the role of Emmanuel Hildren was as strong as ever, and his professionalism absolute.He still concerned himself with not only his performance, but every aspect of filming. His copy of of the script is enthusiastically annotated with character details and instructions to himself.

'Don't gabble. Don't over act. Don't be conventional absent minded professor' And there, mixed up with notes about hairpieces and how to prepare lab slides are the words, 'Bois' 'Helen' 'Us'.

Peter related to me as a father and was tremendously caring and supportive' co star, Lorna Heilbron remembers today.'I played his daughter. He felt that I resembled his wife, Helen, so we had a rather intense relationship where I felt he really lived his part in the film.'

To play the deranged Hildren in the prologue and epilogue, Cushing again sacrifices any shred of vanity - without the toupee, which he wore in practically every film now, his hair is whitend and disarrayed and his cheekbones are strongly emphasisedf with make up. A quavering voice, insisting 'I alone can save the world', completes the impression of the character's tragic mental collapse.

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TIGON'S TALE OF TERROR: THE CREEPING FLESH PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY AND FEATURE

Scientist Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) unearths what appears to be a missing link while on an expedition in New Guinea.  His attempts at unlocking the skeleton’s secrets are compromised by the precarious mental condition of his daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron) and the interference of his bitter half-brother James (Christopher Lee)

In the 1950s and 60s, Freddie Francis established himself as one of the premiere lighting cameramen in Europe, snagging an Oscar for his work on Sons and Lovers (1960) and winning much acclaim for his work on The Innocents (1961).  Like so many directors of photography, Francis had a yen to direct.  He made his first film as a director in 1962 with the obscure romantic comedy Two and Two Make Six (1962), but the German-financed The Brain and the Hammer Films psychological thriller Paranoiac (both also 1962) pointed to where his career would evolve.

Francis, being a pragmatist at heart, initially accepted his pigeonholing as a “horror” director, and would take great pride in imbuing his films with sufficient visual gloss as a means of patching up the often inadequate screenplays he was handed to work with.  As time wore on, however, his dissatisfaction became quite evident – and indeed he would approach most of his directorial assignments of the 1970s with a mixture of contempt and indifference.

There’s really very little to recommend in such films as The Vampire Happening (1970), Trog (1970), Craze (1973) and The Legend of the Werewolf (1974), but signs of his former flair are happily on display in The Creeping Flesh.  Francis responded well to the screenplay by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold, with its heady mixture of Victorian sci-fi and Lovecraft-flavored chills.  The end result is his last great hurrah as a filmmaker; he would direct only sporadically from that point on, and in 1980, he made a triumphant return to the station of lighting cameraman when producer Mel Brooks and director David Lynch drafted him to lens The Elephant Man.  He would go on to work with some of the most exciting and dynamic filmmakers of the new generation, including Martin Scorsese (for whom he shot a super stylish redux of Cape Fear, 1991), and would win another Academy Award for his work on Glory (1989).  Francis died in 2007, at the age of 89.

THE CREEPING FLESH

The story is certainly an eventful one, and it affords both of its iconic lead performers an opportunity to shine.  Cushing is cast in the flashier role, while Lee is seemingly relegated to yet another humorless authority figure.  Cushing imbues his character with ample humanity, but it is the character’s single minded obsessiveness which links him most closely with his most famous genre characterizations: Baron Frankenstein and Dr. Van Helsing.  Emmanuel is very much the absent father.  He dotes on Penelope whenever he returns from his trip, and there’s no question that he genuinely adores her, but his work always comes first; ultimately, he fails to realize her gradual slide into madness until it is too late.  True to form, he attempts to over compensate for this by using his discovery in an attempt to “cure” her madness on a biological level – the experiment is doomed to failure, of course, and one is left wondering just how sane he was from the get go.

Lee’s role as the embittered half-brother doesn’t allow him so much screen time (though he was given top billing in deference to his popularity at the box office), but he delivers a wonderfully detailed characterization, just the same. James can barely contain his contempt and jealousy towards his brother, which prompts him to take a certain sadistic glee in getting the upper hand on him. One gets the sense of James’ lifetime of struggle and unhappiness as he was pushed aside in favor of his more “privileged,” upper crust older brother, and as such his actions become almost understandable. It’s a marvelous performance that seldom gets the attention it deserves.

Lee and Cushing are supported by an excellent gallery of character actors. Lorna Heilbron is superb in the difficult role of Penelope, which requires her to run the gamut from doe-eyed, doting daughter to wild-eyed, crazed harlot – and she never hits a false note.  George Benson, who formerly mugged his way through a comic cameo in Terence Fisher’s Dracula (1958), is excellent as Cushing’s devoted lab assistant. Duncan Lamont is properly authoritative as the suspicious police inspector investigating the ensuing carnage, while real-life couple Michael Ripper and Catherine Finn show up in small roles – he as a blustery deliveryman, she as Heilbron’s caring housekeeper.

Francis handles the material with energy and conviction, but the film loses points for its introduction of a pointless subplot involving hulking character actor Kenneth J. Warren as an escapee on the loose from Lee’s insane asylum. Warren is fine in the role, but the subplot goes nowhere and was clearly crammed into an already busy narrative to pad the running time a bit.

The Creeping Flesh also has excellent production values – the sets and costuming are on a par with the best of Hammer, and the creepy music score by Paul Ferris helps to set the right mood. The cinematography by longtime Francis collaborator Norman Warwick is also lovely without being unduly fussy.  Special note must also be made of Roy Ashton’s makeup work.

The title is explained by the fact that the skeleton “grows” flesh when it comes into contact with water – which Cushing discovers when trying to clean it up a bit… The decidedly phallic looking finger that results from this is truly horrific, as is the final reveal of the regenerated skeleton, which becomes exposed to a rain storm when Lee engineers a break in to steal the specimen.  Francis even reuses his “skull point of view” gag from The Skull (1965) to maximize the effect of this gruesome makeup.

Fans of Cushing and Lee would do well to check out The Creeping Flesh if they haven’t done so already.  And even if you already have, it may well be time to go back and reacquaint yourself with it again; it’s a good one.

Feature: Troy Howarth
Gallery: Marcus Brooks

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