Oakley Court Hotel | The House That Screamed and Screamed Again

On Saturday 22 July 2017 I led my annual Theatre of Blood Film Location Tour to Oakley Court, Windsor, the setting of many a classic British horror.

Check out the full post on The Vincent Price Legacy UK website.

Madhouse (1974) | Vincent Price’s Dr Death gets re-mastered in HD!

UPDATE FROM KINO: 'It has come to our attention that Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray of MADHOUSE (1974) has some errors in the audio synchronization. We are reviewing the master materials now, and determining how significant the problem is. We will also determine whether the dialogue can be re-synched without compromising the timing of the music and sound effects, since the issue appears to be in the source elements. Based on what we find, Kino Lorber will decide whether or not to re-author the disc and set up an exchange program for the first-pressing discs. Thank you for your patience and your continued support.'

From Kino Lorber comes the US HD Blu-ray and DVD release on 21 July of the 1974 AIP chiller, Madhouse, starring those masters of the macabre, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry give terrifying performances to die for in this diverting little chiller.

After being accused and aquitted of his fiancée's murder, successful horror film star Paul Toombes (Price) is put in an institution. Years later he returns to his former role of Dr. Death in a new TV series in London, working with his writer friend Herbert Flay (Cushing). Paul realises his past has come back to haunt him, however, when the murders carried out by Dr Death are replicated in real life on the cast and crew...

Featuring a newly re-mastered widescreen print of the film in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the Kino release will also include an audio commentary from David Del Valle, a new featurette, and trailers. No word on what the featurette will entail or if it will be available to play in multi-region players (Amazon says its multi format, however). Cross fingers it will be better than the bare bones, cut-price UK DVD release from Altitude Film Distribution.

ON THIS DAY IN…1973 | Madhouse starts filming in London

It was on Sunday 15 April in 1973 that Vincent Price started filming what would be his last film for AIP, Madhouse (aka The Revenge of Dr Death). Shooting took place in London over 13 weeks, finishing on Sunday 8 July.

During this period, Price also worked on the first five stories in his Price of Fear BBC Radio horror anthology series, and took time out to attend the London premiere of Theatre of Blood, which occurred on 24 May in Leicester Square.

Here's the campaign book of Madhouse for you to enjoy, and a video of Vinnie and Peter Cushing chatting during filming.

On this day in 1973 | Vincent Price starts filming Madhouse in London

Yes, it was on this day back in 1973 that Madhouse (aka The Revenge of Dr Death) began shooting, with Vincent Price and Peter Cushing finally sharing equal screen time as aging former horror star Paul Toombes and actor-turned-writer Herbert Flay, who unite to revive Toombes' screen character Dr Death for a TV series. But death stalks the corridors of the television studio in the form of a skull masked killer and several members of the show's cast and crew are murdered in grisly reenactments of Dr Death's greatest movie moments (as depicted in clips from some of Price's Poe/Corman films).

While the film in general is a bit of a letdown, the scenes between Price and Cushing are priceless as the two vets brilliantly play off each other leading to a big showdown when it transpires that Cushing is behind the killings. 

Here's some rare behind-the-scenes footage from a UK TV news report from the set back in 1973.

Aliens in the Mind | The 1977 radio drama starring Vincent Price and Peter Cushing | Airs Saturday 15 June, BBC Radio 4 Extra

Saturday 15 June, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 6:30pm

Starring Vincent Price and Peter Cushing.

Also featuring Henry Stamfer, Sandra Clark, Shirley Dickson, Irene Tucklef, Fraser Carr, Andrew Spear, Steve Titus, Joan Matheson, William Eagle, Clifford Norgate, Michael Harver, James Thomlinson, Richard Herndle and Joan Benom.

Writers: Robert Holmes and Rene Bijenico

Producer: John Dyre

Effects: Chris Jenkins 

Two doctors head to the remote Scottish island of Luig to attend a colleague's funeral. During their visit to the village they question how he died and in their research find that he actually died of supernatural causes…

ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION

4280 AC1 "ISLAND GENESIS"

1 01-02-77 0:27:00

4280 AC2 "HURRIED EXODUS"

2 01-09-77 0:27:00

4280 AC3 "UNEXPECTED VISITATIONS"

3 01-16-77 0:27:20

4280 BD1 "OFFICIAL INTERCESSION"

4 01-23-77 0:27:20

4280 BD2 "GENETIC REVELATION"

5 01-30-77 0:26:40

4280 BD3 "FINAL TRIBULATION"

6 02-06-77 0:27:20

 
'Cushing is the perfect gentleman investigator, while Price could be reading a tax return and it would still be gripping. It might be old but this screams quality, just as loudly as that howling wind.' Radio Times (Jane Anderson)

Click here for the official Radio 4 Extra website

Altitude Films release Scream and Scream Again and Madhouse on DVD in the UK

Just found these two Price titles are being re-issued on Region 2 DVDs from a new outfit called Altitude Films, part of a package of horror classics being released on Monday 27th May, the others are The Black Cat, The Raven, The Legend of Hell House, Phantom Lady, and Black Friday.

