4K/Blu-Ray News #381: Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965).

Directed by Freddie Francis
Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Bernard Lee, Jeremy Kemp, Michael Gough, Donald Sutherland

I’ve been on a bit of a Peter Cushing – Freddie Francis kick of late (watch for some upcoming posts on ’em), so I was really excited to hear about Vineger Syndrome’s upcoming 4K/Blu-Ray release of Cushing in Francis’ Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965). Packed with extras and transferred from the 35mm (Technicolor and Techniscope) camera negative, the set will include both a Blu-Ray and 4K disc.

It was shot by Alan Hume, who’d go on to do a few things you might’ve heard of — Eye Of The Needle (1981), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Return Of The Jedi (1983).

Dr. Terror was the first of Amicus’ run of anthology horror pictures. Francis would direct a couple more, Torture Garden (1967) and Tales From The Crypt (1972), while Cushing would appear in almost all of them. This is maybe the best of the bunch, though I’m quite fond of Tales From The Crypt, so it’s easy to recommend this one very, very highly.

Note in the ad up top that it was sent out with Antonio Margheriti’s Horror Castle (1963) or George Pal’s War Of The Worlds (1953). Wow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There’s not a Thanksgiving movie experience around this year that could ever top this one — but have a nice holiday anyway.

Elvis, Sam Katzman, Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidrah — the more ya think about this, the better it gets!

Happy Thanksgiving From The Hannibal 8!

Maybe Harum Scarum (1965) isn’t the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving (I’d recommend Loving You), but have a good one anyway! 

The Carbon Arc Podcast Episode 3: The Great Race (1965) With Guest Todd Liebenow.

Here’s the third episode of my podcast The Carbon Arc. This time, the subject is Blake Edwards’ The Great Race (1965) — and my guest is Mr. Todd Liebenow of The Forgotten Filmcast. The Great Race is a movie Todd and I adore. (It’s this blog’s namesake if you haven’t figured that out already.

Click on the thing up top to check it out on YouTube or go to —
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/picturestart/episodes/2022-09-23T09_52_13-07_00.

And be sure to check out Todd’s wonderful podcast (which I’ll be a guest on soon) —
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/forgottenfilmcast

Blu-ray News #391: Planet Of The Vampires (AKA Terrore Nello Spazio).

Directed by Mario Bava
Starring Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi

Mario Bava’s supremely creepy Planet Of The Vampires (1965) is getting a new 2K restoration (with expanded supplemental stuff) from the folks at Kino Lorber. Even though their previous Blu-Ray was quite nice, this is very good news indeed.

Written by Ib Melchior, Planet Of The Vampires a bit more going for it than most, script-wise, that a lot of Italian science fiction movies, which tend to not make much sense. But with Mario Bava, it’s the visuals we’re concerned about, and Planet Of The Vampires doesn’t disappoint. This thing’s got enough style and atmosphere (and fog) for 20 movies (and oddly enough, no vampires). I see a lot of this film’s influence in Alien (1979), with a heavy dose of It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1957) thrown in.

VHS copies of Planet Of The Vampires in the Eighties replaced the original score with some dreadful synthesizer stuff. The MGM DVD and the later Kino Lorber Blu-Ray restored the music from the original Italian and AIP versions. Highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #363: Bloody Pit Of Horror (1965).

Directed by Massimo Pupillo
Starring Mickey Hargitay, Walter Brandi, Luisa Baratto, Rita Klein, Alfredo Rizzo, Femi Benussi

If you’re looking for about an hour and a half of 60s Italian horror/peplum weirdness, you won’t do much better than Massimo Pupillo’s Bloody Pit Of Horror (1965). It’s got Mickey Hargitay in a wonderfully whacked-out performance as The Crimson Executioner, dragging a number of Italian beauties to his torture chamber to satisfy his vile desires. This is easily one of the most flat-out crazy movies I’ve ever seen.

Severin Films is bringing it to Blu-Ray with a 2K scan of the uncut camera negative, padded out with a nice slate of extras. Certainly not for all tastes, but if you’re a fan of such nonsense, this one comes highly recommended. 

Blu-Ray News #356: Village Of The Giants (1965).

Produced & Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Starring Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges, Joy Harmon, Robert Random, Tisha Sterling, Toni Basil, Ron Howard, The Beau Brummels

Another movie about big stuff from Bert I. Gordon. This one marries Gordon’s typical size-related theme to a Beach Party atmosphere. It’s coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber later this year.

