VAN HELSING : FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT FOR SEVERAL GENERATIONS

Over at the UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page, we're asking you to vote for your favourite Peter Cushing /Van Helsing performance. It's a close run thing at the moment. Please join us!

PETER WILTON CUSHING O.B.E.

Peter Wilton Cushing. O.B.E. We're coming up to our third year as a facebook fan page, fourth year as a website and as a society... we've been around since 1956. Help us spread the word. Help us celebrate the life and career of the gentlest man of British cinema.. Peter Cushing!

https://www.facebook.com/petercushingblog

VINTAGE RADIO TIMES: MADELINE SMITH : 'UP POMPEII, TWO RONNIES, DRACULA AND FRANKENSTEIN'

Another snippet from the UK listing magazine Radio Times... on Maddie Smith who starred with Peter Cushing in 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'. Madeline also appeared regularly in a variety of UK tv comedy shows..one show and actor connects her to a Hammer Dracula film actor..who is that actor and can you name the show?

BEHIND THE SCENES: SYDNEY BROMLEY OLD TOM KETCH : NIGHT CREATURES CAPATIN CLEGG (1962)

Peter Cushing as Captain Clegg / Dr Blyss in Night Creatures / Captain Clegg (1962)...and two behind the scenes shots featuring actor Sydney Bromley, who you may remember playing terrified Old Tom Ketch in the film. Bromley had to fall backwards into a frog filled pond behind him, and land on a sunken mattress. Well, poor old Bromley missed the mattress, and hurt his back. The image on the right shows director Peter Graham Scott, giving him a helping hand out of the bog!

WHEN FRASER TENNANT MET PETER CUSHING. A CHANCE MEETING IN THE CAVENDISH BOOK STORE IN WHITSTABLE.

When Fraser Met Peter Cushing: Thanks to Fraser Tennant who sent in this pic of his meeting with PC in Whitstable back in 1986. If you have pic of a meeting with Peter Cushing that you'd like to share, we'd love to share it! 

Here's Fraser story behind this meeting: 'This picture was taken on 27 July 1986 in Whitstable, Kent, but outside a bookshop (the name of which I can no longer recall). My family and I had gone to Whitstable on holiday with the vague notion of perhaps meeting Cushing , I cannot recall why we thought this, but it was around the time of the publication of his first autobiography. We visited the afore-mentioned bookshop where we were told that he was away. As we were leaving Whitstable we stopped at the Tudor Tea Rooms where we encountered the man himself.

Being slightly intimidated at that time, my father approached him first and then I went over to speak to him face-to-face. I remember he was reading a Sherlock Holmes story. Next he kissed my mother’s hand and we all discussed a few things including that week’s Royal Wedding (Andrew and Sarah) and the House of the Long Shadows film. He then went outside and got on his bike and we went back to meet him at the bookshop where the picture was taken and he signed a number of items for me including the book and some photographs. I’m really so glad that we got a picture as memory does tend to fade after a while....'

RADIO TIMES : FRANK BELLAMY HAMMER FILMS ILLUSTRATION : PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE

I've posted this clipping, from the UK tv listing magazine, RADIO TIMES because I know there are quite a few of you out there who collect Radio Times pages with a Cushing / Hammer reference, also because this snip also includes a very interesting illustration by Frank Bellamy whose work is also quite collectable.This illustration featuring Cushing and Lee is one of many examples of Bellamy's work that regularly featured in the Radio Times. Many will also know his work from the Eagle comic and his comic strips of Thunderbirds, Dan Dare, Dr Who and Garth in the Daily Mirror news paper.

RONDO HATTON AWARDS: PLEASE VOTE FOR THIS BLOG!

Very surprised and honored to see that this blog has been nominated in the RONDO HATTON CLASSIC HORROR AWARDS this year in the BEST BLOG OF 2013 My very humble thanks to everyone who nominated us.....and by us I do need to mention Dan Dorman, Troy Howarth and Donald Fearney, who contribute in many ways here and will also be thrilled to hear about this too! Here's a link to the ballot to vote. You don't need to be a member. Again thank you, for supporting PCASUK. Thank you - Marcus Brooks. Please Vote For Us!