Other genre titles to be released include The St Valentines Day Massacre and Fugutive Kind (also 27th May); Hot Rock, McLintock! and Story of GI Joe on 3rd June;  Desiree and Arabian Nights on 10th June.

Will they be any different from the US MGM Home Entertainment releases? Will they come with new extras? Below is the blurb from the distributors. As soon as they arrive, I will update this post.

Scream and Scream Again, 1970 (Order Here)
Starring – Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing.
Police are called in to investigate a series of brutal murders. At first they believe the deaths are unrelated, until pathologist David Sorel (Christopher Matthews) performs a post-mortem revealing that each body has been sucked dry of blood, giving the appearance of the work of vampires. Ordered by a government official to destroy the evidence, the police drop the case. But Sorel refuses to stop looking into the mystery. In an attempt to capture the crazed killer he is led to the mysterious mansion of Dr. Browning (Vincent Price), where he finds a secret operating theatre; a workshop for the creation of super humans out of limbs and organs from living bodies. But in a sadistic twist, the mastermind behind Browning’s evil deeds pushes him into a vat of acid, putting a grisly end to his diabolical plans.

Madhouse, 1974 (Order Here)
Starring – Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry.
Paul Toombes (Vincent Price), veteran Hollywood horror film star, is making a comeback in a new TV series based on the old “Dr. Death” movies which first made him world famous. The trouble with Paul is his past. A beautiful young actress to whom he was engaged to be married was found murdered in strange circumstances. Although acquitted after standing trial for the killing, Paul’s career was shattered and the breakdown he suffered left him an unbalanced wreck. Now twenty years on, his old actor-friend Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing) welcomes him back to the role. But the curse of Dr. Death strikes again as a series of gruesome murders drag Paul into his past and he begins to wonder if he is in the grip of impulses totally beyond his control.

Peter Cushing at 100 | The Centenary Celebrations

On screen he portrayed some of most iconic characters, from Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who and the Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, and made his name in Hammer horror movies playing Baron Frankenstein and vampire hunter Dr Van Helsing. Yet for all the frights he gave audiences, Peter Cushing was well known as one of life’s gentlemen – devoted to his late wife Helen, a passionate watercolour artist, and in love with his adopted town of Whitstable in Kent – which he made his home from the 1950s until his death in 1994. To mark the 100th anniversary of the actor’s birth on 26 May, a number of special events are taking place in Whitstable and London.

Peter Cushing at 100
Whitstable Museum and Gallery (Kent) | 29 March-13 June 2013
A special exhibition celebrating the life of Whitstable’s favourite resident features a host of artefacts, from film stills and posters to examples of his artwork and even the pair of slippers he famously wore while filming Star Wars. Click here for ticketing details.

Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs | Book Launch
Cinema Museum (London) | Sunday 12 May, 7.30pm
Film historian Jonathan Rigby and Peter Cushing’s former assistant Bernard Broughton will be special guests at the launch of Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, which collects together Cushing’s 1980s books – An Autobiography and Past Forgetting – with the 1955 memoir The Peter Cushing Story, and includes extensive unseen material from his private collection. For tickets, click here.

Brides of Dracula | Film Screening
Horsebridge Community Centre (Whitstable, Kent) | Saturday 25 May, 7.30pm
A screening the 1960 Hammer horror film starring Peter Cushing as vampire hunter, Van Helsing. Tickets are £5 – Box Office: 01227 281174

Peter Cushing Centenary Weekend
(Whitstable, Kent) | Saturday 25 May-Sunday 26 May
In 2004, on the 10^th anniversary of the actor’s death, more than 12,000 people from around the world descended on the coastal town, visiting the local museum and the strolling around the same places that Cushing frequented, including the Tudor Tea Rooms and Cushing’s View, a seaside spot much favoured by the actor. The 100^th anniversary will be even more special, with events being held in and around the town, including the Peter Cushing pub (a converted art deco cinema) on Oxford Street, which will host a special Hammer horror fancy dress party.

