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Post by killercrab on Dec 18, 2011 19:52:49 GMT
Aussie director and writer Don Sharp has died. He directed Hammer's RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK , DEVILSHIP PIRATES and KISS OF THE VAMPIRE. Among his other genre work was THE FACE and BRIDES OF FU MANCHU , WITCHCRAFT , CURSE OF THE FLY and DARK PLACES. He directed the 1974 CALLAN film starring Edward Woodward and episodes of THE AVENGERS ( Invasion of the Earthmen , The- Get- Away and The Curious Case of the Countless Clues) and one episode of THE CHAMPIONS ( Project Zero in 1969).
Never really accorded the acclaim he was due because he worked outside the studio system - Don was a director who could direct any genre including comedy. To end this short piece I must mention a VOE favourite - PSYCHOMANIA - ride free Don , you've earned it and thankyou.
ade
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Post by noose on Dec 18, 2011 20:52:42 GMT
ride free Don , you've earned it and thankyou. ade I second that, a very underrated director - the beginning of KISS OF THE VAMPIRE is a particular favourite, when I was a lad, that totally shocked me! R.I.P Don. |
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Post by David A. Riley on Dec 18, 2011 20:58:49 GMT
Kiss of the Vampire is one of a handful of films I watch again at least once a year. Beautifully filmed movie, with a brilliant cast, and imaginatively directed, only let down by the Woolworths rubber bats at the end. What they could have done with just a touch of CGI, judiciously used!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 19, 2011 10:52:21 GMT
Another sad loss in what has been a bumper year for them, more's the pity. Psychomania near as made up for Michel Parry's Bikers Versus London never seeing the light of day, and the endearingly unscary Living Dead's attack on the shopping centre counts among my favourite horror film moments.
personally, i'm very fond of those Woolworth's bats. There was a very impressive joke shop rubber bat in the BBC's Christmas treat for 1977 Count Dracula, too. They're a bit like the terrible masks in The Monster Club. A bit rubbish, but take 'em away and somehow the films would lose a little of their charm.
Nice tribute, that, mr. crab.
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Post by doomovertheworld on Dec 19, 2011 19:55:03 GMT
just wanted to echo what everyone else has said. i have very fond memories of watching Kiss of the Vampire off telly when i was younger having worked out how to make the advance record function on the video work.
RIP Don Sharp you will be sadly missed
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Post by andydecker on Dec 19, 2011 20:39:27 GMT
This is sad. I liked a lot of his movies. RASPUTIN is a lot of fun. Never could warm to KISS though. I always thought it one of weakest of the Hammer vampire movies.
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Post by killercrab on Dec 20, 2011 2:20:55 GMT
personally, i'm very fond of those Woolworth's bats. > Ditto. The Stuka bat attack as a friend of mine calls it. There's some suspect rubber bats in Mitterhouse's tomb in VAMPIRE CIRCUS too. I'm sensing a thread here to memoralise the lost institution that was Woolies! and of course Terry's last name was our nod to this very favourite director.  ade
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 20, 2011 5:12:57 GMT
personally, i'm very fond of those Woolworth's bats. > Ditto. The Stuka bat attack as a friend of mine calls it. There's some suspect rubber bats in Mitterhouse's tomb in VAMPIRE CIRCUS too. I'm sensing a thread here to memoralise the lost institution that was Woolies! and of course Terry's last name was our nod to this very favourite director. ade I bought my first electric guitar from woolies. Needless to say it was shite. |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 20, 2011 10:59:33 GMT
i think it was called a Starlight? Pete Shelley plays one on the Buzzcocks superlative Spiral Scratch ep, so you won't hear any complaints from me. i've just found a terrif scary rubber bat among my junk! looks like his fangy face would be a bugger to scan, more's the pity.
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Post by killercrab on Dec 20, 2011 16:29:11 GMT
I watched Don Sharp's DARK PLACES last night - a Chris Lee, Robert Hardy/ Joan Collins haunted house affair and was thrilled it included a smaller scale rubber bat attack sequence akin to KISS OF THE VAMPIRE! Obviously a Sharp trademark. Works everytime for me.  ade |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 21, 2011 11:13:48 GMT
No joy, i'm afraid. As feared, the rubber bat defied my every effort to flatten him under the scanner. Hey KC, where do you stand on unconvincing skeletons? i have to admit that they are another big hit with me. An affliction, which has so far defied the keenest brains the medical profession can offer, insists i must start every day watching the preternaturally fetching Pans People bumping and grinding their way through The Monster Mash (not the famous gorilla suit atrocity but the version you don't see so often) .... ..... but i have to concede the finest example i've ever set eyes upon has to be the gleaming remains of a downed pilot discovered by Lord Brett Sinclair & Danny Wilde in The Persuaders episode, The Long Goodbye i so want to be him! |
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Post by killercrab on Dec 22, 2011 3:24:56 GMT
DEPARTMENT S is a good place to find skeletons in closets or to be more accurate in episodes: The Mysterious Man In the Flying Machine. A man is found murdered in a mock up of a plane in a factory. Now I seem to recall he's a dodgy skeleton. The Bones of Byrom Blain.A chauffeur arrives at his destination to find his passenger is now a skeleton!  Uploaded with ImageShack.usThere has to be more ATV shows that employed *Phony Boney*. KC |
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