‘Life in the suburbs can be hell’

A Room to Die For – aka Rancour – is a 2016 British horror film directed by Devanand Shanmugan from a screenplay co-written with Matthew J. Gunn.

The film is released on DVD in the UK on 16 January 2017 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Main cast:

Michael Lieber, Loren Peta (Rock Band vs. Vampires; Bad Moon Rising), Christopher Craig, Antonia Davies, Ben Ellis, Natalie Ann Parry (Death Race: Anarchy), Vas Blackwood (Fanged Up; Creep), Frederik von Lüttichau (Witch), Topher Cox, Jon Campling (Curse of the Witching Tree; Tales of the Supernatural; The Zombie King), Jonny Pert.

Plot:

Marcus Crowe is a failed writer who struggles with reality. His girlfriend, Jill, is desperate for Marcus to pursue a proper career.

Broke, the couple find a perfect room to rent owned by an old couple, Henry and Josephine Baker, who take a keen interest in the young couple’s lives. They are shocked when told the old couple have a new born baby.

Stuck in the house 24-7, Marcus spirals into paranoia and believes the old couple is spying on them. When he finds the horrifying truth behind the baby, the old couple’s real reason for renting the room is revealed…

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‘His party. Your funeral.’

Clown Kill – aka Lock In – is a 2014 British horror film written and directed by Mark J. Howard. Locked in an office block with a sadistic clown the staff must work together to survive the night… It stars Roy Basnett, Jessica Cunningham, recently a contestant on TV show The Apprentice, and Stephen Greenhalgh.

Grindhouse Video is releasing the film on DVD in the US on April 25, 2017.

Main cast:

Roy Basnett, Jessica Cunningham, Stephen Greenhalgh (Zombie Diaries 2), James Thompson, Tim Paley, Jeff Downs, Rachel Dargie, Simon Entwistle, Holly Chadwick.

Plot:

Jenny (Jessica Cunningham), an ambitious, feisty but very successful advertising executive has her drink spiked at a fancy dress party, leading to a brutal sexual assault in the pub toilets by a mysterious figure dressed as a clown.

Slowly, she rebuilds her life, and returns to work after a six month absence. She soon becomes bogged down with work and when her bullying boss gives her a huge, last minute advertising account with a Saudi-backed circus company, the pressure begins to mount.

Forced to work alone throughout the night in the huge office block, it soon becomes apparent she is not alone. Stalking the empty corridors is a familiar, unwanted figure, and Jenny soon discovers she is locked in with Charlie Boy the psychotic clown, driven by a blood lust and an obsession with torment and murder…

Filming locations:

Accrington and Burnley, Lancashire, England
Bolton, Greater Manchester, England

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‘His country needed him’

Aux is a 2017 British action horror film directed by John Adams from a screenplay co-written with Peter Adams for Evolutionary Films.

Whilst playing in the woods, two young boys discover the entrance to a mysterious military bunker that had remained hidden since WWII…

Main cast:

John Rhys-Davies (The Half Dead; Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map; Medium Raw), Tanya Franks, Jack Derges, Rosie Fellner, Theo Devaney, Sally Mortemore, Paul Reynolds, James Fisher, Henry Douthwaite, Gary Mavers, Patrick Pearson, Tristam Summers, Anniwaa Buachie, Michael Elkin, Greg Burridge.

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Prevenge is a 2016 British comedy horror film written, directed by and starring Alice Lowe (Sightseers; The Ghoul; The World’s End; Kill List; Hot Fuzz).

Ruth is a pregnant woman on a killing spree. Her misanthropic unborn baby dictates Ruth’s murderous actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims.

Struggling with her conscience, loneliness, and a strange strain of prepartum madness, Ruth must ultimately choose between redemption and destruction at the moment of motherhood…

The Gennaker/Western Edge Pictures production will be released in the UK on 10 February 2017 via Kaleidoscope Film Distribution.

Main cast:

Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley (Inbred), Dan Renton Skinner (The Ghoul; High-Rise), Gemma Whelan (The Wolfman), Kayvan Novak (Doctor Who), Kate Dickie (The Frankenstein Chronicles; Prometheus; The Witch), Tom Davis, Mike Wozniak, Tom Meeten, Eileen Davies, Grace Calder, Sara Dee, Leila Hoffman, Marc Bessant, Della Moon Synnott.

Reviews:

” …while Prevenge delivers cult thrills and devilish humour, Lowe is adept at probing the existential darkness of her protagonist … However, all the while, there is a glint in her eye – a thrill, no doubt shared by Lowe, of subverting expectations, of stepping out from behind the sanctified image of the glowing mum-to-be, and embracing a transgressive madness.” Michael Leader, Sight & Sound

“Prevenge is a breathtaking, savage debut from Alice Lowe, one that boasts horrific moral deprivation and a sense of humor drenched in maternal madness … Sympathy, fear, admiration, doubt – those are just a handful of the emotions Lowe so emphatically conveys on-screen, and they explosively combine for the film’s final, absolutely perfect closing frame.” Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

“Having both a really rough-and-ready cinematography and quite a shaky filming style, there seems a very conscious effort to place Prevenge within a proud tradition of low-budget British slasher fiction … it definitely feels like a film that seems destined to become a cult classic.” Thomas Humphrey, Screen Anarchy

” …a neat, often very funny, but in many ways bleak psycho thriller of brooding maternal fear that embraces an alternative look at established roles of motherhood and pregnancy in its own violent manner and its great to see the British genre scene producing surprising and original, often transgressive work.” James Pemberton, UK Horror Scene

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‘Beyond time, love never dies.’

