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70s Monster Memories – book

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70s Monster Memories is a 2015 British book from the writers of We Belong Dead magazine.

The 400 page full colour soft back book contains over seventy chapters covering nearly every aspect of 1970s horror fandom – books, mags, posters, trading cards, TV, model kits, comics, movie tie-ins, super 8 and much more.

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Contents:

Foreword by Dez Skinn

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of by Eric McNaughton

For The Love Of Print and Paper by Vincent Simonelli

The Most Important Decade of My Life by John Llewellyn Probert

Zoinks!! (Or How I Would Have Got Away With It, If It Wasn’t for You Meddling Kids!) by Steve Gerrard

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Horror Film Books of the 70s by Ian Taylor

The World of Horror by Cranston Macmillan

Aurora – The Golden Age of Monster Models by Robert Morganbesser

BBC Death & Horror Sound Effects LP by Daz Lawrence

He Was A Teenage Movie Critic: David Pirie by Darrell Buxton

Fanzines of the 70s by Richard Klemensen

A Time It Was: Dez Skinn Interviewed on House of Hammer by Tony Earnshaw

Something In The Night: The BBC Christmas Ghost Stories by Matthew E. Banks

Super 8mm – A Personal Journey Through The History of Horror At Home by Darren Allinson

Famous Monsters A Go-Go. An Interview With The Legendary Basil Gogos by Ernie Magnotta

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Horror On Vinyl by Daz Lawrence

A New World of Gods & Monsters – The Books of Denis Gifford by Tom Woodger

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The Monster Times For Changing Times by J.M. Cozzoli

An Invitation To Scaryland: The Horror Film Books of Alan Frank by Tony Earnshaw

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The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires LP by David Flint

Dave Swift, Memories of a Monster (Toy Collector) by Stephen Jacobs

The 70s Works of Nigel Kneale Graham Payne

Remembering Famous Monsters by Jim Knusch

Horror in the Cinema: Ivan Butler by Stephen Mosley

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The Price of Fear…Brought To You by Vincent Price Peter Fuller

King Kong in Birmingham! by Dave Swift

Horrors From Screen to Scream by Paul Sparrow-Clarke

La Cabina: Allegory of an Era by Daniel Arana Garcia de Leaniz

Softly, Softly Catchy Ripper. Barlow & Watt and the Investigation of the Whitechapel Murders by Clare Smith

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Scary Humour with Cracked’s For Monsters Only by J.M. Cozzoli

Monster Movie Reference Books:The 1970s Explosion by Dustin Jablonski

“Our Latest Diversification….” Hammer Presents Dracula by Tom Woodger

When A Ten Year Old Boy Met the Universal Monsters by David Brilliance

Horror Food by Daz Lawrence

Lorrimer Publishing. Cinema of Terror, Catastrophe, Kung Fu, Freaks, Vampires, Mystery & Monkeys! by Darrell Buxton

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Poster Magazines by Richard Gladman

Memories of the Loch Ness Monster by Timothy Mitchell

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films: An Appreciation by Darrell Buxton

The Books That Made Us Scream – An a-Z Guide to 70s Tie-Ins by Dawn and Jonathon Dabell

Quasimodo’s Monster Magazine by Cranston Macmillan

I Was A Teenage Monster Kid by Tony M. Clarke

Public Information Horror by Daz Lawrence

Tele-Horrors of the 70’s:Fearsome Highlights by Troy Howarth

“You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Wallet!” by Steven West

1970’s Horror Vinyl:Releases in the U.S. by Ryan Brennan

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The House of Hammer – A Personal Journey by Tim Greaves

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Memories of A Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Peter Benassi

Marvel Comics & the Monsters by Moonlight by Martin Dallard

Memoirs of a 70’s Monster-Kid by Ernie Magnotta

Peter Underwood:The Legendary Ghost Hunter Who Wrote the First Biography of Boris Karloff by Ben Underwood

Cinefantastique – The Most Fantastic Magazine of All Time by Robert Morganbesser

Thriller by Brian Clemens by Perry Thomas

Horror Top Trumps by Daz Lawrence

My Journey Beyond the Vincent Price Screen Adventures by Peter Fuller

The Books of Calvin T. Beck by Douglas Whitenack

Legend Horror Classics by Cranston Macmillan

Horror Double-Bills by Neil Ogley

Monsterkid Models of the 70’s by Eric McNaughton

Horror in Four-Colours by Jules Boyle

The Film Classics Library by Eric McNaughton

Movie Monsters: The Magazine with a Mortality by Rate Darren Allinson

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But Was It Aaaaaarrrt?! by David A. Brooks

The New Avengers. The Acceptable Face of 70’s Horror by Cleaver Patterson

Collecting Movie Posters by David McConkey

Mego Mad Monsters by Michael Hauss

The Horror People by Stephen Mosley

For Adults Only! by Cranston Macmillan

Terror on the Tube: American TV Horror Movies of the 1970’s by Steven West

Dracula Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

No Cure for Crabs (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Enjoy the Pulp Paperbacks of the 1970’s) by Steven West

The Thirteen Monsters of Aurora by Martin Cage

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The Dark Shadows Paperbacks by Eric McNaughton

Monsters of the Movies Magazine by R. Bruce Crelin

Monsters of the Movies – The Mystery of Issue 2 Cover by Pierre Fournier

Shock Theatre Cards by David Flint

Creature Feature Cards by Eric McNaughton

Appointment With Fear by Wayne Kinsey

Afterword by Alan Frank

Publication date is 20th December. The book can be ordered via this link:

http://webelongdead.co.uk/product/70s-monster-memories/



In the Shadows – rock song by The Stranglers

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In the Shadows is a 1977 rock song by British band The Stranglers, produced by Martin Rushent. The distinctive darkly-themed tongue-in-cheek song features a doctored deep “barracuda bass” guitar line and bleepy synth accompaniment, and first appeared as the ‘B’ side to the September 1977 single No More Heroes.

