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!
YEAH! YOU WANT HIM? I KNOWI want him! But sadly, he...gone! ☹️😢
This neat little figure of Peter Cushing as 'Revenge . . Dead and
Walking' Arthur Grimsdyke from Amicus films, 'Tales from the Crypt'
1972, was made by Readful Things, as a static figure mode and presented
as a 'collectable model in it's packaging' for display on your shelf or
display case only. NOT for playing with 😉 . . a one of a kind sculpted piece, has no moving parts & should remain in packaging.
BUT HOW NEAT is that? Sadly, out of stock and unlike Arthur, probably never
to return. It's a great figure that captures one of the rare times
Cushing wore THAT kind of make up. A job that both he and master make-up
artist, Roy Ashton, loved creating. The 'Tales from the Crypt' story is
a firm favourite with many, BUT sooooo hard to endure and watch.
'Snifffffff!. . . Gosh, it's sad. A bit like this figure, a missed opportunity
to own 😢 What do you think?- Marcus : MANY thanks to Rob Shaw who posted the link to us earlier 😉
A FUN DAY HERE and at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE,yesterday! We celebrated #worldbookday, with some interesting comments and messages. No doubt you may be wondering where the #PCASUK#competition is for winning those cracking Cushing books???
THAT will be posted tomorrow 😉 'Issues' on this side of the page, has delayed it, my apols.
Meanwhile, today over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE still on the subject of paper matter, books and mags... I've been asking, if you can recall what was the FIRST book or mag you bought with Cushing in
it... that you purchased because he was the reason??? Going back a bit huh? No prob if it has long gone, but if not snap a pic I would love to see it and attach it to your comment.
ABOVE HERE is mine. Purchased after my loving Gran bought me two Famous Monster for
my eight birthday 😊😄 I bought it, at the wee age of 13 years old,
from a REAL dodgy newspaper shop . .. a LOT of top shelf
oddities.. cough... in Blackpool on holiday with a Aunty, as you do 😝😜😆 .. I wandered in not knowing WHAT kind of magazine store it was! Well, THAT'S my excuse. 😉
What it was doing in there, on a carousel rack, I have no idea. But
this well worn magazine, went with me everywhere for a long time,
school, visiting family, church (HA!) I still love it and the cover is
amazing 😊 Next, I asked everyone, What did they buy and lets see?? There were some great mags!
LIKE MANY HAMMER FILM and Peter Cushing fans, for the last few years, I've both a mental and physical 'wish list' of movies, |I have hoped would some day, get the remastering blu ray treatment. I am very happy to now look at my shelves and see most of those titles have not only received a re-release and remaster, but also 98% of them have been blessed with a remastering, quite beyond my expectation! It's wonderful to see many Cushing features, that for years looked destined to never be seen again, the way I had once watched them in the cinema. It took quite a while, with the arrival of DVD's to weed out the duds, and not fall foul of a 'bootlegged home made burned copy of a years old TV recorded copy of a VHS recording' to a legit marketed commercial DVD copy to arrive. For quite sometime, we were very happy with DVD quality, and then the sometimes sparkling definition of a BLU RAY! Could it ever get any better. we asked? 'Oh, Yes . . .', said the distributors, 'Take a look a this!' The REMASTERED 1080p high definition Blu Ray.... can be at times, quite thing of beauty. Sometimes if the copy house gets it wrong though, it can also become a never ending chorus of lethal barbs, personal opinions and wrath, at forums and internet groups.
THANKFULLY, that has not happened too often with Cushing films. There will always be the wish and bucket list, of people who have high expectations and yet low funds and shallow pockets. The remastering process is an expensive business and in the current lolly-no-lolly climate, things tough. Though there will always be, the customer who also expects, a perk! Some of the better remasterings, have arrived without any extras. No new documentaries, no galleries of images and rare stills.. but the quality of what it offers on the label, is very, very high. The FILM is a knockout! And with that, I am happy to share that, SCREAM FACTORY has delivered a VERY nice release, that meets the standard we have come to expect and a much needed and very entertaining package of extras too, for a film that has been on THAT 'Wish List', for quite sometime . . .