Curse of the Phoenix is a 2014 British supernatural horror film directed by Robert Young (Bloodmonkey; Hammer House of Horror: ‘Charlie Boy’; Vampire Circus) from a screenplay by Hugh Janes. It was filmed with the working title The Wraithe.

The film will be released on DVD in the UK as Ghost Ship by High Fliers Films on 20 March 2017.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Main cast:

Joseph Sentance, Sheena May, Kate Young, James Kennan, Fawn James, Lizzie Stables, Kevin Horsham (Theatre of Fear), Kevin Johnson.

Plot:

A romantic young man, Josh (Joseph Sentance), is haunted by a strange, beautiful apparition – The Wraithe. She believes Josh is her lost true love and tries to claim him for herself, therefore putting Josh and any woman close to him, in mortal danger…

Reviews:

“Likable, down to earth characters that act somewhat like real people. Spooky scenes on the ship are well shot and has a great ambiance. An interesting paranormal mystery that has an air of classic literature to it. A slow burn, but has a good enough momentum to keep you engaged.” Geek Legion of Doom

Filming locations:

Plymouth, Devon, England, UK
Cornwall, England, UK

IMDb | Official site

‘The motion picture that pits steel weapons against steel nerves!!!’

Berserk is a 1967 British horror thriller film starring Joan Crawford (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; Strait-Jacket) and Judy Geeson (Inseminoid; Goodbye Gemini) in a macabre mother-daughter tale about a circus plagued with murders.

The screenplay was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Jim O’Connolly (Tower of Evil; The Valley of Gwangi; The Night Caller – script). The film marks Crawford’s second-to-last big-screen appearance before Trog (1970). Columbia Pictures promoted the film as Berserk! on a double-bill with Torture Garden and it also later released as Circus of Blood.

In North America, the film grossed more than $1,100,000 and ranked #85 on Variety’s list of top money makers of 1968. Box office receipts overseas nearly doubled that amount, coming in at $2,095,000. This made Berserk the most successful film Herman Cohen ever produced.

Plot (contains spoilers):

Monica Rivers (Joan Crawford) and Dorando (Michael Gough) own a travelling English circus. Monica acts as the ringmistress, and Dorando is the business manager.

When tightrope walker Gaspar the Great falls to his death, it appears that his tightrope might have been purposely weakened. Monica’s unemotional reaction to the tragedy alarms Dorando. When she suggests it will be good for business, he asks her to buy him out, which she refuses to do.

Monica hires a new high-wire walker, Frank Hawkins (Ty Hardin). Not only is he handsome, he is daring, doing his act over a carpet of sharp bayonets. Monica is impressed, especially by his physical appearance. Shortly after an argument, Dorando is found gruesomely murdered.

Suspicion of Monica’s guilt grows. Frank in particular suspects her, having seen her leaving Dorando’s trailer before the body was discovered. He confronts Monica, demanding a share in the circus for his silence.

Monica’s daughter, Angela (Judy Geeson), having been expelled from school, shows up at the circus. Not knowing what to do with her unruly daughter, Monica pairs her with Gustavo the knife thrower (Peter Burton). Another member of the circus company, Matilda (Diana Dors), attempts to seduce Frank, which Monica discovers.

During Matilda’s act, a magician’s trick involving the illusion of being sawn in half, there is a malfunction in the equipment and she is killed. And during his next high-wire performance, Frank falls onto the bayonets and is killed.

It was not an accident. Angela was seen throwing a knife into him before he fell. She confesses having hated her mother for years as a result of being ignored, now “removing” those who take up her mother’s time. She then unsuccessfully tries to kill her mother. As Angela attempts to escape, she is electrocuted by an exposed wire during a rainstorm. Monica sobs inconsolably over her daughter’s body.

Reviews:

“Berserk! isn’t a ‘must see’ classic from horror history, but there’s enough here to please fans of Joan Crawford horror (Strait-Jacket, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?), Michael Gough (Konga, Batman Returns), and sixties Brit horror. It’s interesting to see a ‘creative serial kill’ horror with so little blood in it, considering what would happen a few years later…” Black Hole Reviews

“Berserk achieves its meager reputation by being a brightly-colored Joan Crawford film, a Hammer horror knockoff with too little substance to balance the moments of high camp. The camp, when it happens, is well worth the watch, and a reasonably high body count make the film worthwhile, especially for those who enjoy 1960s cheesy British horror.” She Blogged By Night

“The biggest issue with Berserk seems to be that it doesn’t know what kind of film it is. Yes, it’s certainly a thriller but the moodiness and grim deaths interspersed by dancing elephants, prancing poodles and an awkward, bizarre song make it tonally inconsistent.” Andi B. Goode, The Sofa Cinephile

“Much of the film in between is padded with real-life circus footage. Unless one wants to see circus performances back from the era when animal acts were not protested by the animal rights people, these prove fairly uninteresting to watch. Certainly, the film does have the benefit of its lurid appeal – there is Joan Crawford dominating the show, along with 1950s British sexpot Diana Dors doing her stuff and turning every line into a bitchy taunt (even engaged in a catfight at one point).” Richard Scheib, Moria

“The murders are, inevitably, the most fun aspect of the film, though Crawford’s fan base gets its money’s worth by way of a game performance confirming her late entry into genre roles…” Steven West, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Films 1960 – 1969

Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

” …despite its Grand Guignol trappings, it’s a glorified whodunnit, ably directed by Jim O’Connolly…” John Stanley, Creature Features

