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Hammer Films continues its restoration campaign with the long-awaited release of The Quatermass Xperiment in a 4K Limited Collector’s Edition, bringing one of British science fiction’s most formative texts back into the spotlight. The release is available now, with its equally influential sequel Quatermass 2 currently up for pre-order.

Premiering 70 years ago, The Quatermass Xperiment marked a defining moment for Hammer, laying the foundations for a distinctly British take on sci-fi horror. Directed by Val Guest and based on the work of writer Nigel Kneale, the film follows a manned spaceflight that ends in disaster when one astronaut returns to Earth irrevocably changed. What begins as a standard recovery mission quickly spirals into a creeping terror as the lone survivor’s mutation progresses, putting humanity on a collision course with the unknown.

While its atmosphere, paranoia and stark black-and-white visuals have cemented its reputation for decades, this new...

A spacecraft crashes back to Earth in an English field in this BBC series spinoff from the soon-to-be-legendary house of horror

In the early 1950s, there could hardly have been a bigger and more delirious pop culture phenomenon in Britain than The Quatermass Experiment, Nigel Kneale’s wildly popular science-fiction drama serial for BBC television, which spawned its own spoof version on The Goon Show (“The Scarlet Capsule”) and paved the way for Doctor Who. It was also turned into this brash standalone feature from 1955 from Hammer; it was the company’s first real hit, and an unusual example of the high-minded BBC feeding content to this garish movie outfit. Hammer of course was in time to discover that its vocation was not really for futurist twilight-zone sci-fi but for the atavistic world of vampires and mythic beasts.

This forthright and watchable picture, with its terrific cast of veteran players such as Jack Warner,...

Seventy years after it first terrified audiences, Hammer Films’ The Quatermass Xperiment is stepping into the future with a stunning 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray release. The landmark 1955 sci-fi horror classic has been meticulously restored for a new generation and is now available to pre-order as a Limited Collector’s Edition through Hammer’s own website.

Directed by Val Guest and adapted by Nigel Kneale from his iconic BBC serial, The Quatermass Xperiment holds a vital place in British genre cinema history. It was the first Hammer film to exploit the potential of horror-inflected science fiction and marked a decisive tonal shift that would help shape the studio’s future output. Now, for the first time, fans will be able to experience the film in unparalleled visual clarity, with the restoration revealing new detail in every shadow-drenched corridor and glinting lab surface.

The film follows the aftermath of a British space mission gone disastrously wrong.

Snowy, frigid scenery acts as the backdrop for a surprising number of horror films, making them essential viewing during winter. The degree to which the frosty weather plays a crucial part in the horrors of a film varies. For horror movies like Frozen and The Last Winter, the cold weather is a constant reminder of what life-or-death obstacles lie in front of the film's protagonists. On the other hand, the icy location in a film like Let the Right One In helps drive home essential themes of isolation and desperation.

The contrast between winter weather and horror film events is also highlighted in certain films. The near-silence that accompanies the snowfall and the blank, white canvas of freshly laid snow is strikingly opposite to the screams of panicked protagonists and the bright red bloodshed. From classic horror films like The Shining and The Thing to newer ones like Werewolves Within,...

Hammer Films was founded in 1934, but it took an eleven year hiatus on the way to the ‘50s, the decade when the company entered the era it’s best known for. In 1955, the sci-fi horror film The Quatermass Xperiment became their first major international success, inspiring Hammer to start building toward becoming one of the most popular genre companies of all time. Since this year marks the 90th anniversary of Hammer Films, we decided it was time to put together a list of some of The Best Hammer Horror Movies. Here we go:

Horror Of Dracula (1958)

Sure, this is yet another adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula; a re-telling of the story that any horror watcher will see roughly fifty versions of over the course of their fandom. But director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster brought some twists to this one that are not present in others and shuffled some of the characters.

The Halloween season is a big time for filmmaking, as horror and autumnal-themed movies often perform well at the box office during these few months. However, films set during Halloween or that use the visual language often seen in these projects can also be considered part of the Halloween canon. Unfortunately, just because a movie is released during this time or using these popular motifs doesn't mean it's going to do well in theaters. Plenty of legendary movie directors have made box office bombs, as there's a variety of reasons why films don't connect with audiences in theaters.

