Category: Uncategorized

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980)

Hammer House of Horror had only one season, but was consistently well written, cast, and produced. Stars included Jon Finch (Frenzy), Denholm Elliott (A Room With a View, Raiders of the Lost Ark), Brian Cox (Red, Penny Dreadful), Peter Cushing (Star Wars), Diana Dors (The Unholy Wife), Rosalyn Landor (Star Trek: the Next Generation), Barbara Kellerman (The Oblong Box) Prunella Gee (Never Say Never Again), Rachel Davies (Midsomer Murders).

Witching Time

Jon Finch & Prunella Gee in S1 E1: Witching Time

The first offering, Witching Time is the story of a love triangle that has an unwelcome interloper from the past who livens up a boring bit of cuckoldry.

The Thirteenth Reunion

Julia Foster in S1 E2: The Thirteenth Reunion

A reporter that writes a women’s column is burning to move into hard news. She talks her editor into approving her investigation of a medical facility and gets much more than she bargains for in this eerie feast of a story.

Rude Awakening

Denholm Elliott & Lucy Gutteridge in S1 E3: Rude Awakening

A Real Estate Broker has fantasies about his assistant, and after a time is unable to divide them from reality. Denholm Elliott shines in this fair warning to philanderers everywhere.

Growing Pains

Barbara Kellerman in S1 E4: Growing Pains

Terence & Laurie Morton adopt a boy after the death of their son who managed to poison himself in his father’s lab. Scientific experimentation leads to a horrifying haunting in this solid entry in the series. The adopted James seems like a normal boy, but once he is moves in, strange things start occurring.

The House That Bled to Death

Nicholas Ball & Rachel Davies in S1 E5: The House That Bled to Death

A family moves into a house where a horrific murder was committed. Strange things begin happening not long after, but the best laid plans often go awry–don’t they?

Charlie Boy

Marius Goring & Angela Lawson in S1 E6: Charlie Boy

A carved African fetish can’t actually kill, or can it? Superstition often clouds common sense, but what happens when common sense isn’t enough?

The Silent Scream

Peter Cushing & Brian Cox in S1 E7: The Silent Scream

Peter Cushing, as a pet store proprietor who manipulates an ex-con into an experiment about confinement without bars. It turns out that he is not so much a pet store own as he is a mad scientist. Excellent performances all around in this eerie episode.

Children of the Moon

Diana Dors in S1 E8: Children of the Moon

Lost in the woods, a couple come upon an old mansion. They are invited in only to find not things are not as they seem. The children have a howling good time.

Carpathian Eagle

Anthony Valentine & Suzanne Daniels in S1 E9: Carpathian Eagle

A serial killer is cutting men’s hearts out. A police detective is working the case and finds that a long dead 300 year old Carpathian countess who murdered her lovers took their hearts. As he investigates, he get input from a writer that is writing about the Countess. Could it be a dead women doing the killing or a copycat?

Guardian of the Abyss

Rosalyn Landor, Ray Lonnen & Sharon Fussey in S1 E10: Guardian of the Abyss

A woman with an antiques dealer buy a box of junk at an auction and in it finds a antique mirror that turns out to be a scrying glass brings trouble to the antiques dealer as it brings him into contact with a woman that has escaped Satanists and the deranged hypnotist who leads them.

Visitor From the Grave

Simon MacCorkindale & Kathryn Leigh Scott in S1 E11: Visitor From the Grave

The Two Faces of Evil

Penny is alone at home when an intruder violently breaks into her house. He attacks her in attempt to rape her. Terrified she shoots and kills him. Her husband returns home and his wife is hysterical. Once he calms her down, he tells her the the man is someone he know, a gambler. He admits that he owed the man money. He convinces his wife that they should bury him in the woods, she becomes hysterical again and we find that she has been institutionalized before. Once the dead man is buried, she begins to see him everywhere. She even sees the car that he drove that her husband had disposed of in the lake. Is she insane or being haunted?

