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Bloody Hell: British Horror Films: Part Two
July 30 through August 22
Straight from its June opening, Part
Two of this series presents even more
chillinglyentertaining British horror
films, produced largely by UK's
Hammer Films-the studio that set the
standard for delivering the right mix
of fright and fun to audiences.
Reworking endless variations on
the Dracula and Frankenstein
myths, typically starring workhorses
Christopher Lee and/or
Peter Cushing, Hammer became
the name most trusted for a gory
good time. Including classic Hammer
titles alongside several cult favorites
from fellow-traveler Tigon and Amicus
studios, the films were produced in
the late 1950s to the early 1970s and
run the gamut from straight-ahead
gothic thriller to psychotronic social
allegory. When art films meet
exploitation cinema, the results are
doubly scary!
Special thanks to Jake Perlin, assistant programmer,
BAM Cinematek. Additional film
notes courtesy Jeff Cashvan/filmfancy.com &
Chris Wood/britishhorrorfilms.co.uk.
THE REVENGE OF
FRANKENSTEIN
Incognito as Dr. Stein (crafty, eh?),
Peter Cushing's mad doctor kindly
treats the poor, even as he collects
their parts for his next experiment.
Things don't go according to plan and
the creature, initially a reasonably
good-looking bloke, degenerates into
a hideous cannibal fiend. A brilliant
film in its own right, not just a poorrelation's
sequel.
Directed by Terence Fisher; written by
Jimmy Sangster; produced by Anthony
Hinds. UK, 1958, color, 94
min.
THE CREEPING FLESH
Scientist Peter Cushing's discovery
of an ancient skeleton may just be
the incarnation of Evil that can
provide an antidote to man's worst
instincts. But Christopher Lee,
warden of the local madhouse, has
other ideas. Word to the wise: don't
inject your daughter with blood
sucked out of ancient corpses. "The
best 'something-evil-shows-up-in-
England-in-a-box' film ever
made!"-George Murer.
Directed by Freddie Francis; written by
Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold;
produced by Michael P. Redbourne. UK,
1973, color, 94 min.
CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER
The young maidens of an English
village are hunted by a mysterious
youth-sucking vampire, who leaves
them withered hags. Enter swordsman
Captain Kronos and his hunchback
sidekick Prof. Hieronymous Grost. A
bloodsucking/swashbuckling genre
mishmash for Hammer.
Directed/written/produced by Brian
Clemens; co-produced by Albert Fennell.
UK, 1972, color, 91 min.
VAMPYRES
Ravishing, dangerous, lesbian and
undead! These vampire lovers cruise
the English roadsides, luring men
back to their secluded mansion with
the promise of sexual pleasures, only
to have them become the main course
in an orgiastic blood feast. A deserved
cult classic!
Directed by José Ramón Larraz; written
by D. Daubeney and Thomas Owen;
produced by Brian-Smedley Aston. UK,
1974, color, 84 min.
THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY
New 35mm Print!
One of Hammer Studio's most notorious
and Sadesque horror movies: in
1820s India, British Captain Guy Rolfe
battles the Thuggee cult's thrill-killing
Kali worshippers, including sexily
under-their-spell Marie Devereux. Cut
in England, but a cult sensation on the
continent. In beautiful wide-screen
"strangloscope!"
Directed by Terence Fisher; written by
David Zelag Goodman; produced by
Michael Carreras, Anthony Hinds,
Kenneth Hyman and Anthony Nelson
Keys. UK, 1959, b&w, 81 min.
THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES
Exactly what you'd expect from a coproduction
between Hammer and
Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers Studios:
kung-fu vampires! Trying his fortunes
in the Far East this time, Dracula has
possessed a Chinese monk and
commands an army of gold-masked
undeads who terrorize a small village.
It's up to the tireless Van Helsing (the
equally tireless Peter Cushing) and his
kung-fu expert friends to battle evil.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker;
written/produced by Don Houghton; coproduced
by Vee King Shaw. UK/Hong
Kong, 1974, color, 83 min.
CORRUPTION
Surgeon Peter Cushing and his fiancŽe
attend a party which ends in a bad
accident involving her face and a spotlight.
Luckily, Cushing has been experimenting
with ancient Egyptian plastic
surgery techniques-they just require
murdering beautiful young women for
their pituitary glands. "Absolutely,
completely and utterly, barking mad.
Words can not do this film justice-it
really has to be seen to be believed."-
www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk
Directed by Robert Hartford-Davis;
written by Derek Ford and Donald Ford;
produced by Peter Newbrook. UK, 1967,
color, 91 min
SCREAM OF FEAR
(aka TASTE OF FEAR)
Friday, August 20, 11:00; Saturday, August 21, 5:15
Rife with psychological chills and
thrills, SCREAM OF FEAR is Hammer
Studio's answer to PSYCHO.
Wheelchair-bound Susan Strasberg
travels to her father's villa, only to be
told by stepmother Ann Todd that her
father is away. Then why does she keep
seeing her dad's dead body everywhere?
Well-orchestrated twists and
shocks steer the film away from clichŽs
and build true terror. "A tour de force
of brooding, genuinely unsettling
atmosphere."-Time Out (London)
Directed by Seth Holt; written/produced
by Jimmy Sangster. UK, 1960, b&w, 81 min.
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