Many of the most underrated Halloween movies underperformed at the box office. However, they later found cult followings thanks to critical and audience reevaluation. Part of the reason streaming is so popular is that it has allowed contemporary audiences to revisit works that weren't given enough attention when they were released. However,...

Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man – Universal has brought them all back to the screen in the decades since their glory days in the 1930s and ’40s. But one classic Universal monster who hasn’t had a new movie since the 1950s is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill Man. The closest we’ve gotten is the unofficial version of the creature that was seen in the 1987 classic The Monster Squad… but last month, it was reported that genre regular James Wan and his production company Atomic Monster are developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that will lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.” Now, Deadline has learned that this Creature from the Black Lagoon reboot will be written by Sean Tretta.

Wan is expected to direct the film and will be producing,...

Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man – Universal has brought them all back to the screen in the decades since their glory days in the 1930s and ’40s. But one classic Universal monster who hasn’t had a new movie since the 1950s is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill Man. The closest we’ve gotten is the unofficial version of the creature that was seen in the 1987 classic The Monster Squad. But now Deadline reports that genre regular James Wan and his production company Atomic Monster are developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that will lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.”

Wan is expected to direct the film and will be producing, with Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott serving as executive producers. EVP of Production Development...

by Chad Kennerk

Matt Smith in Starve Acre.

Photo by Chris Harris, Courtesy of Brainstorm Media.

Starve Acre is a gothic folktale for the modern age. Based on the novel and novella of the same name by author Andrew Michael Hurley, Starve Acre concerns Richard and Juliette (Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark), a couple who find themselves facing the unthinkable. When their son Owen begins exhibiting strange behaviour, the pair move to Richard’s countryside childhood home in the hope of a fresh start. As dark forces encroach, the family finds themselves engulfed in a land marked by a hellish history.

Told among the chilling northern landscapes and shot across Yorkshire, the eerie entry marks the second feature from writer/director Daniel Kokotajlo — who previously earned a 2019 Bafta nomination for Apostasy. Kokotajlo’s ode to 70s British folk-horror held its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October...

First of all – is the BBC allowed to air a drama without a detective or a horse-drawn carriage in it? Can somebody check?

Crime and period’s drama dominance isn’t the only modern TV trend bucked by The Way. Actor Michael Sheen’s directorial debut is a wild throwback to the society-falls-apart TV of the past: Threads. The Year of the Sex Olympics. The Guardians. Cold Lazarus… all those wiggy, provocative Nigel Kneale and Dennis Potter stories that aimed for more than just audience share.

Written by Sherwood and Quiz’s James Graham, and co-created with documentary maker Adam Curtis, The Way also aims high – too high for what it’s able to achieve in three episodes, making it much more a curio than a must-see.

The drama imagines a Welsh civil uprising that turns the country into a closed-border police state and its people into persecution-fleeing refugees. It follows the Driscolls,...

A history of the most underrated British science fiction of the 1970s is, largely, just a history of British science fiction of the 1970s. It gets a bad rap. Think “1970s British Sci-Fi” and your mind will be flooded with associations of dodgy special effects, less-than-perfect gender politics, and so much knitwear. That, and a certain time traveller with a predilection for scarves and jelly babies.

But the truth is the 70s was a golden age for British science fiction stories with ideas and ambition, completely unrestrained by any concept of production values. While even the most pedestrian attempt at modern science fiction telly feels it has to go toe to toe with the MCU’s latest CGI eyeball-blaster, a year after Star Wars was on our screens the Doctor was still routinely facing off against dressed like this, and it was better for it.

Blake’s 7 (1978 – 1981)

Stream on: Itvx...

Stars: Mark Claney, Aimee Richardson, Dan Leith, Siobhan Kelly, Libby McBride, Jay Lowey, Antoinette Morelli, David Fleming | Written and Directed by Dominic O’Neill

Haunted Ulster Live is part homage to, and part parody of the BBC’s infamous Ghostwatch. For those unfamiliar with it, it was a 1992 Halloween special hosted by Michael Parkinson and presented as a live broadcast from a haunted house. Unfortunately, many viewers didn’t know it wasn’t the real thing and the BBC ended up fielding over 1,000,000 from concerned viewers. An early entry in the mockumentary/found footage genre it’s also the precursor of films like Kild TV, Deadstream, and The Cleansing Hour.

