The Black Box Club

'IT' REMAKE FLOATS AND HITS THE TOP BREAKING BOX OFFICE RECORDS!

2017-09-30T18:52:00.004-07:00

'IT' is now over $500 in the bank to date. BUT can you think of a horror film, that is so good, no one should be allowed to remake it??

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BLACKBOXCLUB.COM BACK AND BUSTING!

2017-09-30T18:50:00.003-07:00

Hammer Horror, Amicus, Tigon . . otherwise known as The Blackboxclub.com

WE'RE BACK . . .and the posting starts, THIS weekend!

Banner art courtesy of Daryl Joyce https://harnois75.deviantart.com/

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50% DISCOUNT ON ORDERS OF ISLAND OF TERROR BLU RAY AND DVD FROM SCREENBOUND

2016-03-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

THIS YEAR 2016, marks the 50th anniversary of the making of ISLAND OF TERROR starring Peter Cushing, Edward Judd, Eddie Byrne Niall MacGinnis and Sam Kidd. A great cast, but the true stars are the things that crawl, slurp and suck their merry way through the very entertaining 89 minutes. They are called SILICATES and are it must be said, they are one of the more original looking 'monsters' to ever come 'down the pike' in a 1960's UK Sci-Fi movie. Looking like a cross between a lump of porridge with a vacuum cleaner attachment, it's amusing at first, until you see WHAT these slip-sliding blobs can do!

The GIFS in this feature are not taken from the REMASTERED FOOTAGE SCREENBOUND dvd or

blu ray release.

ISLAND OF TERROR has quite a few releases over the years, but it has taken SCREENBOUND the people behind the excellent remastered releases of the Cushing classiscs, AMICUS FILMS DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965) in it's beautiful steel book presentation, NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT (1967) with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing final theatrically released film, BIGGLES: ADVENTURES IN TIME (1986) ..remastered and restored in stunning HD by Deluxe Post Production and available in its original screen ratio of 1.85:1 for the first time!

In the past two years we've worked with SCREENBOUND to bring you some great competitions, and now we have a great offer for all PCAS followers and friends! For a LIMITED PERIOD ONLY with the help of a DISCOUNT CODE, you can ORDER YOUR DVD or BLU RAY copy of 'ISLAND OF TERROR' with a huge saving of 50% off!

This offer is only valid until SUNDAY MARCH 20th 2016

SO GET MOVING!!

ITS EASY to place your order and receive your 50% DISCOUNT! Simply CLICK HERE which will take you to CLASSICFILMSDIRECT.COM and the ORDER PAGE. Make your choice, for either the DVD or BLU RAY of 'ISLAND OF TERROR' then CLICK, ADD TO BASKET, and TYPE IN THE DISCOUNT CODE 'terror50' and make your chosen method of payment. SIMPLE AS THAT!

NOW.. Just wait for the postman! But, if anything else turns up on your doorstep, like BELOW??? RUN FOR IT!!

We'd like to thank the team at SCREENBOUND for making this great offer available to our followers and friends!

DO YOU DARE WALK THESE STEPS AGAIN? THE EXORCIST III GALLERY AND REVIEW

2016-03-11T13:15:00.001-08:00

CAST:

George C. Scott (Lieutenant William Kinderman), Brad Dourif (James Venamun), Ed Flanders (Father Joseph Dyer), Jason Miller (Father Karras), Nicol Williamson (Father Paul Morning), Nancy Fish (Julie Allerson), Scott Wilson (Dr Temple), Mary Johnson (Mrs Clelio), Viveca Lindfors (Nurse X)

PRODUCTION:

Director/Screenplay – William Peter Blatty, Based on his Novel Legion, Producer – Carter De Haven, Photography – Gerry Fisher, Music – Barry Devorzon, Visual Effects – DreamQuest & Industrial Light and Magic, Special Effects – Bill Purcell, Additional Special Effects Supervisor – Norman Reynolds, Makeup – Greg Cannom, Production Design – Leslie Dilley. Production Company – Morgan Creek/Carter De Haven.

Plot: Police lieutenant William Kinderman is faced with a baffling series of murders in which each victim has been decapitated and their head replaced with the head from a marble statue of Christ. The killings emulate in every detail the m.o. of the Gemini Killer who was sent to the electric chair fifteen years ago. In investigating, Kinderman discovers his old friend Father Karras being held in a psychiatric ward. Kinderman realises that Karras is tormented and tortured by The Devil who keeps the spirit of the Gemini Killer alive inside him and forces Karras to watch as his own body is used to kill innocents.

To say that one preferred The Exorcist III to the original The Exorcist (1973) is probably to commit critical hara kari. The trouble with the original was that when the sensationalism was pared away, it was only a fairly hokey and in many ways crude barnstormer. The Exorcist III is written-directed by William Peter Blatty who wrote the original novel version The Exorcist (1971) and then produced and wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. Basing the film on his original novel sequel Legion (1983), Blatty abandons gross-out tactics altogether and plays the script as a theological detective story – one where the puzzle is solved by Kinderman’s finding faith. As a result, The Exorcist III emerges as a far better reworking of essentially the same story as The Exorcist – Kinderman’s finding of faith comes with far more emphasis and delineation of character compared to the same journey undergone by Ellen Burstyn in the original.

In a decade that has almost entirely inured one to the power of a good scare, William Peter Blatty, in what most cynically predicted would only be another Roman numeral exploitation film, comes in an outside winner, conjuring a series of wild, outlandish theatre-rattling jolts. The dream sequence with George C. Scott moving through Heaven, which is presented as a Grand Central Station of sorts where the dead try to contact the living by radio, to find Ed Flanders with his head stitched on who turns to look at Scott and say “I’m not dreaming,” holds a strong kick. Or the moment where George C. Scott enters the vege ward and the camera pans upwards to show one of the patients scuttling about on the ceiling. However, the scene that makes the entire audience jump is the one that follows a night-duty nurse around the ward as she checks on strange noises she hears. Mostly shot in a single wide-angle down the shaded ward corridor, one is startled out of their seats as she emerges from the room she has just checked, followed in complete silence by an alabaster-white winged figure. The camera suddenly slams into a medium angle up on the figure, revealing it to be one of the headless statues come to life. It is a genuine scare that has a truly fantastique wildness to it, no matter how silly it may seem when one thinks about it afterwards.