I AM NOT GOING TO BORE YOU with the story, plot details and 'CHOP' of Hammer films and Shaw Brothers, THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES. If you are a Cushing, Hammer or Horror film fan, you WILL know the plot like the contents of Famous Monsters Of Filmland, Issue ONE or page six of Alan Franks excellent, 1976 edition of The Movie Treasury of 'Monsters and Vampires!' If seeing Cushing play Van Helsing in a more traditional sense, rather than in 70's swinging London, as in the outstanding remasters from Warner Brothers of both 'Dracula AD 1972' and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' However, if you NEED the plot, you may find a PCAS feature, with that and a whole skip full of stills, RIGHT HERE and HERE!.
THE TEC SPEC! AND SO TO THE LINE, that is the divider or decider in such releases as this. A title now arrives on blu ray, that most parties or individuals will probably already own and may have in several formats, purchased and added to those creeking shelves, over the years. The question: Is THIS release an improvement and worth parting with your hard earned lolly? The ANSWER is certainly! I have found over the years, it is the past reputations of such companies as Shout / Scream Factory, that will define if fans are going to cry, 'Once Bitten, Twice Shy' having been stung with past purchases, where the excitement and anticipation of a blu ray release worth having, following lots of promotion and word of mouth, sinks faster, after the opening credits than a trout with belly full lead! Scream Factory has an excellent record and this release again puts the seal of approval on they give what they promise. This release is 2.35:1 anamorphic and SCREAM FACTORY'S transfer presents visually a real bonus, to anyone who has seen the film before, and experienced not too sharp an image, to put it bluntly! The 50GB disc is an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer. Having said that, some would consider the transfer to not quite be of reference quality.AT LAST we can now see, what is happening CLEARLY, CRISPLY! Nothing that I could see in my TWO viewings of this release, dropped from an excellent clarity, a viewing of this film, I had never seen before. Blurring, sudden softness of what two seconds ago was a sharp image, with solid contrast of a shot, filmed in shadow, can be a real distraction, if seen too often while enjoying your recent purchase.
WATCHING THIS RELEASE was full of visual surprises. Details in costumes, actors expressions and of course, the fight scenes, was a real treat! The transfer brings out so much detail compared to previous releases. The audio is DTS-HD MA Mono. The levels are clear and for some might hint at being TOO clear! All dialogue in Seven Golden Vampires, was created during ADR. It was very common practice in the industry in Hong Kong at this time, that little if anything that was recorded during production was used in the final theatrical release, everything was dubbed in post. So it's very fair to say, the levels are well balanced is
free of any obvious or noticeable hiss problems or distortion. James Bernard's excellent score has never sounded better! Optional subtitles are provided in English
only.
THE EXTRAS: REGULARS TO HERE AT THE PCAS website and the PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE will not be strangers to the work of BRUCE G HALLENBECK. As well, as writing and publishing several very good books on Hammer and Amicus films, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and many many others, Bruce has also contributed several exclusive features and series about Cushing, Hammer / Amicus and many of Cushing's supporting casts and characters for this website. You find links to many on the right column of this site! Bruce contributes and narrates a very entertaining feature on this SCREAM FACTORY release. Lots of new factoids and details about Hammer films, the history of why Hammer made a 'Vampire / Kung Fu' features at a time when Hammer had long left his Dracula role and how it almost didn't get made, as Warner Bros threatened to pull their money, unless Dracula was included in the film. Well done, Bruce!
A FEATURE WITH AUTHOR RICK BAKER, is also here if you have an interest in Kung Fu Cinema. 'KUNG FEAR' does a nice job of sharing the background of Hammer's partners in making 'Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' The Shaw Brothers. Baker who is author of several books on Hong Kong cinema shares his knowledge while 'Golden Vampires' co star David Chiang gives a neat little interview, with memories on working on the film and Peter Cushing! Also included is the 75 min 'alternative' edit of the film, re-titled 'The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula'. It's minus much of Cushing's Van Helsing footage and anything that didn't have the minimum at least five chops or three foot sockings! Interesting! OVERALL Scream Factory's REMASTERED Blu Ray release of Hammer Films 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' is a very nice and long awaited addition to my little collection. It's fabulous to watch Cushing in his last outing as Van Helsing, Julie Ege, Chiang and Robin Stewart are a great support also. John Forbes- Robertson is very entertaining to watch in a 'Hong Kong' swing of Dracula. Complete with THEIR nod to his make up and style, it answers the question of, what would a Dracula not played by Christopher Lee, in a Hammer film, look like! THIS release gets a BIG thumbs up and thank you from us all at PCAS!. .
SCREAM FACTORY REMASTER of LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES BLU RAY was REALASED TODAY APRIL 9th 2019 and is REGION A.