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The track proved popular enough to be subsequently included on their May 1978 album Black and White. And in 1979, the song was included on as a live track on the band’s Don’t Bring Harry EP.

Lyrics:

When you’re walking on the streets at night
You turn around and die of fright
What’s that in the shadows?
What’s that in the shadows?

Walking down the streets at night
Turn around and you can die of fright
Walking on the streets at night
Turn around and die of fright
What’s that in the shadows?
What’s that in the shadows?

Is it a dog?
Is it a cat?
Is it a dog?
What do you think of that?
When you’re walking on the streets at night
Turn around and die of fright
What’s that in the shadows?
What’s that in the shadows?

Is it a dog?
Is it a cat?
Is it a dog?
What do you think of that?
When you’re walking on the streets at night
Moving, shiny, bright

Walking on the night
When you’re walking on the streets at night
Look around you
Look around you

When you’re walking on the streets at night
When you turn around and die of fright

Who’s there in the shadows?

What’s that in the shadows?
What’s that in the shadows?
Look around you

 


The Corpse aka Crucible of Horror

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The Corpse aka The Velvet House is a 1969 British horror film directed by Viktors Ritelis from a screenplay by Olaf Pooley (The Godsend; Lifeforce) for London-Cannon Films. In the US, it was released in 1971 by May Films as Crucible of Horror. Not to be confused with Crucible of Terror (1971).

The Corpse was unreleased in the UK until 1972 as a support feature to US import Psycho Killer by Grand National Pictures.

The film was featured in Season 2 Episode 13 of the late night TV show Elvira’s Movie Macabre.

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Plot:

A mother and daughter hatch a scheme to murder their family’s domineering and sadistic patriarch…

Reviews:

“If the first half hour of Crucible of Horror is tedious but suspenseful, the last half hour is still tedious but also a jumbled mess. It seems that once the film gets rid of Walter, it doesn’t know what to do with itself. Now there’s no one to comment on the stocks at breakfast, or make snide remarks about wigs and poor people!” The Moon is a Dead World

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“For most of its running time, it’s a nice little gothic thriller that’s a bit slow in the uptake and prone to abandon plot threats almost as soon as they are introduced, but it’s a fairly solid film until the final 10-15 minutes. Then it all goes to crap.” Terror Titans

 

” … this slow-moving shocker boasts adequate performances and solid production values, as well as imaginative cinematography, but the piece is undercut by a muddled storyline.” Every ’70s Movie

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” … nicely atmospheric in portraying the English suburbs and countryside, although for most of the film one gets the impression that one is watching a suspense thriller rather than a horror film. Gough provides the standout performance as the father. Especially chilling (and funny, in an extremely dark sense) is his serenity before and after his savage beatings.” Thomas M. Simpos, Communist Vampires

While the script was nothing to write home about, the performances from Gough, Sharon Gurney, and Yvonne Mitchell are all strong, and the director shows some imagination in the handling of the subject, with good use of unusual angles.” Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear: An Illustrated History of British Horror Films

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Cast and characters:

Choice dialogue:

Walter Eastwood [Michael Gough]: Who touched my guns?

Filming Locations:

Merton Park Studios, London

Wikipedia | IMDb


Cover Girl Killer

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’40 luscious beauties marked for murder’

Cover Girl Killer is a 1959 British psycho-thriller film written and directed by Terry Bishop (Model for Murder). It predates films with similar themes such as Night, After Night, After Night (1969), The Centerfold Girls (USA, 1974), Strip Nude for Your Killer (Italy, 1975), Mary Milligan vehicle The Playbirds (1978) and Snapshot (Australia, 1975).

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Main cast:

Harry H. Corbett (Carry On Screaming!), Felicity Young, Spencer Teakle, Victor Brookes, Bernadette Milnes, Charles Lloyd-Pack (Dracula).

Plot:

Set in the sleazy world of a backstreet 1950s London nightclub: A serial-killer is believed to be murdering the models of glamour magazine Wow!, when bikini-clad cover girl Gloria Starke, is found dead by the River Thames, having gone on an assignment with mysterious TV producer who wears pebble glasses and a badly-fitting toupee (Harry H. Corbett).

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Inspector Brunner (Victor Brooks) is put on the case. Meanwhile, John Mason (Spencer Teakle), the young owner of Wow! decides to conduct his own investigation…

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Reviews:

Cover Girl Killer is a great little movie, which actually seems a bit ahead of its time (despite its almost sweet approach to the subject matter), pointing the way to the sex and horror thrillers of the late 60s and 70s. After all, as the killer says: “Surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so-called entertainment.” British Horror Films

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” … simple and effective crime-drama displays a plot elevating it above standard b-feature fare.” BritMovie.co.uk

“Unfortunately Corbett is about the only thing the film has going for it, with flat direction, generally poor performances and – as might be expected – little real sleaze content except that inherently attaching to its grimy, low-rent milieux.” Giallo Fever

” … notable for anticipating the post-Scream nature of self-reflection, especially with the ingenious sequence involving the hiring of an actor to pose as the killer and the fabrication of a planned film version of the very events we are viewing. Highly recommended for anyone interested in tracing the roots of the stalk-and-slash subgenre, and extremely satisfying viewing in retrospect.” Darrell Buxton, Hysteria Lives

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Buy poster: Amazon.co.uk

 

“Fast moving and only slightly creaky, Cover Girl Killer is good value for money. A few too many scenes are allocated to the American hero, but this is counterbalanced by the super laid back pipe puffing investigating detective and by Corbett, effectively playing a dual role as both the psychotic, really creepy Spendoza and his smooth, unnamed ‘real life’ self…” Paul Bareham, Mounds & Circles

Cast and characters:

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Buy mug: Amazon.co.uk

Choice dialogue:

Mr. Fairchild [Harry H. Corbett]: “The borderline between what we call insanity and what we call a hyper-sensitive intellect is not always clear, Inspector.”

