Review #1,452: 'Horror Express' (1972)

With a cast list boasting the names of both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and a claustrophobic setting aboard a high-speed train, it would be easy to assume that Horror Express is another low-budget gothic effort from Hammer, or perhaps a portmanteau effort from Amicus. It is neither, and is in fact a joint Spanish and UK production made at a time when gothic horror was falling out of favour with audiences, who were being treated to more graphic, socially-aware films such as Night of the Living Dead, and psychological horrors from the US. Helmed on a measly budget by Spanish director Eugenio Martin (so low-budget that the shadow of the camera and cameraman is clearly present in the very first shot), Horror Express actually deserves more attention. It may not be particularly original, but it's shockingly entertaining, utterly bonkers, and provides an interesting sci-fi twist to a familiar genre piece.

Stuffy British anthropologist Sir Alexander Saxton (Lee) discovers the mummified remains of what appears to be a primitive human in a Manchurian cave. With hopes of this find-of-the-century providing some insight on the missing link in human evolution, Saxton packs the body into a wooden crate and hops onto the Trans-Siberian Express from China to Moscow. Before boarding the train however, a Chinese thief attempts to pick the crate's lock, and is found dead just moments later with his eyes completely white. The discovery also catches the eye of Saxton's friendly rival Dr. Wells (Cushing), who pays a baggage handler to cut a hole in the box so he can sneak a peek. The porter is too found dead soon after, and the crate empty. With the beast now loose aboard a moving train, it isn't long until the bodies start to pile up. Saxton and Wells are on the case, but the commotion also catches the attention of Inspector Mirov (Julio Pena), Polish countess Irina (Silvia Tortosa) and crazy Orthodox monk Father Pujardov (Robert DeNiro lookalike Alberto de Mendoza).

It's a strange but enticing mixture of Agatha Christie and The Thing from Another World. The discovery that their foe is actually a body-hopping alien capable of devouring memories and knowledge with each kill allows for some whodunnit fun to be had in between the many gory moments, and gives the film a strange sci-fi kick that, while completely ridiculous, adds something different to an otherwise straight-forward monster flick. The special effects have also aged rather well. It isn't scary, but the sight of corpses frozen in shock with their eyes rolled to the back of their heads makes for a rather creepy sight, and graphic scenes of surgical procedures means that Martin's picture has a welcome nasty edge that helps it to distance itself from Hammer's campier gore. You can pick the film apart, but Horror Express is simply outrageously entertaining and never lets up. Once the horror starts, each scene seems to want to double-down on what came before, even introducing Telly Savalas late on as an intimidating, vodka-swilling Cossack officer named Captain Kazan. A must-see for any fans of European horror from the Lee/Cushing era.


Directed by: Eugenio Martín
Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Julio Peña, Telly Savalas
Country: UK/Spain

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,379: 'Torture Garden' (1967)

Just like their main rival Hammer Films, British production company Amicus Productions was attempting to conquer the lucrative horror market in the 1960s and 70s. While Hammer found success with their literary properties such as Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, Amicus found a niche in portmanteau films; anthology tales containing multiple stories, with each featuring one of the hapless chumps gathered together for the opening scenes. The first was Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, directed by Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing, and Terror's moderate success led to Torture Garden, with both director and star returning. We open at a fairground sideshow, where showman Dr. Diablo (Burgess Meredith) is inviting customers into his tent for some cheap thrills. When the group fail to be impressed by Diablo's shtick, he dares them behind the curtain where more terrifying revelations await them. It will cost them an extra five bob though.

Naturally, the group's curiosity gets the better of them, and they proceed behind the curtain. Awaiting them is a motionless fortune teller (Clytie Jessop) holding a pair of shears. Stare into the shears, Diablo tells them, and their destiny will appear before them. First up is Colin (Michael Bryant), who holds back his rich uncle's (Maurice Denham) medicine as he lays dying in the hope of finding out where his dough is hidden. The uncle dies however, so Colin searches for the loot. What he stumbles upon is a demonic cat who demands murder in exchange for gold coins. Next is Carla (Beverly Adams), a Hollywood up-and-comer who steals her best friend's date for the night, and winds up at the table of big time producer Eddie Storm (John Phillips) and heartthrob actor Bruce Benton (Robert Hutton). Benton has been around for years but hasn't seemed to have aged a day. She soon discovers his secret and the reason why stars of the silver screen maintain their youthful beauty. The third story, seen through the eyes of Dorothy (Barbara Ewing), tells of her doomed romance with concert pianist Leo (John Standing), and how their relationship comes under threat when Leo's piano becomes jealous with murderous rage.

