“Hammer House of Horror” can be seen as the last offering from Hammer Studios, at least in their classic period. It ran for one season of thirteen episodes, each one telling a different horror tale. While none of the episodes were bad, there was some variety in quality as there is with any television. In…
As we watch films and television, over time we get to have particular actors that we like (and dislike). The following are a few of my personal favourites, and why I think they’re good. Peter Cushing was a British actor who starred in over 100 films. He was best known for his work in horror…
Back in the day, television was broadcast live, and in 1954 the BBC aired a television adaptation of “1984”. The screenplay adaptation from Orwell’s novel was done by Nigel Kneale (best known for his creation of the Quatermass character and stories). You can find this version of “1984” on YouTube – the condition isn’t great…
“Tales from the Crypt” is a British anthology movie comprising five short stories, with a framing story involving five people on a tour of some kind of catacombs, apparently getting separated from their group and coming across a man in a monk’s robes who makes each one of them see a story ostensibly about their…
Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Diana Dors, this film starts with three mysterious deaths, where the people involved appear to be murdered but without putting up a fight. The deaths are ruled as suicides, but Police Colonel Bingham (Lee), regards the deaths as suspicious. All three are trustees for a prominent orphanage in Scotland,…
Peter Cushing stars in this story concerning the ownership of the skull of the Marquis de Sade, and what happens to those who own it. There is a varied supporting cast, led by Christopher Lee and including Patrick Magee, Patrick Wymark, Michael Gough, and Frank Forsyth. After a prelude where a man digs up the…
One of the less well-known films from Hammer Horror, “The Gorgon” pairs Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in a muddled version of the gorgon of Greek mythology, transported to a European village. I say muddled because Megara, the gorgon of the title, was not a gorgon at all, but a fury. The gorgon Medusa could…
Eclectic Assemblage 