Gary Raymond & Anna Calder-Marshall in S1 E12: The Two Faces of Evil

The Mark of Satan

A family picks up a hitchhiker dressed in the same yellow raincoat and hat that Janet just saw on a scarecrow in a field they were passing. It is pouring rain and Martin almost runs over the hitchhiker. Martin offer him a ride and once in the car, the man attacks Martin causing a horrible crash. Janet awakes in hospital to find her husband recovering from serious injuries, but when he gets him home, he just isn’t himself.

Peter McEnery in S1 E13 The Mark of Satan

Working in a morgue as an assistant, Edwyn Rord attends the body of a man that died trying to drill a hole into his head because he believed he was infected by evil. Edwyn begins to believe that he has become infected by the evil virus and becomes obsessed with the number 9. His paranoia expands at every turn.

Bill Skarsgard & Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu (2024)

Directed by Robert Eggers

Screenplay by Robert Eggers

Henrik Galeen: inspired by his screenplay for Nosferatu (1922)

Bram Stoker: inspired by his novel, Dracula (1897)

Music by Robin Carolan

Cinematography by Jarin Blaschke

Edited by Louise Ford

Production Design by Craig Lathrop

CAST: Lily-Rose Depp (Ellen Hutter), Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter), Bill Skarsgard (Count Orlock), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Friedrich Harding), Willem Dafoe (Professor Albin Eberhardt von Franz), Emma Corrin (Anna Harding), Ralph Ineson (Wilhelm Sievers), Simon McBurney (Knock)

Nosferatu’s opening scene swiftly establishes a bond between Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and the unearthly. There is a fervid sexuality in her reactions within her fit of delirium that goes beyond mere dreams. It hits notes that are played throughout this remake of the symphony of horror. Although the credits refer to the 1922 classic as an “inspiration,” it was also a road map for the script. This does not detract from the power of Egger’s creation, because all of the elements are blown up into perfect visuals, from the set decoration of Beatrice Brentnerova to the costume design by Linda Muir and David Schwed. It is a well thought out and lavish production that moves in contrasting scenes of shadow and light.

Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu (2024)

The cast also brings this thrice retold tale to life, endowing their characters with believable passion and fear. Lily-Rose Depp portrays Ellen as an innocent who has been ravaged in her soul. She is plagued by portent dreams that terrify her and recalls a pleasure that she knows is profane and thus, forbidden. The more that she fights it, the stronger becomes the demon’s hold and sway on her. Her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), accepts an assignment to travel to close a deal with a wealthy Count. Ellen begs him not to take the assignment. Going against her wishes, he soon finds that his wife’s fears were not unfounded. He quickly falls under the thrall of the demonic Count Orlok. Much to his horror, he realizes that Orlok is going after his wife.

Nicholas Hoult in Nosferatu (2024)

Hoult’s Thomas is confident and determined until he wakes up to what is actually going on around him. His sudden panic is palpable. This is Hoult’s third horror outing. The first two were both horror/comedies, Warm Bodies (2013) and the recent Renfield (2023). His Thomas is perfectly realized and echoes the original film’s in its economy.

Bill Skarsgard as Count Orlock in Nosferatu (2024)

Bill Skarsgard is a formidable Orlock, frightening in both light and shadow as he pulls his prey into his web. Skarsgard worked very hard on the sound of his voice for the character, even going to an opera coach to lower his voice one full octave. This combined with his acting skill–and the make–up and prosthetics created the most terrifying Count Orlok on film.

Emma Corrin as Anna Harding in Nosferatu (2024)

As friends of the Hutters, Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) and Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are perfect as a staid couple of some means, and take Ellen in for the time that Thomas will be gone.

Emma Corrin & Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu (2024)

Professor Albin Eberhardt von Franz (Willem Dafoe), is a perfect match of character and actor. Every moment he is in the film is heightened.

Willem Dafoe as Professor Albin Eberhardt von Franz in Nosferatu (2024)

Easily the most accomplished remake of the original silent film. Powerfully directed, acted and produced.

Facts, Rumors & Hearsay

The film is the third remake of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922). The first two remakes are: Nosferatu the Vampire (1979) and Nosferatu (2023).