A group of teenager eats some stuff called Goo and “zoom to supersize.” The gang of 30-foot-tall juvenile delinquents then terrorize the small town of Hainesville. It’s mostly played for laughs, adding in cool elements like The Beau Brummels, music by Jack Nitzsche, Ed Roth’s Surfite and the worst fake giant legs you’ve ever seen. Some of Village Of The Giants was shot at Universal on the same town square set we know from It Came From Outer Space (1953), Gremlins (1984) and Back To The Future (1985).

The whole thing is a lot of dumb fun. Recommended.

Blu-Ray News #354: The Harry Palmer Collection (1965-1967).

Here in the States, the Harry Palmer films are available on Blu-Ray from two different companies (Kino Lorber has two, Warner Archive has one) — each film was originally released through a different studio. The folks at Imprint out of Australia have managed to scoop ’em all up and put them in a single package. But however you pack these things, they’re essential.

The Ipcress File (1965)
Directed by Sidney J. Furie
Starring Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Stanley Meadows

Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman gave us an anti-Bond with Harry Palmer, based on Len Deighton’s novels. Michael Caine was perfectly cast as the sarcastic spy — caught up in a scheme to kidnap and brainwash noted scientists.

I was 10 and had just gotten my first pair of eyeglasses when I came across The Ipcress File, and a smartass secret agent with glasses and a machine gun (and Sue Lloyd) gave me hope. Maybe it was going to be OK after all. I love this film. But don’t take it from me, the BFI named it one of the 100 best British films of the 20th century.

Funeral In Berlin (1966)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Starring Michael Caine, Paul Hubschmid, Oskar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy Doleman

Palmer is sent to Germany to arrange the defection of a Russian intelligence officer. Things get weird. This one was directed by Guy Hamilton, who’d just done Goldfinger (1964). Given the different tones of the two films, you’d never know. 

Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Directed by Ken Russell
Starring Michael Caine, Karl Malden, Ed Begley, Oskar Homolka, Françoise Dorléac, Guy Doleman 

A half-dozen eggs containing a deadly virus are stolen from a British research facility. Palmer, no longer part of MI5, is hired to bring them back. Before long, he’s back in MI5 and trying to bring down a supercomputer while recovering the eggs. The great Andre de Toth worked on this one as an executive producer; he’d later direct Caine in the underrated Play Dirty (1968).

Of course, Imprint is giving these their usual wealth of extras, from commentaries and interviews to trailers, stills and more. Even isolated tracks for the scores. Have all three together, and with all this extra stuff, is a really big deal. Coming in September. Can’t wait!

Blu-Ray News #344: Masquerade (1965).

Directed by Basil Dearden
Starring Cliff Robertson, Jack Hawkins, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Bill Fraser, Charles Gray

Kino Lorber has announced that they’re bringing Basil Deardon’s spy comedy Masquerade (1965) to Blu-Ray in September.

Cliff Robertson replaced Rex Harrison in the lead, and the script was revised by William Goldman to add an American spin on Robertson’s dialogue. For fans of Bava’s Danger: Diabolik (1968) Maris Mell has a great part here. There were so many of these types of things playing theaters in the mid-60s as Bond-mania spread across the globe not unlike the coronavirus.

Shot in Spain by the great Otto Heller (The Ladykillers, Peeping Tom, The Ipcress File), this will be a real piece of eye candy in high definition. Recommended.

Blu-Ray News #342: In Harm’s Way (1965).

Directed by Otto Preminger
Starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Paula Prentiss, Brandon De Wilde, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda, Slim Pickens, George Kennedy, Bruce Cabot, Barbara Bouchet

Nothing makes me love the Blu-Ray format more than black and white ‘Scope movies. They look just wonderful. So I’m really stoked that Paramount is bringing Otto Preminger’s In Harm’s Way (1965) to Blu-Ray in June.

It’s a bit of a soap opera, but John Wayne’s in it, the model work is really cool, Loyal Griggs’s cinematography is beautiful and Jerry Goldsmith’s score is terrific. Highly recommended.

One gripe: back in ’65, this picture boasted a brilliant poster design from the great Saul Bass (above). Why would Paramount ditch that in favor something totally cheeseball?