#FFWFest Day Two

[miss_s_b]

The Plague of the Zombies

Classic Hammer cheese, set in a Cornish tin mine, with voodoo and Jacqueline Maximum Power!!!! Pierce and Michael Ripper and Andre Quatermas Morrell... The grey faces and the shambling and groaning are all a class above anything George A Romero ever did, and it's got a cheap workforce solution any Tory would be proud of. Gloriously sleazy performance from John Carson and a lovely climax.

Best bits? The zombies realising they are catching fire in the tin mine. Some classic zombie acting there.

9/10

The Hound of the Baskervilles

This was the BBC TV version with Peter Cushing (as opposed to the Hammer version with Peter Cushing) and felt like it was 80 minutes of script stretched out to 100 minutes. Holmes is absent for most of Baskerville, which works when you have a decent actor playing Watson. Unfortunately this doesn't have a decent actor playing Watson, and although Cushing is as excellent as ever, he's not in it enough to rescue it. And there was a glaring cock-up with the trains (don't ask) which is still annoying me now.

Best bits? Watson's sheep-shagger line, and the guy at the back of the audience quipping Shoulda gone to Specsavers when Stapleton falls into the Grimpen Mire.

4/10

Shorts: Suffer the Little Children

Every one of these was beautifully shot and lit. None of them had any real technical or quality issues. The scripts, though, varied enormously. The Happy Children was simple and atmospheric, but I was expecting a nastier ending - 6/10. Darkness Within possibly would have worked if even one of the characters had been in any way likeable, but I struggled to care about the suffering of the irritatingly smug husband and his voiceless wife - 3/10. Endless had the germ of a clever idea, but you have no idea of the relationship between any of the characters or what brought them to the point they were at. And the title felt appropriate by the time it ended. It dragged... - 3/10. Intercambio was dull and sexist and made no sense - 1/10. But then we got Click... And that was brilliant. The characters felt like real people doing the sort of things real people do, and the child actors were all excellent. I recommend you seek it out, if you can - 9/10.

The final film of this segment was The Elemental, which was nicely atmospheric with some creative shock moments and a great performance from the central actress - 7/10.

Best bits? Click, the whole of it.

Twins of Evil

A nice nuanced performance from Cushing makes this Hammer Ooo we've got twins who are willing to get their tits out film feel much higher quality than it otherwise might.

Best bits? The prison guard with the most impressive combover the world has ever seen, and Cushing's totally serious delivery of the line Satan has sent me twins... OF EVIL!!

6/10

Vincent Price Rarities Double Bill

The first half of this was a Parky-style interview with Vincent conducted by David Del Valle called The Sinister Image. I'd never seen it before, and learned a couple of new things from it, and mostly came away with the impression that Vincent was happy and relaxed and humorous about himself and his career. It was clear that he and David got on with each other and they were chatting like old friends. It was somewhat frustrating that every bit of Vincent's career got skated over very briefly, rather than a few choice bits gone into in depth, but I suspect that was always going to be the case. 6/10

The second half was An Evening With Edgar Allen Poe. I had seen it before, but I don't think many people there had. The format is basically a one-man reading of some of Poe's short stories, with some props and make-up, but nobody there other than Vincent. The first, Tell-Tale Heart, is the best, and I have only seen it bettered once (by Sean Pertwee, in this). Cask of Amontillado is also excellent. The whole thing is more of a stage, or even radio, play than TV/film, but it works because Price has the presence to carry it.

Best bits? VILLAINS! DISSEMBLE NO MORE! etc. 8/10

Comments

Click

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the great review of Click. Glad you liked it.
Billy Prince. Director.

[karohemd]

I "acquired" Hobo with a Shotgun earlier and I'm even more glad now I went for Vincent Price. Film's OK but Vinny was far better.

[(Anonymous)]

Strange... I don't want to question your excellent taste, but though it's a while since I've seen it, I remember that BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles as just about the best of them, and certainly with a much better script than the Peter Cushing film. The absence of Holmes means filming it's always problematic, but I thought this one captured it rather well.

As far as I remember, the main downside was that, being such an early BBC colour production, there's a particularly glaring clash between film and video, and that the second episode's not nearly as good as the first. But the first episode gets it so very right: I think it's the only adaptation that opens with first the legend, then Sir Charles' death, having first got us interested in him (and, unlike most adaptations, casting an actor of the right age for Mortimer, too). So surely it starts well, at least? Besides, I like Nigel Stock (though he's not a patch on Andre Morell).

Alex

(and now I'm fascinated by the train...)

[miss_s_b]

I think I have possibly been spoiled by modern TV standards, but it just felt so SLOOOOOOOOOW, especially after what you correctly describe as a great start.

I'm definitely a Brett girl when it comes to Holmes. Nigel Stock seems to have a stock (hem-hem) set of faces, but no real reactions; I much prefer Edward Hardwicke.