This was one of the choicest roles George C. Scott had had in a while. William Peter Blatty equips him with a daft sense of humour, which lights up Scott’s rigid Mt Rushmore face in the delivery. Brad Dourif gives a performance that is regrettably playing to the audience. However, Dourif is probably more in control of a role than he has ever seemed before (funny that he has to spend the entire film in a strait-jacket to do so – his only other good performance was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and there he was confined to an asylum too). Blatty conjures a considerable chill out from the character’s dialogue, describing the joys of killing people and in keeping Karras trapped in his own body, watching as it is made to kill innocents

It is ironic that the film’s only failing comes in trying to emulate the current crop of effects-heavy clones. The studio forced a new ending on the film after deciding the one that William Peter Blatty originally shot was too tame. However, it is a surprisingly wimpy display of effects and conversely only ends the film on an anti-climax. The new character of Father Morning, played by Nicol Williamson, added here is poorly developed and unnecessary. Among other things, the studio insisted on a return appearanceE of a character from The Exorcist, which is why Brad Dourif’s scenes are broken up by appearances of Jason Miller, which were added later. The studio also insisted on naming the film The Exorcist III, as opposed to William Peter Blatty’s preferred title of Legion (1983). Blatty has announced a desire to release a director’s cut of the film, his original version, which is substantially different to the one released by Morgan Creek, but apparently the studio has announced that all of this original footage is lost.

Editors Note - Since this review was written it has been strongly rumoured that the lost footage has been found, and Blatty's has gone to the USA to edit to together his orginal cut to come out on blu-ray. Fingers crossed it will come to fruition

Review - Richard Scheib
Artwork and feature desgin - Jamie Somerville

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS THE NIGHT GALLERY : ROD SERLING'S' NIGHT GALLERY OVERVIEW

2016-03-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

After 'The Twilight Zone had ended on CBS, Rod Serling tried to sell it to another network but was unable to due to CBS retaining the rites to the series. So he went to another network and pitched an idea for a show called 'Rod Serling Wax Works' however that idea was rejected , Serling then tweaked the concept and set it in an art gallery instead and 'Night Gallery' was born.

What might have been? Rod Serling on set while shooting The Twlight Zone episode 'The New Exhibit'

While 'The Twlight Zone' was primarily a science fiction show with horror overtones, Night Gallery focused mainly on horror and the supernatural. Each episode of the series opened with Serling in a darkened art gallery, he then introduced each story by revaling the paintings that depicted them. For the first two season the epsidoes where 50 minutes in length and containted multiple self contained stories varying in length, while in season three the episodes where cut down to 25 minutes and mostly containted just a single story. While Serling wrote the majortiy of the scripts some where adapted from authors such as HP Lovecraft.

Rod Serling's opening monologe from the pilot of Night Gallery

The pilot for Night Gallery aired 8th November 1969 of NBC and consisted of 3 stories all written by Serling, the first one 'The Cemetery' starring Roddy McDowall and Ossie Davis in which Jeremy Evans (McDowall) murders his rich uncle in order to get his hands on the inheritance, much to the disgust of his uncle's butler Portifoy (Davis) but find finds he might not get away with it so easy after all.

The second story 'Eyes' (which marked the directing debut of Steven Spielberg) stars hollywood legend Joan Crawford (in one of her last acting roles), as Claudia Menlo, a rich selfish woman who has been blind since birth, who blackmails her surgen friend into performing an operation that will allow her to see for a short time, however it backfires on her in a bizarre twist of fate….

The final story 'The Escape Route' stars Richard Kelly and Sam Jaffe. A war criminal (Kelly) has fled and his hiding from the authorities under an alternate name, one day his past comes back to haunt him as a old man (Jaffe) recognises him and starts to ask questions, so he finds solace in a tranquil painting in a local art galley and longs to enter that world, however he should be careful what he wishes for……..

Night Galley ran for three seasons after the pilot and a lot of famous actors guest starred such as Burgess Meredith, Leslie Nelson, Vicnent Price, Angnes Moorehead, Leonard Nimoy, Ray Milland, Sally Field and many more, and while it never achived the same level of susscess as The Twlight Zone (perhaps in part due to the fact Serling did not have as much creatvite control over the series as he did with The Twlight Zone) it still remains one of the best TV horror antholgy series of the 70's and well worth checking out.

Just some of the famous actors that guest starred on 'Night Gallery' Vincent Price, Anges Moorehead, Sally Field and Burgess Meredith

EXCLUSIVE PETER CUSHING : THE MAN WHO CREATED FRANKENSTEIN: DONALD FEARNEY DOCUMENTARY

2016-03-03T13:01:00.001-08:00

POST FROM PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY WEBSITE UK

I am very excited to let you see an EXCLUSIVE 'first peep' short promo on all our PCAS internet platforms today, for Donald Fearney's next documentary. A documentary that, both Fearney and editor Jim Groom are working on and is in production right now! If you have had the opportunity to see Donald's Amicus : Vault of Horror Definitive history documentary dvd, you'll know that this Cushing / Hammer / Frankenstein documentary has the potential to be something very special indeed!

We can't wait for the complete documentary to be released. Donald has promised us updates and scoops on the progress of the production, and no doubt we will be launching a promotion competition too, when the time comes. Meanwhile, sit back and watch the trailer that John Hough, director of Twins of Evil recently watched and said, 'Tremendous! I want to see the whole thing now!!' ...And so do we John, sooo do we!

FOLLOW THE PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY AT THE WEBSITE OR THEIR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: PCASUK OPEN TO EVERYONE! PROMO TRAILER BELOW

WATCH : TRAILER FOR 60TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY

2016-02-02T11:59:00.001-08:00

This year the PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY enters it's 60th year. Founded by Gladys Fletcher in 1956 for Peter Cushing fans in the UK, it's presence on the internet and now at several social media sites, now makes it a truly international platform for fans and admirers, of the life and career of the late Peter Cushing. Updated daily with rare photographs, features, prize competitions, news and galleries. Regularly working with leading publications in providing visual materials, validating memorabilia and collectables at auction houses and assisting distributors like Warner Brothers and Hammer films, to give you the best prizes and the fastest news on any dvd and blu ray releases that feature the work of Peter Cushing.

Please watch our trailer, it's also available at our youtube site. If you can, share it and help make 2016, our best year ever! - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/trailer-appreciation-society-enters-its.html#sthash.ifD4W9Vk.dpuf

Please watch our Anniversary Promotion Trailer. You can find it at our PCAS YOUTUBE ACCOUNT too!

Limited Edition Lobby Cards for the promotion of the release of Hammer films, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell Blu Ray....also incorporating our PCAS

Competition and exclusive interview with Shane Briant!

The Horror Channel has also supported our Peter Cushing promotions in conjunction with the planned releases of a Peter Cushing dvds or blu releases.

We are very proud of our relationship with dvd and blu ray distributors, major and limited releases. Warner Brothers chose the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society as one of only three outlets to sponsor with exclusive copies of their very successful recent release of HORROR CLASSIC, as prizes in our PCAS competition!

