70's British Horror.

I also , am a huge fan of Hammer, Tigon, Amicus, Pete Walker, Norman Warren etc etc.
The Body Stealers is an absolute hoot- though George Sanders and Maurice Evans must have really been on their uppers then.
Still hungely enjoyable though with a great cheesy , macho man performance from Patrick Allen.
He was also great in The Night of the Big Heat, in which the whole cast sweated profusely.
The Beast in the Cellar I found a lttle dull if still very watcheable.
Perhaps if the great Sheila Keith had been one of the old ladies I might have enjoyed it more.
This is a great thread by the way.
 
Crikey...you obviously didn't grow up in the 70's! I developed my love of films from watching shit quality TV and VHS. Obviously if it's something I really want I'll buy a good quality DVD, but if it's something I've never seen before and want to dip a toe then for sure I'll try the PD stuff. So far I've downloaded Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Edison's 1910 Frankenstein, and Horror Express. I'm not aware of these being available anywhere in any better condition. I did however, but an excellent set for Nosferatu, and I'm still after one for Metropolis.

I guess the modern audience is spoiled image-wise, but as a film fan myself I've watched all kinRAB of different quality images and will continue to do so. Of course I value a cleaned up print (it's why I have a large DVD collection), but I also value film in any form.
 
Countess Dracula is on BBC2 this Saturday night at 1 am

Hammer Studios horror yarn in which an ageing Hungarian countess bathes in the blood of slain virgins to preserve her beauty. Based on the story of the 17th-century mass murderer Countess Elisabeth Bathory.

Please subscribe to this thread and post to it if you notice a good old horror film coming up on TV.
 
Yes, yes, YES - I LOVE seventies British horror movies! I have ALL those classics in my dvd collection (e.g Lee's Dracula films, Amicus anthology horror movies etc.). The only Amicus movie I want, but has not been released on dvd yet here in the UK is Tales From The Crypt.

I am a horror writer myself and hope to try and get a horror screenplay accepted. I am also writing a horror novel, and hope soon to publish my own horror stories in my book SHOCKERS.

Yes, you can't beat those seventies horrors. It is a great pity that they don't make horror movies like that anymore. The horrors these days are ruined by too many bonking teenagers and their stupid behaviour.

Truegho
www.trueghoststories.co.uk
 
I love the Hammer films, though not in a scary way, I watch them as if they were comedies. Sorry...:D

My favourite was the Hammer House of Horror, yes not really a film, episode with the man who keeps getting told that he's killed his wife, and they try to kill him by leaving him on the top of a building due for demolition.

I love the twist at the end. ;)
 
Portmanteau movies do still turn up now and then:

Grim Prairie Tales

Trapped Ashes

Twisted Tales

Freaky Fairy Tales

are a few that come to mind.
 
Sometimes the serious horror movies got lost amongst the Hammer pantomimes e.g. The Legend of Hell House, Burnt Offerings, Would You Kill a Child?, Neither the Sea nor the Sand, I Start Counting, Nothing But the Night, The Manitou (ok, they weren't all serious) etc.
 
Loved his voice!! Dr Phibes films!!

Actually I see him in my first X film.. I was 16 you had to be 18...It was *Fall of the house of Usher*
 
There is a superb R1 dvd of Scream and Scream Again on a double bill with The Oblong Box.

The uncut version of Taste The Blood was released on dvd some years back- as was Blood On Satans Claw complete with Linda Hayden interview.
 
I don' t know if it's been mentioned on this thread,but does anyone like or remember Psychomania?

It's about a gang of devil worshiping bikers who commit suicide so they can live forever! Repeated on the BBC many times during the 80's and 90's.
I feel it's one of the most underrated of the British horror movies of the 70's.It doesn't take itself seriously at all and is mostly comedy horror but is mistaken for being serious,which just makes it seem corny to many.
 
Thanks for that JellyBelly. That's odd though - usually when an item is deleted Play put it up on the page that it's no longer available.

Might keep an eye on eBay. I'm not paying a lot for it though.
 
I remember the BBC 2 late night horror films during the 70's aswell.I had forgotten that they had a black and white one then a colour one straight after.I always assumed,from bad memory,that both were black and white films with the odd colour one thrown in.
I have a large old horror collection on DVD.I also have a lot on video that i recorded off tv.Some are still brilliant to watch,like Devils of Darkness,The Black Torment,The Sorcerers,The Skull,Curse of the Crimson Alter,Horror Hotel,The Plague of the Zombies etc.
The annoying thing is,these british horror films are very rarely released on region 2 or 0 for europeans to watch,and if they are,they get deleted a few months later.There are so many more region 1 british horror DVD's,than region 2 and 0 these days,it has become an insult.
Another Hammer film i love is the oliver reed film Paranoiac.It is wonderful,and legend of the werewolf.
 
For me the most underrated Film of the early 70's would be Captain Kronos Vampire
Hunter. From Hammer but with a different feel, like to know what everyone else thought?
 
Trilogy of Terror is available on R1 along with some other Dan Curtis classics that all remain unavailable on R2.

The 1977 classic Dead of Night is out on R4
 
ITV only own the rights to a small handful of Hammer films .
The Warner / 7 Arts films that were released by Warner then Optimum on dvd although they don't seem to have them all and they keep playing DPOD and The Devil Rides Out constantly , but they are the best ones.

Plague of the Zombies is another classic they should be able to show
 
Apparently The Vampire Lovers will be the uncut version -the same as the R1 edition released a few years ago that has Ingrid Pitt full frontal - that shot was missing from the earlier UK dvd
 
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