Review #196: 'The Reptile' (1966)

When his brother is mysteriously killed by a reptilian creature that causes him to foam at the mouth and turn green, Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) inherits his cottage and moves in with his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel). Shunned by the towns yokels but befriended by the brilliantly bearded innkeeper Tom (Michael Ripper), Harry becomes interested in the rumours of the townsfolk dying from the 'black death'. When they alert the local doctor, Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman), he dismisses any responsibility, and they become puzzled by his strange behaviour towards his daughter and his creepy servant. Is the black death really to blame? Of course not, it's a big reptile-human hybrid thing!

As good as Hammer's output was, they levelled it out with a lot of quickly made crap. They shot films furiously fast on a wafer-thin budget to serve as warm-ups to main features. While sometimes this produced some genuinely good stuff (The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - also directed by Gilling), often it did not. The Reptile served as an accompaniment to Rasputin The Mad Monk (1966), and it's place as a mere quickie is evident to see. It is hammily acted (usually a good thing), badly scripted, and has some quite shockingly bad make-up. And lead Ray Barrett clearly wasn't the most gifted of actors. However, the mysterious plot that remains a puzzle right until the very end almost saves it, but this still remains a very poor effort, though it's a nice enough way to pass 90 minutes.


Directed by: John Gilling
Starring: Ray Barrett, Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Michael Ripper, John Laurie, Marne Maitland
Country: UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #87: 'The Plague of the Zombies' (1966)

Hammer's only stab at the zombie genre, the film takes place in a small town where strange occurances and the odd disappearance catches the eye of local doctor Peter Tompson (Brook Williams). To investigate further, he enlists the help of his old teacher Professor (and Sir!) James Forbes (Andre Morell) who arrives with his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare). Soon strange sightings are seen of zombie-like creatures, and suspicion is aroused with the aggressive behaviour of a group of fox hunters and the reclusive Clive Hamilton (John Carson). Is this the work of black magic and voodoo, or scientific experimentation gone wrong?

This is probably Hammer's most shamelessly entertaining film. This doesn't have the cutting edge politics and satire of Romero's original zombie trilogy, or the over-the-top cheap gore of Raimi's Evil Dead films, but has the distinction of being a typically British film, only with zombies! It's predictable and silly but it's bloody good fun. It's also made with Hammer's high production standards, beautiful sets and a surprisingly sinister edge. These aren't zombies that will eat your brains, and to be honest they only properly turn up in the last twenty minutes or so, but the film moves fast and has a great lead performance in stiff-upper-lipped Andre Morell. Not bad for a film that was the supporting feature in a Hammer double bill.

Directed by: John Gilling

Starring: André Morell, Diane Clare, Brook Williams

Country: UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie