The Monster Club (1981) Classic British Horror Films 2024-04-13 | The Monster Club is a 1981 British anthology horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Vincent Price and John Carradine. An anthology film, it is based on the works of the British horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes. It was the final film from Milton Subotsky, who was best known for his work with Amicus Productions; Amicus were well known for their anthologies, but this was not an Amicus film. It was also the final feature film directed by Baker.
Blood on Satans Claw (1971) Classic British Horror Films 2025-08-19 | In a rural village in early 18th-century England, farmer Ralph Gower uncovers a deformed skull with one intact eye and strange fur. He insists that the local judge looks at it, but it mysteriously vanishes. The judge disregards the incident, crediting it to Ralph's superstitious fears. Meanwhile, Peter Edmonton brings his fiancée, Rosalind Barton, to meet his aunt, Mistress Banham, with whom the judge is staying. Mistress Banham and the judge disapprove of the match and arrange for Rosalind to sleep in a disused attic room. Rosalind begins screaming during the night and injures Banham when she investigates, causing her to fall mysteriously ill.Despite Peter's protests, the judge arranges to have Rosalind committed; as she is led out, Peter glimpses a monstrous claw in place of her hand. Meanwhile, three children find a claw from the deformed body from which the skull presumably came while playing next to a field. That evening, Mistress Banham disappears. Convinced that the house contains evil, Peter sneaks into the attic room at night and is attacked by a creature with a furred claw. He tries to hack it with a knife, but when the judge bursts in, he finds that Peter has severed his own hand. Though sceptical of supernatural involvement, the judge borrows a book on witchcraft. The next day, the judge departs for London, leaving the pompous and slow-witted Squire Middleton in charge, but promises to return.Directed by Piers HaggardWritten by Robert Wynne-Simmons, Piers HaggardProduced by Malcolm B. Heyworth, Peter L. AndrewsStarring Patrick Wymark and Linda Hayden
Beasts (1976) Episode 4: Baby Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-28 | "Baby" stars Simon MacCorkindale as a newlywed whose wife's pregnancy falls foul of ancient witchcraft. Beasts is a 1976 British television series. Written by Nigel Kneale, it is an anthology of six self-contained episodes that feature the recurring theme of bestial horror.
Burke and Hare (1972) Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-28 | In Edinburgh, in 1828, there are two sides to society: men living in dirty hovels and grave robbing to make a living; and rich men going to the brothels. Meanwhile, the doctors dine together and drink wine. Surgeon Dr Robert Knox needs bodies for dissection to satisfy the training needs of his medical students. As only hanging victims may be used, bodies are in short supply. In order to serve the greater good of medical science he employs grave-robbers Burke and Hare to supply fresh corpses for his anatomical lectures at the medical academy. The authorities turn a blind eye knowing that stemming the crime would lessen the medical training.The pair of "resurrectionists" are paid £7 10s for their first body – a truly large sum at that time.The students in the anatomy theatre appreciate Knox's lectures and demonstrations. However, when graveyard supplies run low, the industrious pair turn to murder to keep the business going and simply claim to have robbed the bodies. They start with the poor people who co-habit their lodging house on West Port, and these people might have legitimately died. Due to greed they gradually get bolder picking younger victims. Their wives are aware of the murders and indeed encourage and watch the crimes.Directed by Vernon SewellScreenplay by Ernle BradfordProduced by Guido CoenStarring: Derren Nesbitt, Harry Andrews, Glynn Edwards, Yootha Joyce, Françoise Pascal
Jack The Ripper Part 2 (1988) Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-26 | London, autumn 1888. Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard is assigned by his superiors to investigate the murder and brutal mutilation of a prostitute in the East End of London. As the mutilated corpses of other "shilling whores" turn up in the same area, London's tabloid journalists – particularly Benjamin Bates of The Star – whip up a public frenzy. The killer is nicknamed "Jack the Ripper" after a letter bearing that name and supposedly from the killer, is forwarded to Scotland Yard. As the Ripper terrorises London, public outrage erupts throughout the country, and Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren fears that a revolution is in the air in London's East End.There is no shortage of suspects for Abberline and his partner, Sergeant George Godley. These suspects include the American actor Richard Mansfield (appearing in the play Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in London); police surgeon Dr Henry Llewellyn; socialist agitator George Lusk; Queen Victoria's clairvoyant Robert Lees; the Queen's grandson Prince Albert Victor; and Dr Theodore Dyke Acland, the son-in-law of Sir William Gull, Royal Surgeon to Queen Victoria and expert on diseases of the brain. The police and the authorities want the murders solved at any cost, but Abberline and Godley face huge obstacles as they search for the truth – and hindrance from their superiors when the killer is finally unmasked.Directed by David WickesStarring Michael Caine, Lewis Collins, Jane SeymourMusic by John Cameron(Apologies to you if Part 1 of this wonderful TV movie is blocked in your country for copyright reasons).