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Filming Locations:

Walton Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Mounds & Circles

 


Curse of Simba aka Curse of the Voodoo

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‘Blood sacrifice of the Simbazi’

Curse of Simba is a 1965 British horror film directed by Lindsay Shonteff (Devil Doll; Night, After Night, After Night) from a screenplay ‘Lion Man’ by Brian Clemens [as Tom O’Grady] for Gala Film. Additional scenes and dialogue were provided by Leigh Vance.

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Action scenes are set in Africa but were filmed in London over eighteen days on an budget that over-ran to £55,000 due to rain. 

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In the UK, the film was reduced to 62 minutes and released by Gala Film Distributors. In the US, an 83 minute version was released by Allied Artists as Curse of the Voodoo double-billed with Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster. It is also apparently known as Voodoo Blood Death.

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Main cast:

Devil-Doll-_Curse-of-SimbaBryant Haliday (Devil Doll; The Projected ManTower of Evil), Dennis Price (The Earth Dies ScreamingHorror Hospital), Lisa Daniely, Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Out of the Unknown; Frankenstein [1992]), Mary Kerridge.

Plot:

White hunter Mike Stacey kills a lion in Simbazi country in Africa, so he is cursed by the tribal chief.

When the curse that manifests itself with hallucinations follows him to England he consults an expert on the subject. The expert informs Stacey the only way to remove the curse is to return to Africa and personally kill the man who put it on him…

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Reviews:

“… with suspense, flat acting and trite story add up to soggy thrills, and as a shoestring production it’s pretty threadbare,” Variety

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Curse of the Voodoo might just have passed muster on a dramatic level if the viewer genuinely cared about Stacey and his desperate efforts to avoid his strange fate. But the character as written is a thoroughly unpleasant bully and drunk, totally lacking in any redeeming qualities that might have evoked sympathy.” John Hamilton, X-Cert: The British Independent Horror Film: 1951 – 1970

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” … it’s all so predictable, leaden paced, uninvolving and lacking in tension and suspense that this attempt to intrigue the audience with the ‘natural or supernatural?’ mystery angle is doomed to failure…” Mike Hodges, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Films 1960 – 1969

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” … a string of clichés that staggers from TV closeup to TV closeup with paralysing incompetence.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror 

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“The most terrifying thing in this film is Mary Kerridge as Stacey’s dreadful mother-in-law.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956 – 1976

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Cast and characters:

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Beryl Cunningham shakes her booty in a nightclub dance sequence

Choice dialogue:

Major Lomas: “Mr. Radlett, this is neither Southend, nor Surrey. These people are farther from civilisation than stone-age men.”

Janet Stacey: “First of all a native outside the door. Soon it’ll be snakes on the ceiling.”

Filming locations:

Hampstead Heath, North London
Shepperton Studios

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Wrong Side of the Art!


Night Watch (1973)

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‘You’ll be seeing this nightmare every night for the rest of your life.’

Night Watch is a 1973 British suspense thriller film directed by Brian G. Hutton from a screenplay by Tony Williamson and Evan Jones.

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The film reunited Elizabeth Taylor with co-star Laurence Harvey from their Butterfield 8 (1960). Some of the story elements were inspired by the play of the same name by Lucille Fletcher (Sorry, Wrong Number) and 1944 film Gas Light.

Main cast:

Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey (Welcome to Arrow Beach), Billie Whitelaw (Twisted Nerve; Frenzy; The Omen [1976]), Robert Lang, Tony Britton, Bill Dean (Beasts). Horror icon Linda Hayden has a brief role as a young woman killed in a car accident.

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Plot:

London. One night, during a raging thunderstorm, Ellen Wheeler (Elizabeth Taylor), frantically tells her husband John (Laurence Harvey) that from the living room window she has seen a murder being committed in the old deserted house next door. John calls the police, but a search turns up nothing.

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Ellen is revealed to be recovering from a mental breakdown that occurred after her unfaithful first husband, Carl, was killed a few years earlier in an auto accident with his young lover…

Reviews:

“Quite cleverly, though, by closely following the visual and aural conventions of the genre (the thunderclaps whenever someone says something significant; the lightning flashes that reveal hidden information, the discordant music/noise on the soundtrack anytime Ellen becomes confused and threatened), Hutton sets us up to pull the rug out from under our expectations.” Paul Mavis, DVD Talk

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“It’s a tight, well-paced thriller that deftly builds its suspense by playing with the audience’s mind as cleverly as it plays with that of Taylor’s character.” Dreams Are What Le Cinema is For…

” … a superior domestic suspense film, better than I expected it to be, and warmly recommended to those looking for a good seventies scare.” The Passing Tramp: Wandering through the mystery genre

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“On the surface, the plot of Night Watch appears to be similar to many “women-in-peril” thrillers, but just when you assume you know the direction the film is taking, Night Watch explodes in a bloody finale that’s sure to leave a few viewers shocked.” Kimberly Lindbergs, Cinebeats

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“… has a gratuitously bloody climax and a kick-yourself ending, but its amoebic plot is stretched almost to snapping point over 98 minutes.” David McGillivray, Time Out 

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“The direction at times has the appearance of a pastiche of the worst of Hammer’s Gothic productions.” Alexander Stuart, Films and Filming

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“Predictable coil-spring shocker which goes curiously flat despite a star cast and lashings of blood. Perhaps we have all been here once to often.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

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“… the ancient plot and Taylor’s side of ham ruin the best efforts of all concerned.” Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear

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“A flat mystery thriller that fails to create any feeling of suspense.” John Elliot, Elliot’s Guide to Films on Video

Cast and characters:

Choice dialogue:

Billie Whitelaw: “What, ruin a good love affair by getting married? No thank you.”

