DID YOU MISS THIS? NO PANIC THERE IS STILL TIME!

HAVE YOU MISSED THIS? It's still LIVE but time is ticking 😮 Here is director Joe Dante short review of the film 'The Flesh and the Fiends' which gives a little idea of really, how great this movie is! The trailer played in this clip is the US trailer, where the film was christened with the 'subtle' title of, 'The Fiendish Ghouls'. Hmm nice. It arrived on it's first outing as 'Mania', following the trend of 'one-word-titles' craze since the success of Hitchcock's 'Psycho'! As Dante says 'The film is greater than it's title, it's a pretty good movie and deserves better. One of the virtues of British horror movies at this time is, they are played as if they were Shakespeare. There's no winking or nodding or campy quality. The actors in this picture take everything seriously....' CLICK HERE! and enter! Good luck everyone 😁 Take care and look after one another 😉- Marcus

CUSHING CHRISTMAS PCAS COMPETITION WINNER NUMBER TWO REVEALED HERE!

Congratulations ALLEN! A Happy New Year to you!
 

THE ANSWER we were looking for was c) THREE DAYS! Amicus were FAST workers, for sure! MANY thanks to everyone who entered this and our last competition and to our very generous sponsor SECOND SIGHT FILMS. You can order YOUR copy of this release from January 5th 2020 DIRECTLY HERE! 

ABOVE: OUR FINAL CHRISTMAS CUSHING COMPETITION IS STILL LIVE until January 12th 2020. YOU CAN ENTER HERE at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!

ARE YOU A WINNER? HAMMER VOLUME INDICATOR BLU RAY PCAS COMPETITION

 

ALL FOUR CUSHING CHRISTMAS COMPETITIONS WINNERS have been  drawn today, and winners names published and revealed at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE FOLLOW this link, if you would like to share your winning or your congrats wishes!

 

CONGRATULATIONS MELVYN! YOU are a WINNER😄😊 The answer to this competition was D : Lucy, which many, many of you answered correctly 😉 Thank you to everyone who took part and to Indicator / Powerhouse who sponsored this PCAS competition 😊😉 YOU can order your copy of Hammer Volume Four : Faces of Fear DIRECTLY HERE HERE!

 

 

OUR last and FIFTH PCAS Christmas Competition is STILL live and open until January 12th 2020. 😮 Worth having a go?? 😉 CLICK HERE! 

 

 

#SILENTBUTDEADLY! : RAZOR BLADES GUNS AND TONGUES GIFS!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Anyone who is a fan of the Amicus portmanteau films, or has been watching the uploads I have been making over the last four weeks of #DonaldFearney's 'Amicus Vault Of Horrors' #documentary, will know, every one of those Amicus movies contain two things, a so-so story and a really fantastic story . . . or maybe two fantastic tales! In the case of 'From Beyond The Grave' their last multiple story movie, seemed to crack the formula, where every story was a winner....sadly this happened just as they packed up shop, and Amicus were no more! This #GIF is from one of the more popular stories, from the film 'Tales from the Crypt' and it's a story with frightening moral, called 'Blind Alleys'. I won't give anyway any plot spoilers, to anyone who hasn't caught this film yet but, those of you who HAVE seen the film, will probably recognize the shot in the #GIF. If you were faced with the same dilemma as Major William Rogers ... BLADES or DOG? Which one would you choose?

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : WHEN PETER CUSHING announced in a 1971 interview that he was currently working with AMICUS FILMS in the role of a certain MR SMITH, he made the role sound quite uninteresting and quite pedestrian. Anyone who has watched Cushing play Mr Smith will agree...the role is anything but usual or uninteresting.  ASYLUM would be the first in quite a few characters that Amicus would press on Cushing to play men who suffered great personal loss, of family or...wife. Watching Cushing emotionally dissolve while clutching his revolver is a strange experience to watch, and would wobble even the stiffest lip . . .

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein resetting the 'evil meter'!  'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' presented us with a Frankenstein that reminded us that, it wasn't for nothing that Cushing's portrayal made the Frankenstein franchise one of the more profitable series in the Hammer film portfolio.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! THE FAMOUS TONGUE cutting shot in Hammer films, 'The Mummy' must have had audiences twitching and cringing back in 1959, in much the same way as it does now on blu ray and late night screenings on tv. IMAGINE what the 'CONTINENTAL' audiences felt, when they were treated to the full-on, bloodied 'tongue in the tongs' version?? It was hoped when Lionsgate and Hammer launched their restoration project, to bring the THREE Cushing / Lee Classic Hammer marquee titles up to scratch, scratch-less, uncensored and complete, and in this case including the Kharis offending Lingua! Despite searches that did turn up the magnificent missing 'Dracula Death' shot, wandering eyeballs  in a jar and teeth clenching artery shots from 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', and a few other once snipped out pieces, that were thought far too upsetting for the delicate tastes of the European audiences. The Kharis Tongue sadly, remains allusive . . . 