“But the capable Mr. O’Connolly is no Hitchcock. And what drains the picture of merit and real persuasiveness is the round-up of bloodless characterizations, a petty and conniving gang of meanies. Even a last-minute, mother-love injection doesn’t thaw Miss Crawford’s portrayal of a ruthless iceberg who, one feels, gets what she deserves.” Howard Thompson, The New York Times, January 11, 1968

Interviews:

Herman Cohen talks to Tom Weaver

Herman Cohen (centre) with stars of Berserk

Cast and characters:

• Joan Crawford as Monica Rivers
• Ty Hardin as Frank Hawkins
• Diana Dors as Matilda (Craze; Theatre of Blood; Nothing But the Night)
• Michael Gough as Albert Dorando (Satan’s Slave; Horror Hospital; Konga)
• Judy Geeson as Angela Rivers
• Robert Hardy as Detective Supt. Brooks (Dark Places; Psychomania; Demons of the Mind)
• Geoffrey Keen as Commissioner Dalby (Taste the Blood of Dracula)
• Sydney Tafler as Harrison Liston
• George Claydon as Bruno Fontana
• Philip Madoc as Lazlo (Spine Chillers; Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde; Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)
• Ambrosine Phillpotts as Miss Burrows
• Thomas Cimarro as Gaspar
• Peter Burton as Gustavo
• Golda Casimir as Bearded Lady
• Ted Lune as Skeleton Man
• Milton Reid as Strong Man
• Marianne Stone as Wanda
• Miki Iveria as Gypsy Fortune-Teller
• Howard Goorney as Emil
• Reginald Marsh as Sergeant Hutchins
• Bryan Pringle as Constable Bradford

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Black Hole Reviews | She Blogged By Night

‘The world’s most evil vampire lives again!’

Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1965 British supernatural horror film directed by Terence Fisher from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard. It stars Christopher Lee, Andrew Keir, Francis Matthews, and Barbara Shelley.

Dracula does not speak in the film, save for a few hisses. According to Christopher Lee: “I didn’t speak in that picture. The reason was very simple. I read the script and saw the dialogue! I said to Hammer, if you think I’m going to say any of these lines, you’re very much mistaken.”

Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster disputed that account in his memoir Inside Hammer, writing that “Vampires don’t chat. So I didn’t write him any dialogue. Christopher Lee has claimed that he refused to speak the lines he was given … So you can take your pick as to why Christopher Lee didn’t have any dialogue in the picture. Or you can take my word for it. I didn’t write any.”

The film was made back-to-back with Rasputin – the Mad Monk, using many of the same sets and cast, including Lee, Shelley, Matthews and Farmer.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Opening plot:

A prologue replays the final scenes from Dracula, in which Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) destroys Dracula (Christopher Lee) by driving him into the sunlight.

The main story begins as Father Sandor (Andrew Kier) prevents local authorities from disposing of a woman’s corpse as if it were a vampire. Sandor chastises the presiding priest for perpetuating the fear of vampirism, and reminds him that Dracula was destroyed 10 years previously. The Father visits an inn and warns four English tourists – the Kents – not to visit Karlsbad; they ignore his advice.

As night approaches, the Kents find themselves abandoned by their fear-stricken coach driver, in view of a castle. A driverless carriage takes them to the castle, where they find a dining table set for four people. A servant named Klove explains that his master, the late Count Dracula, ordered that the castle should always be ready to welcome strangers. After dinner the Kents settle in their rooms.

Later that night, Alan investigates a noise and follows Klove to the crypt, where Klove ritualistically kills him and mixes his blood with Dracula’s ashes, reviving the Count…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“The gruesome sequence where the infamous bloodsucker is resurrected in a perverse religious ritual still retains its shock value, with scream queen Barbara Shelley’s demise just as memorable. Andrew Keir is no real substitute for Peter Cushing … but in every other respect this is a textbook example of top-grade ghoulish horror from Hammer’s golden era.” Alan Jones, Radio Times

“Lee, sans dialogue plays the part with demonic fury but it is Barbara Shelley who steals the show. As Helen, she is the very picture of prim, Victorian repression, but after she is bitten by Dracula, she turns into one of filmdom’s most rapacious female vampires. Her death scene is a highpoint of Hammer horror.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films

“The film’s only weak point is the dispatch of Dracula himself which seems a bit unimaginative when compared to Meinster’s inventive dispatch in Brides of Dracula. However this is a mere blip in an otherwise brilliant film in the Dracula series and is without doubt the strongest and most dramatic entry. Absolute quintessential Hammer.” Adam Scovell, The Spooky Isles

“The build up is tense and kinetic, let down a bit by obviously limited budgetary restraints. Dracula, Prince of Darkness is the last Dracula Hammer with genuine style via Fisher’s red-blooded type of poetic horror. The sequels became increasingly clumsy, repetitive and pale in comparison…” Alfred Eaker’s The Blue Mahler

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

” …Dracula is deprived not only of dialogue but also of any worthwhile motivation, not even the paltry revenge motif which was to crop up in subsequent sequels.” Jonathan Rigby, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema

” …Fisher opted for an unsettling combination of graphically gruesome violence and lusciously poetic atmosphere, which gives the movie a sense of stylish formalism and invites an appreciation of the way the story is told, rather than taking the more direct, ‘innocent’ approach of Dracula.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“The best moments are the reconstitution and the imaginative ending. A grandly melodramatic score dates the film and the pace is slow by current standards, but it still stands up well to another viewing. The small cast is excellent. The women are classy and about as sexy as the 1965 screen would allow.” Mike Mayo, The Horror Show Guide