So please take a look at our short trailer and join us at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, our WEBSITE or follow us on OUR PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY TUMBLR ACCOUNT or on TWITTER

ANTHONY VALENTINE 1939 -2015

2015-12-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Sad news to report British character actor Anthony Valentine has passed away… Best known for his the ruthless Toby Meres in Callan, the sinister Major Mohn in Colditz, and the title character in Raffles…. He also starred in the Hammer films The Dammed (1963), To The Devil A Daughter (1976) and the Hammer House Of Horror episode Carpathian Eagle

THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF AMICUS FILMS DVD : REVIEWED WITH TRAILER

2015-12-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

It seems that hardly a week goes by now, without some distributor releasing a 'remastered, special edition, uncut, limited edition, cleaned up, all singing and dancing' blu ray from the Hammer or Amicus film vaults. To be fair, most of these releases do come up with the goods, and many of the films now presented minus scratches, dust with censor snipped footage now 'slipped back in', do pass mustard. We'll leave the 'experts' to pick and chew over ratio discrepancies among themselves. Having said that, however good the main attraction feature is presented, quite a few releases fall at the fence on the strength of what was once, just a little extra, a good will gesture, thrown in to complete the package... a dusty stills gallery, a few yellowing pages from a press book, some vintage cinema posters or if you are really lucky all three. But, over the past few years, the target audience has become more than a little sophisticated and knows exactly what it wants and expects. Has some distributors have found to their cost, the success of a new release can fly or fall based on the strength of their EXTRAS.

Today, nothing less than a 40 minute documentary, including rare stills, behind the scenes footage and interviews will do. Twenty five minutes of 'talking heads', including 'a celebrity' or two..... neither of which appeared in the feature attraction, but do happen to have an opinion about it, doesn't really impress. And why should it? Not when there IS a veritable treasure of material out there to be used, if you know where to find it and how to incorporate it into an extras documentary.

In the field of 'extras features' to be found on blu rays over the past few years there are one or two familiar producers, authorities, names and faces that spring up with alarming regularity. What you probably don't know, is the one name, that for many, wouldn't even summon the faintest tinkle of a bell... and yet, for almost ten years he has produced an unfailing record of documentaries and extra features, that sometimes threaten to even over shadow the feature product itself!

It's common practice now in the pre release promotion for many fantasy genre releases, for distributors to promise the earth...and more! Photo galleries, rare behind the scenes footage, rare interviews with the actual cast and crew...and photographs. RARE ones. Many, Many RARE ones. Sadly, what we get is a twenty minute tedious rip off of talking heads, of people who may be critics, fans, authors or academics who might KNOW the subject matter very well, and once may have met Terence Fisher in a pub thirty years ago, along with five black and white press photographs, panned and edited in the style of Ken Burns, that appeared donkey's years ago in Famous Monsters and have been doing the rounds ever since, in every publication from the Radio Times to a dodgy mag, that thinks the way to a fans heart and wallet is by printing suspect pics of Hammer film starlets, long before they were stars, self consciously flashing their bits and tits, crouch fluff and often more.... tacky.

For quite sometime now this person, has produced an outstanding series of documentaries and extras for blu rays and dvd releases, and yet has remained quite happily for most people, under the radar. Unlike many, he doesn't crave the spot light himself, never appears in his documentaries, never visits or comments on forums and would never even consider doing an interview, believing his work speaks for itself.

For a small tight crowd of Hammer film fans in the UK, the name Donald Fearney was first connected with a series of very unique garden parties with actors and technicians from the film world. That may not sound anything particularly exciting or special, until you consider that the 'garden party' was held at the home of Hammer films 'Bray Studios'.... and the actors and technicians, some 60 to 80 in total, were the cream of British Fantasy Cinema from the Hammer and Amicus hey-days. Fearney hosted this event not once, but three times! Invitation by ticket only, fans could walk at their leisure around Down Place, take in the atmosphere, while chatting to Veronica Carlson, Ingrid Pitt, Val Guest, Don Taylor, Michael Ripper, Jimmy Sangster, Hazel Court, the Collinson twins, Hammer producer Roy Skeggs, Hammer films producer Anthony Hinds, Yvonne Monlaur, Carol Marsh and a host of others. Autographs...were free. This of course, was before the explosions of signing events that are all too common these days. But, they were something very special and never to be repeated.

If you purchased Final Cut's blu ray release of 'The Brides of Dracula', 'Captain Clegg/ Night Creatures', 'The Phantom of the Opera' or 'The Evil of Frankenstein'... you would have seen Donald's work. All extra content was produced by Don , with help from editor, Jim Groom. It's all of a very high standard. Don says his job is to 'tell the story'. From page to screen, how the film in your hands was produced, with help from narrators like Hammer actor, Edward de Souza and John Carson. The first thing that strikes you about Fearney's documentaries is the sheer volume of content he brings to the screen. It's quite staggering and I have yet to view any extras documentary, that matches his photo count, and the staggering total of vintage photographs he freely shares with the viewer to 'tell the story'.

Which bring me to Donald's latest release. This one is a stand alone feature. It was recently a boast, from a company promising the earth in the shape of their forth coming documentary, that in so many words...'for the first time in our documentary we'll be telling the behind the scenes story of these Hammer Dracula films.....' I guess they missed the 90 minute Fearney documentary entitled 'The Legend of Hammer Vampires', released in 2009 and features exclusive interviews with, Jimmy Sangster, Tudor Gates, John Forbes Robertson, Dave Prowse, Caroline Munro and John Cater who until that time, had never appeared before a camera to tell their story. Produced for a very modest £2,000 ...read that again, that's £2,000...it's a tight, info packed professionally produced feature, that wont have you reaching for the fast forward or skip button and again the content I have never seen bettered, at least that was until last week...

Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg's Amicus Vault Of Horrors, tells the full story..warts and all of the legendary partnership of Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg and the production company, Amicus films, who along with Hammer films dominated the horror / fantasy genre in cinemas during the 1960's and 70's. The Amicus reputation is probably more based on their series of portmanteau films such as, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror and it would have been an easier job for Fearney, in telling the Amicus story, had he just trod this well worn path. The fact that this documentary covers not only ALL 'Horror' Amicus output, but also their less successful ventures like ' The Mind of Mr. Soames', 'What Became of Jack and Jill?' and 'A Touch of Love'. This does not detract or make for boring viewing, quite the opposite. Fearney has left no stones unturned in finding material and 'the story behind the story' in the production of these films. The addition of the narration delivered by the fruity and rich tones of none other than Roy Hudd, is a real plus. Hudd's career as a performer, comedian and highly respected authority on the history of entertainment in the UK, makes him the perfect choice, for the colourful tale of Amicus and cinematic stories that often held a black cruel twist.

Amicus Vault of Horrors, begins with a very clever homage to Dr Terror's House of Horrors, that continues through out the documentary, using the turning of Dr Terror's Tarot Cards, as a cunning visual device in telling the story of the Amicus fortunes... and fate. One very interesting plus in the documentary is the footage of a never before seen interview with Milton Subotsky, this interview comes from our very own Peter Cushing Appreciation Society archives. A lot has been written about Subotsky down the years, much of it second and third hand, this is the first and only time, where he gets the opportunity to share his side of the story, and who better to help him do that, than Donald Fearey.