Torture Garden saves the best story for last, and features two screen heavyweights in Jack Palance and Peter Cushing. In The Man Who Collected Poe, Palance plays Poe enthusiast Ronald, who visits renowned Poe collector and the possessor of the greatest screen name ever, Lancelot Canning. Canning has collected everything from the great writer's possessions to his actual manuscripts, but Ronald notices that some of these unpublished writings have been scribbled on 1966 paper. Like all anthology films, some stories work better than others. The first three segments range from passable to downright terrible, with the third part, Mr. Steinway, proving the most ridiculous and forgettable. Amicus would go on to make more, such as The House That Dripped Blood, Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, and Torture Garden may just be the most disposable of the bunch. It's worth seeing for Palance and Cushing trying to out-ham each other in what is the only truly engrossing story of the bunch, and Burgess Meredith has fun in what is essentially a re-hash of his Penguin character from the Adam West Batman television series. As a complete film, it's both too camp to be scary and not camp enough to be charming.


Directed by: Freddie Francis
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Jack Palance, Peter Cushing, Michael Bryant, Beverly Adams, Barbara Ewing, Michael Ripper, Robert Hutton
Country: UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,214: 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977)

When sitting down to pen a review of such a colossal slice of cinema as George Lucas' original Star Wars, it's difficult to know quite where to start. What can be said about this movie that hasn't already been discussed to death by nerds, or studied to no end by film historians? Chances are you'll have already seen the movie and either love it or hate it, or you're one of those strange beings who has reached adulthood without seeing any of the series and have no doubt already formed a dismissive opinion of the space opera. The best approach is to simply talk about the film from a personal point of view, as if any movie has had such a personal effect on an audience, it's Star Wars. I'll state from the off that A New Hope - Episode 4 in Lucas' sweeping epic, but released first - was never my favourite as a child. That honour went to Return of the Jedi, the movie I now consider to be the worst by far of the original trilogy.

For those who haven't seen it yet, Star Wars is set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." The galaxy is in a state of civil war, and the threat of the Galactic Empire - led by the powerful Darth Vader - looms large, quite literally. Their latest weapon in the war is the Death Star; a moon-sized space station capable of destroying entire planets with the push of a button. Luckily for the Rebel Alliance, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) gets her hands on the plans to the Death Star, which reveal a flaw in its construction that could be exploited to destroy it. She uploads the plans to droid R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and sends him to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is currently laying low on desert planet Tatooine. The rather cute robot eventually comes into the possession of young farmer Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who believes the message may be for the reclusive old man Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness). After locating the former Jedi, Luke starts to learn about the Force - a supernatural power derived from the galaxy's natural energy. Teaming up with smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke must get the plans to the Rebels before the Empire seize control.

Visiting it again at least 15 years since I last saw it, and coming off the back of watching the prequel trilogy first in my re-viewing, the film shone in a whole new light. From a cinephile's perspective, the influence of some of cinema's greats is as clear as day, something that escaped me as a child. Science fiction classics such as Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and the 1936 version of Flash Gordon immediately came to mind, but George Lucas made sure Star Wars also felt fresh and new. He did this by blending space battles, humanoid droids and laser gun with an old-fashioned sensibility. This drew from the westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks and the period adventures of Akira Kurosawa just as much as pulp science-fiction, and the result was something that audiences had never experienced before. It was a smash hit and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring a whole generation of geeks to bring their own personal visions to the screen.