” …the main snag is that the thrills do not arise sufficiently smooth out of atmosphere. After a slowish start some climate of eeriness is evoked but more shadows, suspense and suggestion would have helped. Christopher Lee, an old hand at the horror business, makes a latish appearance but dominates the film enough without dialog.” Variety, December 31, 1965

Cast and characters:

• Christopher Lee as Count Dracula
• Barbara Shelley as Helen Kent
• Andrew Keir as Father Sandor
• Francis Matthews as Charles Kent
• Suzan Farmer as Diana Kent
• Charles Tingwell as Alan Kent
• Thorley Walters as Ludwig
• Philip Latham as Klove
• Walter Brown as Brother Mark
• Jack Lambert as Brother Peter
• George Woodbridge as Landlord
• Philip Ray as Priest
• Joyce Hemson as Mother
• John Maxim as Coach Driver
• Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing [archive footage only]

The film was written into a novel by John Burke as part of his 1967 book The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus.

Filming locations:

Black Park, Buckinghamshire, England
Bray Studios, Bray, Berkshire, England

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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

‘Nothing ever struck you like…’

The Snake Woman is a 1960 British horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie (The Entity; Doctor Blood’s Coffin) from a screenplay by American Orville H. Hampton (The Alligator People; Mesa of Lost Women; Lost Continent). It stars Susan Travers (Peeping Tom), John McCarthy and Geoffrey Denton.

Buxton Orr, who provided the score, also contributed the music to First Man into Space; Doctor Blood’s Coffin; Corridors of Blood; Fiend Without a Face and The Haunted Strangler.

Over many years, a scientist in a turn of the century English village in Bellingham, Northumberland, successfully keeps his wife’s mental illness under control by injecting her with snake venom.

When she dies giving birth to a daughter, a local witch claims that the child is pure evil and must be destroyed. The scientist is killed by an angry mob, but the baby girl is miraculously saved with the help of an understanding doctor.

Nineteen years later, several corpses are discovered on the moors, containing lethal amounts of snake poison. Fearful villagers believe the curse of the snake woman has struck, but Charles Prentice, a young Scotland Yard inspector, is sceptical of the supernatural as he begins his investigation…

Reviews:

” …this black-and-white programmer blatantly misses all the cues that would insure even the slightest spark of box office fire. The script is clumsy, overly-talkative and there is practically no action to alleviate the plodding pace.” Video Confidential

” …a competent enough B-movie programmer, entertaining in its own way and enjoyable enough to fit into the ‘cosy horror’ subgenre.” BritMovie

“Amateurishly directed, the film fails on all levels.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Cast and characters:

• Susan Travers as Atheris
• John McCarthy as Charles Prentice
• Geoffrey Denton as Colonel Clyde Wynborn
• Elsie Wagstaff as Aggie Harker
• Arnold Marlé as Dr. Murton
• Michael Logan as Barkis
• Stevenson Lang as Shepherd
• John Cazabon as Dr. Horace Adderson
• Dorothy Frere as Martha Adderson
• Hugh Moxey as Inspector
• Frances Bennett as Polly, the barmaid
• Jack Cunningham as Constable Alfie

Choice dialogue:

Aggie Harker, the midwife: “It is evil! It has the eye! It is the Devil’s offspring!”

Plot keywords:

snake | venom | scientist | pregnant | midwife | police constable | pub | landlord | village | angry mob | Northumberland | cobra | Scotland Yard | inspector

Wikipedia | IMDb | Thanks: The Dwrayger Dungeon

John Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned six decades.

He came to prominence for his sympathetic role as Timothy Evans, who was hanged in real-life for murders actually committed by his landlord John Christie, in 10 Rillington Place (1971).

His notable leading roles were as John Merrick in David Lynch’s biopic The Elephant Man (1980), Winston Smith in a version of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989). He is also famous for his television roles such as Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Caligula in I, Claudius (1976) and the War Doctor in Doctor Who.

John Hurt appeared in a number of horror and sci-fi/fantasy films including The Pied Piper (1972), The Ghoul (1975), The Shout (1978), After Darkness (1985), Roger Corman’s Frankenstein Unbound (1990), Lost Souls (2000), Hellboy and its sequel (2004), The Skeleton Key (2005), V for Vendetta (2005), Outlander (2008), Sightseers (narrator of Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’, 2012) and Only Lovers Left Alive. He was also in the 2010 TV adaptation of M.R. James inspired ghost story, Whistle and I’ll Come to You.

Most horror fans will know Hurt for his role as Kane in Alien (1979), whose unexpectedly spectacular and gory demise shocked audiences worldwide. In fact, his casting was last minute as Jon Finch was originally due to play the part but had to drop out due to ill health.

In 1987, Mel Brooks persuaded Hurt to pay homage to his infamous Alien role in the sci-fi spoof Spaceballs.

Referring to Frankenstein Unbound (1990), Hurt commented: “Everybody’s got to work with Roger Corman. You can’t leave out that experience. I was amazed when I met him, because I was expecting to see this rather freaky character with hair all over the place – a complete crazy man. But he wasn’t. He was dressed in a tie and a suit, with very neat hair. At first, I thought he was a solicitor.”

John Hurt was quoted as saying: “We are all racing towards death. No matter how many great, intellectual conclusions we draw during our lives, we know they’re all only man-made, like God. I begin to wonder where it all leads. What can you do, except do what you can do as best you know how.”

