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Post by ripper on Jun 13, 2021 9:43:51 GMT
Crikey, Dem, Babs Steele and Linda Hayden...two crushes of mine when a teenager, especially Ms Hayden after her turn in Blood on Satan's Claw--that's another recommendation for Princess Tuvstarr. Also, nice to see Roger Moore doing his bit for charity--he always gave me the impression of being a decent chap.
Noddy Holder lived a couple of miles from us for a while--not sure if he's still there--and an ex-Page 3 girl was born here--went to same school as me only later--but I can't remember her name, and I think that's about it.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 13, 2021 10:27:59 GMT
Some favourite 60s/70s horror films. Biased towards the obvious, the British, and "folk horror" -
Blood On Satan's Claw (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), The Exorcist (1973), The Haunting (1963), The Innocents (1961), Night of the Eagle (1962), The Plague of the Zombies (1966), Quatermass and the Pit (1967), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Schalken the Painter (BBC TV, 1979), The Witches (1966).
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Post by dem bones on Jun 13, 2021 10:30:11 GMT
Crikey, Dem, Babs Steele and Linda Hayden...two crushes of mine when a teenager, especially Ms Hayden after her turn in Blood on Satan's Claw--that's another recommendation for Princess Tuvstarr. Also, nice to see Roger Moore doing his bit for charity--he always gave me the impression of being a decent chap. Roger Moore was forever opening fetes, new shops and what have you when he lived in Stanmore ( The Saint years). He's very fondly remembered for his time there. Barbara Steele: wouldn't have recognised her during infant school years - two of my then classmates lived in the same road. For all his Cockney/ Essex persona, Ian Dury was born and grew up in Harrow Weald. Last I heard, local residents were fundraising a blue plaque. Gregory "Night Nurse" Isaacs, who spent his last years there, already has one. Oh, and another buxom Horror star. Yvonne Romain of Curse of the Werewolf and Circus of Horror repute. Never met a single one of them. Random photo of Yvonne Romain Noddy Holder lived a couple of miles from us for a while--not sure if he's still there--and an ex-Page 3 girl was born here--went to same school as me only later--but I can't remember her name, and I think that's about it. I'll bet there's more!
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 14:27:02 GMT
I obviously don't know Princess but I wonder if the Wendy Padbury rape scene in Blood on Satan's Claw might be too extreme for a sheltered girl with a convent upbringing. Don't know.
I'm sure most here are aware that the even more harrowing Witchfinder General (starring Vincent Price), Blood on Satan's Claw, and the utterly delightful Wicker Man are the founding trio in a recently identified (circa 2013?) sub-genre called "folk horror." The term arose from an interview Satan's Claw director Piers Haggard did for this Mark Gatiss documentary some years back.
I've still never seen Witchfinder General (I almost started to type Witchfinder's General Store). For decades it was only available in the US in a poor pan and scan VHS release with a tacky synthesizer substitute for the original score. When it finally was released in a restored version I thought "one of these years I'll have to see that one" but I never have. It features some brutally shot sequences (that I guess would be considered tame in the current age of eyeballs being gouged out in slo-mo HD on telly) of innocent women being tortured and grope by the witch-gropers, I mean finders, and I've reached an age where it's hard for me to watch that kind of thing without starting to yell at the screen. The doctor told me it's not good for my high blood pressure when I yell and throw things at the screen.
H.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 14:29:51 GMT
Dem, what a fabulous story about Roger Moore. At first I thought you were going to write that he needed a police escort because the venue was mobbed by Saint fans wanting autographs.
Hard to believe people were picketing because some poor acting bloke wanted a divorce, a very common situation in the society of the past half century. I keep thinking society has really changed, then I have to read some daft news report about one of the idiots we have "serving" in the US Congress. Bleargh.
H.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 14:32:33 GMT
Nice photo of Yvonne in Curse of the Werewolf (I think) which is an exceptionally good film... starring Ollie Reed.
H.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 13, 2021 14:56:19 GMT
I've never really been a fan of Witchfinder General. I remember seeing it for the first time on TV as a kid and being massively disappointed that there was no actual witchcraft in it. I've never really gotten over that. To my mind, it plays out more like a revenge-based spaghetti western than a horror film. Of course, The Wicker Man is a genuine classic - but if I had my way I would cut out all the godawful "folk" music (apart from the Britt Eckland nude dance scene, obviously).
