Showing posts with label Peter Cushing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Cushing. Show all posts

The Blood Beast Terror (1968) - Movie Review

Official Score = 3 Devils
Official Score = 3 Devils
Peter Cushing (Star Wars - Episode 4: A New Hope), what can I say about this man... I mean as, 'Moff Tarkin' in Star Wars he did an amazing job entertaining audiences all over the world, but the truth is, is that as a master of horror, there is very few people that are his equal... And in a lot of his best films he plays a good guy!

I mean this amazing British master of horror has managed to entertain audiences all over the world playing in horror movies based on Victorian horror novels, or in modern (well for the time when he was alive,) horror movies... His dry wit, and demeanor just compliments the types of movies he was in just perfectly, and you know what? The Blood Beast Terror (1968) is another great example of his mad genius!
The Blood Beat Terror... Something all horror fans or newbies should see at least once!
Written by Peter Bryan (The Brides Of Dracula) & Directed by: Vernon Sewell (The Crimson Cult). Starring: Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng (Funny Face), Wanda Ventham (Asylum), David Griffin (If), Glynn Edwards (Get Carter), Kevin Stoney (Doctor Who), Russell Napier (A Night To Remember) & Vanessa Howard (Girly).

This awesome tale takes place in Victorian England during the later part of the 19th century, during this time Detective Inspector Quennell (Peter Cushing) is investigating a weird series of murders that are beginning to more and more look like some sort of, 'bird' is attacking them...

Well he decides to head over to the eminent Scientist Dr. Carl Mallinger (Robert Felmyng), and see if the good Doctor can help. Well in the end, the good Doctor ends up sending him on his way with out much help.

Inspector Quennell talking to Dr. Mallinger about the attacks...
Later on though, The Detective Inspector will come back with some flakes that he shows the good Doctor, who ends up up getting concerned... You see Carl Mallinger has ended up using his immense knowledge to give himself a daughter by the name of, 'Clare' (Wanda Ventham)...

The problem is, is Clare has a dark secret that consumes every one in her path, and after a dead body and a bunch of bones are found at Mallinger's estate, the Detective Inspector and his daughter, 'Meg' head off after the Doctor and his deadly daughter.

The only problem is that the Detective Inspector is going to have to close this case quick, before Mallinger and his daughter can swallow up, 'Meg' in to their madness!

Dr. Mallinger is about to use Meg to help feed the husband he is growing for his daughter...
In the end, there is something always fun about mad scientist movies, and the monsters and what not that they create... And this one is certainly no different!

The truth is, is that British Horror, and especially B horror movies, are fantastic with the suspense and keeping one on the edge of their seat, but if you are more of a fan of the more contemporary gore fests that we see in modern horror movies, then this one probably is not for you. Despite that, give it a try, you might really enjoy it, I know I did!


Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="300"]Official Score = 4 Devils Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

What can I say about the original Star Wars movie that hasn't already been said? I mean if you were born in the last decade or so, you would have heard about this movie… right?

This movie which launched such an epic franchise of movies/comics/cartoons/books as well as other forms of media that have been so exceptional and so prolific that even  George Lucas (The creator of the series) having announced after the end of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith (2005) that, that was going to be all of the new, ‘Star Wars’ movies that were going to be released…With the purchase of Lucas Films and the series by Disney recently, it does appear that there is going to be a continuation of the series for a fresh young audience to enjoy!

With that in mind, I am very well aware of the fact that just now I have been talking about the new movie, so for the rare lot who haven’t seen this movie, this movie stars: Mark Hamill (Corvette Summer), Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Carrie Fisher (Hollywood Vice Squad), Peter Cushing (Dracula A.D. 1972), Alec Guinness (Bridge On The River Kwai), Anthony Daniels (Conjure), Kenny Baker (The Cage), Peter Mayhew (Dark Towers), David Prowse (A Clockwork Orange), James Earl Jones (The Hunt For Red October).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness) as he faces off against Darth Vader (David Prowess) on board the Death Star in one of the first truly epic light saber battles of the entire series![/caption]

Now even though, series wise, this movie probably should have been the third sequel in the series… (Being as they did call it, ‘Episode 4’ and all, it isn't and it is so good that it actually doesn't have to be!)

You see this movie starts off the story with the evil, ‘Galactic Empire’ ruling the galaxy, and with most of the people with in this great, ‘Empire’ believing that being in the Empire was the greatest thing in the universe!

Well like all, ‘Great’ Empires, it isn't, with people being scared and intimidated in to submission and the like! Well in the case of this Empire, a dark lord, and his assistant, ‘Darth Vader’ (played by: David Prowse) and voiced by James Earl Jones) rule over many worlds.

During this time, a resistance movement has begun to form (which of course the Empire is not happy about and hunts as many people as they can down)…. One such person they hunt down is a Princess from the planet of Alderaan, by the name of Princess Leia Organa (Fisher)….

Now as Darth Vader closes in on her and attacks the Space craft that she is on, the Princess decides to send a message with her android and robot assistants, (the soon to be famed R2D2 (played by Kenny Baker), and C3PO (Played by: Anthony Daniels)) down to the planet below in an escape pod, so that they can get in touch with General Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guiness)!

Now General Kenobi is a Jedi (A powerful master protector that follows a philosophy of peace and that he can also kick ass with both his mind and a light saber when he has to!)

Once they get their though, R2D2 and C3PO are kidnapped and sold off to a farmer by the name of Owen (played by: Phil Brown), and the day after, Owen’s nephew by the name of, ‘Luke Skywalker’ (Hamill), gets them cleaned up. R2D2 goes on his mission to find Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Luke and C3PO in hot pursuit)… Once they find this old hermit though and Luke begins to get a little insight in to who his father really is, Luke goes home… Only to find out that both his Aunt and Uncle are dead!

After this, he heads off with Obi-Wan Kenobi, C3PO, R2D2, a human smuggler by the name of Han Solo (Ford) and Chewbacca (Mayhew) on an adventure that they will never forget and neither will the rest of the Galaxy (and believe me when I say that neither will you the watcher of this film either!)

Now here are just a few of the reasons that this movie is truly an epic masterpiece of cinema…
Before this movie, you would see a lot of truly campy special effects… Sometimes those campy effects were good and sometimes they were not… But in the case of this movie, a lot of the special effects that are truly modern day marvels get there humble beginnings from this movie and the series that spawned because of it!

Without George Lucas’s vision of this movie, and the work that he put in to making this movie what it ended up being, I am convinced that this movie would not be near as good as it was!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A green, 'Luke Skywalker' (Mark Hamill) as he looks off in to the future...[/caption]

As far as acting goes… Besides the fact that everyone in this film did a fantastic job in it individually, I also thought they gelled so well that they did a really believable job in portraying the people they were and how they related to each other!

And the last thing that I thought that I should mention here is just how epic this story is in the written sense… I won’t say much beyond that expect that they really don’t make to many Science Fiction movies that have spanned as much as this anymore and I think that the difference in writing styles definitely shows in all that!

In the end, this movie is a true masterpiece, and if you haven’t seen it yet, then I would recommend it, I think you might find that you really like it!

http://youtu.be/9gvqpFbRKtQ