Throughout his acting career, there can be no doubt that John Hurt gave it his best even when he appeared in a few films that were, by his own admission, “stinkers”.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Scream – and Die! – promoted as Scream and Die – is a 1973 British horror thriller film directed by Spanish filmmaker José Ramón Larraz [as Joseph Larraz] (Symptoms; Vampyres; Deadly Manor) from a screenplay by Derek Ford (Corruption; Don’t Open Till Christmas, The Urge to Kill). Production company Blackwater Film specialised in sex comedies and this was their only horror genre entry.

In 1977, it was reissued in the UK by Variety Distributors as Psycho Sex Fiend.

The BBFC cut the UK release for an ‘X’ certificate on  30th August 1973, although their website provides no details of the censorship.

In the United States, Hallmark Releasing distributed the film theatrically as The House That Vanished, and Please! Don’t Go in the Bedroom.

Plot:

A model named Valerie and her petty thief boyfriend Terry witness a brutal murder in a backwoods manor. Terry then goes missing and when Valerie later attempts to find the house again it seems to have completely vanished. Meanwhile, a sinister black-clad stranger moves into a flat below Valerie’s London home…

Main cast:

Andrea Allan (Dead of Night [TV series]; Vampira), Karl Lanchbury (Whirlpool; Deviation; Vampyres), Maggie Walker, Peter Forbes-Robertson (Island of Terror; Night, After Night, After Night; Doctor Who), Judy Matheson, Annabella Wood, Alex Leppard, Lawrence Keane, Edmund Pegge.

Reviews:

“The film is filled with many telling visual motifs, including countless shots of people peering through windows and cameras that bring to mind Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). As a model, Valerie is constantly the subject of voyeurism from the photographer who takes her photos, the audience who watches her primp and pose and finally the director himself.” Kimberly Lindbergs, Cinebeats

” … a strange entry into the world of British horror, more of an Italian giallo-style movie than a typically British horror film. It’s livened up by a few shocks and some very sexy scenes, but is an ultimately flat and uninvolving experience. As a lead actress, Allan is highly decorative, but sleepwalks through the whole film, seemingly unimpressed at the carnage going on all around her.” British Horror Films

“The film is sharp. The mystery builds at a slow pace that will please the viewer depending on their taste. Regardless, it’s hard to beat a film that has a naked girl with a monkey! It’s a little strange and slightly erotic in intent.” Horror Domain

“If it wasn’t for the displaced script, apathetic performances, and pummeling runtime, the somewhat-creepy House might’ve held my attention for more than 10 minutes. Or not. I know — it’s nuts. A mock-slasher with rampant sexuality presents itself to me and I repay the favor by shutting my eyes? Frequently?!” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

“This is one of those illogical thrillers where you want to throttle the characters because of their stupidity. There is so much gratuitous nudity that eventually you may find yourself saying, “oh, no, here comes those boring boobs again.” Then again, you might not.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956 – 1976

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Whereas in his better films Larraz uses the ‘old dark house’ cliche and does something new with it, here it’s simply a location. Similarly, in those films he draws unsettling parallels between sexual and violent urges, and between love and obsession, here he merely uses sex and violence as titillation.” Cooler King, Cinema Delirium

“A dreary and unconvincing dud that is as absurd in its use of red herrings and tawdry sexploitation footage, as it is in the predictability of its final outcome.” John Elliot, Elliot’s Films on Video

“The setup and glacial pace put one in mind of the first hour (i.e., the bad part) of The Haunted House of Horror, released a few years previous, but unlike that one, this never even attempts to break any rules, preferring to go the classic-thriller route. Problem is, there are few thrills here. Some decent acting, and the atmosphere, but little else.” Robert Beveridge, Amazon.com

“There are really only two or three significant events in the film; the rest is back story and padding…” Horror Express

“If both the languid and the lurid were not so creative and effective, perhaps The House That Vanished would be, overall, more effective for viewers. If one were played down, the other could dominate, and most viewers could easily categorize and subsequently digest the film. Visually, Larraz is without equal in his unique images.” Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, Immoral Tales: European Sex and Horror Movies, 1956-1984

“The absurdist of red herrings is provided by a neighbour who wears a black coat and gloves even indoors. The only truly effective scenes are those with a collection of birds kept in the basement, their fluttering wings nightmarishly intruding upon the heroine’s dreams.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Choice dialogue:

“They were in the shadows the whole time.”

“She was knocked about, raped, and then strangled with a belt. Which all goes to prove the murderer had plenty of time to identify her.”

“A lot of people dislike old country houses.”

Filming locations:

19 Blomfield Road, Little Venice, London, England, UK

Essex, England, UK

Terminal 2, Heathrow Airport, London, England, UK

IMDb | Image thanks: Cinema Delirium | Temple of Schlock

Unhinged is a 2017 British horror film edited and directed by Dan Allen from a screenplay co-written with co-producer Scott Jeffrey (The House on Elm Lake; Fox Trap).

A loose remake of the 1982 movie Unhinged – a former ‘video nasty‘ – it stars Kate Greer, Lucy-Jane Quinlan, Becky Fletcher and Lorena Andrea.

Melissa and her three American bridesmaids, who decide to take the English back roads whilst travelling to her wedding in the countryside. On the way, a deadly secret forces the girls to be stranded in the woods.

They discover a house, occupied by Miss Perkins, who promises to look after them until they find help. Little do the girls know, a dark evil lurks in and around the grounds of the house. Only when the girls come face to face with ‘it’ will they truly discover what real horror is…

The remake, which had the working title The Attic, is currently in post-production. 88 Films is partnering with ITN Distribution to release Unhinged in the US on DVD and VOD in September 2017.

