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Post by Swampirella on Mar 26, 2022 20:12:53 GMT
Just watched my first Pete Walker, "The Flesh and Blood Show". Good enough to get me to try "House of Whipcord" later; never heard of him until a certain member whose alias escapes me mentioned watching TFBS last night on a certain social media site. Think I'll skip "Frightmare" for the time being.
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Post by andydecker on Mar 26, 2022 21:07:34 GMT
Let's see. I have seen - and have as DVD - House of Whipcord, Flesh and Blood Show, Die Screaming Marianne and Frightmare. I like House and Flesh. Marianne I thought rather forgettable, Frightmare I haven't still seen.
Also I saw House of the Long Shadows a couple of times over the years, which I still detest.
One could argue that House is a really frightening movie. Walker liked his psychos, and it is still as relevant as it must have been when it was released. But I like House more because it is so unapologetic trashy. Also I like this fascination with pier shows. Years later stories from writers like Reggie Oliver gave me more background on this.
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Post by bluetomb on Mar 27, 2022 19:14:09 GMT
Have only seen The Flesh and Blood Show but mean to see more. Have heard it's relatively minor Walker and I do prefer a bit more weirdness/mayhem, but as a nut for proto-slashers and horror in general about people making the lively arts (my favourite slasher in general is Michele Soavi's theatre set Stagefright) it had a lot of charm for me. Fingers crossed for some of the others turning up on the box, or my getting enough through my current piles to justify getting them on dvd.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Mar 27, 2022 19:20:38 GMT
FRIGHTMARE is a masterpiece. It is particularly poignant if you have peculiar elderly relatives.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Mar 29, 2022 21:44:35 GMT
Just watched my first Pete Walker, "The Flesh and Blood Show". Good enough to get me to try "House of Whipcord" later; never heard of him until a certain member who's alias escapes me mentioned watching TFBS last night on a certain social media site. Think I'll skip "Frightmare" for the time being. Can't imagine who might have described 'The Flesh and Blood Show' as being like the randy older cousin of 'Theatre of Blood'... I've only seen a handful of Walker's films. The others being 'The Comeback', 'House of Whipcord', and 'House of the Long Shadows' (which I adore, and which I'll be watching again tonight on BluRay). I've been gearing up to watch 'Frightmare' for what seems like decades now, but the closest I've got has been the fantastic Sheila Keith pastiching her own role in the 'Dr Terrible's House of Horrible' episode 'And Now The Fearing...'. Might take the plunge and watch it and 'House of Mortal Sin' sometime soon.
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 29, 2022 21:53:01 GMT
If you watch them be sure to tell us what you think. My memory has just mysteriously come back....
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Post by helrunar on Mar 29, 2022 22:50:25 GMT
I really enjoyed Sheila Keith's performance in that episode of Dr Terrible, but I have no interest at all in seeing Frightmare (which seems sometimes to be called Frightmare II, but I think there's only one of them?) Just not my flagon of mead.
I'd also like to see House of Long Shadows for the extraordinary cast, someday. It's described as an adaptation of George M Cohan's ancient play 7 Keys to Baldpate and is often given a vigorous thumbs-down by genre fans, but I'd still like to see it. Most of Walker's things aren't really my idea of fun.
H.
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Post by bluetomb on Mar 30, 2022 0:56:17 GMT
There is an unrelated 1983 film called Frightmare with Ferdy Mayne as a nasty old timey horror star. So I can imagine the Walker film being called Frightmare 2 in markets that got it after.
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Post by ripper on Mar 30, 2022 9:44:34 GMT
I can't say that I am a big fan, but someone at my local cinema must have been. There is a long corridor that patrons walk along to access the theatre, and in the 1980s there were framed A3 posters of Walker's films on the corridor walls at regular intervals. There must have been 4 or 5 of them. It always made me chuckle thinking of kiddies with their moms gawking at those lurid posters while waiting to see the latest Disney film. Can't see that happening today.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Mar 30, 2022 14:21:28 GMT
I'd also like to see House of Long Shadows for the extraordinary cast, someday. It's described as an adaptation of George M Cohan's ancient play 7 Keys to Baldpate and is often given a vigorous thumbs-down by genre fans, but I'd still like to see it. Most of Walker's things aren't really my idea of fun. H. 'House of The Long Shadows' was instigated by Cannon Films, who approached Pete Walker to make a classic style horror film with Karloff and Lugosi. After Walker pointed out the problem that they were ever so slightly dead, it became a project for the surviving big names in classic horror - with Sheila Keith's role initially written for Elsa Lanchester, who was too ill to accept. Walker initially thought of remaking 'The Old Dark House', but the rights were held elsewhere, so he opted for Earl Derr Biggers' 'The Seven Keys to Baldpate', which Cohan had adapted for the stage and which had been adapted several times for the cinema. After screening a few of the older films, which weren't really horror subjects, screenwriter Michael Armstrong abandoned most of the plot apart from the framing idea, and wrote a script which was an affectionate pastiche of old dark house clichés. It's quite unlike Walker's previous works, and its deliberate old-fashionedness was off putting to some, and others disliked the comedy elements. I love the old fashioned nature of the plot, and the chance it gives the veteran stars to have some fun with the types of roles that had made them famous without actually mocking them - Lee is very funny playing embarrassed by the goings on around him, while Cushing gives a lightly comic turn that moves into touching pathos. Price was annoyed that his favourite speech was cut in the editing process (as was Armstrong), but gets to be flamboyant and sinister. Carradine presides over the gathering as the elder statesman. And Sheila Keith is splendid, as ever (Long Shadows really introduced me to the fabulous Sheila's work, and I love that this sweet, funny lady was bemused by her standing among horror fans). The young leads don't quite manage the sharp talking screwball comedy exchanges intended by the script, but I like them more with each viewing - can't be easy not to be overshadowed by the 'long shadows' in the cast. I can understand why some don't like it, and it's not a perfect film - there's a twist that makes little sense but whose sheer cheek made me laugh so hard on first viewing that I forgive it - but it unites the horror greats on screen and gives them plenty of interaction, unlike previous attempts like 'The Oblong Box', where Lee and Price share fleeting seconds together, or 'Scream and Scream Again' where Cushing never meets Lee or Price, and the those two share only a single scene together. And I suppose it's become one of my favourite 'comfort films' over the years.
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