REMEMBERING CARRIE FISHER ONE YEAR ON . . .

IT STILL SEEMS quite surreal writing this, one year on. A year today we lost CARRIE FISHER. The shock rippled around the world, and I am sure today, many will again feel that disbelief. Many here of course will know her connection to Peter Cushing, through the movie, STAR WARS. As Tarkin, they together played a key scene, with Peter cranking up his performance, as the cruel and most Machiavellian of characters in the Star Wars universe. Carrie later shared how difficult it had been for her to find the motivation, to hate Peter's Tarkin. She too,like many before her, had been charmed and moved, by his kindness and manner on set, it was quite a task to actually say those lines.

WHILE CREATING the banner for today's post, I dug though many hundreds of images of Carrie in file. They were ALL magical. They ALL projected her sense of fun, wickedness and love of life. Many were taken long before she started that painful and disabling struggle, that tripped and distracted her later in life. There were so many photographs, picking one, was just too difficult, picking TWO, was really no easier. Just like the fact she is no longer here, it's just not good enough . . . She really stands as one of the brightest STARS, not just in that Star Wars Galaxy, but in the lives of so many that she continues to touch. And today, we remember CARRIE FISHER, as one very special star, who still shines . . . .

REMEMBER! 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

COMPETITION! WIN HAMMER VOLUME ONE BLU RAY BOX SET FROM INDICATOR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! As promised here is the FIRST of our FESTIVE CUSHING FEARSOME COMPETITIONS! Please read ALL the details on the competition banner here. Any answers posted on the thread below, will be deleted and void, sorry. This PCAS COMPETITION is OPEN TO EVERYONE TO ENTER! MANY many thanks to everyone at INDICATOR DISTRIBUTION for the generous and exclusive sponsor of our Christmas PCAS Competitions this year. TAKE TIME to read ALL the details. GOOD LUCK and thank you to taking part. You can also easily purchase this fabulous REMASTERED blu ray box set by following this link HERE! and placing your order. It's a LIMITED RELEASE!

The SPECS for the title contents and the superb extras are below. This is a REGION FREE release, so will play on all blu rays.

MANIAC (Michael Carreras, 1963)

THE GORGON (Terence Fisher, 1964)

THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB (Michael Carreras, 1964)

FANATIC (Silvio Narizzano, 1965)

FOUR CLASSICS from Hammer, each presented on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK. Whether it's a madman brandishing a welding torch, a mythical monster whose looks can kill, an ancient royal with diabolical powers, or a mad woman wielding a pair of scissors, this set has something to unease everybody. Containing a wealth of new and exclusive extra features – including title-specific documentaries, cast and crew interviews, expert appreciations, introductions and more – this stunning Blu-ray-only Limited Edition box set is published in a horribly limited, numbered edition of 6,000 units.

INDICATOR LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
• HD restorations of all four films
• Original Mono audio
• New title-specific documentaries exploring aspects of each film: 

White-Hot Terror: Inside ‘Maniac’ / Heart of Stone: Inside ‘The Gorgon’ / Blood and Bandages: Inside ‘The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb’ / House of Horror: Inside ‘Fanatic’
 
• Hammer’s Women: Nadia Gray (2017): horror film expert Lindsay Anne Hallam looks at the fascinating life and work of the Romanian stage and screen actor
 
• Focus Puller Trevor Wrenn and Clapper Loader Ray Andrew on ‘Maniac’ (2017): original crew members share their memories of working on the film
 
• The Gorgon audio commentary with Daughters of Darkness’ Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger (2017)
 
• The Gorgon introduction by actor and filmmaker Matthew Holness (2017)
• Hammer’s Women: Barbara Shelley (2017): academic and author Patricia MacCormack examines the life and career of ‘the first leading lady of British horror’
 
• 'The Gorgon' Comic-Strip Adaptation: Goodall, Goring & Coyas’ 1977 comic strip, originally published in House of Hammer magazine
 
• Hammer’s Women: Jeanne Roland (2017): Diabolique magazine’s editor-in-chief Kat Ellinger offers an appreciation of the Burmese-born actor’s short career
 
• Interview with Michael McStay (2017): the British film and TV actor looks back at his time working for Hammer
 
• The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb Super 8 Version: original cut-down home cinema presentation
 
• Hammer’s Women: Tallulah Bankhead (2017): Kat Ellinger explores the life and work of the inimitable star of stage and screen
 
• David Huckvale on Wilfred Josephs (2017): an appreciation of the composer’s work by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde
 
• Fanatical Detail (2017): continuity supervisor Renée Glynne and second assistant director Stuart Black recall the making of Fanatic
 
• Matthew Lombardo on Tallulah Bankhead and ‘Fanatic’ (2017): the acclaimed playwright discusses his play Looped and his fascination with Tallulah Bankhead
 