Countess Dracula (1971) Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-26 | In 17th-century Hungary, recently widowed Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy discovers that her youthful appearance and libido can be temporarily restored if she bathes in the blood of young women. She enlists her steward and lover Captain Dobi and her maid Julie to help with the kidnap and murder of several local girls, whilst beginning a romance with a young Lieutenant named Imre Toth.As a cover for her crimes while in her rejuvenated state, she takes the identity of her own 17-year-old daughter, Countess Ilona, whom she has Dobi hold captive in the woods by the mute money gambler. However, castle historian Fabio grows suspicious. Eventually, she kills a prostitute called Ziza, but her blood does not restore her like the others. Dobi finds Fabio, who has a book-chapter about blood sacrifices and tells Elisabeth the truth in return for being allowed to live. He reveals that only virgin blood will restore Elisabeth's youth and beauty.Directed by Peter SasdyWritten by Jeremy PaulProduced byAlexander PaalStarring Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green, Lesley-Anne Down
Jack The Ripper Part 1 (1988) Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-26 | London, autumn 1888. Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard is assigned by his superiors to investigate the murder and brutal mutilation of a prostitute in the East End of London. As the mutilated corpses of other "shilling whores" turn up in the same area, London's tabloid journalists – particularly Benjamin Bates of The Star – whip up a public frenzy. The killer is nicknamed "Jack the Ripper" after a letter bearing that name and supposedly from the killer, is forwarded to Scotland Yard. As the Ripper terrorises London, public outrage erupts throughout the country, and Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren fears that a revolution is in the air in London's East End.There is no shortage of suspects for Abberline and his partner, Sergeant George Godley. These suspects include the American actor Richard Mansfield (appearing in the play Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in London); police surgeon Dr Henry Llewellyn; socialist agitator George Lusk; Queen Victoria's clairvoyant Robert Lees; the Queen's grandson Prince Albert Victor; and Dr Theodore Dyke Acland, the son-in-law of Sir William Gull, Royal Surgeon to Queen Victoria and expert on diseases of the brain. The police and the authorities want the murders solved at any cost, but Abberline and Godley face huge obstacles as they search for the truth – and hindrance from their superiors when the killer is finally unmasked.Directed by David WickesStarring Michael Caine, Lewis Collins, Jane SeymourMusic by John Cameron
Frankenstein The True Story (1973) Classic British Horror Films 2025-07-24 | After his brother William dies in an accident, newly trained doctor Victor Frankenstein renounces God and starts wishing to be able to revive him. Victor starts studying in London and meets Henry Clerval, who discovered how to restore dead matter to life. Clerval plans to create a new race of perfect beings from the remains of the dead and persuades Victor to help him. They set to work on creating a perfect human, but Clerval dies of a heart attack before the experiment is completed. Victor chooses to honour Clerval by giving their creation Clerval's brain.Victor brings their artificial human to life. He introduces his creation into high-class society, but is shocked to find that there was a flaw in the process used to make him, and the creation's flesh is rapidly decaying. As he deteriorates further, the Creature discovers his deformed appearance and attempts suicide by jumping into the sea. Victor assumes that the Creature is dead.
