Showing posts with label portmaneau films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label portmaneau films. Show all posts

Saturday 16 April 2016

PERTWEE AND THE CLOAK THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD



A rare publicity portrait of JON PERTWEE as Paul Henderson in the fourth story "The Cloak", from Amicus / AIP 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' (1971)


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Wednesday 6 January 2016

DR TERROR ON TRACK TO HORROR CHANNEL PREMIERE


Amicus fillms, DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough and Donald Sutherland, gets it's network premiere on HORROR CHANNEL Friday 29th Jan @ 21.00.

REPEATED: Thursday 4th February @ 21:45  Sunday 21st February @ 21:30
Monday 22nd February @ 21:00.


You can still order your copy of SCREEN BOUNDS 'Dr Terror's House of
Horrors' remastered LIMITED EDITION steel book : HERE 


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Monday 30 November 2015

DONALD FEARNEY'S AMICUS VAULT OF HORRORS : THE AMICUS STORY DVD REVIEWED


LOW RES TRAILER BELOW

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, of 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. What we DO get is 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 first 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 fan's heart and wallet is by printing suspect pics of Hammer film starlets, long before they were stars, self consciously flashing their bits and tits, 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 explosion of signing events, that are very common these days. But, Feaney's Bray Garden Parties were something very special and with the passing of many of the actors and inindividuals, will now never be repeated to such scale and access. 

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 'extras' 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. 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 stories. 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 associated on the success of 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 £15.00 which includes post and package anywhere through the following paypal address:  PEVANS113@BTINTERNET.COM



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Tuesday 14 April 2015

ALL SEVEN PARTS OF THE AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING SERIES : RIGHT HERE!


The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING : PART ONE. Begins with the forming of Amicus films with partners Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg and their Vulcan productions of 'It's Trad Dad' and 'City of the Dead' with Christopher Lee. Behind the scenes rare photographs, lobby stills, press and promotional material from Peter Cushing's first outings with Amicus 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors' and 'The Skull' get the series off to a great start.
YOUR DIRECT LINK TO PART ONE JUST CLICK HERE!
 


The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING : PART TWO covers the Peter Cushing Dr Who and the Dalek movies, Torture Garden and the weird and wonderful, 'Scream and Scream Again' with Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Bundles of rare colour pics and transparencies! JUST CLICK HERE!


The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING : PART THREE is a whole featured dedicated to the film 'The House That Dripped Blood'. Not only is it support by behind the scenes photographs of Peter Cushing and director Peter Duffel working on set, but also the films excellent supporting cast of Ingrid Pitt, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliot and Chloe Franks. The feature also details the story casting and a missed opportunity with Vincent Price. YOUR DIRECT LINK IS HERE 


The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING : PART FOUR A packed part four brings us the story behind the making of 'I Monster' starring Christopher Lee and Cushing, but also an interview with it's director Stephen Weeks. What happened to the planned promised 3D release, why did Subotsky changed the names of Jekyll and Hyde to Marlow and Blake.... and how did all this go down on set? Peter Cushing also made his award winning appearance as Arthur Grimsdyke at this time, in 'Tales From The Crypt'.
 
 We have an interview with Cushing explaining how both he and make up artist Roy Ashton came up with the 'risen' Grimsdyke make up. As usual lots of behind the scenes photographs from the sets of both films and the inclusion of a Classic Cushing Moment. RIGHT HERE



The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING: PART FIVE 'Wandering Hands and Mannequnis' just about covers the themes of the two classic Cushing Amicus films covered in depth in  our fifth feature. Cushing discusses his character of Mr Smith in ASYLUM, his next film for Amicus starring alongside his long time friend Barry Morse. Some great rarely seen press pics from this Robert Bloch classic too. After the success of Tales from The Crypt, Amicus, were only too anxious to continue their association with Cushing; happily, the feeling was mutual, which brings us to the next Cushing / Amicus feature, 'And Now, The Screaming Starts!'. A bank of great stills with from Amicus films only period ghost story. Both films provide us with another full feature! YOU'LL FIND IT RIGHT: HERE 


The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING : PART SIX 'Madness and Temptation! The 'Madness and Temptation of the title refers to the core of the two films that fill part six to the brim! The Cushing Price film 'MADHOUSE' and it's wonderful DR DEATH is quite crackers and the 'temptation' that lay in wait for any poor customer who strolled into Peter Cushing's antique shop, 'Temptations Limited' in 'BEYOND THE GRAVE' is the cherry on a rich and beautifully baked cake! Both films boast excellent casts and performances, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, Robert Quarry, David Warner, Ian Carmichael, Linda Hayden, Ian Bannan, Diana Dors, Angela Pleasence and many more. Lashings of stills as usual, even some behind the scenes snaps on the set at Pyeford House during the shooting of 'MADHOUSE'. JUST CLICK HERE



The AMICUS films of PETER CUSHING ; PART SEVEN 'Bowing Out With A Wolf And A Mole' And so with part seven we come to the end of the series. Lots on offer here as we look into the background of Peter Cushing's last Amicus films... 'THE BEAST MUST DIE' and 'AT THE EARTH'S CORE'. Both films had some interesting choices in casting and some on the wish list, who didn't make it, provide pause for thought on how the finished features may have benefited from an injection of some extra buzz factor, that they may have provided. There's much to see in the way of images, montages of Caroline Munro from 'Earth's Core', some very interesting recent pics of the MOLE digging machine that was also featured in the film. Doug McClure looking great and it's hats off to Amicus for bringing us cinema first, 'WEREWOLF BREAK'! 

YOU'LL FIND THIS FINAL PART OF THE SERIES: HERE

The films that Peter Cushing made together with the Amicus producers Max J Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky in the 1960s and 70s stand as some of the most engaging and appealing British genre films ever made.  For Peter Cushing, they would represent some of his most interesting character work, too. On that level, for sure, it proved to be a match made in heaven.

All seven features in this series were written by Troy Howarth.
All photographic, layout and design by Marcus Brooks.


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Friday 14 November 2014

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO, OH! AMICUS VAULT OF HORROR AND DR TERRORS PROMOTION


'Things That Make You Go, Oh!'...Never let it be said that Amicus films, didn't take full advantage of the opportunity to promote their films, within..their own films! Here's Michael Craig as Maitland..there's that Amicus name again...in the story 'Bargain In Death' from 'Vault of Horror' (1973), reading the Bantam paperback tie-in novel of the Amicus release, Tales from the Crypt from the previous year!


Though this wasn't the first time Amicus did some 'product placement' least we forget the 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors' poster.. actually featured IN in Amicus film, 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors'! Not the poster art work that was used to promote the film..but near enough. Director Freddie Francis is credited, as is producer Subotsky.... the cast surname of Schreck is a reference to Peter Cushing's character in the film, the sinister Dr Schreck. 
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