• Die! Die! My Darling!: alternative presentation of Fanatic with the US title sequence
 
• Original trailers
 
• Extensive image galleries with promotional and on-set photography, original lobby cards and poster art
 
• Four box set exclusive booklets with new essays by Kim Newman, Marcus Hearn, Kat Ellinger and Jo Botting, archival interviews, contemporary reviews, and full film credits
 
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
 
• World premiere Blu-rays of Maniac and Fanatic
 
• UK premieres on Blu-ray of The Gorgon and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
• Limited edition box set of 6,000 copies
BBFC cert: 15
REGION FREE

INDICATOR HAMMER VOLUME ONE: FEAR WARNING BLU RAY BOX SET: NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER HERE!     

JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT CUSHING CHRISTMAS 2017 COMPETITION HERE ON NEW YEARS EVE!

 

REMEMBER! 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

CHRISTMAS EVE :CHRISTOPHER LEE A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS EVE IS HERE, at last! And maybe for some of you, the shopping, the cooking, the preparation is now over. I DO hope so! If not, put this little post in your bookmark, for later. Preferably a time, when it's quiet. Switch off the lights, settle in and prepare yourself, for that OTHER great Christmas tradition . ..  The Christmas Ghost Story. I've especially picked this one from the BBC television series, that Christopher Lee appeared in 2000. The episode I've selected is in my humble opinion, the best of the series, also forgive my indulgence, it's my favorite Ghost Story. Maybe because I first hear it, in another BBC televised drama of the story, starring ROBERT HARDY, way back in 1971, when I was but a terrified little chap, hiding behind my grandmother's sofa! Christopher Lee really does a fabulous reading, that I am sure you'll enjoy. You'll probably need to get that mulled wine on the boil, as this is a real Christmas Chiller! Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

 

REMEMBER! 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

CHRISTOPHER LEE SATURDAY! MORE TEA?

WE'VE DISCUSSED Peter Cushing's love of tea, many times here. He loved a cup of Earl Grey in the morning. He took his tea with just splash of milk, and three sugars . . . but no cubes or lumps. One of the reasons why he loved the Tudor Tea Rooms in Whitstable town, was the fact they had loose sugar, in bowls on the tables. He would not dream of using sugar cubes! 

HE HATED BUTTER presented in those little plastic pods or individual little slabs wrapped in foil. But, tea he loved . . .and would drink many many cups in a day, and would quickly drain the tea pot. Talking of draining... who is that getting to the bottom of that tea cup???

 

IF LOOKING AT CUSHING, Lee and Hammer films stars drinking tea is your thing, there's WHOLE illustrated PCAS feature on that very thing, here at our PCAS website, just CLICK HERE!

JUST A REMINDER, in-case you may have missed our post yesterday. Great PRIZES and competitions on CHRISTMAS EVE and NEW YEARS EVE here and at our PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE 

ORDER TORTURE GARDEN HERE! AND ORDER HAMMER FILMS BOX SET HERE!

REMEMBER! 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

CHRISTMAS COMPETITIONS AND REMEMBERING FREDDIE!

CHRISTMAS COMPETITIONS AND PRIZES TO SLEIGH YOU! Christmas Eve and New Years Eve PCASUK Competitions! Can't wait? You can ORDER your copies of these two EXCELLENT prizes HERE!  ORDER TORTURE GARDEN HERE! AND ORDER HAMMER FILMS BOX SET HERE!

TODAY ALSO we remember the wonderfully talented director and cinematographer Freddie Francis, who worked for both Hammer and Amicus, directing such films as THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN and DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS and many more …

Jack Palence with Peter Cushing in 'THE SKULL' directed

by Freddie Francis in 1965

REMEMBER! 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

DIRECTOR PETER DUFFELL DIES AGED 95

VERY SAD to hear that director Peter Duffell has died. Duffell worked with Peter Cushing on amicus films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1971) it was a title Duffell hated, because there is no blood in the movie! 

In 2011, he published his entertaining autobiography, Playing Piano in a Brothel: Memoirs of a Film Director, in the preface of which Christopher Lee described him as “the most underrated director we have had in Britain for a very long time”.

Duffell proved that he was a dab hand at the horror genre, brilliantly using all the elements of the macabre – creepy sound, striking camera angles, a skillful buildup of tension, black humour and performances just the right side of ham by a cast that included Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott and Jon Pertwee. Peter Duffell was born 10th December 1922, he was 95.

Director Peter Duffell and Peter Cushing on location during the shooting of 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1971)

 

MORE ON Peter Duffell and 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' HERE!  

AND IN THIS FEATURE ABOVE : HERE! 

REMEMBER! 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