Crucible of Terror (1971) Classic British Horror Films 2024-04-28 | Struggling art dealer John Davies is putting on an exhibit of works by the reclusive artist Victor Clare, whose art has not been shown since World War II. The artworks are eventually stolen by Victor's son Michael, an alcoholic in need of money.Joanna and George Brent come to the show and George is enamored of a bronze of a reclining nude woman. Although it has already been sold, George demands to buy it from John. After they leave, John tells Michael that Michael's share of the proceeds will come to £500. This pleases Michael, but John says that his share will go towards the loan from Joanna that financed the show.Directed by Ted HookerWritten by Ted Hooker, Tom ParkinsonProduced by Tom ParkinsonStarring Mike Raven, Mary Maude, James Bolam & Ronald Lacey
Quatermass IV, Episode 3, What Lies Beneath Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Quatermass is rescued by a group of elderly people living in a scrap yard who treat his injuries. At the hospital, the doctors are shocked when Isabel levitates off her bed and explodes in a cloud of dust. Elsewhere, the devastated Kapp is left alone in the ruins of his cottage and observatory. More and more young people are joining the Planet People, including the gangs that have been terrorising the cities and the soldiers assigned to keep them away from the Megalithic sites. Contact is restored with Chuck Marshall and with the Russians in the form of Gurov (Brewster Mason). Quatermass theorises that this is not the first time this has happened; megalithic sites such as prehistoric stone circles are in fact markers built as a sign that something terrible happened there, and that there are some kind of alien beacons buried underground at these sites. Quatermass believes there is a sphere of energy surrounding the Earth which can focus itself into the beams of light. The Russians and the Americans send a Space Shuttle, commanded by Marshall, to make contact with the force. Quatermass is sceptical; he suspects they are dealing not with an intelligence but with a machine constructed to harvest human protein. The space shuttle reports a giant beam of light stretching from somewhere in deep space to the Earth, just missing them. A second beam just afterwards destroys them. Meanwhile, the Planet People are gathering at Wembley Stadium in the tens of thousands. Annie and Quatermass travel to the stadium but are powerless to prevent the Planet People from gathering. When they are attacked, Annie drives their car into the underground car park beneath the stadium where she crashes the vehicle and is killed. The lightning strikes the stadium and Quatermass, underground, huddles against the wall to try and survive.
Quatermass IV, Episode 4, An Endangered Species Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Showing signs of his recent narrow escape, Quatermass emerges from the car park to find the stadium empty. An estimated 70,000 people have died there. So many have now been disintegrated that the particles of dust in the air have turned the sky green. Kapp attempts to repair his equipment in order to contact the alien presence, but the Planet People destroy his efforts. They try to persuade him to join them but he refuses, convinced now that his family are dead. Quatermass, aided by Gurov, who has travelled to London from Moscow, assembles a team of scientists to find a solution. He deliberately selects old people for the task as they are immune to the call of the alien force. Quatermass decides to fake the presence of a gathering of a million young people at Kapp's observatory and, when the force comes, to detonate a 35 kiloton nuclear weapon. It is a focused charge where most of the force will go upwards, causing little damage in the area. Quatermass does not believe this will be sufficient to destroy the alien machine but he hopes that it will shock it enough to make it go away. Kapp volunteers to stay behind with Quatermass to help detonate the bomb. The pair set up the trap and wait in darkness. Suddenly, Kickalong appears with a group of Planet People, including Quatermass' granddaughter, Hettie. Kapp tries to warn them away but is shot and killed by Kickalong. The light appears, indicating that the alien force beam has arrived, but the shock of seeing his granddaughter among the Planet People causes Quatermass to suffer a heart attack. She has recognised him too and struggling to reach the detonator button, Quatermass is aided by Hettie and together they detonate the bomb. Later, in a world that is recovering from the recent decline of civilisation, Gurov tells us: "The message was taken. It has not come again. We pray it will never come again".
Torture Garden (1967) Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Five people visit a fairground sideshow run by showman Dr. Diabolo. Having shown them a handful of haunted house-style attractions, he promises them a genuinely scary experience if they will pay extra. Their curiosity gets the better of them, and the small crowd follows him behind a curtain, where they each view their fate through the shears of an effigy of the female deity Atropos.Directed by Freddie FrancisWritten by Robert Bloch (based on short stories by Bloch, "Enoch", "The Man Who Collected Poe", "Terror Over Hollywood", "Mr Steinway")Produced by Max Rosenberg & Milton SubotskyStarring: Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Beverly Adams, Peter Cushing
Asylum (1972) Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Dr Martin arrives at a secluded asylum "for the incurably insane". He should begin there a new appointment as doctor, but gets first interviewed by the authoritarian warden Lionel Rutherford. Rutherford is in a wheelchair and blames this on an attack by a patient. He declares a lack of hope for any improvement in any of the patients. As part of the interview, Rutherford challenges Martin to identify, from among the inmates, "Dr B. Starr", a former head of the asylum, who underwent a complete mental breakdown. Dr Martin is to interview one-by-one the few patients. If his deduction is correct, Rutherford will consider him qualified for the post.Directed by Roy Ward BakerWritten by Robert BlochProduced by Max Rosenberg & Milton SubotskyStarring: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Robert Powell, Herbert Lom, Barry Morse, Patrick Magee
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Gerald and Marianne Harcourt are a couple honeymooning in early 20th-century Bavaria when their car runs out of petrol. They stop in a small village and opt to stay at the local inn until a cart arrives with more petrol. They accept a dinner invitation from Dr. Ravna, who introduces them to his children Carl and Sabena. At a costume ball at Ravna's chateau, Gerald and Marianne are separated from each other. Donning a mask identical to Gerald's in order to impersonate him, Carl silently leads Marianne to an upstairs bedroom, where Dr. Ravna, a vampire, bites her.Directed by Don SharpWritten by John ElderProduced by Anthony HindsStarring Edward de Souza & Jennifer Daniel
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) Classic British Horror Films 2024-01-02 | Antiques dealer Robert Manning (Eden) searches for his brother, who was last known to have visited the remote house of Craxted Lodge at Greymarsh, their family's ancestral town. Arriving at night, he finds a party is in progress, and he is invited to stay by Eve (Wetherell), the niece of the owner of the house. His sleep is restless and strange dreams of ritual sacrifice disturb him. Directed by Vernon SewellWritten by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln (screenplay)Produced by Louis M. HeywardStarring Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Barbara Steele, Mark Eden, Michael Gough
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 13, The Mark of Satan (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | A worker in a hospital mortuary becomes convinced that a conspiracy of evil has chosen him as the devil's disciple. Those around him remain sceptical, believing that his rantings are a sign of insanity rather than a desperate cry for help from an innocent soul marked for Satan.Cast: Peter McEnery, Emrys James, Georgina Hale, Peter Birrel, Conrad Phillips.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 11, Visitor from the Grave (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | A psychologically fragile woman accidentally kills an intruder who is about to hurt her. Her boyfriend buries the body in the woods, but she continues to see the man in various places; this leads her to seek help from a psychic. Worse is to follow as she becomes the victim of a macabre plot.Cast: Kathryn Leigh Scott, Gareth Thomas, Simon MacCorkindale, Mia Nadasi, Stanley Lebor.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 12, The Two Faces of Evil (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | Setting off on a holiday, a family give a lift to a sinister hitchhiker. After the car crashes, one man is dead and one man is injured. But which one?Cast: Gary Raymond, Anna Calder-Marshall, Philip Latham, Jenny Laird, Brenda Cowling.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 9, Carpathian Eagle (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | A young woman, convinced she possesses the reincarnated spirit of a murderess, walks the night seeking out new victims to fulfil an ancient prophecy for death. Features Pierce Brosnan in one of his early screen roles.Cast: Suzanne Danielle, Anthony Valentine, Siân Phillips, Jeffry Wickham, W. Morgan Sheppard, Pierce Brosnan.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 10, Guardian of the Abyss (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | An antiques dealer gets caught up in a cult of human sacrifice which seeks to conjure Choronzon when he unwittingly gains possession of John Dee's mirror with mysterious evil powers.Cast: Ray Lonnen, Barbara Ewing, John Carson, Rosalyn Landor, Paul Darrow.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 8, Children of the Full Moon (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-25 | A husband and wife head off on holiday to the West Country, but get stranded. They find sanctuary at a house in the woods, where a woman cares for a number of children; the husband believes these to be werewolves. After an accident he wakes in a hospital, to be told the werewolf children were all a dream. However, his now-pregnant wife has changed, developing a taste for raw steak, among other things.Cast: Diana Dors, Christopher Cazenove, Celia Gregory, Robert Urquhart.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 7, The Silent Scream (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | An elderly pet shop owner, who was a former Nazi concentration camp guard, is intent on continuing experiments on human victims. His plan is to create prisons with no bars, for which he captures a former prison inmate and his wife.Cast: Peter Cushing, Brian Cox, Elaine Donnelly.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 4, Growing Pains (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | After the death of their young son, a scientist and his wife adopt a new son, but it coincides with a series of odd events and disasters for the father's research.Cast: Gary Bond, Barbara Kellerman, Norman Beaton, Geoffrey Beevers, Tariq Yunus.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 6, Charlie Boy (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | An ancient African idol, possessed by the spirit of an evil sorcerer, seems to take on a life of its own.Cast: Leigh Lawson, Marius Goring, Angela Bruce, Frances Cuka, Michael Culver, Jeff Rawle, David Healy, Janet Fielding.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 5, The House that Bled to Death (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | After buying it for a good price, a couple and their young daughter move into a house that was the scene of a macabre murder. A series of terrifying events eventually force them to flee for their lives, but all is not as it seems.Cast: Nicholas Ball, Rachel Davies, Brian Croucher, Patricia Maynard, Milton Johns.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 3, Rude Awakening (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | A lecherous estate agent has recurrent dreams about his seductive secretary, a mysterious house and an even more mysterious encouragement to murder his wife.Cast: Denholm Elliott, Lucy Gutteridge, James Laurenson, Pat Heywood, Gareth Armstrong, Eleanor Summerfield.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 2, The Thirteenth Reunion (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | A reporter investigating a health farm stumbles upon a horrifying truth behind a secret society that is connected to it, and must now fear for her life.Cast: Michael Latimer, Julia Foster, Dinah Sheridan, Richard Pearson, Norman Bird, Warren Clarke, Kevin Stoney, Gerard Kelly, James Cosmo, George Innes.