Written by Marcus Brooks

Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg's : Amicus Vault of Horrors DVD is a region 0 release and is available for purchase for £20.00 which includes post and package anywhere through the following paypal address: PEVANS113@BTINTERNET.COM

Please join us at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society

Facebook Fan Page: HERE

KONGA EXPLODES WITH MIGHTY FURY AND SPECTACLE

2015-10-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

CAST:

Michael Gough (Dr Charles Decker), Margo Johns (Margaret), Claire Gordon (Sandra Banks), Jess Conrad (Bob Kenton), Austin Trevor (Dean Foster), Jack Watson (Superintendent Brown), George Pastell (Professor Tagor)

PRODUCTION:

Director – John Lemont, Screenplay – Herman Cohen & Aben Kandel, Producers – Nathan Cohen & Stuart Levy, Photography – Desmond Dickinson, Music – Gerard Schurman, Makeup – Jack Craig, Art Direction – Wilfred Arnold. Production Company – Merton Park Studios.

SYNOPSIS:

Dr Charles Decker returns after having been missing for a year following a plane crash in Uganda. He has discovered a serum among the natives. Using Konga, a chimpanzee he has brought back with him, he determines to perfect his theories regarding the links between plant life and human tissue and the belief that plants can be commanded by human will. He injects Konga with the serum, which causes it to increase to the size of gorilla. He then uses Konga to go out and kill rivals and those who impede his research.

Konga is one of the films from producer Herman Cohen. Cohen had had some success with a host of teen revisions of classic horror monster movie themes in the late 1950s, beginning with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and including the likes of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) and Blood of Dracula (1957). (There is no truth to the rumour that persistently circulates that Konga was originally to have been titled I Was a Teenage Gorilla). From 1959 onwards, Herman Cohen relocated in England and produced another series of horror films there, beginning with Horrors of the Black Museum (1959).

The lynchpin of Herman Cohen’s English films was Michael Gough. Michael Gough had great success, delivering a wonderfully cruel and demented performance as the killer crime writer in Black Museum. Cohen again casts Michael Gough here and also would in The Black Zoo (1963) and Berserk (1967), all of which headlined Gough as a demented killer.

Konga is a thoroughly schlocky film. There is some wonderfully overwrought nonsense about witch doctors making plants subservient to their wills and scenes of Michael Gough walking through the conservatory throwing meat to his carnivorous plants. Gough fires the film up with a wonderfully arrogant performance. However, the rest of Konga is routine hackwork and it is only Michael Gough’s presence that enlivens it in any way. The ape suit is incredibly shabby – somehow in being enlarged from normal to human-size the ape manages to go from being a chimp into a gorilla. The terrible optically enlarged scenes with the chimpanzee rampaging have justly accorded Konga a Golden Turkey status.

Herman Cohen’s other genre films include:- Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Target Earth (1954), I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost (1959), Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), The Black Zoo (1963), A Study in Terror (1965), Berserk (1967), Trog (1970) and Craze (1973).

Artwork: Jamie Somerville

WIN TWILIGHT TIME SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN LIMITED EDITION BLU RAY FOR HALLOWEEN!

2015-10-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Here's ANOTHER chance to win yourself a copy of TWILIGHT TIMES LIMITED EDITION BLU RAY of SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN!

It's another of our QUICKY COMPETITIONS where you can WIN AND WIN AGAIN, But you have JUST FIVE HOURS, starting from NOW gmt to send it your answer!

GOOD LUCK!!

You can purchase YOUR copy of this REGION FREE BLU RAY from HERE OR HERE!

DETAILS: Kind of a horror movie, kind of an espionage film, and in some sense a piece of science fiction, Scream and Scream Again (1970) features turns by three icons of the horror genre: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. All are involved in a wild “plot” connecting Great Britain to some unnamed totalitarian state where torture, murder, and out-of-control “experiments” are the order of the day. Directed by Gordon Hessler from a screenplay by Christopher Wicking, with cinematography by the worthy John Coquillon.

Starring: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Judy Huxtable, Alfred Marks, Michael Gothard. Directed By: Gordon Hessler. Written By: Christopher Wicking. Score By: David Whitaker. Language: English.Video: 1080p High Definition / 1.85:1 / Color. Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HD MA. Subtitles: English SDH. Theatrical Release: 1970. Runtime: 94 Minutes. Rating: R (Some Violence and Brief Nudity) Region Code: Region Free (A/B/C)

Special Features: Isolated Score Track / Audio Commentary with Film Historians David Del Valle and Tim Sullivan / Gentleman Gothic: Gordon Hessler at AIP / An Interview with Uta Levka / Still Gallery / Radio Spot / Original Theatrical Trailer

Join Us At Our Facebook Fan Page : HERE

Here's ANOTHER chance to win yourself a copy of TWILIGHT TIMES LIMITED EDITION BLU RAY of SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN! - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/win-and-win-again-quicky-competition.html#sthash.teUMlRza.dpuf

WIN EUREKA'S THE SKULL BLU RAY / DVD DUAL RELEASE COMPETITION : REVIEW AND LOBBY GALLERY!

2015-10-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

A Chance to WIN one of THREE FREE Copies of the EUREKA Blu Ray / DVD Release of Amicus Films 'The Skull' PLUS Full Review and Lobby Card Gallery, ALL at the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society: Just Click HERE

The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page

Can Be found: HERE

SALEM'S LOT: THE KING'S STUFF OF NIGHTMARES AND WE ARE STILL LOSING SLEEP!

2015-10-16T17:45:00.001-07:00

Plot: Writer Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in Maine where he becomes interested in writing a novel set around the sinister old mansion that overlooks the town. The town is then struck by a series of killings where the victims are left drained of blood. Ben and Straker, the mysterious owner of a new antique store, become the immediate suspects, being the only strangers in town. When the dead start returning from the grave to drink the blood of the living, Ben and young monster movie fan Mark Petrie become the only ones willing to believe that they are facing vampires. Together they set out to trap and kill Barlow, the master vampire who inhabits the house on the hill.

Salem's Lot (1975) was Stephen King’s second novel and this production was the second-ever screen adaptation of King’s work, following Brian De Palma’s highly successful version of Carrie (1976). For a time, Salem's Lot dallied about as to whether it would be a theatrical film, with directorial names such as George A. Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead (1968), and Larry Cohen, director of It’s Alive (1974), associated with it. The 1979 vampire movie revival, which also included the likes of the lavish Frank Langella remake of Dracula (1979), Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) remake, the killer bat movie Nightwing (1979), the disco film Nocturna: Dracula’s Granddaughter (1979), the Dracula spoof Love at First Bite (1979) and the sex comedy Dracula Blows His Cool (1979), proved the impetus to allow Salem's Lot to get off the ground as a two-part TV mini-series. The directorial chair eventually went to Tobe Hooper – Salem’s Lot was Hooper’s first Hollywood mainstream production after the cult success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).