But Lucas also brings his own cards to the table in the form of some of the most bizarre and memorable collection of droids, monsters and aliens ever brought to the screen. There's the Sand People, the Jawas, Chewbacca the Wookie (Peter Mayhew), bickering robots C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (although they are clearly a rip-off of the peasants from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress), and of course that weird band of creatures playing in the bar. With such imagination on display, it's hard to believe that the best Lucas could come up with 22 years later was Jar-Jar Binks. The humans fare well too, with Ford on the top of his charm game, and Guinness bringing a thespian gravitas to the fantasy world. With the nightmare of the prequels over and the rights to the franchise now out of Lucas' tinkering hands, fans can now sleep somewhat easier, but Lucas will remain forever beloved for the work he did here back in 1977. He really should be remembered for that and not as the joke he became in his later career, and no doubt this cinematic milestone will continue to astound young audiences for plenty of years to come.


Directed by: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,029: 'Dr. Phibes Rises Again' (1972)

At the end of the first film, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the titular genius laid himself to rest in suspended animation after laying his vengeance upon the ones he blamed for the death of his wife, Victoria. Three years later, when the moon aligns itself with the planets in a way not seen for a thousand years, Phibes (Vincent Price) rises again, and this time he is in search of the elusive River of Life, which promises resurrection for Victoria and immortality for the two of them. Discovering that a sacred scroll containing the map to the River of Life has been stolen by the equally demented Darrus Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), Phibes, along with his beautiful assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), heads to Egypt where the tomb is hidden, murdering anyone who dares stand in his way.

With director Robert Fuest returning for the sequel, there's a real sense of continuity to the film, especially when a few actors - their characters slain in the first - occasionally pop up as for cameos that play out like small comic vignettes. Yet while, plot-wise, the first film was a relatively straight-forward albeit utterly bonkers tale of revenge, Rises Again is almost like a heist film, as two rival men, both mad geniuses (with one clearly madder than the other), scrap it out to uncover the most rewarding of prizes. The change of approach is certainly commendable, but it also means there's less fun to be had. Watching Price gleefully butcher a group of hapless doctors in a variety of inventive and preposterous ways in the first instalment was an absolute delight, but Phibes's battle-of-wits with his nemesis here doesn't offer quite the same amount of opportunities for inventive set-pieces.

Anyone searching for a bit of tongue-in-cheek horror will certainly get a bit of relief though, as Biederback's team find themselves the poor saps to be routinely offed, this time inspired by Egyptian mythology such a scorpions and a hawk. Sadly, there just isn't quite enough of it. With the blood-letting turned down, Rises Again increases the insanity factors. Sets adorned with psychedelic decoration and Phibes's numerous outrageous costumes means the film is also beautiful to look at. Price looks he is genuinely having a ball and no matter how sadistic his character gets as he demolishes anyone who crosses his path, you'll be rooting for him all the way. At the end, it feels like the story of Dr. Phibes is not quite finished, with American International Pictures' planned sequel unfortunately never coming to fruition.


Directed by: Robert Fuest
Starring: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Beryl Reid, Valli Kemp, Peter Cushing
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #927: 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (1959)

After successfully re-stimulating cinema audience's thirst for classic horror with re-tellings of the Dracula and Frankenstein legends, Hammer Films turned their attention to another piece of classic British literature, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. It seemed logical to adapt Doyle's arguably most popular story, The Hound of the Baskervilles, a tale translated to the screen countless times before and since 1959. This being Hammer however, the gothic atmosphere and supernatural elements took centre stage, and with Terence Fisher in the director's chair and Peter Cushing donning the famous deerstalker, this is not only one of the finest Holmes adaptations but one of Hammer's most memorable works.

Beginning centuries ago, the sadistic aristocrat Sir Hugo Baskerville (David Oxley) is enjoying a night of debauchery when a female prisoner escape and flees into the surrounding moors. Outraged, he pursues her with his pack of hounds, and eventually captures her and stabs her to death. Shortly after, Hugo is killed by an unseen entity that causes him to die with a look of terror on his face. Hundreds of years later, and Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead under similar circumstances, leaving his only remaining heir Sir Henry (Christopher Lee) to take over Baskerville Hall. Now fearing that Sir Henry may become the next victim of the Baskerville curse, Dr. Richard Mortimer (Francis De Wolff) employs the talents of Sherlock Holmes and his trusted partner Dr. Watson (Andre Morell) to solve the mystery.