Hammer House of Horror, Episode 1, The Witching Time (HD) Classic British Horror Films 2023-12-24 | A 17th-century witch uses her craft to transport herself to the 20th century. She brings spine-chilling terror to the present-day occupants of the old farmhouse in which she lived. She puts her mark on the man now living in the farmhouse, while his wife tries to save him.Cast: Jon Finch, Patricia Quinn, Prunella Gee, Ian McCulloch, Lennard Pearce, Margaret Anderson.
The Pyx (1973) Classic British Horror Films 2023-08-01 | In Montreal, a woman named Elizabeth Lucy falls to her death from a tenement building. Police arrive on the scene and find a crucifix and a small metal pyx gripped in her hand. Widowed detective Sergeant Jim Henderson is assigned to the case, and soon learns that Elizabeth was a heroin-addicted prostitute. Henderson determines that the apartment she leapt from was unoccupied, and that the building also serves as a brothel operation. Leading up to her death, Elizabeth, a lapsed Catholic, was struggling to get her life in order.Directed by Harvey HartScreenplay by Robert Schlitt
Quatermass 2 (1957) Classic British Horror Films 2023-02-09 | As Professor Bernard Quatermass struggles to gain government support for his Moon colonisation project, his interest becomes focused on reports of hundreds of meteorites landing in Winnerden Flats. Travelling there with Marsh, his colleague, Quatermass finds a huge complex under construction, based on his lunar colony plans. Marsh finds an undamaged meteorite shaped like a small stone rocket. It then cracks open, releasing a gas, leaving him with an odd V-shaped mark on his face. Uniformed-clad guards from the complex arrive, armed with sub-machine guns and sporting similar V-shaped marks, and take Marsh away, knocking down Quatermass and ordering him to leave the area.Directed by Val GuestScreenplay by Nigel Kneale and Val Guest
The Medusa Touch (1978) Classic British Horror Films 2023-01-15 | Monsieur Brunel, a French detective on an exchange scheme in London, is assigned to investigate the apparent murder of novelist John Morlar. As they examine the crime scene, Brunel discovers the victim is still alive in spite of his severe head injuries and has him rushed to hospital.With the help of Morlar's journals and Dr. Zonfeld, a psychiatrist Morlar was consulting, Brunel reconstructs Morlar's life. Seen in flashback, it is filled with seemingly inexplicable catastrophes and the sudden deaths of people he disliked or who grievously offended him. Morlar has become convinced that, consciously or unconsciously, he himself willed the things to happen. He had become even more convinced when a supposed psychic examined his hands, became greatly unsettled at what he foresaw, and refunded Morlar's fee. Dr. Zonfeld scoffs at this explanation, asking Morlar if he seriously believes in palmistry as a means of predicting the future.Directed by Jack GoldScreenplay by John Briley
Gothic (1986) Classic British Horror Films 2022-03-19 | Through her stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary Godwin and her future husband Percy Shelley come to know Lord Byron. During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invites them to stay for a while at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. There they meet Byron's physician friend, Dr. John Polidori. On 16 June, while a storm rages outside, the five of them amuse themselves by engaging in a game of hide-and-seek. Later in a parlor, Percy proclaims his fascination with science; Polidori tells him of his interests in sleepwalking and nightmares. Lord Byron shows his guests Phantasmagoria, a book of horror stories he purchased from a shop in Geneva, and the three alternately read excerpts. This inspires them to hold a séance gathered around a human skull, during which Claire has an apparent seizure. Mary describes them as Claire's "horrors," and recalls instances during their childhood when unexplained phenomena would occur during them, such as Claire's bed inexplicably shaking, and doors slamming shut by themselves.Directed by Ken RussellScreenplay by Stephen VolkStory by Lord Byron & Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Uncanny (1977) Classic British Horror Films 2022-02-12 | In 1977, in Montreal, writer Wilbur Gray visits his publisher Frank Richards to discuss his new book about cats. Wilbur believes that felines are supernatural creatures, and that they are the devil in disguise. Wilbur tells three tales to illustrate his thoughts:In 1912, in London, Miss Malkin is a wealthy woman who rewrites her will leaving her fortune to her cats rather than to her