Wikipedia | IMDb


The Abominable Snowman (1957)

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The Abominable Snowman is a 1957 British horror film directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions. It is based on a 1955 BBC television play, The Creature, written by Nigel Kneale (The Quatermass Xperiment and sequels), who also wrote the screenplay adaptation for the film.

Main cast:

Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown.

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Plot:

Dr. John Rollason (Peter Cushing), his wife, Helen (Maureen Connell), and assistant, Peter Fox (Richard Wattis), are guests of the Lama (Arnold Marlé) of the monastery of Rong-buk while on a botanical expedition to the Himalayas.

A second expedition, led by Dr. Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker) arrives at the monastery in search of the legendary Yeti or Abominable Snowman.

Despite the objections of his wife and the Lama, Rollason decides to join Friend’s expedition. Whereas Rollason is motivated by scientific curiosity to learn more about the creature, Friend seeks fame and fortune and wants to capture a live Yeti and present it to the world’s press…

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Reviews:

“For once an engaging monster is neither bombed, roasted nor electrocuted. For this welcome courtesy, as well as its thrills and its nonsense I salute The Abominable Snowman.” The Sunday Times, 1957

“an intelligent but commonplace adventure thriller with the Yeti little more than background figures… a little too ponderous and hence unexciting” Bill Warren, Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties. Volume I: 1950–1957

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“A gripping essay in the macabre, tensely directed by Val Guest and spoiled only by some very obvious studio mountains: Hammer at its most subtle.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

“the film conveys a taut, paranoid atmosphere; set largely in wide open spaces, it’s remarkably claustrophobic in scale.” Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes, The Hammer Story. The Authorised History of Hammer Films

???????????????????“The story’s modest albeit effective narrative conflicts transferred well from the small to larger screen. Kneale and Guest intelligently kept the focus of the filmic adaptation not on the special effects the larger budget allowed, but on creating a chilling atmosphere and foreboding sense of dread.” David Coleman, The Bigfoot Filmography

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Buy from Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

” … combined with excellent performances and convincing production design, easily make it the best of a quartet of films about the Yeti produced in the Fifties (the inferior others are The Snow Creature, Man Beast and Half Human).” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 

“A thin horror film with intelligent scripting: more philosophising and characterisation than suspense. The briefly glimpsed Yeti are disappointing creations.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide 

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Release:

US: Anchor Bay released a widescreen anamorphic DVD in 2000.

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UK: Icon Home Entertainment DVD in a 16×9 2.35:1 widescreen transfer from the original Regalscope, renamed “Hammerscope” by the company.

Choice dialogue:

Rollason: “It isn’t what’s out there that’s dangerous, so much as what’s in us.”

Wikipedia

 


Splintered (2010)

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‘Curiosity can be a killer…’

Splintered is a 2010 British horror film directed by Simeon Halligan (The Blood Lands; Habit) from a screenplay co-written with Stephen Trimingham. Although the film is set in Wales, it was filmed in Lancashire.

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Cast:

Stephen Walters (Hannibal Rising; Dracula [2013]), Holly Weston, Sacha Dhawan, Sadie Pickering, Jonathan Readwin, Sol Heras, Colin Tierney, James Roach.

Plot:

Sophie (Holly Weston) is a troubled young girl haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child and harbouring a deep fascination with the unexplained.

In the hope of satiating her obsession with the latter, our heroine instigates a trip to the Welsh countryside with four friends, aimed at tracking down the legendary Beast of Bodmin. It seems the mythical creature – often thought to be a large wildcat or fox – has caught the public’s attention once more thanks to a spate of attacks on livestock and one local farmer.

It is an opportunity Sophie has decided is not to be missed and, armed with a video camera and a case of beer, the group head off into the woods. However, they soon uncover much more than they bargained for, with the female lead falling foul of a mysterious madman who locks her away in an apparent attempt to protect her from some unnamed terror…

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Reviews:

” … while the plot might be a little disjointed, the movie barrels forward adroitly with refreshing panache. Images can’t help but tell a story, the power of film making is when those images are compelling enough to illicit emotions that bring you closer to the experience. This is something that Splintered is keenly capable of and delivers on.” Sean Becktel, HorrorNews.net

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” … this feels more like an episode of Hollyoaks: when faced with actors with little talent, simply have them argue constantly, so these dead-eyed, bland beauties will at least register as living creatures. Of course, the trouble with this is that they quickly become immensely irritating…” Phelim O’Neill, The Guardian

” … the movie is pretty good. I like when a horror film takes a generic setup (in this case, five kids going into the woods) and ultimately applies it to a different type of movie, and does things differently to boot. Regardless of the killer’s archetype, you assume that the obvious Final Girl will be left alone for the bulk of the film while her friends die one by one after scattering for whatever reason. But nope…” Horror Movie a Day

 

Splintered is definitely a worthwhile experience. The acting is thoroughly professional, it’s handsomely photographed, and the story sails along at a tidy clip. So why did I feel so underwhelmed at the end? Maybe because the movie turned out more like a gothy episode of Law & Order: SVU than the mind-blowing terror that I eternally crave.” Horrific Flicks

Trailer:

IMDb



Persecution (1973)

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‘The horror of a twisted mind!’

Persecution is a 1973 (released 1974) British psychological horror film directed by Don Chaffey (One Million Years B.C.; Creatures the World Forgot) from a story and screenplay by actor Robert B. Hutton and Rosemary Wootten. It was produced by Kevin Francis for Tyburn Films (Legend of the Werewolf; The Ghoul).

The film was also released as Sheba and The Terror of Sheba and subsequently re-titled The Graveyard for VHS release in the 1980s.