It’s Halloween night in 1998, TV veteran Gerry Burns and children’s TV presenter Michelle Kelly along with radio DJ Declan broadcasting live from the attic of an allegedly haunted house. They’re joined by the home’s owner Sarah, her daughter Rose,...

A couple months ago, we heard that Neca had created a figure of Tom Atkins’ character Dr. Challis from Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here) that would only be available for purchased by fans attending the Halloween: 45 Years of Terror convention. That convention has since come and gone – and now Neca has put the Challis figure up for sale on their website! The figure comes with a Silver Shamrock coaster signed by Atkins himself and can be purchased at This Link. It’s going for the price of $75.

Written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, Halloween III: Season of the Witch has the following synopsis: Hospital emergency room Dr. Daniel “Dan” Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, the daughter of a murder victim, uncover a terrible plot by small-town mask maker Conal Cochran, a madman who’s planning a Halloween mass murder utilizing an ancient Celtic ritual. The ritual...

Universal has been trying to remake "Creature from the Black Lagoon" for almost 40 years, but poor decisions and obstacles have prevented it thus far. Several directors, including John Carpenter and Peter Jackson, were attached to the project at various points, but it never gained enough traction. Guillermo del Toro's pitch for a remake was rejected by Universal, but he recontextualized it into his film "The Shape of Water," which serves as a spiritual reimagining of the original story.

Universal’s Classic Monsters have left a massive impact on horror cinema: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy are household names by this point, appearing in hundreds of films and television shows over the last 90 years. But fans have been clamoring for the long-awaited return of one particular Universal monster that hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention: the Gill-man from Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Debuting in 1954, the...

2023 marks the 45th anniversary of the release of John Carpenter‘s classic slasher Halloween and the birth of the Halloween franchise, and the franchise’s producers at Trancas International Films will be celebrating the anniversary by bringing the Halloween: 45 Years of Terror convention to Pasadena, California this fall. The convention will be held from September 29th through October 1st in the Pasadena Convention Center… and it has now been revealed that convention attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase a Neca-created figure of Tom Atkins’ character Dr. Challis from Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here)!

HorrorHound magazine reported, “Neca has teamed up with Sean Clark of Horror’s Hallowed Grounds to develop an exclusive action figure to be offered at the the upcoming Halloween: 45 Years of Terror convention in Pasadena, California. The figure in question is that of Dr. Challis from Halloween III: Season of the Witch!

The Halloween III: Season of the Witch episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written by Cody Hamman, Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Jaime Vasquez, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

For two films, movie-goers watched the masked slasher Michael Myers stalk Jamie Lee Curtis and murder his way through the small town of Haddonfield on Halloween night. So you can understand that some were shocked when they went to see Halloween III and it wasn’t anything like the previous two films. Instead of more Michael Myers, they got a movie about a warlock who wanted to use the power of Stonehenge to kill millions of children. With masks that would melt their heads down into puddles of snakes and bugs. This change in direction did not go over well. For decades, Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here) was largely disregarded.

Nigel Kneale, creator of the cult science fiction serial Quatermass, has been commemorated by a brand new set of stamps from his native Isle of Man.

The set of six Kneale Archives postage stamps is available from the Isle of Man Post Office and covers his career right from his beginnings in the theater, and his 1949 anthology Tomato Cain and Other Stories, to his iconic science fiction work, including the dystopian The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), ghost story The Stone Tape (1972), and horror anthology Beasts (1976).

Naturally, Quatermass looms large (although it’s confined to a single stamp). The influence of the six-part Quatermass Experiment (1953), Quatermass II (1955), and Quatermass and the Pit (1959) – and their Hammer adaptations – can be seen in everything from Doctor Who to Stephen King.

Jane Asher, who has a small role in 1955’s The Quatermass Xperiment before going on to star as Jill Greely in 1970’s The Stone Tape,...

When folks say they love winter, typically they refer to the earliest months of the season, with winter beginning on Dec. 21 in the northern hemisphere. In those early days of holiday cheer, there is something familiar and comforting about the cold. But eventually the bright lights go away, and the wind howls louder. Eventually, all you’re left with is icy darkness.