Please follow this link to VOTE:http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/53676/RONDO-XII-OFFICIAL-BALLOT-IS-HERE#.Uyc4yBZCh-X

WATCH NOW: THE LEGEND OF HAMMER VAMPIRES: HAMMER FILMS DOCUMENTARY

Exclusively for YOU this weekend. Watch Donald Fearney's 'The Legend of Hammer Vampires' documentary... interviews, behind the scenes footage, rare photographs and much more. Look out for the banner here and pull up a seat for the whole 90 minute history behind those Hammer Vampire classics!

 

ICON ENTERTAINMENT: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL : UK BLU RAY RELEASE APRIL 2014

PETER CUSHING NEWS: Icon Entertainment PRESS RELEASE : 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL' UK BLU RAY RELEASE FOR APRIL:  Icon Home Entertainment has announced its 28th April 2014 release of the Hammer horror classic Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell. With a host of extras, a 3-disc dual format package and an HD transfer, this looks set to be one of the definitive releases of this British horror movie.

PRESS RELEASE:
Starring the inimitable Peter Cushing, the last of Hammer's acclaimed series of Frankenstein films, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell is the final feature film directed by the legendary Terence Fisher.

Convicted of bodysnatching and using the body parts of his ill-gotten cadavers for research, Dr. Simon Helder is sentenced to five years in an insane asylum. On arrival, he recognises the penitentiary's resident surgeon as none other than the infamous Baron Victor Frankenstein, who has been hiding out there and continuing his research into the reanimation of corpses under the pseudonym of Dr. Carl Victor. Recognising Helder's surgical skills, Frankenstein enlists the young doctor as his assistant under the pretext of their tending to the medical needs of their fellow inmates. But the reality of the situation is far more sinister. Frankenstein is already well on his way to creating a new living creature assembled from the vital organs of murdered criminals and madmen.

A perfect, unusually gory and beautifully gothic swan song for Hammer's incarnation of Mary Shelley's two accursed creations, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell features yet another (his sixth) standout performance by the brilliant Peter Cushing as the mad baron and is also notable for the pre-Star Wars pairing of the actors who would four years later reunite to play two of the most iconic villains in the cinematic galaxy – Darth Vader (David Prowse) and Grand Moff Tarkin (Cushing).

 Extra features include:

Taking Over The Asylum: The Making Of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.
Charming Evil: Terence Fisher at Hammer. 

Audio commentary by Shane Briant and Madeline Smith, moderated by Marcus Hearn.

Animated stills gallery.

WATCH THE LEGEND OF HAMMER: MUMMIES HERE!

Donald Fearney's 'The Legend of Hammer: Mummies': For those of you who may missed this exclusive upload when it was shared on our UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page last weekend, here is another chance to catch it, this time on our pcasuk VIMEO account in HD. Enjoy!

 JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK:The Legend of Hammer: Mummies

DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS: CUSHING CLASSIC WITH A FULL DECK

The horror anthology can be traced back as far as German expressionist cinema, with early classics like Richard Oswald’s Eerie Tales (1919) and Paul Leni’s Waxworks (1924), but for many viewers it begins with the Ealing Studios’ production of Dead of Night (1945).

This portmanteau of macabre tales made a profound impression on many people, including a young Milton Subotsky.  Born in New York in 1921, Subotsky was a film buff from an early age and began producing in the 1950s.  He had a particular passion for horror, fantasy and sci-fi and would partner with fellow New Yorker Max J. Rosenberg to form Amicus Productions.  Amicus would initially focus on rock and roll pictures, but in 1964 they decided to switch gears and offer up some health competition to England’s reigning “horror factory,” Hammer Film Productions.  Subotsky explicitly referenced Dead of Night when he set about to write the studio’s first “official” horror film (bearing in mind, they had produced the well-regarded City of the Dead under the banner of Vulcan Productions), ultimately released as Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.

The film would follow a basic formula which Subotsky would repeat again and again: a group of characters are united in a claustrophobic setting, where they have their fortunes told to them by a mysterious character.  In this instance, the mysterious “seer” is Dr. Schreck, played by Peter Cushing.  Hidden behind bushy eyebrows and a stubbly beard, Cushing is seedier than usual and he plays the role with a nicely understated sense of menace and foreboding.  Cushing would become the company’s mascot of sorts and his loyalty to Subotsky would lead him to accept appearances in some films that he might otherwise have done well to have taken a pass on.