Stephen King is equivocal about Salem's Lot. That not withstanding, Salem's Lot is one of the most underrated of Stephen King adaptations. Certainly, you can understand where King is not too enthused as the mini-series makes a number of changes to the book. It cuts several characters, compacts a couple into one. There are a number of characters introduced and some of the plot strands are left uncompleted. Bonnie Bedelia’s return as a vampire is peculiarly placed at the end of the story, which ends up oddly unbalancing the climax. Most notable of the changes is in the character of the vampire Barlow. The mini-series turns him into a vampire clearly modeled on Max Shreck in Nosferatu (1922) and eliminates all his dialogue – here he has a single line, whereas in the book he has speeches that go on several pages explaining his origin. In fact, thanks to James Mason’s magnetic performance, the central villain of the show emerges as Straker, who is meant to be the vampire’s daytime aide, rather than Barlow – by comparison try and imagine a version of Dracula (1897) where Renfield is a more prominent character than Dracula.

Largely, Tobe Hooper prefers to not concern himself so much with the adaptation but expands outward on it, staging it as a series of set pieces. These set-pieces are intensely captivating – the gravedigger trapped in the grave he is digging as the vampire child rises from its coffin; Mark Kerwin watching in bed as Brad Savage eerily floats up in a cloud of mist tapping at his window; a body rising from a morgue table and its graphic dispatch with a crucifix made of wooden spatula; a gripping sequence with David Soul and Mark Kerwin in a cellar struggling to stake Barlow’s body as the sleeping brood of vampires wake up as the sun sets; and one gratuitous but blackly funny sequence with George Dzundza returning to surprise his adultering wife and her lover with a shotgun that entirely jolts one out of their seat. Certainly, Salem's Lot’s failing is a tendency to be written around these set-pieces – but what gripping set-pieces they are.

Everything else makes Salem's Lot a class production. Heartthrob David Soul, then at the height of his popularity with the TV series Starsky and Hutch (1975-9) is dull, but there is a fine supporting cast with everybody else creating well-rounded characters, especially the delightfully chirpy Bonnie Bedelia who makes a striking transformation from schoolteacher to seductive vampire. The best of these is James Mason, who appears to be having some of the best fun he had in his latter years. Mason’s dry but melodious, deliberately absent-minded intonation lends itself to a performance of startlingly calculated evil. Production designer Mort Rabinowitz also delivers a memorable haunted house set.

Salem's Lot is available in two forms. The most prevalent is the original 183 minute mini-series, which is still seen in that format on video and cable revival today, although is often cut by as much as 30 minutes running time. At the same time, there was also a truncated feature-length 112-minute theatrical release print that was shown in some countries.

Larry Cohen who, as mentioned above, was originally pegged as director, made a loosely related sequel A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987). The Stephen King novel was later remade as another two-part mini-series ‘Salem’s Lot (2004), featuring Rob Lowe in the David Soul role, Donald Sutherland as Straker and Rutger Hauer as Barlow. This is a different version of the story than the 1979 version and, though the lesser, is not uninteresting.

Edited and Design : Jamie Sumerville
Review: Richard Scheib

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LEE AND CUSHING SHINE IN SUPERB WARNER BLU RAY HORROR CLASSIC HAMMER FILMS PACKAGE : WIN YOURS HERE!

2015-10-10T19:19:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that our competition where you can win yourself one of two complete blu ray box sets of HORROR CLASSICS from Warner Brothers is still open, but closes on WEDNESDAY 14th OCT at midnight! The competition is running here on petercushingappreciationsociety.com, the peter cushing appreciation society facebook fan page and our website theblackboxclub.com. Also you can purchase your set or the individual releases from here at AMAZON

Here also is my review of the box set, should you want to check out it's spec first :) It's a rarity among vintage releases these days... Truly, it's faultless!

"All the films in this package, technically are flawless. All four movies have been remastered in 1080p and are presented in their original aspect ratios.THE MUMMY in 1.66:1, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave and Taste The Blood Of Dracula in 1.85:1. With each film you'll be very happy to discover there no print drop outs or blemishes anywhere to be seen, the colour and contrast is solid and each film has an amazing detail, like you would never have seen in any of these films previous releases.

The HORROR CLASSICS package also includes a complete and uncut version of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED. The notorious rape scene that was originally snipped from all U.S. versions, is now back. In line with visuals of the films in this package, I am pleased to say, the English audio tracks (DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0) are also perfect!

Each film also comes complete with additional French, and Spanish (both Castilian and Latin) language tracks with optional English SDH, French, Spanish (both Castilian and Latin) subtitles. In addition, both DRACULA films include German audio tracks and German subtitles. Each film comes with its original theatrical trailer.

The outstanding quality of this box set from it's presentation packaging to the over all quality of the films themselves, puts this release way above any previous releases of the titles and would be a fantastic addition to any collectors or Hammer fans film library! Well Done WARNER!"

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GET SET FOR HALLOWEEN : WIN YOUR COPY OF WARNER BROS HORROR CLASSICS VOL ONE BLU RAY BOX SET

2015-10-06T11:07:00.003-07:00

Warner Brothers HORROR CLASSICS VOL ONE is available to BUY NOW from AMAZON.COM CLICK HERE

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WIN WARNER BROTHERS HORROR CLASSICS BOX SET ON BLU RAY FOR HALLOWEEN

2015-10-05T12:02:00.003-07:00

JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST COMPETITION TOMORROW!

WARNER BROTHERS: HORROR CLASSICS CAN BE ORDERED NOW: HERE

Tomorrow, September 6th, Warner Bros release their very impressive HAMMER HORROR CLASSICS VOLUME ONE blu ray box set. FOUR Hammer classics, TWO starring Peter Cushing the fantastic 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' starring Veronica Carlson and Freddie Jones and 'The Mummy' starring both Cushing and the late Sir Christopher Lee. PLUS there's 'Taste The Blood of Dracula' with you know who as Dracula....AND 'Dracula Has Risen From the Grave'....again with Christopher Lee as Dracula supported by Veronica Carlson, Michael Ripper and Rupert Davies.

We are launching the FIRST of our PCAS HALLOWEEN COMPETITIONS TOMORROW where we have TWO COPIES OF HORROR CLASSICS UP FOR GRABS! Enter the competition either at petercushingappreciationsociety.com

or at our peter cushing apprecaition society facebook fan page or here at theblackboxclub.com.

The Warner Brother Horror Classics Box Set contains the following films:

THE MUMMY: Christopher Lee wraps on the moldy gauze bandages to become the tormented Kharis, an avenger stalking the hills of Victorian England to track down desecration of his beloved's Egyptian tomb. FIRST TIME AVAILABLE ON BLU RAY IN USA. Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Furneaux. Directed by Terence Fisher.

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED: Peter Cushing is Baron Frankenstein, whose experiment has gone dead wrong in Hammer Studios' fifth Frankenstein saga. Featuring Freddie Jones as the scientist's pitiable new creation. FIRST TIME RELEASED ON BLU RAY! Starring Peter Cushing, Simon Ward, Veronica Carlson and Freddie Jones. Directed by Terence Fisher.

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE: Playing Bram Stoker's infamous vampire for the third time, Christopher Lee goes fang-to-cross with the forces of good in this atmospheric, stylish film, in which each night brings the threat of death. FIRST TIME RELEASED ON BLU RAY! Starring Christopher Lee, Veronica Carlson, Rupert Davies, Barbara Ewing, Barry Andrews and Ewan Hooper. Directed by Freddie Francis.