Perhaps that’s why so many of the best horror movies are set during the winter season! Utilizing folks’ fear of barren bleakness, and the tedium of being trapped inside becoming lethal, filmmakers who run the gamut from Stanley Kubrick to John Carpenter have imprinted our worst nightmares onto the snow. Below is a list of their frozen works.

30 Days of Night (2007)

They have lived in shadows long enough. They are the last of their kind. But above the Arctic Circle there’s a party going on,...

It’s time for a new episode of The Manson Brothers Show, which is hosted by the writers/stars of the horror comedy The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre – Chris Margetis (Stone Manson) and Mike Carey (Skull Manson) – and in this one the boys are celebrating Halloween nine months early by taking in a viewing of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here). To find out what they had to say about Halloween III, check out the video embedded above!

Written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, Halloween III: Season of the Witch has the following synopsis: Hospital emergency room Dr. Daniel “Dan” Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, the daughter of a murder victim, uncover a terrible plot by small-town mask maker Conal Cochran, a madman who’s planning a Halloween mass murder utilizing an ancient Celtic ritual. The ritual involves a boulder stolen from Stonehenge, the use of...

Since the 70s Haggard also campaigned to secure rights and recognition for directors.

British film, television and theatre director Piers Haggard, who directed Pennies From Heaven and a campaigner for the rights of his fellow directors, has died aged 83.

He began his career in television in the 1960s before directing Dennis Potter adaptation Pennies From Heaven, starring Bob Hoskins, in 1978. It won a Bafta for Most Original Programme and is considered a landmark in British television history.

His film credits included cult classic The Blood On Satan’s Claw (1971); Quatermass (1979) written by Nigel Kneale; Venom (1982) with Oliver Reed and Klaus Kinski; Mrs.

‘Tis the season to cover the Halloween film franchise heavily, and we have been doing that here on JoBlo and Arrow in the Head this month. Not only have we been running articles and videos about the new film, Halloween Ends, but we’ve also looked into the making of Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, had a discussion about Halloween 5, deemed that sequel to be Awfully Good, looked at outlines for an alternative version of Halloween 5 and an unmade Halloween / Hellraiser crossover, and covered Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers with a Black Sheep video. Now it’s time for another episode in the Black Sheep video series, and this time we’re looking back at the biggest oddball of the Halloween franchise. The sequel that drifts away from the story of Michael Myers. It’s 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here), and you can...

“You will not be saved by the holy ghost. You will not be saved by the god Plutonium. In fact, You Will Not Be Saved!”

These words typed across the computer screen by a possessed grad student cut right to the heart of what makes John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness an outlier in possession horror still to this day. Satan launches a siege to summon his father, the Anti-God, within a crumbling church after his corporeal embodiment gets loose from its prison in the dank basement. The ultimate, apocalyptic battle between Good and Evil gets upended with cosmic dread thanks to Carpenter’s injection of quantum mechanics, rendering science and religion allies against an insurmountable foe.

Penned by Carpenter under the pseudonym Martin Quatermass (an homage to Quatermass and the Pit creator Nigel Kneale), Prince of Darkness begins with the passing of an elderly priest. On his person is...

Basically obligated to make another Halloween sequel but hoping to leave Michael Myers behind, producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill decided to try to turn the franchise into an anthology series, where each film would tell a different story set on Halloween. Nigel Kneale was hired to write the initial script for what became Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it Here), and Carpenter and Hill’s pal Tommy Lee Wallace was hired to direct the film. After watching his movie get rejected by viewers when it was released in 1982 and then gain cult classic status over the decades, Wallace has taken it upon himself to write a tell-all book about the production of his Halloween sequel. The book is titled Halloween 3: Where the Hell is Michael Myers? – The Definitive History of Horror’s Most Misunderstood Film, and is going to be available from Bear Manor Media this November.

This is not another “Halloween III is good actually” article. After forty years, its reappraisal as a genre classic seems to be more or less complete. It is true that for years the absence of Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and Dr. Loomis led many fans of the Halloween movies to confusion, rejection, or outright rage against the film, but as time has passed, tempers have cooled, and the film has been assessed on its own terms. Though John Carpenter’s original masterpiece is generally acknowledged as the apex of the franchise, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is, at least for many, the film that captures the essence of the Halloween season better than any other in the series. By looking to the ancient past and combining it with current American celebrations and cultural rituals, it creates a tapestry that reflects the “Season of the Witch” in a way that...