Main cast:

Lana Turner – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) | Witches’ Brew
Ralph Bates – Horror of Frankenstein | Lust for a Vampire
Olga Georges-Picot – The Man Who Haunted Himself
Suzan Farmer – Die! Monster, Die! | Dracula, Prince of Darkness
Patrick Allen – Night Creatures
Trevor Howard – The Night VisitorCrazeThe Unholy

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Plot:

Carrie Masters (Lana Turner) is a crippled, wealthy, bitter woman who takes pleasure in tormenting her young son David (Mark Weavers). She blames him for her crippled leg and, in bizarre and horrifying ways, extracts her revenge by dominating him.

Years later, 24-year-old David (Ralph Bates) returns home with his wife Janie (Suzan Farmer) and their newborn child, but he is still subject to his mother’s evil influence.

When she is involved in two terrifying deaths, David’s mind snaps; although he is already mentally twisted by Carrie’s treatment, David becomes completely insane and swears vengeance on his mother for his years of hate and resentment…

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Reviews:

“The old-fashioned meller is riddled with ho-hum and sometimes laughably trite scripting. Also, very tame in the shock horror department. Under the circumstances, Turner’s performance has reasonable poise. There isn’t much animation to Ralph Bates as the grown-up edition of the tormented son”. Variety

” … a tawdry and tedious psycho-drama, and as repulsive as most movies exploiting Hollywood’s fading ladies … Ken Talbot’s photography is commendably glowing, but Ralph Bates is glum and Don Chaffey’s direction uninspired.” Geoff Brown, BFI Monthly Film Bulletin

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“Although Turner’s presence lifts the film and Talbot’s cinematography is excellent, the script is so contrived that Chaffey appears to have given up any hope of breathing life into the silly psychodrama.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“Turner hams it up and she and Ralph Bates have fun playing games with one another. Don Chaffey’s pace is slow moving, despite occasionally inventive photography and some offbeat editing. The story is confusing … The catty premise is not terribly interesting and the script trades in some unconvincingly histrionic psychology.”Richard Schleib, Moria

“In many ways disturbing and repulsive, mostly in undertone, the films is let down by Don Chaffey’s stately direction, which allows things to unwind at a leisurely pace and does not really exploit the shocks and nastiness lurking in the script …Still for all that, a fascinating movie.”Andy Boot, Fragments of Fear

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“Director Don Chaffey tries hard to make the action sinister and succeeds in promoting a few chills. Adding to the entertainment value is an experienced support cast that includes British stalwart Trevor Howard.” Tom Hutchinson, Radio Times

“Turner gives a good performance, far better than the film merits. Her star presence is the sole reason for watching and seems to have been the major motivation for making the film in the first place.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams

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“Routine attempt at a psychological thriller, given more weight than it deserves by good performance from Ralph Bates as the pawn in his pathologically domineering mother’s game.” Verina Glaessner, Time Out

“Rich but not engrossing nonsense, somewhat a la Baby Jane, with hazy script and stolid production.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

“A stilted and overblown melodrama that’s all atmosphere and no direction.” John Elliot, Elliot’s Guide to Films on Video

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Cast and characters:

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Filming locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
Denham Place, Denham Village in Buckinghamshire

Wikipedia
IMDb

Related: Fear of Felines! Cats in Horror Films – article by David Flint


Estranged (2015)

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‘There’s no place like home’

Estranged is a 2015 British mystery thriller directed by Adam Levins from a story and screenplay by producer William Borthwick and Simon Fantauzzo.

Main cast:

Craig Conway (The Descent), James Cosmo, Bob Duff,  James Lance, Amy Manson (Being Human), Faye McLoughlin, Eileen Nicholas, Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent), Simon Quarterman (The Devil Inside), Joy Sanders.

Plot:

Due to a near-fatal accident that has left her incapacitated and depleted of her long-term memory, a temporarily wheelchair-bound young woman named January returns home after being abroad for six years. She is accompanied by her bohemian boyfriend Callum, the apparent cause of the accident.

Unable to remember her family or her own childhood, she sets out, with the help of her boyfriend, to find the reason for her leaving all those years ago and quickly discovers her relatives may not be as loving as she’d thought…

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Reviews:

Estranged is not a horror film that relies on jump scares, gore or a mass body count to entertain. It focusses instead on the drama of broken families and broken bodies. Estranged is particularly brilliant at wringing tension and casting doubts in the viewer’s mind, making it a great cerebral and thrilling horror.” Kat Hughes, The Hollywood News

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” … delves into psychological terror with slow-burning poise and an absolutely terrific performance from Amy Manson. It’s a slow movie (maybe too slow for some), but it’s in that creeping crawl of a story that the film finds its pulse, allowing it to create tension and atmosphere that feels earned, not forced.” The Missing Reel

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… for the most part is a powerful, emotional roller coaster ride into the evil that lurks within family secrets. While the pangs and jump out of your seat moments may not be plentiful, the character interaction by far makes up for it. While the duration of the overall picture at 101 minutes may seem a little over indulgent, some viewers may become restless but the payoff is more than worth the gradual pace.” Dave Gammon, HorrorNews.net

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“The movie is simplistic, the tension is gripping, and the supporting cast all give off performances that range in between “I’d like to punch one of them” to “please don’t ever let me get stuck in a room with one of these fruit-loops.” Matt Boiselle, Dread Central

Trailer:

IMDb

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K-Shop (2016)

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‘You are what you eat.’

K-Shop is a 2016 British horror film written and directed by Dan Pringle. The film was produced by Mem Ferda and Adam J Merrifield of White Lantern Film.

The film is being distributed by Bulldog Film Distributors and is set for a UK cinema release in July this year following a festival premiere at Scotland’s ‘Dead By Dawn’ in Edinburgh this April. Empress Road Pictures are handling international sales.

Producer Mem Ferda explains the premise: ‘It’s high time a socially relevant film like this was made highlighting the significant problems of drink culture that is prevalent amongst our ‘teen’ society today. I can best describe it as an intoxicating, super-slaughter, Sweeney Todd-esque ride that cleverly has a stab at British binge drinking. It will certainly have partygoers think twice about stopping off for a kebab on the way home.’