The first of the characters to have their fortunes told is Scottish architect Neil McCallum.  In McCallum’s story, he goes to his ancestral home, which is now owned by grand dame Usrula Howells.  There’s a family curse afoot involving a werewolf and the “surprise” reveal of the creature’s identity shouldn’t come as a surprise to a five year old.  The story may be slim and predictable, but director Freddie Francis and cinematographer Alan Hume give it style and atmosphere to burn.  Of all the segments, it’s the only one that really captures an atmosphere of dread and as such, it’s a good intro that sets the tone for what is to follow.

The second segment deals with family man Alan Freeman (a popular DJ in his day, making a rare acting appearance) who returns from vacation to discover that a strange vine is slowly enveloping his house. Enlisting the aid of scientists Bernard Lee and Jeremy Kemp, Freeman attempts to destroy the pesky plant, but it would appear to have ideas of its own…  Freeman does a credible job and Lee and Kemp do their best to keep a straight face delivering some ridiculous dialogue, but the bargain basement special effects don’t do it any favors.

 

The next segment involves musician Roy Castle, who steals a tune used in a voodoo ceremony and may or may not live to regret it… This is easily the weakest of the film’s stories and is shamelessly ripped off from an episode of the Boris Karloff TV series Thriller, which featured John Ireland in a not-dissimilar role as a musician who runs afoul of a vengeful voodoo god after incorporating a similar tune into one of his night club routines.  Even without the air of plagiarism, the segment is a mess: Castle’s incessant mugging is a constant irritant and the attempts at humor are feeble at best.  On the plus side, the segment has some terrific jazz music by the great Tubby Hayes. Indeed, director Francis had hoped to have Hayes score the entire film, but the musician’s problems with cocaine dependency made him unreliable, so Francis asked for the services of the distinguished Elisabeth Lutyens instead.

Up next, Christopher Lee plays a pompous art critic who drives artist Michael Gough to suicide.  Gough’s hand (which had been severed in an accident engineered by Lee) returns to exact vengeance.  The special effects work is awkward, admittedly, but this segment succeeds due to the heartfelt performances of Lee and Gough.  Lee is at his imperious best as the ultra-bitchy critic whose acerbic words destroy the lives of others, while Gough is genuinely touching and restrained as the sympathetic victim.

The final segment involves newly married doctor Donald Sutherland, who discovers that his wife (Jennifer Jayne, looking lovely but sporting a dicey French accent) is actually a vampire.  The segment has some nice touches, but it’s slowly paced and the payoff is much too predictable.  Sutherland impresses in one of his earliest screen roles, while Max Adrian quietly steals his scenes with one of his less florid and theatrical performances, as Sutherland’s medic colleague.

The film draws to a close as the train carting the characters pulls into the station.  Dr. Schreck disappears into thin air and the characters decide to laugh off what they’ve been shown … but it will be Dr. Schreck who has the last laugh.

Amicus would go on to produce some better anthologies than this one, notably The House That Dripped Blood and From Beyond the Grave, but Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors remains one of their seminal works.  It’s a fun film on its own terms and it shows Freddie Francis working at the top of his game as a director.  Francis’ frustration with being typecast as a horror director (he was no fan of the genre and was very open about this) would later result in some truly hackneyed work, but at this stage in the game he was still doing his best to shore up weak screenplays with plenty of visual fireworks.  Subotsky’s screenplay is derivative and unimaginative, but the anthology format proves to be beneficial in that once one weak story is out of the way, there’s always the chance for something better in the next segment.

In the case of Dr. Terror, the good fortunately outweighs the bad.  The Werewolf and Crawling Hand segments remain highlights in the Amicus canon and the Vampire story is by no means disposable, either.  The fine performances, eerie music score by Lutyens, stylish direction by Francis and expert widescreen color photography from Hume all add up to make this a film worth seeing again and again.

 

Review: Troy Howarth

Gallery: Marcus Brooks

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