#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! THE MUMMY ATTACK AND VAN HELSING STAKES!

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING: AFTER ALL THE excitement of the Cushing, Lee and Price birthday fun this weekend, what better than to follow it with this week's FIRST Chilling Cushing Clip..which also features, Christopher Lee in his celebrated role of Kharis in Hammer films, 'THE MUMMY'. You might think it rude for mute and bandaged Kharis not to call first or ring the door bell, but this creature is on a mission, and the mission is to KILL! 'The Mummy' followed the first TWO Cushing Lee classic Hammer films, in which they were cast together...The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and the 'Horror of Dracula' (1958) . Do you think it's as good, as the previous first two Hammer horrors??

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHINGSUNDAY! There couldn't have been a scene of more terror and shock for audiences back in 1958, when Cushing's Van Helsing staked the young Lucy, played by Carol Marsh in Hammer films, 'Horror of Dracula / Dracula'..well, if you don't count the seduction of Mina, the horrible death of Dracula in the sun, the slaying of the vampire woman in Castle Dracula, the shock value of Jonathan Harker being trapped in the crypt with Dracula...well, this film was and still is probably one of Cushing and Lee's most effective Hammer horror films, it turns up in most people's Top Five Hammer Horrors. Can you pick YOUR favorite MOMENT of terror in FIVE Cushing films...????

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VAN HELSING AND ALUCARD GO HEAD TO HEAD!

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: The scene that probably rankled Hammer film fans the most? The lifting of the Alucard motif from Universal's Son Of Dracula and death by.....well, you'll see. Personally, I could think of a dozen or more interesting ways to polish off Mr A, but I suppose Mr H had to improvise, with what he had to hand?? What do you think???

 

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#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: OUR ALL TIME MOST REQUESTED GIF!

#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY: One of our most requested gifs... Here is the moment that Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) gets thrown from the carriage by Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) from the prologue of Hammer Dracula AD 1972.

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MORE ON PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE IN HAMMER FILMS

DRACULA SAGA : HERE!

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THE FACE IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR!

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING: Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) realises who the 'man' on the bike REALLY is! This GIF is from the 'Wish You Were Here' segment of Amicus 's Tales From The Crypt (1972). It's is a variation on W. W. Jacobs' famed old chestnut short story, "The Monkey's Paw."

TRIVIA: Peter Cushing was originally offered the part played by Richard Greene but wanted to play Grimsdyke instead!

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ACTRESS VALERIE GAUNT DIES AGED 84

VALERIE GAUNT: Terribly sad to hear that actress VALERIE GAUNT (Reddington Valerie) has passed away, aged 84 after a short illness.

VALERIE'S short career on the big screen featured only in two films, and they were along side Peter Cushing. Just two roles, but they left a lasting impact, that would outlast many longer career! Her playing of Justine in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) and her performance in Hammer films,1958 'Dracula' hold a special place for lovers of fantasy cinema. Born Valerie Shelia Gaunt, on the 9th July 1932 in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, following an interest in amateur theater, after leaving school embarked on a career as a model, before auditioning for Hammer and landing her first professional role in 1957. Gaunt married her husband Gerald Alfred Reddington on May 17th,1958.

Valerie will be buried today (November 30th ) following a service at St Helen's, Seaview, Isle of Wight, She is survived by her husband, Gerald and their four children.

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING : DRACULA AD 1972 : PROLOGUE

GET THE CUSHION IT'S CUSHING: 'Dracula AD 1972... by PeterCushingAppreciationSociety

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING: AT ONE TIME it was THE Peter Cushing film that we received most negative comments about, if we discount the 1968 'The Blood Beast Terror' . .  (though I am convinced with Blood Beast, the negative grew purely from a comment Cushing once made in an interview, not about the actual content of the film, but the non too subtle sound of the title.) 

FOR A WHILE, the comments for and against the film, arrived about 50-50. Now, it appears DRACULA AD 1972 has come full circle. Since the early 90's, an appreciation of retro 1970's produced films have enjoyed a revival, with many features now striving to replicate that 70's look, the sound, the fashion. Hammer films through-out their time, always seems to just miss-time fads and crazes. Although their timing was spot on with a resurrection of Dracula in 58, and twisting the focus of Frankenstein on the 'Doctor', rather than the creation, in CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Hammer went into co production on Kung Fu vampire flick, after the chop socky had cooled off.