The Peter Cushing Scrapbook | Signings
Wayne Kinsey, Tom Johnson & Joyce Broughton (Peveril Publishing)
This 328-page pictorial history to Peter Cushing has been compiled in time for the centenary of the much moved actor and is only available direct from Peveril Publishing. Signings of the book will be held on 12 May at the 4th Norwich Sci Fi Convention and 25 May at the Peter Cushing pub (11am-5pm).

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | Film Screening
BFI Southbank (London) | Wednesday 29 May, 6.30pm
This 1973 Hammer horror was the final instalment in the studio’s Frankenstein franchise starring Peter Cushing. The BFI are screening a new HD restoration of the film, with an introduction from actress Madeline Smith and Joyce Broughton, Cushing’s secretary for 35 years. For more information, click here.

Amicus: House of Horrors | Celebrating the history of the legendary UK film company

Did you know that Vincent Price went to a football match with the crew of Scream and Scream Again; that he was given saucy sex toys as a joke during the Madhouse wrap party, and that while filming The Monster Club he entertained the producer’s children wearing vampire fangs?

Well, these and many other anecdotes form the basis of AMICUS: HOUSE OF HORRORS, a two-part celebration of the British film company that was Hammer’s rival in the late 1960s and 1970s. The name, Amicus, may not be memorable, but the film titles most certainly are - especially the portmanteau films that the company excelled at, like Tales from the Crypt, Asylum and From Beyond the Grave.

Founded in the early 1960s by maverick American producers Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg, Amicus made around 30 films in 20 years, turning out eight a year at their peak, and drew together a wealth of British talent, including directors Freddie Francis and Roy Ward Baker, writers Robert Bloch (of Psycho fame) and actors such as Peter Cushing, Diana Dors and Donald Pleasance, to create some of the most memorable homegrown horrors.

This documentary features interviews with a vast array of people who worked behind the scenes – from directors Peter Duffell (House that Dripped Blood) and Kevin Connor (The Land That Time Forgot), art director Tony Curtis (who shows off his personal collection of sketch designs) and producer John Dark, to the make-up assistants and supporting actors who all share some amazing stories.

While Vincent Price appeared in just three Amicus films, Peter Cushing starred in 15, and gave some of his most memorable performances, especially in Doctor Who and the Daleks and Tales from the Crypt. Included as an extra on this release is a never-before-seen 1983 interview with Cushing, conducted by a young 20-year-old fan at the star’s home in Kent, and a wonderful 1990 interview (filmed just four years before his death) in which Cushing talks about his love for his late wife Helen (who died in 1971), and shares memories of his childhood, his beliefs and his love of art. This being the year of Cushing’s centenary makes these bonus items especially poignant.

Amicus: House of Horror has been a labor of love for life-long fan Derek Pykett, who so deserves his Best Documentary nomination for a 2013 Rondo Award. It may not be slickly edited and the quality variable, but the anecdotes contained here are priceless. The DVD is currently only available (region free) in the US, but I highly recommend seeking it out. Click here to order from Amazon in the UK, or here if you are in the US.

If you'd like to nominate Amicus: House of Horror for a Rondo Award, click here to find out how.

To coincide with Cushing's centenary, Peveril Publishing will be bringing out The Peter Cushing Scrapbook this Spring. Click here to view some sample pages. 

Below, you can watch the trailer for Scream and Scream Again, and some vintage UK TV reports on Madhouse and The Monster Club:

We Belong Dead, the UK fanzine dedicated to classic horror, is back from the dead

 WE BELONG DEAD, the UK magazine devoted to the classic age of horror and fantasy films, is being resurrected after 16 years.

Available from Thursday (28 March), issue nine is packed with articles that will have classic horror fans shivering with delight as they bring back fond memories of films like Twins of Evil, Witchfinder General, Night of the Demon, Tombs of the Blind Dead and Salem’s Lot. 

There also exclusive interviews with horror icons Barbara Shelley and the late Jean Rollin, an in-depth look at Peter Cushing’s Amicus roles and an hilarious alternative look at Hammer’s Dracula films. Plus, for aging Monster Kids (like me), there’s a wonderful nostalgic feature on the Aurora monster model kits of the 1960s.

The best thing about this horror fanzine is that is written by fans for fans, so it cuts to the chase with some very original and entertaining articles. I’ve just started on my copy and I can’t put it down (except to write this blurb, of course). I’ll be posting a full review soon.

To order a copy, contact Eric McNaughton at: wbdmagazine@yahoo.co.uk

• And why not check out the WE BELONG DEAD Facebook page.