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA: This entry in Hammer Studios' cycle of hemogobbling Victorian-era horror showcases why Hammer became the name in Gothic terror. Christopher Lee again dons his cape to become Evil Incarnate. FIRST TIME RELEASED ON BLU RAY! Starring Christopher Lee, Linda Hayden, Ralph Bates, Isla Blair, John Carson, Martin Jarvis, Anthony Higgins and Micheal Ripper. Directed by Peter Sasdy.

WARNER BROTHERS: HORROR CLASSICS CAN BE ORDERED NOW: HERE

All the films in this package, technically are flawless. All four movies have been remastered in 1080p and are presented in their original aspect ratios.THE MUMMY in 1.66:1, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave and Taste The Blood Of Dracula in 1.85:1. With each film you'll be very happy to discover there no print drop outs or blemishes anywhere to be seen, the colour and contrast is solid and each film has an amazing detail, like you would never have seen in any of these films previous releases.

As with, Warner's dvd release of TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, the blu-ray here restores over four minutes of footage that was originally removed from the U.S. theatrical print and the previous VHS release too. Where TASTE was originally rated GP, according it has now been given an R rating.

The reinstated scenes are as follows: The shots of Dracula's blood changing to powder in the prologue; there is also extended shots in the brothel scenes, including a snake charmer's dance shot and some topless nudity, the violent beating of Ralph Bate's, Lord Courtley is extended, and; Dracula's violent, snarling attack on a female victim. Also, all the major death scenes have some extended footage, including more glimpses of Christopher Lee's writhing Dracula!

The HORROR CLASSICS package also includes a complete and uncut version of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED. The notorious rape scene that was originally snipped from all U.S. versions, is now back. In line with visuals of the films in this package, I am pleased to say, the English audio tracks (DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0) are also perfect!

Each film also comes complete with additional French, and Spanish (both Castilian and Latin) language tracks with optional English SDH, French, Spanish (both Castilian and Latin) subtitles. In addition, both DRACULA films include German audio tracks and German subtitles. Each film comes with its original theatrical trailer.

The outstanding quality of this box set from it's presentation packaging to the over all quality of the films themselves, puts this release way above any previous releases of the titles and would be a fantastic addition to any collectors or Hammer fans film library! Well Done, Warner!

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COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN AND WIN HAMMER HORROR BOX SETS BLU RAYS DVDS AND GOODIES!

2015-10-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

BLU RAY BOX SETS, BLU RAYS, DVD's BOOKS and GOODIES..

ALL UP FOR GRABS!!

For those of you who still remember our HALLOWEEN 2014 COMPETITIONS PRIZES, you'll know we like to treat our friends and followers to only the best...and THIS YEAR will be no exception. Not only are we going to be launching our traditional HALLOWEEN COMPETITIONS, but we are also kicking off a whole raft of GIVEAWAY PRIZES and ONE HOUR COMPETITIONS on the weekends and weekdays, right across all our websites and pages, the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page, the website petercushingapprecaitionsociety.com AND here at theblackboxclub.com

It's going to be a GREAT OCTOBER and another FEARSOME HALLOWEEN with loads of fabulous PRIZES TO DIE FOR!! It's going to be a SCREAM! Look Out all this week for details!

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CHRISTOPHER LEE: DRACULA AND CASH

2015-10-02T15:58:00.001-07:00

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RAISING HAIR PROBLEMS! THE CHANGING FACE AND HAIR OF COUNT DRACULA : CHRISTOPHER LEE :

2015-09-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hair and actors, for men particularly, can be a sensitive subject. Thinning hairlines for some, signaled the beginning of a life tied to hiding their thinning locks, with endless spraying and careful combing or gluing down of hair pieces and relying on what were sometimes not the most convincing of toupees. Yul Brynner celebrated, his head minus hair, it was never a problem. Telly Savalas too, when he got fed up with combing-over the last strands, took to the shaver, and whipped, what he had been holding onto, off ...and never looked back. But for many actors, they believed not having a full head of hair, lessened your chances in casting....

For the majority of his film roles, from Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles onwards in 1959, Lee wore pieces, with the exception of Mycroft Holmes in 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' (1970) here Lee, for the only time, went completely 'sans toupee'! When this brave, but strange decision drew a little too much attention, Lee explained it away, as an act of dedication to playing the role and that he had simply shaved his head! But all these wigs he wore, also explains why he had such a weird hair line and bouffant top in 'Risen From the Grave'...and a really good wig in AD 1972 and Satanic Rites...and I think more than one in Dracula 58, in the first close up shot where he welcomes Harker, the hairpiece looks a lot smaller, than in the rest of the film...and in Darkness it had less widows peak. Taste the Blood was maybe too full and his own hair sometimes flopped over his ears, Scars of... was a good one!

With many actors, and 'the advancement of the years', very few with long careers, ever get away without some help from a weave or wig. Think Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, John Wayne, all piece wearers on and off screen. To be fair, I don't think this is only or just about vanity. In Christopher Lee's case, early hair thinning, caused a problem and throughout his career, he had to present himself as the person / actor that his audiences recognised. Without his hair, he wasn't the Christopher Lee the public knew. He was Christopher Lee without hair.

Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, were lucky to have 'some' there. In later years, Cushing would whip his into, what could be quite a complicated quiff, that must have been held together with a lot of hairspray... but at least he didn't have to sit for an extra hour while they glued the webbing and pinned a 'rug' down. I think when he first appeared without it, around 1974 and the time of the productions of Shatter, THE UNCANNY, , The New Avengers... he must have been reviled to be finished with it, having worn toupee and weaves since around 1967...

If you look at some of Cushing's jottings and requests on his scripts, you see his recommendations for particular hair pieces that he had worn in previous productions. Film production companies rarely stocked wigs, depending on the budget, make up men or hairdressers/ wig makers would make pieces to order or from stock, they would be hired. For many years, Cushing had his own personal hair piece, which he might wear in a film and in public. You might remember, when Cushing was pounced on by Michael Aspel for his appearance on This Is Your Life in 1990, he is heard to say, 'It's just as well, I wore my toupee today, isn't?'

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THE STORY BEHIND ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC SCENES IN HAMMER FILMS HISTORY!

2015-09-30T11:57:00.001-07:00

Ask any Hammer film fan, what would be their favourite top three scenes above all others in the Hammer catalog, and chances are the closing moments of Hammer's 1958, Dracula / Horror of Dracula. The build up to the scene, with Christopher Lee's Dracula being pursued by Cushing Van Helsing, is topped off with a dramatic 'face to face' battle, with Van Helsing finally cornering the Count and pushing him into the deadly sunlight, with an improvised crucifix, made from two crossed candle sticks. A move that wasn't in the script, but suggested by Peter Cushing. Here in Cushing's own words, is the story behind one the most iconic scenes in horror film history and for the first time, we present the scene that inflenced Cushing and how it looked in the Hammer films classic!