REGRETTABLY, for some audiences, they dragged Dracula to the land of hot pants and psychedelia, when the trendies had long consigned their loons and tank tops, to jumble sales, and 'love ins' and 'pot fueled flower power drop ins and outs', had puffed their last and had really gone to pot. BUT, that didn't stop Hammer. A band of 'teenagers' out for kicks, and looking for all the world like a Brit styled 'bunch of meddling kids' from Scooby-Doos, would form the film's doe-eyed victims and as usual, it would be Peter Cushing's #VANHELSING who would save the day. But, what scriptwriter Don Houghton did to shake up the formula, and the placing of Van Helsing, how and when . . . . would male all the difference.

IMAGINE IT, sitting in your local cinema, in September 1972, watching DRACULA AD 1972 to for first time. The opening pre credit scene is the stuff of Hammer fans dreams. Van Helsing and Dracula face to face, fighting to the death, on top of a horse drawn carriage!! The narration explains the year is 1872, we are in our element! Then, the carriage wheel, Dracula dies, but Van Helsing perishes too! Where now? And then, the gravestone and the jet plane . It must have been a shock to an audience who were getting settled in to a film, they must have thought, was a return to Cushing, Lee and Dracula 1958 land?
The prologue to AD 1972, is a terrible tease, for what could have been, the Dracula film that never was. Maybe that is why, fans cherishes those four minutes . . . it was just 86 minutes short of what could have been a classic.   

MORE #GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING NEXT SUNDAY!

 

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HAVE A VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

FROM US ALL, Have yourself a SAFE and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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#MONSTERMONDAY: COUNT DRACULA : MONSTER OR VICTIM?

#MONSTERMONDAY: It's kinda fitting that today, of all days, we debate and chew over probably the most deadly of ALL the creatures and phantoms, Peter Cushing ever had to face in a movie, THIS chap, gave him the most problems! #COUNT DRACULA.

MEETING FACE TO FACE in a total of FOUR films, all made by HAMMER FILMS, and all starring #CHRISTOPHERLEE as the Count, except one. So good was Christopher Lee in the role of Dracula, when Hammer films made, THE BRIDES OF DRACULA in 1960, his absence from the film, was something you just could not ignore. However, Lee did leave us quite a legacy of Dracula performances to enjoy, seven feature film for Hammer, and few other interpretations for others studios too. They may not all be to ones liking, but for many, he set the bar, which will probably never bettered or equaled.

So, for an actor Dracula is maybe the Hamlet of the Fantasy/horror roles, certainly a character you could...wait for it..get your teeth into. BUT, is the character . . .  a MONSTER or a VICTIM? Lee always hinted that the Count was cursed, a victim, forever doomed to roam the earth in search of blood and victims, maybe a romantic notion? Or was he a MONSTER spreading his plague of vampirism, draining his virgin victims of their lives and life blood?? MONSTER or VICTIM? YOU Decide! 

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#MONSTERMONDAY: HERE'S JOHNNY! HIPPY OR HORRIBLE MONSTER?

#MONSTERMONDAY : LOVE or HATE him, and many actually feel both! Johnny Alucard from Hammer films 'DRACULA AD 1972. Is he a MONSTER? Or is Dracula's fault he is a baddy?? Either way, Actor Christopher Neame played him with ALL the stops,pulled RIGHT OUT! Your task is, to see past all that and brand him.... MONSTER or NOT?

BTW: Take a good close look at this colour slide / transparency of Christopher Neame and Caroline Munro from Dracula AD 1972... and see the scratches, dust and debris on the surface. This is a typical example of the condition of some of the photographs and slides I purchase and rescue from libraries and collectors. Part of the job of PCAS is to restore and clean the images, for future generations of Peter Cushing admirers to enjoy ;) All images I post, are cleaned and repaired. - Marcus

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EXCLUSIVE TO PCASUK : THE PROFESSOR COMPETITION: CUSHING VAN HELSING HOLMES IN ONE!

WITH MANY THANKS  to Andrea Corbetta, we EXCLUSIVELY present our THE PROFESSOR COMPETITION! Here is your chance to win a copy of this beautifully illustrated Hammeresque-Peter Cushing-styled-Nightmare!! It's Van Helsing cross-over with Sherlock Holmes Mash up! Answer the question correctly, and you could be one of our THREE lucky winners, who bag themselves their very own copy! 

We will be posting details of where you can purchase copies soon. Look out for UPDATES at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and here! 

We featured an extensive piece on THE PROFESSOR earlier this year, you can read an ITALIAN REVIEW ON THE PROFESSOR #0 HERE .  Now THE PROFESSOR is about to be launched at THE TURIN HORROR FESTIVAL, on Wednesday, 12 October 19:30 hours, THE PROFESSOR #0! MORE details about the LAUNCH BELOW. Check out the superb TRAILER and some TELEVISION INTERVIEWS with the ANDREA CORBETTA below! ENJOY the competition, and get your entries in NOW!  Good Luck! - Marcus.

 

 

 

 

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