Haven’t yet seen all the best old-school vintage naval combat epics? This color & ‘scope thriller has a terrific cast of Brit stars and up-n-comers, can boast excellent visuals and is historically accurate. Alec Guinness captains a ship during the Napoleonic Wars, and finds his duty complicated by a psychopathic top officer (Dirk Bogarde) who usurps authority and sees the crew as fresh meat for his sadistic ideas about discipline. All the tech and art credits are top-tier, plus we get nice supporting perfs from the likes of Anthony Quayle, Nigel Stock, Maurice Denham, Victor Maddern, Tom Bell, and Murray Melvin.

Damn the Defiant!

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 136

1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / H.M.S. Defiant / Available from Viavision / Australian 34.95 / and Amazon US / 34.95

Starring: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock, Richard Carpenter, Peter Gill, David Robinson, Robin Stewart, Ray Brooks, Peter Greenspan, Anthony Quayle, Tom Bell,...

April 27th, 2022 saw the 100th birthday of screenwriter extraordinaire Nigel Kneale. Though not a household name, Kneale was notorious as a staple of British writing for film and television, becoming a profound influence on these visual mediums at a time when they were still emerging. Though prolific in his influence, perhaps no work of Kneale's stands out as much as the ground-breaking 1952 science-fiction television drama, Quartermass. 

Related: 10 Best Cheesy '50s Sci-Fi Movies, According To Reddit

Quartermass enthralled and frightened 1950s Britain, becoming a milestone in the Sci-Fi Psychological Thriller/Horror genre and helping define many of its tropes and themes. Kneale's centenary prompts great attention to the current state of the genre on the big screen and film lovers on Ranker have voted for their favorite Sci-Fi Psychological Dramas.

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Nineteen Eighty-four

Peter Cushing, André Morell, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasence in a new restoration of

Nigel Kneale’s 1954 adaptation of the George Orwell classic

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the BFI:

BFI Blu-ray/DVD, iTunes and Amazon Prime release on 11 April 2022

George Orwell’s enduring dystopian masterpiece is brought vividly to life in this celebrated BBC production. Adapted by Nigel Kneale (The Quatermass Experiment), Nineteen Eighty-four (directed by Rudolf Cartier) broke new ground for television drama when first broadcast in 1954. On 11 April, tying in with a Nigel Kneale season at BFI Southbank, the BFI brings this classic production to Blu-ray and DVD in a Dual Format Edition, and to Dto via iTunes and Amazon Prime. Experience Orwell’s haunting vision of a society dominated by relentless tyranny and the subversion of truth – a world in which Big Brother is always watching you.

Chris Barber’s death is a reminder of trad’s key place n the explosion of a film style that moved to the music of the era

In the opening scene of the 1959 film of Look Back in Anger, Richard Burton, as “angry” icon Jimmy Porter, establishes his nonconformist credentials by indulging in a sweaty jazz-trumpet freakout as the local youth bop in a frenzy nearby. The scene is an invention of the film-makers – the original play takes place entirely inside a single cramped attic flat – but the took its cue from play-Porter’s fondness for playing a trumpet offstage, to wind everybody up.

Well, it was a smart move by the film-makers – director Tony Richardson and writer Nigel Kneale – to ally their pioneering essay in the film kitchen-sink realism with trad jazz, then at the height of its popularity in the UK. The death this week of Chris Barber...

Two cosmonauts are alone in their capsule, preparing for the return journey to Earth, when something slides across a window beside them - on the outside. In a US film this would likely be a prelude to action an adventure - it might even provoke laughter - but the Russian science fiction tradition is very different, and as the hatch above the men's heads begins, very gently, to rattle, viewers of any background will struggle to escape a deep sense of dread.

There's a strong flavour of Quatermass about this deliciously dark first offering from Egor Abramenko. We pick up the story after the vessel has made its landing, badly, with only one survivor, and those who remember Nigel Kneale's 1955 offering may suspect that something has happened to the man. This is what the authorities think too. As the film is set in the Soviet period, secrecy is a matter.