"In the original script Van Helsing was sort of like a salesman for crucifixes. He was pulling them out of every pocket. He was giving them to children to protect themselves, and putting them in coffins and so on. At the end of the film, he pulled out another one, so I asked if we couldn't do something exciting instead."

"I remembered seeing a film years ago called Berkeley Square in which Leslie Howard was thought of as being the Devil by this frightened little man who suddenly grabbed two big candlesticks and made a sign of the cross with them. I remembered that this had impressed me enormously. I suggested the run along the refectory table to jump onto the curtains and hit Dracula square in the

face with the sunlight."

The Scene From BERKELEY SQUARE

That Peter Cushing Remembered!

"He would, of course, be trapped. Then I could come along like a hero, grab the two candlesticks and make the cross with them in his face. They agreed. Originally the candelabra they had were the type with four candles on each base. You could tell what I was doing, but it didn't look like a cross, but they changed to the ones you see in the film. At least it wasn't another crucifix coming out of my pockets!"

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CINEMA ICON: SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE DIES

2015-06-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Taken From The UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page today

It is with extreme sadness that we write to tell you friends, that Sir Christopher Lee passed away on SUNDAY 7th June at 8.30am at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure. The family gave permission for the announcement of Lee passing to be released to press agencies this morning. Christopher Lee was 93. Our thoughts are with Sir Christopher's wife Gitte and daughter Christina.

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ 1922 - 2015. RIP.

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE: REVIEW AND GALLERY : HAMMER FILMS

2014-10-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

PRODUCTION:

Director – Don Sharp, Screenplay – John Elder [Anthony Hinds], Producer – Anthony Hinds, Photography – Alan Hume, Music – James Bernard, Special Effects – Les Bowie, Makeup – Roy Ashton, Production Design – Bernard Robinson. Production Company – Hammer films. UK 1962

CAST:

Edward de Souza (Gerald Harcourt), Jennifer Daniel (Marianne Harcourt), Clifford Evans (Professor Zimmer), Noel Willman (Dr Ravna), Barry Warren (Carl Ravna), Jacqui Wallis (Sabena), Isobel Black (Tania), Peter Maddern (Bruno), Noel Howlett (Father Xavier)

SYNOPSIS:

The early part of the century. Gerald Harcourt and his newlywed wife Marianne are passing through Bavaria on their honeymoon when their car breaks down. They seek refuge in the local village where the locals seem very superstitious and fearful. They are befriended by the wealthy and charming Dr Ravna who invites them to a masque at the Chateau Ravna. Gerald passes out drunk and when he wakes in the morning he finds that Marianne is missing. Both Ravna and the entire village deny any trace of her existence. The only person who will help him is the embittered Professor Zimmer and so Gerald bands together with him to rescue Marianne from being claimed by Ravna’s vampire coven.

COMMENTARY:
Kiss of the Vampire is one of the more interesting vampire films to come out of Hammer Films during the 1960s. It was made in the period after Hammer had had their huge initial international success with Dracula/The Horror of Dracula (1958). For several years after that, Christopher Lee refused to return to the part of Dracula, determining to establish himself as a serious actor first. The period saw The Brides of Dracula (1960), which tried to be a Dracula film without having Christopher Lee or any Dracula present.

Kiss of the Vampire interestingly enough had begun life as another tentative Christopher Lee-less Dracula film. Hammer then decided to make it an original film that would not be dependent on such a notable absence at its center and such connections were written out.

Kiss of the Vampire is an interesting effort. It has been aptly called a vampire version of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938) – a film that Hammer later directly remade in 1979. Producer Anthony Hinds sets up a fair and reasonable script, better than most of the later Dracula sequels. The focus is not so much the hardly interesting married couple but the two opposing figures of good and evil fighting on either side of the film – Noel Willman who plays the vampire with glacial stolidity but alas lacks any real charismatic presence, and Clifford Evans who plays the vampire hunter with a brooding harshness. Kiss of the Vampire also comes filled with several other intriguing performances packed around the sides, most notably from Barry Warren as Ravna’s very weird son and Barbara Steele-lookalike Isobel Black as the innkeeper’s vampirised daughter who one wishes had been given more screen time.

Don Sharp’s handling sometimes falters but he is aided considerably by the sumptuous production values of all early Hammer films, which buoy the film up, most notably during the beautifully staged masque sequence. [The masque scenes were later wittily parodied in Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers/Dance of the Vampires (1967)]. There is an unusual climax featuring hordes of attacking vampire bats (a sequence that had originally been intended as the climax of The Brides of Dracula), which falters slightly through merely adequate effects.

Kiss of the Vampire was the genre debut of Australian-born Don Sharp who later became a regular director within the British horror industry making the likes of Witchcraft (1964), Curse of the Fly (1965), the first two of the Christopher Lee Fu Manchu series The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) and The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), Hammer’s Rasputin The Mad Monk (1966), the period sf comedy Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon/Those Fantastic Flying Fools/Blast Off (1967), the psycho-thriller Dark Places (1972), the undead biker film Psychomania (1973) and the lost world film Secrets of the Phantom Caverns/What Waits Below (1984).

Kiss of the Vampire exists in two different versions, the original cinematic and video release. Kiss of Evil is a cut version for tv, which adds additional scenes taken from Hammer’s The Evil of Frankenstein (1964).

REVIEW:Richard Scheib Here

ARE YOU AS SHARP AS SHERLOCK???

2014-09-13T09:09:00.001-07:00

Just a week to get your entries in on a great competition happening over at PETERCUSHING.ORG.UK . TWO Sherlock Holmes 'Hound of the Baskervilles' competitions, and the first is up now. There are TEN copies of the SHOCK blu ray /dvd combo release up as prizes...thumbs up to Shock for a beautiful print, this is the first time this film has been available on blu ray...all you have to do in this first competition, is spot TEN differences in a vintage photograph from the classic Hammer film. So, just click the link, get your magnifying glasses out, send in your answers and bag yourself a prize!

OLIVER REED'S TOP FIVE FLICKS: CHOSEN BY KATE VOSS

2014-08-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

Oliver Reed was one of the most gifted and enigmatic actors of his generation. He delivered many exquisite on screen performances, and his off-screen exploits are also legendary. He was a burly drunkard, permanently scarred from his days of barroom brawling in his youth. Part of what made Reed so compelling though, was that for all his macho posturing and mania, he was a remarkably skilled actor, and possessed a true command of the English language. Although he appeared in over 70 feature films across a wide range of genres, Reed will forever hold a special place in the hearts of horror enthusiasts, especially for his appearances in the gothic horror films produced by Hammer Studios in the sixties. Here is a look at the five best horror films in which Reed appeared.

5. Burnt Offerings (1976)

The film stars Reed as Ben Rolf, who has recently moved into what would seem to be the idyllic home of his wife Marian (Karen Black). Things are fine at first, and then events become progressively stranger within the home. Appliances seem to turn themselves on and off.

