Tributes have been pouring in for Gordon Hessler, who has died at
the age of 88. The director is best known for working on three AIP
films with Vincent Price in the UK in 1969/1970: The Oblong Box
(which he inherited after the untimely death of the film’s original director
Michael Reeves), the cult sci-fi/horror/thriller
Scream and Scream Again, and the underrated Cry of the Banshee. Hessler also helmed one of my childhood favourites, Ray
Harryhausen’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and the real guilty pleasure,
Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978).
For more about Hessler’s life and career, issue 98 of Tim
Lucas’ Video Watchdog is a great starting point, and contains an intimate
interview conducted by David Del Valle, who writes on his Facebook page that
Hessler’s favourite film was his rarely seen 1988 supernatural thriller The
Girl on a Swing. There’s also a super interview that George Reis conducted back in 2002 which you can read over on the DVD Drive In website.
RIP Gordon Hessler (1926-2014)
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