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   

SHOT GUNS FEAR, OLD SOLDIERS AND DIGGING THE COUNT!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY! What a striking image Donald Pleasence's Jim Underwood makes in his dazzling orange shirt, matchless tie, and that silk handkerchief, is a nice touch. Still, all this doesn't hide that fact, that he and his daughter, are more than VERY weird. It's poor ol Ian Bannen's Christopher Lowe I feel sorry for, all these alarm bells ringing and he doesn't see it coming. Peter Cushing's shop keeper didn't spare the horses in making this costumer suffer......! From Beyond The Grave, never fails to entertain. One of the best of the Amicus portmanteau films of the 70's... yes? Gif requested by Davy Travers.

 ABOVE: ANGELA PLEASENCE PLAYES DONALD'S DAUGHTER IN

'FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE' TO MAGNIFICENT EFFECT!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY!: IF you ever need a bit of midnight gardening done OR you find yourself in a bit of hurry to bury the evidence of your latest victim of carnage, #DRACULA is your man! Here's Christopher Lee in a frightening feral act, of burying his next victim, as a bit of supper he can come back to later!! You won't find a fast digger, other than my pet cat Ralph, after he has craftily stolen a pork chop, from my plate, and sets to burying it in the rose bed! It's true that Melissa Stribling got more than a mouthful of 'Bray-Village-Genuine- Best-of-English-Sod' while Lee was enthusiastically burying her. He almost fell in the hole during the shooting too! It's all part of the never-to-be-equaled final reel of #HAMMERFILMS #Horrorofdracula / #Dracula 1958. Peter Cushing's Van Helsing has never been better! You think? #GIF requested by Paul Ashman!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY! IT'S PRETTY OBLIVIOUS, that Ralph Bate's character Robert Heller, in Hammer films Fear In The Night never read page 238 of the 'Film Script Schemes and Plot Devices : Guns'. If a character has a loaded gun or rifle, and something moves or twitches behind a curtain, under a duvet or dust sheet' DON'T SHOOT! I didn't actually get to see this Hammer gem, until 1982, a full ten years after it was theatrically released. Watching the film with a crowd who really weren't au fey with Hammer films or this title was a real treat. They too were as caught up in the drama as I was, as not one of us knew the plot or any of the red herrings. 

THE PLOT REVEAL DETAIL that leads up to that gun shot, is a good one. Not wanting to give anything away, all I will share is the good news, FEAR IN THE NIGHT proves two things. One, the fact that this script nestled in the dust and dark recesses of Hammer films, scriptwriter Jimmy Sangster desk for over a decade, proves he wasn't that pin sharp at picking a potential winner, when he wrote one. Two, neither were Hammer! This script went through several rewrites and at one point, the whole thing was set on a canal boat!!! Things must have been more than tight, budget wise at that time I guess? 

FEAR IN THE NIGHT, is what Hammer called one of their quickies. And looking at the particulars for the film, you can see why! Sir James Carraras must have sold the family silver to pay Peter Cushing a misiliy £500 for a four day appearance, and the whole thing was in four weeks with a budget of a mere £141,000! The small cast of Ralph Bates, Judy Geeson and Joan Collins (slumming it, as Dynasty was just a twinkle in her agent's eye at this time) according to Sangster who also directed, had a wonderful time making the film. 

ABOVE: OFF SCREEN JIMMY SANSTER AND RALPH BATES WERE VERY GOOD MATES. AFTER RALPH'S SAD AND TRAGIC PASSING IN 1991, SANGSTER WOULD OFTEN REFLECT IN INTERVIEWS HOW MUCH HE STILL MISSED HIS OLD FRIEND . . 

SANGSTER DOES a good job cranking up the tension, but he must have used up his entire stock of directorial skills on Fear, as his other two outing for Hammer, 'Lust for a Vampire' and 'Horror of Frankenstein' are no way as inventive and entertaining as Fear. If you haven't seen Fear In The Night, it's worth your trouble digging it out. For those who have, revisit it, and remind yourselves, just how good Hammer could be when they had to....