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Main cast:

Ewen MacIntosh, Darren Morfitt (Dog Soldiers), Lucinda Rhodes, Scot Williams, Reece Noi, Jamie Lee-Hill, Sean Cernow, Ziad Abaza.

Plot:

After his father is killed in an altercation with drunken thugs, Salah’s fate is sealed in a fight with an angry customer. With a dead body on his hands the novice kebab shop owner turns vigilante disposing of the body in the one place he knows best… the kebabs. Salah watches gullible customers devour the new flesh kebabs and seizes the opportunity to seek revenge on abusive drunken binge drinkers, killing off those he deems punishable…

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Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Official site | Twitter

 


Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)

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‘Two no-hopers. One cursed village. One hell of a night!’

Lesbian Vampire Killers – also known as simply Vampire Killers in the US – is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon from a screenplay by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. It was produced by Steve Clark-Hall. It stars Paul McGann (Alien³; The Monk), James CordenMathew Horne and MyAnna Buring.

Momentum pictures has claimed that retailers – including supermarket chain Tesco – demanded warning stickers be placed over the word “Lesbian”. A spokesperson from Tesco said that although they did ask for a cover with less cleavage, they “did not suggest that they [Momentum] amend the wording”

Plot:

Jimmy (Mathew Horne) and Fletch (James Corden) are two friends living in London. Jimmy is dumped by his girlfriend and Fletch is fired from his job as a clown for punching a child. They decide to escape their woes and hike to a remote village in Norfolk that they find via an old map. As they arrive at a pub in the village, they see a number of attractive foreign female history students leaving.

Hoping to find more beautiful women inside, they are greeted by a morose crowd of men and approached by a seemingly crazed vicar (Paul McGann) who believes Jimmy is a long lost descendant of a local vampire slayer…

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Reviews:

James Christopher of The Times described Lesbian Vampire Killers as “profoundly awful” stating it is an “instantly forgettable lads’ mag farce” and suggested the film was an “appalling waste of a perfectly decent title”.

” … a movie that is much more interested in ogling women and making schoolboy jokes. Any laughs come courtesy of Corden’s randy, blustering Fletch. Phil Claydon directs at a breakneck pace but maybe he just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. I know exactly how he feels.” Allan Hunter, Daily ExpressSNF2001WA-682_759208a

“The comedy consists mostly in a lot of blokey swearing and Scooby-Doo-style running and gurning, the latter supplied by Paul McGann as an exorcist vicar. It’s pretty woeful, and unimaginably boring.” Anthony Quinn, The Independent

St. Trinian‘s meets The Descent in the pages of Nuts magazine. It’s mostly pretty awful, but there are one or two crass laughs, largely provided by Paul McGann playing the potty-mouthed priest who is the only one who knows how to slay the Page-3 vampirettes.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

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Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb


Invasion (1966)

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Invasion is a 1966 low-budget British science fiction alien invasion film, directed by Alan Bridges for producer Jack Greenwood of Merton Park Studios.

The film was written by Roger Marshall from a storyline by Robert Holmes. Holmes later re-used elements of his storyline in a 1970 Doctor Who serial entitled ‘Spearhead from Space’, starring Jon Pertwee.

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Plot:

An alien spacecraft which crash-lands on Earth, near a secluded hospital in the English Home Counties. The aliens, identified as Lystrians, are humanoid and have the appearance of Oriental women. They are taken to a rural hospital where they cause a forcefield to be raised around the building…

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Reviews:

“… after a worthwhile set-up, nothing much happens. The story becomes slow moving and somewhat uneventful. There are various happenings around the hospital as they try to puzzle over the nature of the alien and then debate whether to believe his story, but this is mostly talk rather than atmosphere. Things are pumped up sporadically with the appearance of the forcefield…” Moria

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“While its a little slow going, Invasion is actually an inventive, atmospheric effort. Director Alan Bridges breathes tension and suspense into the gritty Cold War-influenced screenplay…” Peter Fuller, Kultguy’s Keep

“Made on a very small budget but imaginatively photographed by Wilson, the setting of this highly atmospheric film is an English hospital… tense, well-paced climax.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction

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Cast and characters:

Release:

The film was theatrically released by Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK, and by American International Pictures in the USA.

A video release by Warner Home Video was available in the UK in 1992.

A DVD version was re-released in November 2014 by Network.

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

 


Evil Souls (2015)

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‘Some men are born evil, others are created.’

Evil Souls is a 2015 Italian-British supernatural horror film directed by Maurizio and Roberto del Piccolo from a screenplay by the latter.

Main cast:

Julian Boote, Peter Cosgrove, Holli Dillon, Lisa Holsappel-Marrs, Emanuele Ignomirelli, Paola Masciadri, Federico Rossi, Sean James Sutton.

Plot:

A child is born with a prophecy preordained. The guardian of the room unleashes his wrath on those who challenge his will. His evil soul knows no boundary as he ravages his sister in sexual gratification, selling her to the highest bidder. Fate is written, but Valentine has to fulfil his destiny. kidnapping two girls he is intent upon unleashing hell, until a priest, sensing ancient evil, knows he must find a way to stop it. With subterfuge, hate, denial and lust, the journey to a room of terror has just begun…

 

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Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Deliberately paced and well-directed by Maurizio and Roberto del Piccolo, Evil Souls does not shy away from displaying shocking gore or from exploring the most disturbing implications of the film’s scenario. It’s a well-made and intelligent film that I recommend every horror fan see. Just don’t expect to get a good night’s sleep afterward.” Lisa Marie Bowman, HorrorCritic.com

Evil Souls is a head fucking that manipulates you so much that you are not sure how much more you can take. This is clearly not your parents horror film, it is made for an audience that not only wants to be terrified but wants a shockingly intense ride thru the gates of what hell could be like. I have sat thru Serbian Films, Bunny Games, etc. but there are some moments in this film that disturbing would not even touch the surface.” James D, WickedChannel.com

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook


The Ones Below (2015)

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‘How well do you know your neighbours?’