Fritz Lang’s final feature brings his career full circle to the core thriller concepts he pioneered back in 1922: superstitious human nature and sinister technological advances combine to make the 20th century an Age of Terror. Lang reboots his highly cinematic Weimar-era narrative tricks for a film that heralds the beginning of a brave new world where total surveillance and mind control are at the service of paranoid conspiracies. I could talk for hours about the directing/editing in this show — it’s so sophisticated, and yet so simple.

The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

Region B Blu-ray

Eureka Entertainment/Masters of Cinema

1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 103 min. / Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse / Street Date May 11, 2020 / £ 15.99

Starring: Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Lupo Prezzo, Werner Peters, Andrea Checchi, Marielouise Nagel, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Howard Vernon, Nico Pepe, Jean-Jacques Delbo, Christiane Maybach.

Cinematography: Karl Löb

Film Editors: Walter Wischniewsky,...

Fritz Lang’s final feature is a mind-blowing culmination of the core thriller concepts he pioneered back in 1922: superstitious human nature and sinister technological advances combine to make the 20th century an Age of Terror. Lang reboots his highly cinematic Weimar-era narrative tricks for a film that heralds the beginning of a brave new world where total surveillance and mind control are at the service of paranoid conspiracies. I could talk for hours about the directing/editing in this show — it’s so sophisticated, and yet so simple.

The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

Region B Blu-ray

Eureka Entertainment/Masters of Cinema

1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 103 min. / Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse / Street Date May 11, 2020 / £ 15.99

Starring: Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Lupo Prezzo, Werner Peters, Andrea Checchi, Marielouise Nagel, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Howard Vernon, Nico Pepe, Jean-Jacques Delbo, Christiane Maybach.

Cinematography: Karl Löb

Film Editors: Walter Wischniewsky,...

The desensitising effects of porn, the invasive voyeurism of reality TV, the passivity of mass consumerism … Nigel Kneale’s programme anticipated them all

We’ve all seen Brian Cox playing a fearsome media magnate with a perhaps non-coincidental resemblance to certain real-life figures. But many people won’t realise that his performance as Succession’s brutal patriarch Logan Roy represents the completion of a circle. Back in 1968, when Cox was fresh out of repertory theatre, he landed the role of Lasar Opie, a junior but still pretty ruthless functionary at the heart of an imagined media landscape of the near future. And, although some of Opie’s decision-making might have shocked even Logan Roy, The Year of the Sex Olympics – first shown on BBC Two – does a terrifyingly prescient job of imagining aspects of post-millennial television.

The Year of the Sex Olympics was the brainchild of writer Nigel Kneale. Its...

Filmmakers/authors discuss the movies they wish more people were familiar with.

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Top Gun (1986)

Water Power (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

In Fabric (2018)

A Climax of Blue Power (1974)

Forced Entry (1975)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

Nashville Girl (1976)

Ms .45 (1981)

Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Design For Living (1933)

Trouble In Paradise (1932)

Melody (1971)

Oliver! (1968)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

That’ll Be The Day (1973)

Stardust (1974)

The Errand Boy (1961)

Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

The Bellboy (1960)

Which Way To The Front? (1970)

Hardly Working (1980)

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Duck Soup (1933)

Boeing Boeing (1965)

Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)

Cockfighter (1974)

The Second Civil War (1997)

I, A Woman (1965)

The Devil At Your Heels (1981)

The...

Hammer’s copycat Quatermass picture stands apart from similar ‘mystery sci-fi monster’ thrillers by virtue of its serious tone and realistic presentation. Talk about a sober semi-docu style: there are no major female roles and the leading character is a mass of radioactive mud. (Is there an election year joke in that?) Hammer found a new writer in Jimmy Sangster, imported the Yankee name actor Dean Jagger, tried to hire the expatriate director Joseph Losey. Former child actor Anthony Newley has a small part, but he doesn’t get to sing X’s theme song: “Who can I turn to, when nobody needs me, because the flesh is melting from my skull?”

X The Unknown

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1956 / B&w / 1:75 widescreen / 80 81? min. / X…the Unknown / Street Date February 18, 2020

Starring: Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, Leo McKern, Anthony Newley, William Lucas, Michael Ripper.

Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs

Film Editor: Philip Leakey

Makeup:...

