[6] Peter Cushing and Andre Morell, paired a few years earlier in The Hound of the Baskervilles, re-team for Hammer Studios in Cash on Demand. Based on a stage play, this is largely a two-man show with Morell playing a charming but dangerous bank robber who forces Cushing, a bank manager, to help him abscond with over ninety-thousand pounds. Taking place in ‘real time’ two …
[2] Peter Cushing stars in this Amicus production about a collector of supernatural antiquities who comes into possession of the Marquis de Sade’s skull. Christopher Lee (in a cameo) warns him that the skull has the power to possess its owners and force them to do evil things. Cushing poo-poos the notion at his peril and ends up fighting the skull’s intentions for him to …
[7] This Hammer production is, in the best way possible, like a live-action episode of Scooby-Doo, complete with pirates, marsh phantoms, scarecrows, and secret identities. The charismatic cast is headlined by Peter Cushing as the dubious town vicar and Patrick Allen as a British captain sent to investigate an alleged smuggling ring. The mystery is as transparent as anything the Scooby gang ever encountered, but …
[6] Peter Cushing returns for Hammer’s first sequel to their highly successful Curse of Frankenstein. Cushing’s mad doctor escapes the guillotine and sets up camp in a new town, where he transplants the brain of his deformed assistant into a reanimated corpse. For campy horror fun, Revenge of Frankenstein begins and ends well, but the middle portion is pretty unremarkable — an uninspired rehash of …
[4] The mystery is paper-thin in this tale of Medusa-like sisters who turn their victims to stone. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee have precious few scenes together, and neither are on their best game (Cushing’s character isn’t much to work with). The Gorgon is a sub-par entry in the Hammer Horror canon, but you’ll still find a few scenes of delicious gothic ambience. I love …
[5] Hammer’s third Frankenstein film (following Revenge of Frankenstein) is more of a one-off than a sequel, having little to do with the films before or after it. Despite the return of Peter Cushing to the role of Baron Frankenstein and Hammer Films’ terrific sets (the laboratory sets are especially good here), the story is too much of a re-tread to stand out in the …
[7] Nazi zombies rise from the sea and prey on a group of youngsters stranded at an abandoned island resort. You either love the sound of that, or you don’t. I dig it. Peter Cushing makes a welcome appearance as the zombies’ former SS commander, and John Carradine plays the crotchety ship captain who unwittingly guides our protagonists to their watery graves. Shock Waves is …
[5] Burgess Meredith stars as Dr. Diabolo, a sideshow barker who gives daring patrons a glimpse at their untimely demises in this horror anthology flick from Britain’s Amicus Productions (ever the poor man’s Hammer Studios). The four featured tales include a mind-controlling cat, a secret society of androids, a killer piano, and dueling collectors of all things Edgar Allan Poe. I expected more from venerable …
[7] Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing play rival scientists trying to contain a defrosted prehistoric creature aboard the Trans-Siberian Express in this moody, well-paced midnight horror flick. You’ll have to suspend your disbelief where science is concerned, and also in the casting of Telly Savalas as a crazed Cossack, but the film has quite a bit to offer otherwise — including Lee and Cushing at …
[9] With double entendre’s out the wazoo and sight gags out the yin-yang, not to mention a shiny young Val Kilmer dancing and singing his heart out, Top Secret! wins me over. The film is from the makers of Airplane!, and as well-loved as that film is, I personally enjoy this one a lot more. The jokes come rapid-fire, ranging from low-key (“In women’s tennis, …
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