COMPETITION: WIN FOUR COPIES! LIMITED EDITION AMICUS BLU RAY 'ASYLUM'

HERE WE GO EVERYONE! Many thanks to Second Sight Films for their sponsoring of this and our last AMICUS CUSHING COMPETITION!... Asylum is one of my all time favorite Amicus / Peter Cushing films, and I think this release is going to go quite crackers and sell out very quickly on its release day 29th July2019. You CAN PREORDER NOW RIGHT HERE! THIS COMPETITION is now LIVE at the FACEBOOK PCAS FAN PAGE. IF you feel like giving yourself a go!? The last PCAS competition to win FOUR COPIES of SECOND SIGHT FILMS LIMITED EDITION OF ' 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' was very popular and already it looks like THIS comp will make and hit some new numbers for our entries again!

THE SECOND SIGHT FILMS release not only presents us with a very neat and much improved print of the film, which stars some of the best of not only past Amicus casts but a neat crew in 'post production' and behind the camera too. The film has a pretty tight story and each of the four tales of terror skip along, just pausing for breath under Peter Tanner's editing. Tanner has a very good understanding of the pace needed for Brit Fantasy and strange stories, having edited some of the best of the TV series 'The Avengers' in nine episodes during 65 and 66. Tanner worked a few Amicus films and was in demand until 1998, sadly passing at the grand age of 88 in 2002. 



CAMERA OPERATOR NEIL BINNEY, who made a very firm mark of quality on several of Amicus films rival, Hammer films over the years, makes everything appear in the set design of the titled 'Asylum' building, look every inch clinical, but not-quite-in-the-world-of-the-real! Roy Ashton, provides his skilled eye and hand on the make up of everything from quite nasty scars to 'what is trying to break out of that manikin?'  plus Douglas Gamley -  The City Of The Dead (61) , The Road to Hong Kong (62),  A Shot In The Dark (63) The Land Thar Time Forgot (74)- and moves the scrapes, thuds and off time clanks of Elisabeth Lutyens. Gamley thankfully was yet to discover the art of naff 'The Beats Must Die' score and sets a terrific and powerful kick off bringing in his arrangement of Mussorgsky's 'Night On Bald Mountain' and pieces of his own making, to make a film that not only looks frightening but also rips a score, that gets the toes a curling! So much to watch and hear. Along with this we have a VERY nice assortment of goodies in the EXTRA FEATURES department . .  

ABOVE: JUST LIKE AMICUS, the art and timing of the 'good build-up' in how we set the scene, ready for the lauch of this the SECOND AMICUS PCAS and SECOND SIGHT FILMS competition, was about to go live on facebook, shortly . . 

OUR PART FIVE of the FILMS OF PETER CUSHING which includes ASYLUM complete with rare stills gallery : HERE! 

THE EXTRA VALUE OF EXTRAS!

Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
 

Two’s a Company: 1972 On-set BBC report featuring interviews with Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland Screenwriter David J. Schow on Writer Robert Bloch Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky
 

Inside The Fear Factory: Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg
 

Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by Graham Humphreys and original artwork
Limited Edition Contents

Rigid Slipcase Featuring New Artwork by Graham Humphreys
40 page booklet with new essays by Allan Bryce, Jon Towlson and Kat Ellinger
Reversible poster featuring new and original artwork 

DID YOU MISS our FIRST AMICUS BLU RAY competition? IF SO, grab your opportunity to catch this one, at the FACEBOOK FAN PAGE of the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society : RIGHT HERE!

ASYLUM AND THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD LIMITED RELEASE ON FIRST TIME BLU RAY IN UK

NEWS: Announced today, is the news of the arrival of TWO Amicus Peter Cushing films being released as limited editions next month on blu ray  SECOND SIGHT FILMS  in the UK for the FIRST TIME on the 29th of JULY 2019! Both THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD and ASYLUM contain very neat menu of bonus extras, some new additions, some passed over from previous releases. but BOTH have exceptional cases artwork by my good mate, Graham Humphreys, plus both have supplement 40 page booklets on the movies too! Here is the run down on what each release is offering as a pretty neat package . . we'll be sharing a review on this release, the print and the contents very soon, so keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, you can place YOUR PRE ORDER HERE! 

THE AMICUS LIMITED EDITIONS of ASYLUM and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD : THE CONTENTS and BONUS FEATURES are as follows:

ASYLUM Limited Edition Contents • Rigid Slipcase Featuring New Artwork by Graham Humphreys • 40 page booklet with new essays by Allan Bryce, Jon Towlson and Kat Ellinger Special Features • Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney • ‘Two’s a Company’: 1972 On-set BBC report featuring interviews with Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland • Screenwriter David J. Schow on Writer Robert Bloch • Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky • Inside The Fear Factory Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg • Theatrical Trailer

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD Limited Edition Contents • Rigid Slipcase Featuring New Artwork by Graham Humphreys • 40 page soft cover book with new essays by Allan Bryce, Jon Towlson and Kat Ellinger Special Features • Audio Commentary with Director Peter Duffell and Author Jonathan Rigby • Audio Commentary with Film Historian and Author Troy Howarth • Interview with Second Assistant Director Mike Higgins • A Rated Horror Film - Vintage featurette featuring interviews with Director Peter Duffell and Actors Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks • Theatrical Trailers • Amicus Radio Spots • Stills Gallery

THE STORY BEHIND Peter Cushing and his WAXWORKS in THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD HERE!