nephew Michael. Her maid Janet, also the mistress of Michael, steals one copy of the will from the lawyer's briefcase and tries to destroy the original copy which is kept in the safe. When Miss Malkin sees her attempt, Janet kills her. The cats avenge Miss Malkin's death.In 1975, in the Province of Quebec, the orphan Lucy comes to live with her aunt Mrs. Blake, her husband, and her cousin Angela after the death of her parents in a plane crash. Lucy brings her only friend, the cat Wellington, but her mean cousin forces her parents to get rid of Wellington. Lucy uses her mother's book of witchcraft to avenge Wellington.In 1936, in Hollywood, the actor Valentine De'ath replaces the blade of a fake pendulum to kill his actress wife, and give his young mistress and aspiring actress Edina a chance. The cat of his wife avenges her death.Directed by Denis HérouxWritten by Michel ParryProduced by René Dupont, Claude Héroux, Milton SubotskyStarring Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, Samantha Eggar, Joan Greenwood, Donald Pleasence, Donald Pilon, John Vernon
The Ghoul (1975) Classic British Horror Films 2022-01-12 | In 1920s England, a group of upper-class people take part in an automobile race to Land's End. One couple, Daphne and Billy, get lost in heavy fog and run out of petrol. Billy goes to look for fuel, but takes so long that Daphne strikes out on her own. She locates a rural estate owned by Dr. Lawrence, a former priest. He receives her kindly and sends his disturbed gardener, Tom, to find Billy. Tom finds Billy asleep in the car and kills him by pushing the car with him inside over a ravine. It is implied he acted on his master's orders.Meanwhile, Lawrence tells Daphne about a trip his family took to India; his experience with certain cults there horrified him so much that he renounced religion in general. This decision was heavily influenced by the fate of his wife and son, who were converted to a new faith by a local nobleman. The former was afterwards so horrified by the things she had done that she committed suicide.Still waiting for Billy, Daphne falls asleep in a guest room. Seeing this, the doctor's Indian housekeeper, Ayah, goes to the attic and lets out a bloated, blood-stained man in a priest's mantle. He kills Daphne with a katar, and Ayah ritually cooks the girl's flesh for him to eat and burns the girl's clothes.Directed by Freddie FrancisWritten by Anthony HindsProduced by Kevin Francis
Nothing But the Night (1973) Classic British Horror Films 2022-01-12 | Three wealthy trustees of the Van Traylen fund, which supports a school for orphans on the Scottish island of Bala, are murdered, though their deaths are staged as suicide or accident. Three other trustees are on a bus carrying children from the school when the driver suddenly catches on fire, but he is the only one to die. One of the girls on the bus, Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong), is taken to a London hospital, where she has strange seizures. A young psychiatrist (Keith Barron) and a tabloid journalist (Georgia Brown) interview the girl's mother (Diana Dors), hoping to enlist the aid of the hospital's senior member, Sir Mark Ashley (Peter Cushing). Directed by Peter SasdyScreenplay by Brian Hayles
Vampire Circus (1972) Classic British Horror Films 2021-11-10 | One evening near the small Serbian village of Stetl early in the 19th century, schoolmaster Albert Müller witnesses his wife Anna taking a little girl, Jenny Schilt, into the castle of Count Mitterhaus, a reclusive nobleman rumoured to be a vampire responsible for the disappearances of other children. The rumours prove true, as Anna, who has become Mitterhaus' willing acolyte and mistress, gives Jenny to him to be drained of her blood. Men from the village, directed by Müller and including Jenny's father Mr. Schilt and the Bürgermeister, invade the castle and attack the Count. After the vampire kills several of them, Müller succeeds in driving a wooden stake through his heart. With his dying breath, Mitterhaus curses the villagers, vowing that their children will die to give him back his life.Directed by Robert YoungScreenplay by Judson KinbergStory by George Baxt, Wilbur Stark
Countess Dracula (1970) Classic British Horror Films 2021-11-08 | In 17th-century Hungary, recently widowed Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy discovers that her youthful appearance and libido can be temporarily restored if she bathes in the blood of young women. She enlists her steward and lover Captain Dobi and her maid Julie to help with the kidnap and murder of several local girls, whilst beginning a new romance with a young Lieutenant named Imre Toth. As a cover for her crimes while in her rejuvenated state, she takes the identity of her own daughter, Countess Ilona, whom she has Dobi hold captive in the woods.Directed by Peter SasdyWritten by Jeremy PaulProduced by Alexander Paal