Main cast:

Kate Greer (Fox Trap), Lucy-Jane Quinlan, Becky Fletcher (The House on Elm Lake; Fox Trap; Deadly Waters) Lorena Andrea (The House on Elm Lake), Michelle Archer (12 Deaths of Christmas), Louisa Warren (producer of GoryTime), Faye Goodwin, Zak Russell-Jones, Emily McQueen, Tommy Vilés.

Filming locations:

Essex, England, UK

IMDb | Twitter

‘From the farm to the fork’

Eat Local is a 2017 British comedy horror film directed by actor Jason Flemyng (Forbidden Empire; The Bunker; From Hell) from a screenplay by Danny King. It stars Charlie Cox, Freema Agyeman and Mackenzie Crook.

In a quiet countryside farmhouse, Britain’s vampires gather for their once-every-fifty-years meeting. Others will be joining them too; Sebastian Crockett, an unwitting Essex boy who thinks he’s on a promise with sexy cougar Vanessa; and a detachment of Special Forces vampire killers who have bitten off more than they can chew. This is certainly going to be a night to remember… and for some of them it will be their last.

Main cast:

Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who), Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean movies; The Gathering), Dexter Fletcher, Eve Myles, Ruth Jones, Vincent Regan, Annette Crosbie. Billy Cook.

Trivia:

The film was previously titled Reign of Blood.

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’80 minutes. 8 candidates. 1 answer. No question.’

Exam is a 2009 British psychological horror thriller film directed by Stuart Hazeldine from a screenplay co-written with Simon Garrity.

Eight candidates dress for what appears to be an employment assessment exam; they enter a room and sit down at individual desks. Each desk contains a question paper with the word “candidate”, followed by a number, from one to eight.

The Invigilator, a representative of the company named DATAPREV, explains that the exam is 80 minutes and consists of only one question, but there are three rules: they must not talk to the Invigilator or the armed guard at the door, spoil their paper, or leave the room. If they do, they will be disqualified…

Main cast:

Colin Salmon, Chris Carey, Jimi Mistry, Luke Mably, Gemma Chan, Chuk Iwuji, John Lloyd Fillingham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Adar Beck and Nathalie Cox.

Reviews:

“The tale is ingeniously developed, the suspense well maintained, and you’ll think more highly of it if you have to leave five minutes before the disappointing pay-off.” Philip French, The Guardian

“Stuart Hazeldine’s debut is grabby enough to begin with, but loses its way when the characters start tumbling over themselves to be as stereotypically dog-eat-dog as possible. It’s The Apprentice with obligatory torture, and a damp squib of an ending.” Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

“Although the only truly compelling character among this rum bunch is City bully boy Luke Mably, the fact that most of the candidates remain ciphers is somehow fitting – they’re all grist to the corporate mill.  Starting strong, but dipping in the middle, the film runs its tight little concept right up to the final countdown, ensuring the audience is wrong-footed as often as the rapidly dwindling candidates, without ever cheating us outright.” Total Film

Cast and characters:

• Adar Beck as Dark
• Gemma Chan as Chinese woman
• Nathalie Cox as Blonde
• John Lloyd Fillingham as Deaf
• Chukwudi Iwuji as Black
• Pollyanna McIntosh as Brunette
• Jimi Mistry as Brown
• Colin Salmon as the invigilator
• Chris Carey as the guard

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‘A tale of the strange and perverse.’

The Night Digger is a 1971 British psychological horror film scripted by Roald Dahl (The Witches; Tales of the Unexpected) and set to an edgy Bernard Herrmann (Psycho; Twisted Nerve; Dressed to Kill) score. Psychosexual tensions, menacing ambiance and murders most foul are unearthed. The film was also released as The Road Builder.

Based on the novel Nest in a Fallen Tree by Joy Cowley, it was adapted by Dahl and starred his wife Patricia Neal (The Day the Earth Stood Still), plus Pamela Brown (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Nicholas Clay (The Damned; Terror of Frankenstein; Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense), Jean Anderson (Late Night Horror – 1968 TV series), Graham Crowden (The Company of Wolves), Yootha Joyce (Die! Die! My Darling!; Burke & Hare; Frankenstein: The True Story), Peter Sallis (Taste the Blood of Dracula; Full Circle; The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), Brigit Forsyth (Doctor Who: The Evil of Daleks), Sebastian Breaks (Out of the Unknown), Diana Patrick and Jenny McCracken. 

Plot:

Maura Prince (Patricia Neal) leads a lonely life in a dilapidated country mansion, sensing the world is passing her by as she cares for the demanding, invalid mother (Pamela Brown) who adopted her years ago. Then a much younger stranger (Nicholas Clay) takes up residence as a handyman. He’s handsome, helpful. Wary Maura grows to love him… but it’s all too good to be true.

Reviews:

“Horror fans looking for something beyond gory thrills will find 1971’s The Night Digger a true surprise. In a year that saw the horror genre reaching deeper into the limits of formerly forbidden subject material, this show gives us a strong drama with excellent acting and a convincing storyline.” Alastair Reid, DVD Savant

“Even if richly atmospheric and finely acted, all the characters are unsympathetic and the undeveloped story is so unpleasant without an upside that I can’t see an audience for it. The pic hits rock bottom when it depicts the implausible romance between the psychopathic serial killer and the unhappy sexually frustrated spinster…” Dennis Schwartz, Ozus’ World Movie Reviews

“The problem is that director Alistair Reid doesn’t quite find a way of blending the mad killer business with the rural petty snobbery, failing to make much of the horrific or even the erotic potential of the storyline.” Kim Newman, Ten Years of Terror (FAB Press, 2001)

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com

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WH

Age of the Living Dead is a 2017 British six-part horror television series. It is produced by showrunners Simon Phillips and Paul Tanter, who also directs. It stars Nicola Posenor, David Meadows and Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes).

