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Post by dem bones on Mar 23, 2008 10:14:33 GMT
The Monster Club (Sword & Sorcery, 1980) Chetwynd-Hayes is minding his own business when he's attacked in the street by Erasmus, a vampire in need of his blood fix. When he realises just who he's attacked, Erasmus is all apologies: seems RCH is well thought of in fiend circles and, out of gratitude for his 'donation', Erasmus introduces him to the Monster Club, an exclusive venue whose membership is entirely composed of the ranks of the undead. As the night unfolds, RCH learns more about his fellow revellers by way of three little docu-dramas: There's Raven the Shamock, a relatively benign fellow who just wants a woman to love him. Unfortunately for all concerned, Angela and her boyfriend George hatch a scheme whereby she'll pretend to fall for Raven so she can separate him from the bulk of his sexy cash. When Raven is made aware of her real feelings toward him - somewhere far South of revulsion - he whistles. We've already seen what that can do to a cat who mauled one of his beloved pigeons, what will it do to a woman? Next we turn our attentions to the Bosotsky family for a window on movie producer Milton's childhood. He had a nice time of it, actually, loving parents, the lot, but his father was a vampire, relentlessly pursued by Pickering, the Chief of Van Helsing wannabe unit the B-Squad (also known as "The Bleeney"). After the strange, touching and nasty Shadmock story (which improves 100% on the Chetwynd-Hayes original, to which it bears little relation), this is a faithful adaptation of his My Mother Married A Vampire which effortlessly matches it for irritating "you have to laugh, don't you?" bonkersness. Were it not for the performances of B. A. Robertson and the Viewers in the club scenes, this would arguably be the nadir of the film. And yet, perversely, it seems like it should be there, that The Monster Club wouldn't be quite the vaguely surreal experience without it. No complaints about The Humgoo, which keeps all the best bits of RCH's original as movie director Sam seeks out a suitable location for his next horror movie and winds up in the mist-shrouded village of Loughville, home to an isolated community of inbred ghouls who survive on the materials they can scavenge from the "boxes" in the cemetery. Luna, the innkeeper's daughter, had a human mother and that side of her nature still craves the love of a mortal and a shopping expedition to London, and she helps Sam to escape his captors before they can make him the menu highlight for "the great eating." Tragically, Luna is felled by a well aimed rock as they flee the hungry villagers. Sam reaches the motorway and flags down a police car to report the terrible things he's witnessed ... Finally, we return to the club where Erasmus has nominated RCH for club membership on account of man being by far the worst monster on the planet, before the final horror: The Viewers playing us out with the truly abominable Monsters Rule, OK? with Carradine and Price showing off their disco moves. Far from being the greatest horror movie ever, this is still one of the most fascinating on account of just how wildly it fluctuates between the sublime (the Humgoo and Shadmock stories, the trite (the My Mother Married A Vampire adaptation[/i], and the downright ghastly (the clubbers - who look like they've been costumed and masked courtesy of the local pound-shop) being regaled by bands that surely weren't even popular at the time including B. A. Robertson, Night, The Auters and sundry sessioneers. Given that Chetwynd-Hayes collections are likewise often things of lofty peaks and lowly troughs, The Monster Club accidentally stands as a fitting tribute to all that is best and worst about this true Brit horror great.
Producer - Milton Subotsky Director - Roy Ward Baker Writers - Edward & Valerie Abraham: adapted from the R. Chetwynd-Hayes novel The Monster Club and the short story My Mother Married A Vampire from The Cradle Demon (1978)
Main cast John Carradine - R. Chetwynd-Hayes Erasmus - Vincent Price Club Secretary (Werewolf) - Roger Sloman
The Shadmock:
Raven - James Laurenson Angela - Barbara Kellerman George - Simon Ward Geoffrey Bayldon - Psychiatrist
My Mother Married A Vampire:
Anthony Steel - Lintom Busotsky Richard Johnson - Lintom's vampire dad Britt Ekland - Lintom's mother Warren Saire - Lintom as a child Donald Pleasence - Pickering of the B-Squad Anthony Valentine - Mooney of the B-Squad Neil McCarthy - Watson of the B-Squad
The Humgoo
Stuart Whitman - Sam Lesley Dunlop - Luna Patrick Magee - Innkeeper, Luna's dad.
Various clubbers & entertainers
B. A. Robertson - Sucker For Your Love Night - The Stripper The Viewers - Monsters Rule OK The Pretty Things - The Monster Club
Suzanna Willis - Stripper
Also featured on the soundtrack are:
The Expressos - Valentino's Had Enough UB40 - 25% John Georgiadis - Transylvanian Terrors Alan Hawkshaw - Ghouls Galore
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Post by Calenture on Mar 23, 2008 13:47:20 GMT
Impressive post, Dem. Now how about linking all those actors names to their individual web pages? Or is your arm not up to that yet... Look I just dragged myself away from watching Jack Black in School of Rock. We all have to make sacrifices.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 23, 2008 16:15:53 GMT
Impressive post, Dem. Now how about linking all those actors names to their individual web pages? I'm sad, I'm even tragic, but even I can find better things to do with my time. Um ..... I've compiled a load of Monster Club screen-captures into a mini-gallery at Chetwynd-Hayes tribute site Loughville including a number of new ones, and am working on a similar effort for From Beyond The Grave.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Mar 23, 2008 17:41:41 GMT
Well of course no prizes for guessing that I'm a fan of this one, even though I prefer the book. Very much the final nail in the coffin of a certain type of horror cinema that many of us grew up with, THE MONSTER CLUB is by turns great and sad to watch at the same time. It's sad to think Subotsky had to find a milkman whose hobby was making monster masks because the budget wouldn't stretch, it's great to watch the Shadmock episode, but sad to listen to Douglas Gamley's last score for a horror picture, so redolent of past thrills and yet somehow very sentimental in this piece. The last of its kind to play in cinemas as well - the following year was all XTRO & INSEMINOID before Brit horror well & truly bit the dust.