The film has its problems, mainly with Holmes going missing for a large chunk of the running time and leaving Dr. Watson in charge of the investigation, but thankfully Morell proves to be suitably refined in the role and capable of carrying the movie for this period. The hound at the final reveal is also anti-climatic and rather silly, although this is understandable given that there are no true supernatural powers at work here. These quibbles are overshadowed by some sumptuous cinematography by Hammer stalwart Jack Asher, whose smoky moors really drum up a genuinely spooky atmosphere at times, especially during the surprisingly violent opening scene and the tense climax. This being Hammer, liberties are taken with the source material, but it's all for the sake of good old-fashioned entertainment. It's a shame that Cushing and Hammer didn't adapt more Holmes stories following this.


Directed by: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi, Francis De Wolff
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #874: 'Fear in the Night' (1972)

Peggy (Judy Geeson), a recently married young woman, plans to move with her new beau Robert (Ralph Bates) to a secluded boy's school near London where he is set to teach. The night before they travel, she is attacked from behind by a man with a prosthetic arm, who strangles her but leaves her alive. Awakening in a panic, the attack is put down to her recent mental health issues and they later arrive at the deserted school. There she meets the ghoulish headteacher Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing), a one-armed man with a shadowy demeanour, and his bitch wife Molly (Joan Collins).

Directed and co-written by one of Hammer's driving forces, Jimmy Sangster, Fear in the Night sees Hammer at the very end of their life (before their recent resurgence), when they were struggling at the box-office and failing to bring in their young target audience. Interestingly, the film favours the slow-build, creeping atmosphere of their early thrillers, and not the blood and guts approach they adopted during their most prolific years. Sadly, Fear in the Night's ponderous narrative is not saved by it's more European approach, and the film is a pretty dull affair for the most part.

The notable lack of red-herrings means that it doesn't take long for the audience to figure it all out, and there's plenty of time to piece it together given the length of time dedicated to Peggy plodding around investigating her strange experiences. The performances are as solid as you would expect however, with Cushing managing to steal the film with a relatively small amount of screen time, and Geeson is perfectly charming as the unassuming lead, which makes it all the more tragic that the ensemble weren't handed more to run with. Notably lacking in the gothic atmosphere that audiences used to flock to experience, or any atmosphere at all really, this was one of Hammer's final whimpers before tragically folding.


Directed by: Jimmy Sangster
Starring: Judy Geeson, Ralph Bates, Peter Cushing, Joan Collins
Country: UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #812: 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957)

26 years after Universal Studios and James Whale hit gold with both critics and audiences alike with their interpretation of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein, another production studio was about to reinvigorate the horror genre with a vastly different take on the same book. Hammer Studios seemed to know something no-one else did - that audiences had a thirst for blood. The critics may not have appreciated it at the time (though they certainly do now), but the paying audiences lapped up The Curse of Frankenstein's amped-up levels of gore and gothic atmosphere.

The film begins with Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in a jail cell awaiting his execution for an unknown crime. He calls for a priest who he tells his story to. Victor was only a child where he became a baron and inherited his family's estate, and employed his teacher, Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart), to teach him everything there is to know about the science of anatomy. Years later, Victor and Paul manage to bring a puppy back to life, much to their delight. While Paul is thrilled with their achievement, Victor is unsatisfied and longs to create a human life of his own.

Anyone hoping for a faithful re-telling of Mary Shelley's novel will be sorely disappointed. Director Terence Fisher and writer Jimmy Sangster (director of Hammer's Fear in the Night (1972)) makes the film more about Frankenstein than his creation. While the novel focused more on the tragic nature of the Creature's creation and treatment, the film portrays Victor not only as a flawed and arguably misguided visionary, but a stone-cold murderer, pushing a scientific genius to his death in order to have his superior brain for his creation. The brain is damaged in an alteration between Victor and Paul, so the creature is of low intelligence anyway.