The City Of The Dead aka Horror Hotel (1960) Classic British Horror Films 2021-10-14 | In 1692 in fictional Whitewood, Massachusetts, a witch named Elizabeth Selwyn is burned at the stake. Before her death, Selwyn and her accomplice, Jethrow Keane, sold their souls to Lucifer for eternal life and revenge on Whitewood in return for providing the Devil with two yearly virgin human sacrifices on the Hour of Thirteen during Candlemas Eve and the Witches' Sabbath.Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey (as John Moxey)Screenplay by George BaxtStory by Milton Subotsky
The House That Dripped Blood (1971) Blu ray quality Classic British Horror Films 2021-09-19 | The House That Dripped Blood is a 1971 British horror anthology film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, and Jon Pertwee. The film is a collection of four short stories concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building. All of the stories were originally written, and subsequently scripted, by Robert Bloch. Features Joss Ackland in a cravat.Directed by Peter DuffellWritten by Robert Bloch and Russ JonesProduced by Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg
Frankenstein Unbound (1990) Blu ray quality Classic British Horror Films 2021-09-19 | Roger Corman came to direct Frankenstein Unbound after a hiatus of 20 years, during which time he had focused on producing 140 films for two independent production companies. The screenplay was based on Brian Aldiss's novel of the same title but instead of having the protagonist as a civil servant Corman changed him to a scientist who is transported back into time to the 18th century as a side-effect of his own scientific weaponry research. John Hurt and Raoul Julia were perfectly cast in the roles of Joe Buchanan and Victory Frankenstein. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews in the US but UK reviews were lacklustre. For me it always remains one of the standout versions of the Frankeinstein story not least for the quality of meta analysis it delivers to the central plotline and associated themes of scientific inquiry run amok. Enjoy!
Hellbound Hellraiser II (1988) Classic British Horror Films 2021-09-16 | Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 horror film directed by Tony Randel and starring Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham and Doug Bradley. The second film in the Hellraiser franchise, Hellraiser II draws heavily upon (and was made by much of the same cast and crew as) its precursor, Hellraiser, which was released a year prior. Laurence reprises her role as Kirsty Cotton, who is admitted into a psychiatric hospital after the events of the first film. There, the head doctor (Cranham) unleashes the Cenobites, a group of sadomasochistic beings from another dimension.Clive Barker, who wrote and directed the first Hellraiser film, wrote the story of Hellraiser II and served as executive producer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, Hellraiser II screened at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 9 September 1988, and received mixed reviews upon release. It was followed by Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth in 1992.
The Shout (1978) Blu ray quality Classic British Horror Films 2021-09-12 | Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski adapted this deeply unsettling film from a very short story by Robert Graves and tells the tale of a psychiatric patient Crossley (Alan Bates) who claims he has learned a singular skill from his time with Australian Aborigines – he can kill just by shouting. He inveigles his way into the lives of experimental musician Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) and his wife Rachel (Susannah York), embarking on an emotionless affair with her and memorably demonstrating his power to him on a remote Devon beach.The story is told in flashback, related by Crossley to one ‘Robert Graves’ (Tim Curry) at a hospital cricket match. Is any of it true or is it just the deranged ramblings of a madman? Skolimowski isn’t telling (the ending is satisfyingly ambiguous) and the film is all the more disquieting for his reluctance. Given the subject matter it’s appropriate that this was the first British film with a Dolby soundtrack and Skolimowski makes stunning use of the technology, particularly during the aforementioned beach scene.
