REMEMBERING JON PERTWEE AND VAN HELSING'S TERROR TALES NOW AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK WHILE STOCKS LAST!

IN THE USA, for decades there was never a shortage of comics and magazines, with a Hammer film or Cushing and Lee angle, along with the usual Universal Monsters focus too, when the 70's arrived, the UK started some very interesting comics and magazines too.  One of which was House of Hammer, a magazine edited by Dez Skinn and published by Top Sellers / Warners. Launched in 1976, the format of the mag was to lead with a comic strip adaptation of a Hammer movie, run several articles and interviews pertaining to Hammer horror films, and end with a short, complete twist-in-the-tail comic strip entitled Van Helsing's Terror Tales.

THE VAN HELSING monthly strip, was maybe one of the most popular strips in the magazine. It featured artwork by some of the UK's top creators such as Brian Lewis, John Bolton, Angus McKie, Trevor Goring, Martin Asbury, Jim Baikie, Patrick White, and more. 

NOW, DEZ SKINN has unearthed those horror classics from the vault and is publishing them in one 80 page limited edition hardback book. (The signed edition is limited to just 100 copies.) The hardback features some of the best, and there are some great pieces that I personally remember from that time. The comic strips were always really well presented . . 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE to order your very own, HARDBACK COPY, just follow the details and the order email adress on the panel above, while stocks last . .  

TODAY WE REMEMBER Jon Pertwee who we sadly lost on this day in May 1996. Pertwee became best known for spending 18 years (1959–1977) playing Chief petty officer Pertwee in the popular series The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. But achieved world wide recognition from playing the Third Doctor in Dr Who whom he played from 1970 to 1974.

WITH Geoffrey Bayldon his co-star in Wurzel Gummidge in 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1970)

WITH Ingrid Pitt In The House That Dripped Blood

AFTER DOCTOR WHO He had continued success in TV playing the title character in the television series Worzel Gummidge from 1979 to 1981 (reprising the role from 1987 to 1989). What are some of your favourite Pertwee performances?

. . . AND With A Broken Tardis! From Spearhead from Space 

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THE ROYAL CUSHING AND LEE CONNECTIONS ON A ROYAL WEDDING DAY!

YOU WOULD HAVE to have been living in a CAVE not to be aware what took place in WINDSOR UK today...a ROYAL Wedding no less, of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, all supported by a few thousand guests from around the globe and a few hundred thousans members of the public, cheering and support their BIG day! It's the kind of thing that both Peter and Christopher Lee would have enjoyed very much. BOTH were royal supporters...and each had ther own private time with The Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana and co... Lee of course had his KNIGHTHOOD and Peter his OBE... The wedding event is still going strong, and our TV and radio stations are covering every detail! But hey...I didn't get an invite!!! I wish Harry and Meghan MUCH happiness and success in the coming years...they are very popular, and I am very very happy for them..I think PC and CL would have been too . . .

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

VALUE OF AD DRACULA CINEMA POSTER EXPECTED TO BRING IN FRIGHTENING BIDS!

NEWS: Are you a COLLECTOR? Have any original stills from Hammer or Cushing films? Maybe a cinema poster or two? IF you have a mint copy of Hammer films DRACULA AD 1972 UK quad poster . . you might be sitting on a little mint! According to the press release on the London Odeon BFI IMAX FILM and MEMORABILIA AUCTION taking place on JUNE 28th this year, one of their lots is this very poster and they are expecting the hammer (!!) to go down on at least, EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS for the lucky bidder who wins it. PCAS also actually owns an original item of this poster too. It was purchased from cinema poster and stills trader Greg Edwards back in 1980. I actually bought the poster for the collection as part of a double purchase deal... a quad of THE BRIDES of DRACULA cost £40...but the DRACULA AD one cost.... £18!!!!

FOR MANY YEARS the AD 1972 memorabilia had very little value, along with the Satanic Rites of Dracula, but times have changed. A quad featuring bot AD and the 1970 film TROG has been sold many times for anywhere from £100 to £300 UK pounds..but it's RARE you get to see the poster from then film's original release. SO...do YOU own any Cushing / Lee / Hammer posters and have you ever purchased an expensive Cushing memorabilia item??

READ the SOURCE NEW item on this : HERE!

 

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

SOME STABBING PAINS AND THE WHOLE DEADLY POINT! ITS CUSHING GIF WEDNESDAY!

THIS WEEK'S #CUSHING GIF WEDNESDAY has a certain, STABBING and SHARP point to it! A selection of GIFS from the films of PETER CUSHING, all showing some chilling END POINT! How many of these films can you name? We'll be providing the answer on NEXT WEEKS CUSHING GIF WEDNESDAY!

HAVE YOU ENTERED OUR PCAS COMPETITION? OPEN UNTIL SUNDAY 20TH MAY! GOOD LUCK!

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

REMEMBERING NIGEL GREEN : THE SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST AND THE SKULL

TODAY we are marking the passing of that fine English character actor NIGEL GREEN . . . Green left us at only 47 years of age, with a very impressive career already at that point. In our banner can be seen on the far right, in a little get together on the set of the cast of Amicus films THE SKULL (1965) with Peter, Patrick Wymark far left, Patrick Magee sat down on the right. Green had a small role of Inspector Wilson, in the film. Because of his strapping build and commanding height, (6 feet, 1 inch) & regimental demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action, in films such as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.

HIS LARGE physique also led to his being cast as Little John in Hammer films THE SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1960), with Peter Cushing. Green also appeared in a number of horror films including Corridors of Blood (1958), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), as the father of Jane Asher's character, The Skull (1965) also with Cushing Let's Kill Uncle (1966) and COUNTESS DRACULA (1971). 

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC MORECAMBE : PETER CUSHING AND HIS MONEY LONGEST RUNNING GAG!

TODAY MAY 14TH 2018 marks the birthday of Eric Morecambe, one half of the most successful comedy team in the UK. Still missed, loved by all, with Eric's passing back in 1984, it left a hole not only in the entertainment world but also in people's hearts. With his partner, Ernie...they provided one of tv's longest running gags, 'Peter Cushing and his Money!'... he did eventually get it , but not until the boys, had a lot of fun with it, stretching over many years and several programmes. God bless, Eric, Happy Birthday and thanks for all those precious memories and laughs.

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

CALLUM MCKELVIE ON 'NIGHT OF BIG HEAT' PLUS EXCLUSIVE COMPETITON TO WIN THE CUSHING /LEE ISLAND DOUBLE BILL!

FOLLOWING ON from my look at Island of Terror, in PART ONE, this week I’m tackling its spiritual successor, NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT. As discussed last week, these two films represent a section of only a small number of Science Fiction films that Cushing lent his talents too and it’s hard to discuss one without the other. Both were made by the short-lived Planet films and Night, featuring the same director (Terrence Fisher), Composer (Malcolm Lockyer) and of course Cushing again, does feel in many ways like a natural successor to the previous film.

PLANET FILMS EVEN SEEM to have gone a little further this time, with Cushing only having a small role and Christopher Lee taking the lead, having those two names on the poster would mean box office dynamite, surely? Unfortunately, I must confess to being somewhat ‘cold’ when it comes to Night of the Big Heat. Whilst not a bad film, in many ways it pales in comparison to Island of Terror.

FOR A START there’s the story. Night, is a fairly basic alien invasion story utilising elements from an earlier (and much better) British Science Fiction film, The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), by having the temperature slowly rise. Christopher Lee plays Godfrey Hanson, a scientist staying in a small hotel owned by Patrick Allen’s Jeff Callum on the isolated island of Fara, somewhere off the English coast. Jane Merrow shows up as an old flame of Cullum’s with whom he had an affair and who seems determined to cause trouble for him and his marriage. However they all have bigger fish to fry when Hanson reveals that the rising heat is actually being caused by an alien invasion…..and it’s only going to get hotter.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS with Night, is that at points it actually strays a little too close to Island. For example, the opening scene in which the radar equipment is destroyed and we have a freeze frame into titles, exactly like Island, really isn’t necessary. In Island, this was effective as it still didn’t spoil the mystery of the plot- we knew there was an explosion in a lab, but we don’t know yet what that lab is and Islands superior script is far too intelligent to reveal anything to its viewers off the bat. 

IN 'NIGHT' A SIGNIFICANT amount of time is devoted to the characters attempting to get to the radar station (indeed Cushing dies for it) but we as an audience know that there’s no point because we saw it destroyed in the opening 2 seconds. Then there’s also the end, whilst the trick of having it all seems hopeless and then having an almost surprise revelation. Again, in Island, that revelation felt a great deal more intelligent than it does here and the sudden rain storm saving the day, is faintly ridiculous. 

OF COURSE I’m not ignoring the fact that Island was an original story whilst Night is based on a novel by John Lyminton. Having not read that book I can’t comment if these problems are inherent within it, or whether they are unique to this adaptation. However its literary heritage in 50’s British Sci-Fi does lead to one of the strengths of Night, and that is of course it’s wonderfully John Wyndham-esque atmosphere. The old trope of the heroes spending much of the end of the world in a pub is seen here and it’s as effective now as in any other British Sci-Fi flick (such as another of Fishers sci-fi films, The Earth Dies Screaming from 1964).  

ABOVE OUR EXCLUSIVE PCAS COMPETITION : WIN THE MOVIES FROM THIS PCAS FEATURE! : ENTER NOW : GOOD LUCK!

THERE ARE SOME POSITIVE things that this film manages to duplicate from Island. That being the sense of danger. Lee’s character of Hanson makes it through most of the film, then dies minutes before the end. Killing off essentially your biggest name and one of the two leads minutes before the resolution is a brave move and again makes the viewer think that there really is no hope. Lee plays the part of Hanson as well as he plays any role, though unfortunately he’s not really given anything new to do and so it’s hardly a standout role in his career. 

PATRICK ALLEN IS A GOOD leading man- though he struggles with a character that for the most part comes across as inherently unlikeable. This is due mostly to the ‘affair’ subplot which, whilst actually being one of the most enjoyable parts of the film, doesn’t really set his character up as the most likeable of individuals and really should have been revealed later. As stated in my review of Island, Cushing has a small but enjoyable role- though it’s really too dismissible to really stand out in his filmography. His death lingers due to a wonderfully charming performance, his easily the most likeable character in the entire film. However special mention has to be made of Jane Merrow, who plays the role of Angela Roberts with such a maliciousness that she is utterly watchable the entire time.

IN SOME WAYS I feel I have been way to negative towards Night, and perhaps it will be a film that I’ll revisit in my column again someday because for the most part- it’s bloody good fun. This isn’t like Incense for the Damned (1970) or Tender Dracula (1974) where there really is little to no joy to be had, in fact I feel ashamed even mentioning those movies in this review because Night of the Big Heat isn’t even a bad film. It’s a perfectly well made science fiction horror film, let down by a few small elements that don’t allow it the originality that made Island of Terror, so damn good.

WRITTEN BY CALLUM MCKELVIE: If you would like to share YOUR THOUGHTS with CALLUM about the film or the feature you can contact him HERE: spookycallum58@gmail.com 

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 all lovers of Peter Cushing's work AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!