For all the 're-imaginings' of Frankenstein, this is certainly the best I've seen. The diversions from the source material make it a different experience entirely, and one simply to be enjoyed rather than to ponder it's deeper meanings. Cushing's performance is incredible, adding a gravitas to his character even when the movie dips into camp. Christopher Lee, playing the Creature and in his first of many appearances for Hammer, puts in an impressive physical performance and manages to invite sympathy with no dialogue at all. Hazel Court also appears as Victor's cousin Elizabeth, in what is little more than the obligatory female role. A fantastic kick-start to what would be one of the greatest movements in horror.


Directed by: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, Robert Urquhart, Hazel Court, Christopher Lee
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #376: 'Dracula A.D. 1972' (1972)

Whether this Hammer studios production was meant to bring in the teenage "youth" market that the commercial  film world had only just realised existed, or whether it was created to completely insult the then "hippie" youth is difficult to tell. In the opening sequence of the 20th century (the film opens with Van Helsing's defeat of Dracula in 1872), we are introduced to a group of young males and females, as they have seemingly crashed a party in a large house. The original guests, aristocratically establishment in their appearance, stand around the edges of the room in horror. A hippie rock band plays, but the gate crashers are there because of the band? Wrong; the band was already there (?). Really? Why on earth would a group of establishment folk, a generation naturally reviled by youth culture, hire a "funky" youth music group to play at their soiree? It's just a bit confusing.

The film pretty much continues with this strange depiction of the young, as a group lead by Johhny Alucard (for those intelligent eyes will notice that his surname is an anagram of Dracula - so ridiculous), who proposes a plan to celebrate a black mass, and in the process resurrect the infamous Count. Coincidentally, one of Johnny's friends in the group is Jessica (Stephanie Beacham), who is granddaughter to Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), who is conveniently studying the occult, which has been studied in his family for generations. With the newly resurrected Dracula (Christopher Lee) searching for both the Van Helsing's, the film is overwhelmingly predictable.

If this was an attempt to pull in the teen market, it must have failed miserably. Not only does it insult any ones intelligence, it also throws all the hippie cliches at you in some of the worst dialogue ever. "Groovy", "Happening", "Far out", and "Man" are excessively used, and it's as if someone from the outside of the counter-culture had simply got his information from an anti-youth public service film. Of course these out of control young, with their ideas, are going to all eventually get involved in black magic and witchcraft. It was clearly expected in 1972. Hammer, for shame.


Directed by: Alan Gibson
Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Neame
Country: UK

Rating: *

Marc Ivamy

Review #264: 'Dracula' (1958)

We all know the story of Count Dracula by now - as well as Mary Shelley's original novel, he has been immortalised in countless film adaptations that both stay close to the source material, and put fresh spins on the story and legend. Hammer's 1958 adaptation makes several changes to the story, but if this was due to budget limitations or simple artistic expression I do not know. Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arrives at Dracula's (Christopher Lee) castle as a newly employed librarian. He soon meets Dracula's captive who begs Harker to set her free and help her. Rather than Harker being a real estate agent sent to Transylvania to broker a deal with the Count, here Harker is a vampire hunter sent to bring Dracula to his doom.

The rest I'm sure you know, but in this version Harker becomes a vampire briefly only to be staked by his friend Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Christopher Lee was still relatively early in his career when he took up this role, although he had previously starred at Frankenstein's monster in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). He had starred in many films before this, albeit in smaller and uncredited roles, yet here he looks likes he's been doing it for years. Apart from his comically camp trot down the stairs in his dramatic entrance scene, Lee makes a massive impact in what is a relatively limited role. He has very few lines, and very few scenes. But he leaves a lasting impression that compliments the sheer colossal power of his presence.

This is by no means a great film. But Hammer never strived for greatness. Their films were mainly about money-making on a small budget. Dracula ends at around the 80 minute mark, yet it feels about 10 minutes long. It moves at lightning pace, jumping from scene to scene with breathless pace that seems suck out all atmosphere and genuine chills. But what it lacks in atmosphere, it makes up for in sheer enjoyment. This never comes close to the gothic brilliance of Tod Browning's 1931 adaptation, or the lavish beauty of Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 effort, but this has a British thespian quality and that Hammer touch that no other production company seem to be able to replicate. Far from the definitive version, but certainly the most fun.


Directed by: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie