#MONSTERMONDAY : DR LAWRENCE AND A SEPIA TRIBUTE

#MONSTERMONDAY: Peter Cushing's performance as Dr Lawrence in Tyburn films, 'The Ghoul' is exceptional, on many levels. I can't help wondering whenever I watch him in this role, how he manages to be involved in such bizarre and ruthless acts, and yet... I feel such pity for the character. Watching the story unfold, as Lawrence reveals his past, all skirts very closely to 'Art imitating Life', as both the Doctor and Peter Cushing emotionally crumple before our eyes. It could be called, a masterclass in using 'emotive memories' ...if it wasn't for the fact that, for Cushing like Lawrence, it wasn't about recalling the past...it was living with the loss and pain today....

ABOVE A FIRST for our YOUTUBE CHANNEL! As part of this week's #MONSTERMONDAY we present a film, made in the tradition of 'The Old Dark House', 'Psycho' and many many other 'thing in the attic' movies. 'The Ghoul' stands as one of three films that Peter Cushing made with Tyburn films. 'Legend of the Werewolf' and 'The Masks of Death' being the other two. All three films have a quality and pace that very much bucked the trend of the time, and producer Kevin Francis, should be acknowledged for having the back-bone, to present these films, in a style, standard and production value, that would have been considered, out of step by many. 

It is that style, that gives comfort and a quality, that was vanishing quicker than a vamp down a rat hole, at the first glimmer of sun-rise! Soon, all would be lost and stab, slash, scream and dismember would become the replacement for tension, suspense and a quality control hold on the body count. Having said that, many could and do site The Ghoul, as one of the very early slasher movies. Maybe so, but with the presence of Peter Cushing, the ageless beauty of Carlson and Bastedo and the bumpkin weirdness of the late, John Hurt.... things never slip so far as to become blood-lusty and just bad taste. The Ghoul is Kevin Francis homage to all those classics, where, just the THOUGHT of what could be in that room, out-strips the reveal of a million masked, chopper swinging, chain-saw buzzing, yawn fests, parts one, two, nine and TEN! It's a great shame that Tyburn had to leave us so soon, we were on the edge of our seats and just getting comfy! 

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THE BURST WATER-PIPE SCENE : GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY!

#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! THE BURST WATER PIPE SCENE: 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (1969)  In this week's scene, we have Veronica Carlson, who plays ANNA the keeper of a boarding house where Frankenstein decides to hide out and perform his experiments. Veronica Carlson has never been better.

It is without doubt, one of the best scenes, in a film, packed with tension and moments. - It's a simple premise, but very effective. It features Anna having to haul a body out of a makeshift grave in a flower garden after a water main has burst.... But talk about bad timing! This happens, as the local police are running a check on the house, after tip offs, that THE BARON, maybe staying there.  Under Fisher's masterful direction, the scene is as tense as anything in a Hitchcock film, and Anna ends up completely drenched, but successful in transferring the corpse to another hiding place so the police can't find it. It's an extraordinary scene and Carlson is exceptional in it.

'THE BURST PIPE SCENE' : There were many scenes in films from Cushing's career that were complex  to set up or were quite a spectacle. The drama of the preparation of the execution, has been in many cases lost. However, not in this case! We are fortunate that the studio stills photographer, was on hand and caught it all!

#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! ABOVE A SHORT compilation of behind the scenes images of Peter Cushing, cast and crew during the making of this week's #GETTHECUSHION! theme : Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'

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! 

#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY: DRACULA'S FLASH BANG WALLOP MAKES CHAOS 5 YEARS LATER AT HAMMER

#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY: ONE of the great things about us having one of our seven THEMED DAYS here at PCAS on #HAMMERFILMS is we can have fun and cast our net further, to take in some of other classics you may have missed, or enjoy This is Christopher Lee going out in style in Hammer films, 'SCARS OF DRACULA' (1970). 

RARE COLOUR IMAGES AND MUCH MORE: FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ BRUCE HALLENBECK'S FEATURE ON 'SCARS OF DRACULA' AT OUR SUPPLEMENT WEBSITE, THEBLACKBOXCLUB.COM: HERE!

REFERRING BACK to our previous post today, on the subject of salaries and profits, it wasn't common knowledge until very recently that SCARS was the most profitable Dracula film for Lee. His contract stipulated that he was to receive a percentage of the film's profits, making it not only his most profitable Dracula film, but quite likely his most profitable Hammer film of them all! The death scene unfortunately, scuppered the spectacular planned death of another Hammer Lee character many years later, when Lee played Father Michael in the 1976, 'To The Devil A Daughter'..last minute changes to his death scene resulted in a duff anti climax to the film, and still many years later, Hammer fans are scratching their heads in confusion at the improvised ending of what would be Hammer's last Horror film, for quite sometime.

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!

CHRISTOPHER LEE ON PLAYING MONSTERS AND THE FRIGHTENING SALARY!

#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY: ANYONE who knows anything about Christopher Lee will already familiar with this story of how Dracula SAVED Universal Studio's from losing their shirt and just about everything else in the lot! I think Lee's £750 salary was only £200 MORE than the fee he was paid for 'The Curse of Frankenstein'!

PETER CUSHING AT HIS SURPRISE 80TH BIRTHDAY PARTY! 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!

 

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THE GREATEST PUT DOWN MOST REQUESTED FRANKENSTEIN CLIP!

#FrankensteinFriday: Our most requested Peter Cushing 'Frankenstein' clip by a long chalk! Cushing timing and delivery is quite magical...and certainly puts the stuffy gossips in their place.

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BLOOPER: TECHIE IN THE HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY.. OOPS! Here's something that rarely ever happened in a Cushing Frankenstein film... a blooper and one that MADE IT into the final edit! Something tells me that 20th Century studio crew technician, really shouldn't have been in Veronica Carlson's Edwardian house?? 😉 See if YOU can SPOT HIM . . .

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A DOUBLE BILL OF COULD HAVE SHOULD HAVE BUT DIDN'T!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: A DOUBLE-BILL of films from the 1970's that Peter Cushing Could have, Should have...But didn't!

IF YOU WANT to learn more about the near-misses and should have happened films, that Peter Cushing almost appeared in, we have a whole feature, an archive of titles and  a library of 'wishful-thinking' dummy blu ray covers, for you to sigh over and weep, elsewhere at this website. Just CLICK and follow THIS LINK! 

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MORE SILENT BUT DEADLY GIFS FROM THE 70'S CUSHING ERA

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: THREE GREAT GIFS for you again this week. Requested by Roy Tremont, Trace Badden and Mitch Tarlin, great choices from the 70's when Peter Cushing appeared in over TWENTY horror films!

AT THE TOP David Warner comes face to face with his personal phantom, a demanding specter, who resides in a mirror and has the appetite for blood, on a grand scale. From Beyond the Grave, stands out has one of the better portmanteau films that Cushing appeared in for Amicus films. There is the usual top cast and performances, with tight and terrifying script that has no fat, but plenty of meat and . . blood! 

DREAMS SEEM TO PLAY a large and active part in the fantasy genre film of Peter Cushing. If the Bard's question of 'What Dreams May come..?' is the question, the answer is 'many and in the shape of horrific nightmares! This dream-sequence from another Amicus offering, features in the 1971, 'The house That Dripped Blood'. Cushing's obsession for the female lead, drives him to the point of madness. Which is pretty impressive, considering she, never speaks, goes no where, is made of wax and lives in a wax museum! 

SHOCK WAVES is one of those films from Cushing's career that has since it's release in 1977, risen from obscure low budget quicky, to a cult classic, that now sits in today's extremely profitable and prolific ZOMBIE genre. The idea of zombie German troops is a good one and from it's release, Shock Waves, lead the way rebounding off  'Night of the Living Dead' and presented us with an interesting and imaginative twist that up until then, was ruled by Hammer films, 'Plague of the Zombies', White Zombie' and a few Universal and RKO titles. 

Cushing as the reclusive and sinister SCAR, lends a lot of weight to what could have been, a film of just scary moments, and the ol 'monsters chase, monsters kill, monsters die' plot. The images of the undead troop appearing out of the sea and coming on land to twist, kill and murder the unsuspecting, is potent stuff. Cushing sadly has little time on screen, but what there is, he makes the best of, and along with co star John Carradine, serves up a flick that has, because of it's almost gorilla-film-making-production-values, a rough and raw energy, far removed from the polished horrors, that keeps us on edge, as we never quite know what is going to come next...!

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#MONSTERMONDAY : THE TERRIBLE TWINS!

#MONSTERMONDAY, The age ol story of 'good twin, bad twin' worked very nicely in #hammerfilms 'Twins of Evil' and Cushing a rare opportunity to tackle a female 'monster' for a change. Yes, there had been plenty of female vampires, but the cunning 'deadly beauty' and the is she or isn't the evil twin, added another string to plot. Also Maria and Frieda, were the nieces of 'man of God on a mission' Gustav Weil played with much pathos by Cushing.

IT'S A SHAME that the Collinson twins didn't get more opportunities with Hammer, but like the character in the film, come the end...they got the CHOP!

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#GETTHECUSHION! REVENGE ON THE DEAD!

#GETHECUSHIONITSCUSHING! This week's clip is one of my personal Amicus favorite scenes... it stars Ian Ogily and Peter Cushing, 'And Now, The Screaming Starts' ...it's THAT scene in the cemetery! The rain, the thunder..the skeleton! It's a weird film, a bit of sprawling script, in being Amicus films only ghost story, it could have been helped a little with a more subtle title. 'An Now, the...' etc was Max Rosenberg's idea. He, The King of Subtly'..said nobody....ever. The Bride of Fengriffen' the title of the book that the script was based on, would have been much better, I feel....what say you?

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