NEWS:
Scream Factory have announced they are putting out Hammer Films and Shaw Brothers THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES On Blu-ray starring Peter Cushing as Van
Helsing, with Julie Ede and Robin Stewart . . SCREAM RELEASED a press note today stating : Starting 2019 on a high note: THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES - a
highly-requested title from the Hammer Films catalog - kicks its way
onto Blu-ray April 9th! Extras are in progress and will be announced on a later date. The big
news to confirm today though is that we will be presenting two cuts of
the films -- Hammer's original uncut version and its edited US version
called The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula!'
MANY ARE ALREADYhoping for maybe a full version of the 'LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES' music soundtrack. An album was released by Hammer films of this, along with the story narrated by #PETERCUSHING back in 197. Also a cleaned up print of the MILK MARKETING BOARD short feature, that was shot on location with the cast and crew in Hong Kong, would be a winner too. Fingers Crossed! You can share your thoughts on this release at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE where the CHAT and opinions have already started on the thread and newsfeed!
#MOMENTSOFTERROR #MONDAY! Back in the day, 1959 to be exact, Peter Cushing as #SherlockHolmes
looms down from giant sized billboards in central London, promoting his
first performance as Sherlock in Hammer films, only Holmes movie, 'The
Hound of the Baskervilles'. Billboards were certainly impressive
displays back in those days, as were the cinema posters!
TODAY MARKS WHAT would have been the birthday of actor GEOFFREY BAYLDON. He would have been 95 years old! Geoffrey passed in 2017 and PCAS posted quite an extensive obituary at the time.
The PCASUK GEOFFREY BAYLDON OBITUARY FEATURE CLICK HERE!
HE WAS VERY MUCH ADMIRED, loved and respected actor and extremely popular with the army of fans and admirers of his work. Many films
and tv credits go way back to Hammer films first Dracula with Peter
Cushing, some of Amicus films finest like 'Asylum', 'Tales
from the Crypt', 'The House that Dripped Blood', Hammer's 'Frankenstein
Must Be Destroyed', 'The Risk' / 'Suspect with Cushing in 1969, his tv
series 'Catweazle'.
GEOFFREY appeared with Jon Pertwee in 'Worzel Gummidge as
The Crowman from 1979 until 1981, the BBC's Dr Who in 79 and 'The
Avengers tv series in the 60's. Geoffrey is still very much missed. A gentleman and such a Gentle Man 😉
RELEASE NEWS:
Arrow Films have announced they are putting out a band new remastered
blu-ray of Horror Express (1972) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher
Lee. This brings a REMASTERED blu ray to fan of the film in the UK for the first time!
RELEASE DATE: February 11th 2019 (UK) February 12th 2019 (US, CAN)
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS • Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation • Original Uncompressed mono audio • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • Brand new audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman • Introduction to the film by film journalist and Horror Express super-fan Chris Alexander • Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express – an interview with director Eugenio Martin • Notes from the Blacklist – Horror Express producer Bernard Gordon on working in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era • Telly and Me – an interview with composer John Cacavas • Original Theatrical Trailer • Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing by Adam Scovell
BORN
TODAY November 8th 1847 in Clontarf, Dublin, Republic of Ireland… BRAM
STOKER, creator of Dracula and a hundred thousand nightmares! Happy
Birthday, Mr Stoker!!!
BOO! HERE IT IS!🙂 The FIRST of our THREE PCAS Halloween Competitions 2018 🙂
PLEASE ONLY send your answers using the MESSAGE / CONTACT BUTTON at the
top of this page, as usual. Sadly, any entries posted in the thread
below, will be deleted and not counted as entries. If you can't wait to
win, to own your own copy of this outstanding remaster of a great Peter
Cushing, Christopher Lee Hammer DRACULA film... the blu ray is OUT NOW!
YOU can ORDER and PURCHASE your copy of the Warner Brothers Archive Collection REMASTEREd Blu RayHERE!
THE GIFS IN THIS FEATURE WERE NOT MADE
USING THE REMASTERED BLU RAY
WE'LL HAVE ANOTHER Warner Brothers Competiton TOMORROW,
where you can bag yourself copies of the remastered blu ray of the Dracula AD
1972 SEQUEL, 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'! All correct answers will
be as always, dropped into a pot and FIVE lucky winners will be
announced HERE on Thursday November 15th! As ever, this competition is
OPEN to everyone, no matter where you are! So GOOD LUCK! Have fun and
get your entry in NOW 😉