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE AND READ UP ON BOTH ASYLUM and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD in our PCASUK features, complete with galleries and rare images! HERE and HERE!

TROY HOWARTH'S 'THE AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING' : 'WANDERING HANDS AND MANNEQUINS'

For their next collaboration, Cushing and Amicus would once again revisit the anthology format.  Asylum was a jigsaw puzzle of a confection written by Robert Bloch.  Like The House That Dripped Blood, it was structured as a mystery, with the linking segment helping to build the film to a final, shocking reveal.  The four segments were of higher-than-usual caliber: “Frozen Fear” tells of a husband (Richard Todd) who chops his wife (Sylvia Sims) into little pieces and is understandably perplexed when the pieces (neatly wrapped in brown paper) come back to life.

 “The Weird Tailor” tells of a mysterious gentleman (Peter Cushing) who hires a tailor (Barry Morse) to make him a most unusual suit; “When Lucy Comes to Stay” tells of a young woman (Charlotte Rampling) whose friendship with Lucy (Britt Ekland) leads to disastrous consequences; and “Mannikins of Horror” tells of an inventor (Herbert Lom) who creates mechanical homunculi.  The film is capped-off by the surprise reveal of the deranged doctor whom the protagonist (Robert Powell) has been searching for.

Bloch’s inventive screenplay ensures that every piece of the puzzle fits together to create a satisfying whole.  Roy Ward Baker, directing his first film for the company, handles the material with style and flair.  Baker, whose past credits included A Night to Remember and Quatermass and the Pit, never seemed much at home in the horror genre, but Asylum proved to be a notable exception.  Clearly inspired by the witty and suspenseful material, he pulls out all the stops and delivers one of his best films.  The cinematography by Denys Coop is appropriately atmospheric, while Douglas Gamley’s score makes inspired use of barnstorming classical music to set the right Gothic tone.

The stories are very effective on the whole, with “The Weird Tailor” emerging as the weakest of the bunch. Even so, it benefits greatly from the fine performances from Cushing and (especially) Barry Morse.  Cushing’s portrayal of the guilt-ridden “Mr. Smith” again allows him to channel his sense of real-life loss into the role he was playing, but his screen time is limited.  There are also fine performances from Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Robert Powell, Richard Todd and Charlotte Rampling. The film proved to be another hit for Amicus, and they were only too anxious to continue their association with Cushing; happily, the feeling was mutual.

David Case’s novel “Fengriffen” was a Gothic mystery in the mold of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”It caught the eye of Milton Subotsky, a voracious reader, who optioned it for a film adaptation.  Surprisingly, he didn’t elect to pen the screenplay himself. Instead, he entrusted the writing to TV veteran Roger Marshall.  Once the script was in place, Subotsky and Rosenberg assembled a top notch cast and a skilled crew, headed by director Roy Ward Baker. The end result proved more problematic than Baker’s previous sojourn into the world of Amicus horror.

The story tells of a young couple (Ian Ogilvy and Stephanie Beacham) who return to the groom’s ancestral home to start a new life together. On the night of their wedding, the bride is attacked and raped by an unseen presence. She believes the supernatural is at work, but the husband is skeptical. Eventually, the sage Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing, of course) is called in to investigate.

The cast does the best it can under the circumstances, but veteran actors like Cushing, Herbert Lom and Patrick Magee have too little to do.  Cushing plays Dr. Pope like a variation on Sherlock Holmes.  He doesn’t enter into the story until fairly late, however, and he is given little to do beyond fiddling with his props.  Lom makes a strong impression as the debauched nobleman who brings a curse upon his family, but his screen time is limited, while Magee is completely wasted as the family doctor who lives in fear of the curse.  Ian Ogilvy, who had risen to genre stardom as the juvenile lead in Michael Reeves’ three horror films (The She Beast, 1965; The Sorcerers, 1967; Witchfinder General, 1968) is very good as the distraught husband, while Stephanie Beacham (who had recently played Cushing’s granddaughter in Dracula AD 1972) is inclined to overact as the hysterical wife.

And Now The Screaming Starts! comes off like something of an Amicus copy of a Hammer film: the period setting and emphasis on shock effects would not have been out of place in one of their films, the use of Oakley Court for the exteriors is very much a Hammer touch, and the single narrative sets the film apart from Amicus’ usual fare.  If nothing else, it served to show up just how difficult it was for Hammer to do this kind of material as successfully as they did.  Slow, plodding and predictable in the extreme, And Now The Screaming Starts is one of the less successful collaborations between Cushing and Amicus. 

Written By Troy Howarth

Edired and Images By Marcus Brooks