Ben is overcome by seemingly random, violent outbursts. Based on the book by Robert Marasco, Burnt Offerings is cut from the same cloth as films like The Sentinel (1977) and The Amityville Horror (1979). It tells the story of a house which seems to have some sort of willpower unto itself, wherein the house, or some unnamed demonic presence which occupies the house, take possession of the home’s occupants.

Trailer Here

4. Paranoiac (1963)

Reed stars as Simon Ashby, a materialistic drunkard who, years after the supposed suicide of his older brother, is hell bent on killing his sister so that he will be the sole heir to his family’s fortune. This film is an all-too-frequently overlooked Psycho-derivative proto-slasher film, one that is all the more significant in the annals of that subgenre for its use of the “masked killer” trope. Part of what distinguishes this film’s use of the masked maniac motif is that the film is largely about false and mistaken identities. The mask in this film is not merely creepy or uncanny, but also conceptually congruous with its own theme.

TRAILER HERE

3. The Brood (1979)
The Brood is definitely the best film that David Cronenberg made in the seventies, and arguably the best film he ever made. Oliver Reed stars as Hal Raglan, an experimental psychotherapist who has developed a strange method which he calls “psychoplasmics,” in which patients channel their anger or pain, and manifest it bodily. In some cases it manifests as bruises and abrasions. In the case of patient Nola (Samantha Eggar), the trauma she suffers as a consequence of childhood abuse manifests in the form of deformed children who murder whomever Nola is mad at.

Nola births an entire brood of these children (hence the name of the film). It’s a richly imaginative work of ''Body Count' and features a particularly strong performance from Reed, who is more subdued here than in many other roles, but no less captivating. Although the film was initially met with negative reviews from high-profile critics like Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin, the film receives more of the appreciation it deserves now, can occasionally be seen as a direct television special, and is still popular in the midnight movie circuit.

TRAILER HERE

2. The Devils (1971)

Based on Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun , which was itself a dramatised account of the life ofUrban Grandier, who was a politically powerful and philandering priest, wrongfully accused of heresy and ultimately executed in the French province of Loudon in the 17th Century.

This is one of the most controversial films of all time, reviled for its graphic depictions of violence and also for blasphemous scenes which feature nuns engaging in orgies in a church and a particularly disturbing scene which eroticizes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Reed portrays Grandier, and delivers one of the most compelling performances of his career, well complemented by Vanessa Redgrave’s performance as the sexually repressed, deformed nun who reports Grandier to the police.

TRAILER HERE

1. Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
This was Oliver Reed’s first credited role in a feature length film, and it was also Hammer’s first werewolf film. The story takes place in Spain in the 1700’s. Reed plays Leon Corledo, the bastard son of a wrongfully imprisoned jailer’s daughter who was assaulted and impregnated in a dungeon by a strange, feral beggar.

It features some of the most frightening special effects makeup of any werewolf film, and Reed brings a real intensity of the role, given his exuberance as a performer and his intimidating physical stature.

MORE HERE!

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW: PETER CUSHING? COMPETITION.

2014-07-07T23:51:00.001-07:00

Over at our petercushing.org.uk website, there's a great opportunity to win one of three copies of Peveril Publishing's 'The Peter Cushing Scrapbook' in our 'So You Think You Know: Peter Cushing ? Competition. Just check out the TEN images with the mutiple choice questions, email us your answer and you could be a WINNER!

THE PRIZES:

There are THREE copies of Wayne Kinsey's fabulous 'The Peter Cushing Scrapbook' up for grabs as prizes. It's a beautiful soft back book, with a foreword by George Lucas and afterword by Janina Faye. What you get are 328 very nicely designed pages! A4 size landscape, with Full Colour throughout! What Wayne Kinsey has managed to show in his book, is what we all have always suspected.....Peter Cushing as perfectionist in his work and a talented artist in every sense of the word, with a great sense of humour ....and always a boy at heart!

The pages are lavishly illustrated with items from every part of Peter Cushing life and career, Annotated script pages, candid photographs, humorous cartoons drawn for his wife, Helen, personal correspondence and letters.Plus material from the estate of Roy Ward Baker, notations for photographs written by Peter Cushing, film props, an alternate script for Captain Clegg, and rare material from two unfilmed Hammer projects to have starred Cushing; Kali – Devil Bride of Dracula and The Savage Jackboot.

The prizes featured in this competition will be awarded to THREE lucky winners, who answer ALL TEN questions correctly and are pulled out of the 'hat of good fortune' containing all correctly answered entries!

Many thanks to both Wayne Kinsey and Steve Kirkham for making this competition possible

WHO CAN ENTER?:

As with ALL our PCASUK competitions, this competition is open to everyone! Even if you are not a subscriber to this website....

- See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/so-you-think-you-know-peter-cushing.html#sthash.2sEI1YqW.dpuf

PRIZES:
There are THREE copies of Wayne Kinsey's fabulous 'The Peter Cushing Scrapbook' up for grabs as prizes. It's a beautiful soft back book, with a foreword by George Lucas and afterword by Janina Faye. What you get are 328 very nicely designed pages! A4 size landscape, with Full Colour throughout!

Wayne Kinsey has managed to show in his book, what we have all, always suspected.....Peter Cushing as perfectionist in his work and a talented artist in every sense of the word, with a great sense of humour ....and always a boy at heart! The pages are lavishly illustrated with items from every part of Peter Cushing life and career, Annotated script pages, candid photographs, humorous cartoons drawn for his wife, Helen, personal correspondence and letters. Plus material from the estate of Roy Ward Baker, notations for photographs written by Peter Cushing, film props, an alternate script for Captain Clegg, and rare material from two unfilmed Hammer projects to have starred Cushing; Kali – Devil Bride of Dracula and The Savage Jackboot. A terrific book and an excellent prize.

WHO CAN ENTER?:
As with ALL our PCASUK competitions, this competition is open to everyone! Even if you are not a follower or subscriber to our websites or pages

DEADLINE:
ALL entries must be in by the closing date of this competition: 12 o'clock MID DAY GMT SUNDAY 13TH JULY 2014. The winners names will announced here , at petercushing.orguk and the pcasuk facebook page ONE HOUR LATER.

ENTER AT OUR PCASUK WEBSITE: HERE

AND OUR PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: HERE

THE PRIZES:

Many thanks to both Wayne Kinsey and Steve Kirkham for making this competition possible

WHO CAN ENTER?:

As with ALL our PCASUK competitions, this competition is open to everyone! Even if you are not a subscriber to this website....

- See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/so-you-think-you-know-peter-cushing.html#sthash.2sEI1YqW.dpuf

THE PRIZES:

Many thanks to both Wayne Kinsey and Steve Kirkham for making this competition possible

WHO CAN ENTER?:

As with ALL our PCASUK competitions, this competition is open to everyone! Even if you are not a subscriber to this website....

- See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/so-you-think-you-know-peter-cushing.html#sthash.2sEI1YqW.dpuf