Just under the top echelon of British sci-fi lurks this well-produced, absorbing ‘expedition to terror!’ that surprises us by paying off on an intellectual plane. After building his monster but before defeating Dracula, Peter Cushing found himself in a real fix on a snowy mountain peak. Sure, the race of enormous Yeti are shiver-inducing, but Cushing must also withstand the mind games of a suspiciously solicitous Tibetan Lhama, and a piratical double-cross by an American huckster who goes by the deceptive name, ‘Friend.’

The Abominable Snowman

Blu-ray

Shout! Scream Factory

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 85, 90 min. / The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas / Street Date December 10, 2020

Starring: Peter Cushing, Forrest Tucker, Maureen Connell, Arnold Marlé, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown, Michael Brill, Wolfe Morris, Anthony Chinn.

Cinematography: Arthur Grant

Film Editor: Bill Lenny

Original Music: Humphrey Searle

Written by Nigel Kneale from his teleplay The Creature

Produced by Aubrey Baring, Michael Carreras, Anthony Nelson-Keys...

Following a series of high-budget studio assignments, writer-director John Carpenter retreated to his indie roots with this scaled-down tribute to British sci fi legend Nigel Kneale–Carpenter’s screenplay is even credited to “Martin Quatermass”. Priest Donald Pleasence discovers an ancient canister full of liquid Evil which “broadcasts” warnings from the future. Or something. Given total creative freedom due to the low budget, this is probably Carpenter’s most off the wall picture, the middle entry in his “Apocalypse Trilogy” which includes his The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness.

The post Prince of Darkness appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

*Cue the music* Do, da, do, da, do, da, do, da, six more days 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Six more days 'til Halloween... I will let our readers finish the rest. Halloween is next week, so what's better than a book dedicated to the Halloween franchise? Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins is available now. Also in today's Horror Highlights: a Blood & Gourd animated teaser, the newly restored Eegah (1962) on Blu-ray and DVD, and Red Letter Day Blu-ray release details.

Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream Book Release Details: "Silver Shamrock. Thorn. White Horses. It’s all in here. Join authors Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins for a deep dive into the evolution of Halloween’s vast mythology. Extensively researched, this is the ultimate guide to the first forty years of Haddonfield history. Rejected scripts, deleted scenes, unused ideas, alternate...

Don’t run away because we use the word ‘profound’ to describe this 1967 sci-fi classic — some call it the best of the Hammer Quatermass films, this time fully written by Nigel Kneale and acted by a terrific cast — Andrew Kier, James Donald, Barbara Shelley and Julian Glover. A subway excavation uncovers strange human skulls, and then a huge bluish craft that the Army dismisses as a secret German V-weapon… until it begins to emanate psychic storms and supernatural phenomena. Sci-fi fans wanting ‘more’ will be intrigued by author Kneale’s incredible ‘origin story’ for the human race as an intelligent, aggressive and literally haunted species. The disc is loaded with extras, information, history and great opinions from a half-dozen qualified film experts. Plus we can hear Nigel Kneale discuss it himself.

Quatermass and the Pit

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date July 30, 2019 / Available from Shout! Factory / 27.99

Starring: James Donald,...

Don’t run away because we use the word ‘profound’ to describe this 1967 sci-fi classic — some call it the best of the Hammer Quatermass films, this time fully written by Nigel Kneale and acted by a terrific cast — Andrew Kier, James Donald, Barbara Shelley and Julian Glover. A subway excavation uncovers strange human skulls, and then a huge bluish craft that the Army dismisses as a secret German V-weapon… until it begins to emanate psychic storms and supernatural phenomena. Sci-fi fans wanting ‘more’ will be intrigued by author Kneale’s incredible ‘origin story’ for the human race as an intelligent, aggressive and literally haunted species. The disc is loaded with extras, information, history and great opinions from a half-dozen qualified film experts. Plus we can hear Nigel Kneale discuss it himself.

Quatermass and the Pit

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date July 30, 2019 / Available from Shout! Factory / 27.99

Starring: James Donald,...

What ought to be appreciated as one of the most prescient of 1950s suspense films holds a place among the best science fiction movies ever — and it formed a style template for a thousand paranoid spy thrillers to follow. Val Guest pares Nigel Kneale’s fantastic storyline down to its essentials, making his scientist-hero the perfect secret agent to confront a sinister techno-political conspiracy… from outer space.