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: PETER CUSHING EVER THE optimist, roles up he sleeves and attempts his, what's going on here then, medical sensibilities to a man who is WELL GONE, in the rip roaring, a 'new twist and plot development every minute', #HORROREXPRESS.  It never fails to surprise me how much everyone has a soft spot for this film. According to Christopher Lee, who appeared with Cushing in this Spanish-Horror, it wasn't the most comfortable of excursions. A little like Cushing dip into the Hong Kong way of making movies, with Seven Golden Vampires, the studio was basic, the catering was..basic, and Cushing who was still very much in an emotional spiral after the recent passing of his wife, Helen..wanted to just go home. In fact, if Lee had not intervened, Cushing would have been booked on the next REAL train out. The work surroundings and home comforts were absent, but every penny of the budget, was on the screen. Including that beautiful locomotive of the title. Sadly, before  all the 'train-spotters' race for a copy, much of the 'Express' travel footage was model work, good model work, but not the real article in loco-motion.

CHRISTOPHER LEE DEMONSTRATES THE OL ADAGE WHEN A SHOT GUN ISN'T  AT HAND, USE YOURS HANDS, TO KILL....A DEAD PERSON!

PETER CUSHING PROVING SHOT GUNS ARE NOT ONLY GOOD FOR SHOOTING PEOPLE UNDER DUST SHEETS - BUT ZOMBIES TOO!

LEE AND CUSHING are really on form in this one, and supported by a largely dubbed but capable cast. It appears that since the film moved into a weird and strange siding, in the world of ever confusing copyright, and has become public domain, the Horror Express timetable now appears on just about every compilation bootleg dvd of horror films you can spot on ebay. This in turn has helped the film, garland an even more prominent place with fans of zombie-fossil-thing-on-a-train films. Which can only be good for genre, if a little annoying for the guys who scrimped with that meany budget...! 

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. 

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: CENSORED FOOTAGE MONSTER MUMMY AND BATTY LADY ON A TRAIN!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY This is for Connie Hughes, UK... we don't get many requests for GIFS from Hammer films THE MUMMY, so glad to see this one. Christopher Lee goes on the rampage as the undead KHARIS, attacking Cushing 'father' Stephen Banner played by Felix Aylmer. Excellent cast, headed up by Cushing, Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Raymond Huntley, Michael Ripper... every player, is a winner...This is another of the few Classic Hammer films from their 'golden period' 1957 until...well when would you say was it Hammer Films golden age??

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: A chance encounter, with Ian Carmichael meeting with a strange and batty lady on a train, sets the foundation for one of Amicus films, weirdest stories in their series of portmanteau movies. The script for 'From Beyond The Grave' has no fat, no dull plots and plenty dark humor. This story, has Reggie Warren (Ian Carmichael) a somewhat pompous business man who enters Peter Cushing's Temptations Ltd shop and puts the price tag of a cheaper snuff box in the one he wants to buy, whilst out of sight. Cushing old chap, the Proprietor sells him the box at the altered price, bidding him farewell with a cheery "I hope you enjoy snuffing it" and rings up a 'no sale' through the till.

ON THE TRAIN HOME, an apparently batty old clairvoyant/white witch, Madame Orloff (Margaret Leighton) disturbs Warren whilst he reads his paper, advising him he has an Elemental on his shoulder. Warren dismisses her, but has cause to call on her services when his dog disappears and his wife Susan (Nyree Dawn Porter) is attacked and choked half to death by an unseen force. Orloff exorcises the Elemental from Warrens' home, and all seems well—even the dog returns... and then...! It's a neat, tight, entertaining tale based on a work by R. Chetwynd-Hayes..as are all the short stories here. Cushing turned in a terrific performance as The Shop Keeper, dropping puns and barbs, though I would have loved to have seen Cushing in the Ian Carmichael role. When PCAS interviewed Milton Subotsky in the early 1980's, I did get to ask him, if he thought Cushing would have made an interesting ' Reggie Warren'. He said told me that, Cushing had been suggested for the role, but his schudule prevented him for committing the time needed to have played that character. A shame indeed. Cushing did have a flair for comedy, and a quick wit and great timing, it would have made a very interesting move, and one that may have seen him offered more comedy roles.... 

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: YOU REALLY CAN BE  a blood thirsty lot! This GIF requested by DEAN PRICE contains a shot that was 'chopped-out' by the censors when this first was released in the UK and the US back in 1967. 'ISLAND OF TERROR' (Below) is the twin of another film, made the year before, called 'NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT. The premise of the films hangs on a party of people being attacked by some 'things from another planet'..on an island. Both directed by Hammer supremo Director Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing. Both films offer Cushing a role he could have played in his sleep, but he doesn't walk it, as always he works with what he has, and makes a great deal, aided by Christopher Lee in Night Of The Big Heat and here with Edward Judd in 'Island of Terror.'

  

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!