The Ones Below is a 2015 British psychological thriller film written and directed by David Farr. It stars Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, Stephen Campbell Moore and Laura Birn.

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Plot:

London: Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) are expecting their first baby. They are thirty-something, successful and affluent. All appears well on the surface but Kate harbours deeply rooted fears about her fitness to be a mother and her ability to love the child within.

One day another couple, Jon (David Morrissey) and Teresa (Laura Birn) move in to the flat below. They become ‘The Ones Below’ and are also expecting a baby….

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Reviews:

“A more imaginative director might have added more dark humor and social commentary, playing on the class tensions, property-based anxieties and aspirational status signifiers that obsess many well-heeled Londoners. But for all its limited ambitions, The Ones Below serves its purpose as a solid calling card for Farr’s filmmaking future…” Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

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“Farr cleverly exploits the obvious anxiety and unease involved in simply being pregnant, the need for cocooning and privacy of the kind often unavailable in the big crowded city. There is also the unspoken fear of post-natal depression, and fear of personal failure … It is a thoroughly gripping, horribly absorbing movie.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

It’s an effective, creepy, unsettling picture for much of its running time, but works better when the plot is subtle (should Kate blithely drink so much milk or Teresa’s homemade lemonade?) than in a last reel which changes viewpoint inelegantly and then has to spring a what-really-happened montage that explains developments which would work better left ambiguous.” The Kim Newman Web Site

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“Scene by scene, Farr piles on the atmosphere: uncomfortable silences, languorous shots of flowers blooming, cacophonies of car alarms and the cries of a baby. He conveys Kate’s mental state with expert precision, cajoling an unshowy performance of quiet fragility from Poésy, who lulls viewers into thinking that she might have lost her mind.” Patrick Smith, The Telegraph

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“Ultimately, Farr bets all his chips on a series of third-act rug pulls that seem totally ridiculous at first blush and only mildly ridiculous at second. Viewers may puzzle over the twists for a while — and maybe poke a hole or three — but mainly because The Ones Below leaves no more lasting impression. At best, it’s Polanski in the pinch.” Scott Tobias, Variety

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Cast and characters:

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb



Frankenstein – ballet (2016)

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Frankenstein is a 2016 British ballet directed by The Royal Ballet’s Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett at London’s Royal Opera House. The ballet is a music and dance adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic tale of morality and love.

American composer Lowell Liebermann, composes a new score for the production. John Macfarlane created the stage designs, while David Finn provided the lighting design. The ballet is being simultaneously screened in a number of select cinemas. The main stars are Laura Morera, Federico Bonelli and Steven McRae.

Plot:

Victor Frankenstein is sent away to university, away from his family and his closest friend Elizabeth. Just before he leaves, his mother dies in childbirth. Distraught, Victor throws himself into his studies, learning obsessively all that he can from his Professor. Fuelled by his experiments and in a desperate hope to find a way to bring his mother back, Victor works furiously, and eventually succeeds in giving life to non-living matter – but, horrified at what he has done, Victor abandons his Creation.

Six years later, Victor returns home. The Creature follows him and, watching Victor with his family from afar, longs to be accepted and loved as one of them. On the day of Victor’s wedding to Elizabeth, the Creature draws closer, enraptured by Elizabeth’s beauty. Victor discovers the Creature, who, in his panic, kills Elizabeth. In his grief, Victor takes his own life, leaving the Creature once again alone and abandoned, cradling his creator…

Reviews:

“The dancing is superb, the sets magnificent, but Liam Scarlett’s new full-length ballet squanders Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece … That the Royal Ballet has allowed Scarlett to get in so far over his head is reprehensible. He is unquestionably a great talent, but he is equally clearly not ready for a commission on this scale.” Luke Jennings, The Guardian

“With great virtuosity and choreographic diligence, Scarlett crafted carefully each one character of the story, especially the three main one’s taken on by principal dancers. Frankenstein’s ideas of the new scientific world and galvanism, his visions, memory recollections and dreams are animated vigorously by Federico Bonelli; his feelings, however beheld in his expressionless countenance, are exposed through his vivid body language.” Gabriella Daris, Blouinartfino

“Lowell Liebermann’s score is equally murky as the theme might suggest but he does lock in rhythms, action and emotion clearly enjoyed by the dancers. And what dancers! Laura Morera played Elizabeth, the hero’s love interest, and I have never seen her dance better. She brilliantly captured the character’s middle class niceness and the wonder of a young woman’s unqualified first love.” Jeffrey Taylor, Express.co.uk

“Liam Scarlett is a talented abstract, neoclassical choreographer, but his Frankenstein is the least enjoyable full-evening work I have ever seen the Royal Ballet perform … The result is a piece that reeks of desperation – that, and what seems very much like the unchecked hubris of its creator. Nor do the sad parallels with the story itself end there – for this expensive-looking new work feels largely (de)composed of body-parts from other, infinitely superior British ballets.” Mark Monahan, The Telegraph


Shed of the Dead (2016)

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Shed of the Dead is a 2016 British comedy horror film written and directed by Drew Cullingham (writer of A Vampire’s Tale) for 7DM Studios. The project is currently in post-production.

The film stars Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, Michael Berryman, Emily Booth, Spencer Brown, Lauren Socha, Ewen MacIntosh and Brian Blessed.

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Official synopsis:

Trevor is “between jobs.” He spends his days avoiding his nagging heifer of a wife by hiding out in his allotment shed and painting figurines for his wargames with his agoraphobic friend, Graham, and dreaming of his heroic alter-ego, the battle mage Casimir the Destroyer.