Humans provide vampires on the opposite coast with a compulsory, weekly blood donation. Eventually, the humans manage to re-arm and plan a nuclear strike on the vampires as a final strategy to end the war…

U.S. sales and production house Voltage Pictures has picked up international sales rights. The company will launch the film at the Hong Kong FilMart and promote it at MIP-TV in Cannes.

Main cast:

Nicola Posener, David Meadows, Estella Warren, Brenda Schmid, Roy Allen III, Don Baldaramos, Norman Black, Massimo Dobrovic, Julia Farino, Justin Gordon, Deji LaRay, Shiah Luna, Eve Mauro, William McNamara, Everett Moss, Bill Oberst Jr., Cynthia Perez, Simon Phillips, Cindy Pickett, Michael Ray, Sean Sprawling, John F. Thomas, Peter Barrett, David Haydn.

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‘Some secrets won’t go to the grave’

Nazi Vengeance – aka Backtrack: Nazi Regression – is a 2014 British-Irish horror film directed by Tom Sands (The Holly Kane Experiment) from a screenplay by Mick Sands. It stars Mark Drake, Sophie Barker, Rosie Akerman and Miles Jovian.

Ralph is a 26 year-old regional journalist who has been having recurring nightmares in German. To help him understand his troubling dreams, his friend Claudia, a 22 year-old hippie, uses her undeveloped psychic powers to give him a profound past-life regression, which floods his mind with memories of being a Nazi commando on a mission on the South Downs in 1940.

When his visions of that past existence begin to take shape in his current reality, Ralph starts to investigate. In the hope of piecing together his previous life, he goes on a camping trip to the locations he saw in his regression.

He is accompanied by Claudia and their respective partners, Andrea and Lucas, who are much more interested in each other than reincarnation. What none of them realise is that the past Ralph is trying to find is now stalking them, and plans to exact a terrible revenge on all four campers for crimes committed nearly seventy years ago…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“There’s lots of interesting flourishes in the visuals […] and although hardly seen until the climax, veteran Julian Glover is as fabulous as one would expect. It could possibly be a little too talky for some audiences, but worth giving a go if adventurous, thoughtful horror is your bag.” Martin Unsworth, Starburst

“Sands has admitted that he’s not very familiar with the horror genre, and that seems to be at the root of a number of the film’s problems. It’s pitched as an intelligent contribution to the genre but is mostly quite routine stuff. Julian Glover has fun as the villain…” Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

” …an ambitious first film from a director with big ideas but its obvious limitations make the end result feel very underdeveloped and unsatisfactory. If Tom Sands could capture those inventive moments and apply them to a narrative that trimmed away the fat and kept things moving along at a nippier pace then the rest may fall into place but as it is Backtrack: Nazi Regression’s moments of promise are few and far between.” Chris Ward, Flickering Myth

” …if you can suspend your disbelief in favour of the story, you will be rewarded with a weird tale of crime and punishment where the lines between good and evil are more than just a little blurry, carried by an atmospheric directorial effort (also helped by wonderful locations), a decent ensemble cast, with the occasional piece of explicit violence thrown in just for good measure.” Mike Haberfelner, Search My Trash

Main cast:

Mark Drake, Sophie Barker, Rosie Akerman, Miles Jovian, Julian Glover, Callie Moore, Jon Bartlett, Alexi Parkin, Mia E.M. Chamberlain, Jj Borrett, Jesse Kidd Moore, Mick Smith, Stephen Carr, René Zimmermann.

Filming locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England
The Eight Bells pub, Jevington, East Sussex, England
Duncannon Fort, County Wexford, Ireland

Trivia:

The film’s original title was Backtrack.

IMDb | Official site

‘Paint the town red’

Double Date is a 2017 British comedy horror film directed by Benjamin Barfoot from a screenplay by Danny Morgan, who also stars along with Georgia Groome (The Cottage), Michael Socha and Kelly Wenham.

Innocent Jim (Danny Morgan) is terrified of girls, yet still on a reluctant quest to prove his manhood the night before he turns thirty. He and his cocky friend Alex (Michael Socha) think they’ve hit the jackpot when they meet the beautiful siblings Kitty (Kelly Wenham) and Lulu (Georgia Groome), who seem up for anything on a wild party-fueled night.

However, little do they know that the femmes fatales want to make Jim lose much more than just his virginity and secretly have another darker agenda for Jim’s birthday – virgin sacrifice…

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‘She’s dying to take care of you.’

Broken is a 2016 British psychological drama film directed by Shaun Robert Smith from a screenplay co-written with producer Craig Conway (Estranged, The Descent). The latter also stars alongside Morjana Alaoui (Haters; Scintilla; Martyrs), Mel Raido (The Disappointments Room), Patrick Toomey, Stephanie Thomas and Natalie Louise Garcia.

Evie (Morjana Alaoui), a 25-year-old agency support worker, is desperate for a better life to escape her past demons. Left with few options, she takes the job of looking after John (Mel Raido), a bitter and resentful tetraplegic who wants to do nothing more than party.

