Showing posts with label grisbane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grisbane. Show all posts

Tuesday 30 May 2017

#MONSTERMONDAY: THE MAKING OF THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS PART TWO


MICHAEL ARMSTRONG'S disappointment at the cuts in the final cut of The House Of The Long Shadows was matched by the reaction of the stars of the film. Vincent Price, in particular, was so upset that his role had been reduced by the cuts- especially in the music room scene- that he denounced the film openly and refused to aid in it's promotion or have anything more to do with the film. 


Michael Armstrong recalls: ' I got a call from Cannon just before the film was due to open in the UK, telling me about Vinnie's reaction and asking me if I could try and change his mind. Apparently, he had refused to speak to anyone at the Cannon offices. He was staying in London at the time, because his wife Coral Brown was at that time receiving specialist treatment for cancer here. I called him and tried to persuade him to talk to Cannon, but he was adamant. He was so angry and so very upset because he'd loved doing the film and thought it was some of his best comedy work and then to see so much of his performance cut...but what could I say?'


Armstrong, continued 'I was totally in agreement with him and, as I pointed out- the cuts to his dialogue were equally the cuts to my dialogue. We were on the phone over an hour and a half. By the end, we were commiserating with each other. He never did speak to anyone at Cannon, although he and I continued to stay in touch right up to his death.'











ABOVE: PETER CUSHING PROMOTES THE HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS ON THE UK BBC BREAKFAST TIME PROGRAMME 1983. CLIP QUALITY FLUCTUATES BUT IT'S WORTH IT!

HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS opened in London in 1983 at the Carlton Cinema in the Haymarket to mixed reviews and a disastrous box office. Cannon's decision to sell the film as a straightforward horror film had only resulted in confusing both the critics and the audiences who, without having the benefit of knowing beforehand that it was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek lampoon of Gothic melodrama, mistook all the wit and pastiche jokes as an attempt at the real thing. Those critics, however, who did realise the films intent, raved- in particular over the screenplay and the stars. Similarly the film went on to win prizes for best film, best screenplay and best actors (jointly for the four stars) at Avoriaz, Sitges, Paris and other genre festivals around the world.









DISMAYED AT THE London box office results, Armstrong persuaded Cannon to let him experiment with a different approach for the regions in the UK and sell the film as the comedy it was, rather than the horror film that it wasn't. To test this the East Anglia release was launched with a specially organised gala night audience in Stowmarket being issued with souvenir programmes quoting those reviews recognising the film as a comedy. The result was a packed house loving the film, laughing and applauding throughout. As Armstrong points out, 'It was exactly the same audience reaction we'd seen at Avoriaz and in Paris where it had won the audience prize for Best Film at the Paris Film Festival'.


 THE BRITISH QUAD CINEMA POSTER FOR 'HOUSE 
OF THE LONG SHADOWS' WAS SCALED DOWN FOR THE
CANNON VIDEO RELEASE

DESPITE THIS EVIDENCE of the audience reaction, it was too late to change anything. Cannon's original marketing plan remained and the film continued to fail at the UK box office. With a far more tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign the film fared better upon it's American and international release, once more mainly garnering good reviews. Its excellent entry into the video market, however, was cut short by the collapse of Cannon. as part of the company's product sell off, the film was included in a package required by MGM and along with so much of the Cannon product was lost in the archives.




ARMSTRONG SAW THE PROBLEM, 'The problem with parody is that unless you know what is being parodied, you miss the joke and I think that's where certain people missed out on the film. It's a pity because The House Of The Long Shadows is so full of jokes for the movie buff- almost every single line of the dialogue has a reference point to some movie or another - I defy anyone to get them all in a single screening. Apart from the movie references, though, The House Of The Long Shadows exits on several levels, which is why it really needs more than one viewing to appreciate it fully. It was also made with a great love for the film it so affectionately lampoons and as a swan song to the horror careers of the four. Just take a look at their dialogue to see what I mean. I firmly believe when it does finally emerge on DVD, it will finally be recognised, not only as one of Pete Walker's best and most complex films, but as a fitting tribute and elegy to a bygone era'


BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE . . 'The House Of The Long Shadows' until 2013 was still in limbo, regarding a legitimate release. Maybe Peter Cushing Centenary was an opportunity too good to miss? Whatever it was, the powers that be, finally gave us what we had been waiting for. 'The House of the Long Shadows' arrived in not only ONE blu ray package, but quite a few! The region FREE blu ray was followed by a German blu ray, then Spanish...and many more there after. The news is good, seems someone turned on the lights at the home of the Grisbanes, and now, the once foggy, under-lit scenes are presented, just as they should have been, when we spent our hard earned cash for groggy dvd copies. The picture quality is great, audio too! The Horror Channel has screened the movie several times over the past five years too! Seems, just like Roderick in the story, if WAIT long enough...you'll get what you want!



HOW WE REPORTED ON THE US REGION BLU RAY RELEASE



PART ONE OF THE MAKING OF THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS 
CAN BE FOUND :  HERE!


Monday 15 May 2017

#MONSTERMONDAY: BROTHERLY LOVE . . . AND HATE!


#MONSTERMONDAY: SPOILER!! This just postage at our facebook fan page: The House of Long Shadows met with mixed reviews when released back in 1983. One of the criticisms aim at it was, it was 'predictable'! It might have been many things, but I could see that personally...AND neither did I expect the hysterical barbs, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee's characters the at each other in the closing moments of the film! Wonderful! BTW, PART TWO of the Making of the House of the Long Shadows hits our website TOMORROW - Marcus


SPOILER: ABOVE THE FINAL SCENE FROM 'HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS'



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Monday 5 December 2016

FAMILY FEUD : RODERICK THE BAD??


#MONSTERMONDAY: RODERICK GRISBANE... Monster or Victim?? It can get pretty lonely locked up in a attic room for a few decades. Enough to drive any man crazy! But is that any excuse to go on the rampage??? YOU decide! 


DESPITE WHAT YOU  may have heard or read from others, House of the Long Shadows, is a keeper. Plagued by the opinions of over optimist 'fans', the film is, what is. A one off gathering of four actors, now past the top of their game, but giving their all. For those expecting table leaping, fast chases and gore galore, you need to take a long look at the budget and the collective ages of the veterans at work here. What you do get is the reworking of an old tale. It's the old dark house, seven keys to baldpate... starring the very best. All four, Lee, Cushing, Price and Carradine, get their moment, their entrance and some pithy dialogue. Personally for me, it was the crowning cherry on the top of Cushing career cake! If you were expecting more, you've forgotten the roots from where our midnight horrors sprang from.. tight budgets, rushed schedules and cranked up drama... producers parameters set in stone and from such materials our beloved fantasy classics were hued... so get over yourself.



A FAN BOY I MAYBE, but my life would have been 102 mins the poorer had House of the Long Shadows not been produced, and for just this one time, bring my four fav terror theps together . . . and for that one reason alone, it puts the gripes in... the shadows!


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Monday 14 March 2016

WODERICK WODERICK WODERICK . . THE HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS

A Classic sequence from The House Of The Long Shadows (1983) with Christopher Lee , Vincent Price and Peter all round the table together… With the family Grisbane, all collectively holding their breath, as Peter Cushing's drunken Sebastian Grisbane splutters out...."Woderick Woderick, Woderick' …


TRIVIA : Not many know that collectively... Peter Cushing ,along with Vincent Price, Christopher Lee & John Carradine won the Caixa de Catalunya Award for Best Actor for their work in House of the Long Shadows...


Friday 8 January 2016

FOR THE FIRST TIME: HD LONG SHADOWS UK TRAILER


'The House of the Long Shadows' (1983) Trailer HD: For the FIRST and only time, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee appear and star TOGETHER on the big screen! And for the first time, we present the UK cinema trailer here.



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