When Mr. Parsons, one of the other allotment tenants, petitions to have Trevor removed from his disgrace of a plot (he’s not there to grow stuff!), an argument ensues that leaves Trevor with a corpse to hide.

Unfortunately, this untimely accident coincides with the zombie apocalypse, and Mr. Parsons’ return is just the beginnings of Trevor’s problems. More pressing is whether or not he should try to save his wife and her beautiful best friend, whom both he and Graham have a thing for…

IMDb | Facebook | Twitter7DM Studios | Source: Dread Central


Under the Shadow (2016)

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Under the Shadow (Persian: زیر سایه‎‎) is a 2016 Iranian-British supernatural horror film written and directed by Babak Anvari, making his directorial debut, in which a mother and daughter are haunted by a mysterious evil in 1980s Tehran.

The film stars Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian and Arash Marandi.

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Under the Shadow was produced by British film company Wigwam Films. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and has been acquired by US streaming service Netflix. Vertical Entertainment and XYZ Films (He Never Died) are selling the worldwide rights to the film and brokered the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.

Plot:

As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war torn Tehran of the 80s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home…

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Reviews:

“Though it ultimately falls back on the usual pileup of scare tactics — floating things, gooey things, sudden forms emerging from the shadows — Anvari uses this toolbox in a pointed fashion. Under the Shadow smartly observes the emotions stirred up by a world defined by restrictions, and the terrifying possibility that they might be inescapable.” Eric Kohn, Indiewire

“The director uses his share of stock devices like bone-chilling groans, violent sound cues and startling jump scares, but he executes them with great style. The first such shocker is a hilarious tease involving a pop-up toaster, a crafty trick that sent a ripple of nervous laughter through the Sundance audience. Anvari also continues the welcome trend of adventurous horror directors largely favoring practical effects over CG.” David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

Under the Shadow has everything that makes great horror: a unique mythology that plagues us psychologically as well as viscerally, a confined setting (in this case culturally mandated confinement as well as physical) and good old scary monsters.” Fred Topel, Bloody Disgusting

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“The film’s triumph lies in its ability to critique Iran’s post-revolution regime for its blatant sexism (in one harrowing sequence, Shideh is arrested for simply going outdoors without her chador), while still working as a full-throttle horror when the demons come out to play. Anvari proves himself to be a master at modulating fear: the jump scares are executed with effective precision, leading up to a magnificently intense climax.” Nigel M Smith, The Guardian

“Slyly merging a familiar but effective genre exercise with a grim allegory of female oppression, Babak Anvari’s resourceful writing-directing debut grounds its premise in something at once vaguely political and ineluctably sinister; imagine an Asghar Farhadi remake of The Babadook and you’re halfway there.” Justin Chang, Variety

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” … scenes like the one in which the shadowy woman’s chador envelops Shideh, nearly suffocating her until she fights free, are spookily and movingly expressive of the tenuous position of women in 1980s Iran, a vivid illustration of how hard women like Shideh must work just to carve out a little breathing room for themselves and their daughters.” Elise Nakhnikian, Slant

Cast and characters:

  • Narges Rashidi as Shideh
  • Avin Manshadi as Dorsa
  • Bobby Naderi as Iraj
  • Ray Haratian as Mr. Ebrahimi
  • Arash Marandi as Dr. Reza
  • Bijan Daneshmand as Director

Wikipedia | IMDb | Iranian horror: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

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Buy on Special Edition Blu-ray | Instant Video from Amazon.com


The Snarling (2016)

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‘They were making a horror film. But, this wasn’t in the script.’

The Snarling is a 2016 British comedy horror film written, co-produced and directed by Pablo Raybould.

The film stars Laurence Saunders, Joel Beckett, Julie Peasgood, Chris Simmons, Albert Moses, Julia Deakin, Pablo Raybould, Ben Manning, and Ste Johnston.

Having completed production, the film is being given promotional advance screenings around the UK.

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Synopsis:

When a new horror film is being made in their village, locals Les, Mike and Bob see their chance to cash in and become famous. As the local detective inspector and his hapless sergeant Haskins eventually trace a link in recent bloody mutilations to the film, the race is on to stop the killings before the local heroes get caught up in the real blood and guts…

IMDb | Facebook

 


Nocturnal Activity aka The Haunting of Annie Dyer (2014)

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‘It wants you… body and soul’

Nocturnal Activity is a 2014 British erotic horror film written, executive produced and directed by Steve Lawson (KillerSaurus; Survival Instinct).

The film stars Raven Lee, Toni Lou Frost, Jonathan Hansler (Axed; Convention of the Dead) and Steven Dolton (Zombie Undead; Devil’s Tower).

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SGL Entertainment is handling worldwide distribution via a Blu-ray and DVD release, plus VOD.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a ‘director’s cut’ of the film titled The Haunting of Annie Dyer is being released by 88 Films on DVD on 26th September 2016.

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Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Plot:

Annie Dyer (Raven Lee) moves into a new apartment and quickly discovers she is not alone; a malevolent spirit repeatedly attempts to seduce her in order to possess her body as a vessel to carry out its vengeful mission…

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Reviews:

“Relatively straightforward horror plot? Check. Plenty of nudity (“the cheapest special effect”)? Check. Long stretches of hot women sensually washing/exploring their bodies? Check. Absolutely minimal production design hidden behind lots of shot-reverse-shot close-ups? Check. Bit of blood and violence right at the end? Check.”MJ Simpson

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Buy: Amazon.com

“This movie is amateurish, badly written and incoherent. The female lead and the psychic investigator are so poor at acting that they wouldn’t even get a part in a school play. The so-called special effects are pathetic. It has only two good things going for it. One is the lighting, which is subtle and pleasing to look at. The other is Jonathan Hansler’s performance as the sleazy landlord.” Morgan Scorpion, Amazon.co.uk

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Filming locations:

London, England, UK

IMDb | Official website | Facebook


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