The castle scenes were filmed in the Pernstejn Castle in the Czech Republic, the same location that was used for Werne Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampire (1979)

To get the film’s eerie moonlit look for the night scenes, filming was done during the day and in post production the film was run through a computer to remove the red and yellow color spectra.

The film was first announced in 2015.

Meanwhile, at Universal, where their monsters had built an empire, the last of their famous monsters was unleashed in 1954. The Creature From the Black Lagoon spawned two sequels and remains popular to this day, but a change was on the horizon.

It was even double billed with another 3D film, It Came From Outer Space (1954)

That change came in the form of a flying saucer. Even the various Universal Abbott & Costello meet the monster vehicles couldn’t hold back the change that was landing in theaters. In fact, the comedy duo joined in with Abbott & Costello Go to Mars (1953).

Bud Abbott & Lou Costello with Mari Blanchard for Abbott & Costello Go to Mars (1953)

In 1951 both RKO & 20th Century Fox released science fiction films. RKO horrified movie goers with, The Thing From Another World, and Fox scored with, The Day the Earth Stood Still. In spite of the Thing’s resembling a jacked-up Frankenstein’s Monster, this was an invader from outer space.

The Thing From Another World (1951)

It is interesting to note the two different approaches these films took. The Thing From Another World reflected a hostile alien that was bent on destruction, while The Day the Earth Stood Still presented an alien that was on Earth to attempt to reason with the planet’s leaders about the dangers of atomic weapons. Their Federation of Planets is warning the people of Earth to find their way to peace or suffer the consequences.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Universal’s first entry in looking skyward was 1953’s It Came From Outer Space, (see Part 4 of this series of posts) based on a story by Ray Bradbury, it took a very different turn on the alien question. Richard Carlson plays John Putnam, an amateur astronomer who discovers an alien spacecraft after watching what he thought was a very large meteor, as he and his girl friend (Barbara Rush) were struggling toward a first kiss.

Lobby Card, It Came From Outer Space (1953)

Typical 50’s scientist, pipe smoking and awkward with woman, he immediately contacts a friend with a helicopter to to take them to the site of the meteor landing. Going down into the smoking crater by himself–he sees an alien ship, but when the ship door closes, it causes a rock slide that he narrowly escapes.

It Came From Outer Space (1953)

Against the advice of his girl and his pilot friend, he tells the arriving Sheriff that it was not a meteor, but a space ship. Of course, no one believes him. Even his girl friend seems to have doubts. It looks like an invasion for sure, but it is only an unscheduled crash landing and the aliens need help to get back in the sky. They seem to have no interest in the planet Earth at all.

This Island Earth (1955)

With This Island, Earth, Universal takes an entirely different approach to the alien question. Though it was science fiction, some of the aliens could have joined the parade of Universal monsters.

This film is important because it’s not an invasion at all, but a group of alien’s asking for Earth’s assistance in repairing the protective shield around their planet which is under attack from a hostile race from another planet.

This Island Earth (1955) Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Jeff Morrow & Regis Parton

The cast is led by Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, (who would also the appear in the 1956 Universal production of The Creature Walks Among Us), and Faith Domergue (Cult of the Cobra also Universal 1955) rounds off the cast and is a hit with the aliens.

20 Million Miles to Earth is an entertaining spectacle brought to life largely through Ray Harryhausen’s animated special effects.

_{William Hopper & Joan Taylor in 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) Lobby Card & Promotional Art}

William Hopper who plays Col. Robert Calder is best know for his role of Paul Drake in long running TV show, Perry Mason. Joan Taylor was in a number of westerns and guest starred in TV shows throughout the 1950’s & 60’s.

This Island Earth

It took 2 years altogether to complete the special effects – which were very expensive for the time.

20 Million Miles to Earth

The film was originally going to be set in Chicago, with the rocket crashing in Lake Michigan. Before submitting the idea, Ray Harryhausen decided to change the setting to Italy at the last minute because he’d always wanted to travel there.

It Came From Outer Space

The mutant costume originally had legs that matched the upper body. Making the legs look and work properly was so difficult, and they were pressed by studio deadlines they decided to have the mutant wear a pair of slacks. Movie posters show the mutant as it was supposed to appear.