Anyway, what I actually intended to say was I think The League of Gentlemen could do a superb remake of this, using the original stories.
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Post by carolinec on Mar 23, 2008 20:51:36 GMT
I'm with John on this one - I love The Monster Club. It's definitely in my Top Ten films list. I agree it's the last of it's kind; an afectionate tribute to all those great Amicus films, in fact all the great horror films of the 50s and 60s. Price and Carradine ham it up perfectly. It's one of those films where it looks like the whole cast had a great time making it. The linking interludes in the club are funny (that stripper scene is terrific!). I even enjoyed BA Robertson! Some great one-liners in it too - eg. when talking about the famous vampire film producer, the response is "I thought they all were!" Probably my favourite story in it is the shadmock one - the actor who plays him displays the kind of pathos which Boris Karloff would have been proud of. And as for the thought of the League of Gentlemen doing a remake - that would be awesome!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 24, 2008 10:51:35 GMT
Glad this has had some feedback as the film is a minor obsession of mine. Thanks to Smudge at the Brit Movie Forum, we've now located 'Loughville', the mist-shrouded village which provides the setting for the Humgoo story. It's at Aldenham Park, Elstree, Hertfordshire and the bridge that Sam and Luna flee across is Tykes Water Lake Bridge, familiar from several sixties and seventies horror movies including Taste The Blood Of Dracula, Dracula AD 1972, Fear In The Night, Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors and The Abominable Dr. Phibes. There's some wonderful photo's of the bridge and woods that would be Loughville at The Avengers: Locations Raven The Shadmock's mansion stands in Knebworth Park. Author Michel Parry, a friend of Milton's (and Chetwynd-Hayes') who was present at much of the filming, told me that sadly there wasn't any club, it was just a set. Not sure about the Vampire's place although Windsor seems to have been popular with Amicus for location shooting and features heavily in From Beyond The Grave.
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Post by carolinec on Mar 24, 2008 11:16:25 GMT
Raven The Shadmock's mansion stands in Knebworth Park. Oooo, I knew I recognised it from somewhere. I recall attending my one and only music festival there (Pink Floyd, Captain Beefheart - wow!) back in the early 70s. Gosh, that takes me back a bit to the wild days of my youth ... Anyway, that's fascinating about the locations Dem. I'm one of those annoying people who always goes "I know that place from somewhere" when ever I see a location on film/TV which reminds me of somewhere I've been!
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Post by helrunar on Mar 4, 2017 13:23:46 GMT
Great thread. I had to switch off last night after the tale concerning the tragic activities of the Blini Squad *giggle* due to my ridiculous need for sleep. Hope to finish watching tonight.
I wonder what RCH thought of his cinematic portrayal by the legendary John Carradine?
I feel as if I've died and gone to heaven when I get to watch cheery morbid banter between Carradine and Vincent Price in a horror themed nightclub. Delightfully cosy stuff.
cheers, H.
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Post by helrunar on Mar 7, 2017 12:57:30 GMT
I really enjoyed this film. The Humgoo story was actually quite creepy. Interesting to learning that the garish monster masks, which I thought seemed very much like the kind of thing fans wore to 1970s horror film conventions (I actually attended one organized by Forry Ackerman in NYC back in '75), were made by a fannish milkman. Maybe that's sad but I also find it fascinating.
Another intriguing detail is the presence of "Extra Special Guest Star Fran Fullenwider." She's the chubby little disco bunny cutting a rug opposite Magister Vincent Price in the big finale. I don't think she had any lines. Her agent must have had formidable supernatural powers. Either that or owned an incriminating sex tape of Milton Subotsky bare-assed with some Kensington tartlet. Ah but one mustn't speak ill of the dead.
I enjoyed all three stories, but the reason why I would watch it again someday is for the scenes of Vincent and John bantering at coffinside in the club. I'm so glad they filmed that. Vincent's big soliloquy at the end explaining to the club members that humans are the ultimate monster actually has the touch of genius. Go RCH!
I think the Knebworth manor house was featured in one of the films I reviewed for the Unsung Horrors book last year. Will have to check up on that.
cheers, H.
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Post by helrunar on Mar 7, 2017 16:38:02 GMT
Knebworth House is D5 on this page: avengerland.theavengers.tv/d.htmNot only was it used for multiple episodes of The Avengers (a truly canonical classic in the Helrunar home), it provided locations for Horror Hospital (a grand bit of early 70s fun with Michael Gough at his most archly leering) and Lair of the White Worm, amongst many others. It seems to be best known now as the site of rock concerts--such as the age we now inhabit... cheers, H.
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Post by pulphack on Mar 7, 2017 16:55:09 GMT
Rock concerts bah! In the 90's it was a regular Saturday summer thing to have classical evenings (actually, if we're going to be strictly musicological about this it was more baroque or romantic than classical) starting about 5-ish where people would take picnics. They were quite nice, and beat that crappy Beatles tribute act from Manchester into the proverbial...
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