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 15:03:30 GMT
Yeah I just can't get enthused to watch WG though I may do it someday, simply because I adore Vincent Price. I saw him on stage, circa 1977, in his one man show of Oscar Wilde, which I recall having been called Fancies and Flirtations though the name was then changed to Diversions and Delights. He was of course incredible in it. If you scroll way down here, there's a video of Vincent doing one scene in the Wilde show, as well as several photos and an audience audio recording of the show. www.thesoundofvincentprice.com/diversions-and-delights/I'm a big fan of Paul Giovanni's songs for Wicker Man--they're very popular in the Pagan community. I've used some of them in Beltane rituals. "Gently Johnny" is my favorite (based on an actual folk song, but Paul wrote a new tune for it). Talking of music, I stumbled across this video of an Italian or French TV show presentation of the 1975 Euro disco hit "Soul Dracula" (which I don't think we got over here, alas) and it's HILARIOUS. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHslhjivK2Echeers, Hel
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Post by ripper on Jun 13, 2021 15:26:32 GMT
Yes, the Wendy Padbury scene in Satan's Claw is one I don't like. I can take violence in films with no problem, but not sexual violence, so I just skip past any scene like that.
As for Witchfinder General, yeah I have to confess that I am not really a big fan. I can take it or leave it. For me, Price is at his best, and I would say enjoying himself the most, when he can ham it up a bit, as in Theatre of Blood and the Phibes duo. I read that Donald Pleasance was up for the part of Hopkins, but the backers insisted on Price.
I agree that The 1973 version of The Wicker Man is a classic, particularly that final scene and Edward Woodward's performance. The wonderful setting, script, acting and direction convinces that something like that might just still be a belief in some remote location.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 15:39:15 GMT
Ripper, did you ever see that Christopher Lee film about Judge Jeffries? Can't recall title and can't be bovvered to check the net at the moment. I saw it on TV aeons ago and it had some good scenes, I thought. But that's another one that had some extreme torture footage that was restored for the DVD release. I think it was one of those Jesus Franco/Harry Alan Towers things, and they always looked so cheap, but Lee was superb--if not really anything at all like Jeffries was when he was alive. He died in his 40s I believe (might be confusing him with Hopkins). I think Donald Pleasence would have been much more disturbing in the Hopkins role in WG.
H.
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Post by Swampirella on Jun 13, 2021 15:48:56 GMT
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 16:30:45 GMT
Thank you Miss S! It was an "Anglo-American-German-Spanish-French-Italian co-production" with Franco recalling that the film was "at first a horror film with a historical backdrop, then more of a historical film with a background of inquisition, then primarily about the inquisition, then an erotic film." With Franco at the helm, the one guarantee was that regardless of subject matter, there would be lots of zoom shots, sometimes focusing on the current ingenue's armpit hair... I guess he had a fetish there.
Lee was magnificently snide and supercilious but I'm recalling a TV viewing from nearly 50 years ago.
H.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 13, 2021 16:31:14 GMT
I don't mind the nationality. I've been told the Italians did some interesting films too. If you donāt mind a bit of gruesomeness, I recommend Dario Argentoās Suspiriaānot so much for the script or the acting (though Jessica Harper carries off a good balance of wide-eyed shock and gutsiness), but for the vivid colors and mind-blasting soundtrack. For something older and more sedate from the States, Iād suggest Carnival of Souls, which features haunting black and white visuals and an off-kilter directorial style from Herk Harvey (who cut his teeth on industrial and educational documentaries). I also second the recommendations for Don't Look Now, The Exorcist, The Haunting, The Innocents, Rosemary's Baby, and, most of all, The Wicker Man.
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Post by ripper on Jun 13, 2021 16:43:43 GMT
Ripper, did you ever see that Christopher Lee film about Judge Jeffries? Can't recall title and can't be bovvered to check the net at the moment. I saw it on TV aeons ago and it had some good scenes, I thought. But that's another one that had some extreme torture footage that was restored for the DVD release. I think it was one of those Jesus Franco/Harry Alan Towers things, and they always looked so cheap, but Lee was superb--if not really anything at all like Jeffries was when he was alive. He died in his 40s I believe (might be confusing him with Hopkins). I think Donald Pleasence would have been much more disturbing in the Hopkins role in WG. H. I have not seen that one. I don't think it ever turned up on UK TV when I was growing up. In fact, I don't recall it ever being in programme schedules, though I presume it has been shown at some time.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 13, 2021 17:30:45 GMT
It seems there were multiple edits of that Lee Judge Jeffries thing. My memory from an article in Video Watchdog a couple of decades ago is that the German cut had some of the more extreme footage... I seem to remember Tim Lucas salivating over this scene of Margaret Lee in a dungeon licking a knife, or something along those lines. Just part of life's rich tapestry as dear Kenneth Horne used to say.
I know it's something of a spoiler but apart from the sets (which are INCREDIBLE) and some of the extraordinary photography, my favorite moment of Suspiria will always remain Joan Bennett, being pampered and primped by her Witches' coven, uttering the immortal line "I want you to kill her--I want you to kill that AMEDDICAN bitch!" I'm not a fan of the movie, but for that moment, it has a place in my personal gallery--if not my library.
Suspiria does open with a very harrowing murder sequence which, again, might be nightmare-inducing for a sensitive, unworldly young Miss. The movie is set in a sort of deranged Art Deco dance academy--the set-up is brilliant, one must admit.
H.
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