The Creeping Flesh (1973) Classic British Horror Films 2021-07-28 | Prof. Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing), a Victorian era scientist, is shown meeting a young doctor in what appears to be a laboratory. He excitedly tells the doctor that he needs help because he has discovered a form of evil that is real, a living being, and that he has unwittingly unleashed the evil thousands of years too soon. He then recounts how his discovery was made. In a flashback, Hildern recounts his return in 1894 from an expedition to New Guinea where he discovered an abnormally large humanoid skeleton. Paradoxically, the skeleton is far older than previously recovered specimens, but also much more advanced. Hildern hopes the discovery will earn him the prestigious Richter Prize. Directed by Freddie FrancisWritten by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan RumboldProduced byMichael P. Redbourn
The Oblong Box (1969) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-22 | The film takes place in England in 1865. Having been grotesquely disfigured in an African voodoo ceremony for a transgression against the native populace, Sir Edward Markham (Alister Williamson) is kept locked in his room by his guilt-ridden brother, Julian (Vincent Price).Directed by Gordon HesslerProduced by Gordon HesslerScreenplay by Lawrence Huntington with additional dialogue by Christopher Wicking
The Masque of the Red Death (1964) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-20 | On a mountain in medieval Italy, an old woman meets a mysterious red-cloaked figure shuffling Tarot cards. The figure gives the woman a white rose, which then turns red and dappled with blood. Prince Prospero, a Satanist, visits the village over which he holds dominion, and is angrily confronted by two poor and starving villagers, Gino and Ludovico. Prospero sentences the pair to death, but Ludovico's daughter Francesca begs for their lives. Prospero discovers that the old woman who encountered the red figure is infected with a deadly plague, the Red Death. He orders the village burned down to prevent the spread of the disease, abducts Francesca, and then sends out invitations to his castle to several dozen of the local nobility.Directed by Roger CormanProduced by Roger Corman & George WilloughbyScreenplay by Charles Beaumont & R. Wright Campbell
Legend Of The Werewolf (1975) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-18 | At midnight on Christmas Eve in the mid-19th century, somewhere in Russia, two fugitives fleeing persecution stop by the roadside for the woman to have her baby. The mother dies, and the father is slaughtered by wolves. However, the wolves protect the baby instead of killing it, and the baby grows into a wild boy.Years later, a trio of circus performers find the boy out in the woods, and use him as an attraction called the "Wolf Boy". He is named Etoile, and loses his wolfish aspects, and his public appeal, as he grows up. One night, Etoile changes into a wolfman under the influence of the full moon, and kills a circus member.Directed by Freddie FrancisProduced by Kevin FrancisWritten by Anthony Hinds
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-18 | In Transylvania in 1804, a lone figure makes his way through the countryside and into the towering Castle Dracula, where he summons Count Dracula. The figure announces, in his own language, that his name is Kah, a Taoist monk and the high priest of the Temple of the Seven Golden Vampires in rural China. He goes on to tell the Count that the Seven Golden Vampires' power is fading and he needs him to restore them to their former glory. Dracula considers the offer and accepts on one condition: that he uses Kah's body to escape his castle, which has become his prison.Directed by Roy Ward Baker & Chang ChehProduced by Don Houghton & Vee King ShawScreenplay by Don Houghton
Witchfinder General AKA The Conqueror Worm (1968) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-17 | In 1645, during the English Civil War, Matthew Hopkins, an opportunist witchhunter, takes advantage of the breakdown in social order to impose a reign of terror in East Anglia. Hopkins and his assistant, John Stearne, visit village after village, brutally torturing confessions out of suspected witches. They charge the local magistrates for the work they carry out.Directed by Michael ReevesProduced by Louis M. Heyward, Philip Waddilove & Arnold MillerScreenplay by Tom Baker & Michael Reeves
Horror Express (1972) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-17 | In 1906, Professor Sir Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), a renowned British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from Shanghai to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. He hopes it is a missing link in human evolution. The film was directed by Eugenio Martín, produced by Bernard Gordon, based on a screenplay by Arnaud d'Usseau and Julian Zimet.
Doomwatch (1972) Classic British Horror Films 2021-06-17 | An outsider (Ian Bannen) visits a remote isolated village that has seemingly shunned the modern life. Doctor Del Shaw, an investigator from the British ecological watchdog group nicknamed Doomwatch, is sent to the island of Balfe, to file a report on the effects of a recent oil tanker spill. He becomes fascinated with the mysterious behavioural disorders of the locals who display rudeness and random aggression and a strange genetic prevalence of thick lips and sloping brows.The film was directed by Peter Sasdy, produced by Tony Tenser, and written by Clive Exton.