Drunk and high, John and his friends make Evie’s life a living hell and she finds herself trapped and the centre of aggressive drunk Dougie’s (Craig Conway), attention. Scared for her life, and haunted by the nightmares she was running from, Evie starts to slowly crack…

The film is released on DVD on 8 May, 2017 by Gilt Edge Media.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“It plays like a social realist drama for the most part, but some creepy visions and a cathartic finale deliver more traditional genre thrills without ever diminishing the serious, and understated, work done elsewhere. Likewise, the music, from English two-piece Hyde & Beast […] are great and the upbeat tones are juxtaposed chillingly with Evie’s crummy situation.” Benedict Seal, Bloody Disgusting

“This is a powerful, angry film, low on budget but high on raw performances. Mel Raido as John and Morjana Alaoui […] as Evie deliver very different but equally strong performances. John’s drab, squalid house, now taken up with all the accoutrements of 24 hour medical care, is a dismal battleground for the war of will between patient and carer.” David Dent, Dark Eyes of London

“With nuanced characters and outstanding central performances, it’s a hard-hitting slice of darkness that can be marked up as a solid success despite the unpalatably sour taste of the final stretch.” Gareth Jones, Dread Central

” ...Broken probably has a decent psychological thriller up its sleeve but it just doesn’t have the script or style to pull it off. Shaun Robert Smith does create a grim level of staging which he can build on as a horror director but the story and writing here lacks both incident and tension, unable to tighten the screws of creeping, nasty exploitation horror in the way it wants to.” Tony Black, Flickering Myth

” …deserves credit for portraying the tasks and difficult demands faced by carers and their patients and it doesn’t hold back on its honest depiction. Flawed in parts but a very strong piece that has two confident central performances and slow burning gradually dark portrayal of two changed and broken characters.” James Pemberton, UK Horror Scene

“Not a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination, Broken remains a captivating film. Smith forces you to study his characters intently, to empathise with their predicament as they struggle to cling to any last hope of sanity. The conclusion, when it finally comes to release you, is as inevitable as it is strangely satisfying.” John Townsend, Starburst magazine

Filming locations:

Streatham, London, England, UK

Trivia:

From raising the finance to the end of principal photography took just ten weeks.

The film’s working title was The Myth of Hopelessness.

IMDb | Official website

Seizure is a 2016 British crime horror film directed by Jamie Cymbal and Ryan Simons from a screenplay by the latter. It stars Jimmy Allen, Lindsay Bennett and Chris Blackwood.

A young gangster forced into trafficking girls goes into hiding when a deal goes wrong but when the girl unleashes her supernatural curse he must decide between his love for her or running for his life…

The film is released in the US by MTI Home Video on April 11, 2017.

Main cast:

Jimmy Allen (Dark Beacon), Lindsay Bennett (The Dark Field), Chris Blackwood, Geraden Borthwick, Roxy Bugler, Kevin Curtain, Jamie Cymbal, Barrie English, David Galbraith, Aiste Gramantaite, Paul Handford, Mark Robbins, Ryan Simons, Val Tagger and Scott Worsfold.

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Curse of the Witching Tree is a 2015 British horror film written, photographed, edited and directed by James Crow (Nightmare on 34th Street; A Suburban Fairytale; Black Creek; House of Salem), making his feature debut. It stars Sarah Rose Denton, Lucy Clarvis and Lawrence Weller.

An innocent woman, accused of murdering her son and hanged as a witch, curses a tree and the children who play around it. The effects of this act of revenge echo through the years and centuries, and restless spirits haunt the house where the bodies of the cursed children have been buried.

A family move into their new home, and begin to uncover the terrible truth behind The Witching Tree and the murdered children upon which they unknowingly sleep.

The film was released by 4Digital Media on DVD in the UK on 18 May 2015 and on DVD in the US on 19 May 2015.

Reviews:

“There are many familiar elements to Curse of the Witching Tree, but Crow blends them with style and unfussy simplicity. Budgetary restrictions have removed any temptation towards superfluous flourishes but Crow has embraced this, manipulated the tools at his disposal, and created a finished film that is stark, bleak and genuinely chilling at times.” John Townsend, Starburst

“With a handful of shorts to his credit, Crow’s camera betrays a potentially talented eye behind it, but his pen can make no such claim here. Thus, the tension he constructs throughout serves only to prelude an onslaught of cheap scare tactics. Equally undermined is Pete Coleman’s lovely score, which shares audio space with awful pop ballads…” Rob Getz, HorrorNews.net

“Using suggestion, the barely glimpsed and shadow, Crow cultivates an atmosphere of dread in which sackcloth headed spirits and black clad witches lurk just out of sight, affording us the briefest of glimpses as they torment and haunt the family.” Hickey’s House of Horrors

“Holding the film together is the assured and stylistic direction from James Crow. He has a gift for creating fantastic atmospheric shots that really add to the overall creepiness and effectiveness of the film. He is also aware of the the what makes for a good ghost/supernatural story.” The Gingernuts of Horror

Cast and characters:

• Sarah Rose Denton – Amber Thorson
• Lucy Clarvis – Emma Thorson
• Lawrence Weller – Jake Thorson
• Jon Campling – Father Flanagan
• Danielle Bux – Isobel Redwood
• Caroline Boulton – Eva
• Lydia Breden-Thorpe – Lily
• Ben Greaves-Neil – Merrick

Filming locations:

Production on the film began in May 2014 in Kent, England, UK

Wikipedia | IMDb