Quatermass 2

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date July 30, 2019 / 29.95

Starring: Brian Donlevy, John Longdon, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn, Vera Day, Charles Lloyd Pack, Tom Chatto, John Van Eyssen, Percy Herbert, Michael Ripper, John Rae, Michael Balfour.

Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs

Film Editor: James Needs

Makeup: Philip Leakey

Art Direction: Bernard Robinson

Original Music: James Bernard

Written by Val Guest, Nigel Kneale from his teleplay

Produced by Anthony Hinds

Directed by Val Guest

Here’s yet another fine 2019 Blu-ray release...

The Yeti. Eerie. Mysterious. Does it exist? Sure does, according to this unsung Hammer classic from Nigel Kneale and Val Guest which was tossed off on double bills in America with an especially obtuse ad campaign. The question it asks is, who is the monster, it– or us? By now it appears we all know the answer…

The post The Abominable Snowman appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and The Duke of Burgundy (2014) are showing in June and July, 2019 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.“…if the film or television image seems to ‘speak’ for itself, it is actually a ventriloquist’s speech.”—Michel Chion, Audio-Vision, 1990In an early scene in The Duke of Burgundy, a character describes how one can tell two seemingly-identical species of butterfly apart by the sound each makes, saying, “Since these species are so visually indistinguishable from each other, the sound they produce should differentiate the two.” In a way, the statement provides a thesis for much of the cinema of Peter Strickland relative to his aesthetic forebears. According to the majority of film writing that takes either of his two features Berberian Sound Studio or The Duke of Burgundy as a subject, Strickland’s oeuvre owes something to European genre cinema—more popularly known in French...

Just as there have been many spooky villains in Hammer movies over the years, there have also been many protagonists who protect our world from unholy horrors. Having appeared in several British serials and three movies, Professor Bernard Quatermass is one such hero, and Scream Factory is celebrating the iconic character by releasing Quatermass 2 and Quatermass and the Pit on respective Blu-rays. Originally slated to come out in May, the Blu-rays are now scheduled for a July 30th release, and we've been provided with the full list of special features.

Press Release: Hobbs End, Knightsbridge, London. While working on a new subway tunnel for the London Underground, a group of construction workers uncover a strangely shaped skull. Nearby, another discovery: a large, mysterious and impenetrable metal object. Initially mistaken for an unexploded bomb, the object and its strange power turn out to be far more horrific than anybody could have possibly imagined.

Jumpin’ gingivitis! Vicious microbes from space threaten the world, and our only hope is a team of scientists in an underground lab in Nevada. But the sneaky germ from the cosmos is a-mutatin’ faster than a mess o’ jackrabbits, to a form that doesn’t just kill people, but totally consumes our flesh! No, it’s not David Cronenberg or Nigel Kneale, but the ultra-literal director Robert Wise that put this slick, expensive Sci-fi thriller on the screen, from the best-seller by the commercially savvy Michael Crichton.

The Andromeda Strain

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1971 / Color / 2:35 / 131 min. / Street Date June 4, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid,

Paula Kelly, George Mitchell, Ramon Bieri.

Cinematography: Richard H. Kline

Production Designer: Boris Leven

Film Editors: Stuart Gilmore, John W. Holmes

Original Music: Gil Melle

Special Effects: James Shourt, Albert Whitlock, John Whitney Sr., Douglas Trumbull

Written by...

If the recent news of a new Quatermass movie being in the works got you in the mood to watch the original horror sci-fi movies featuring the daring professor, then you're in luck, because Scream Factory announced that they will release the Hammer's Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit on Blu-ray this May.

From Scream Factory: "Our love for Hammer Films this year continues as we announce today that we are prepping Quatermass II and Quatermass And The Pit for Blu-ray releases on May 14th!

Quatermass II (1957): The sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment! Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) is Britain's most clever scientist. Investigating a series of bizarre incidents that have been reported from a deserted area, he finds a group of soldiers and government officials that appear to be controlled by aliens from another world. When a close friend is brutally murdered by these beings, Quatermass leads a...

Just as there have been many spooky villains in Hammer movies over the years, there have also been many protagonists who protect our world from unholy horrors. Having appeared in several British serials and three movies, Professor Bernard Quatermass is one such hero, and Legendary and Hammer are teaming up with David Farr for a new movie featuring the classic character.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, David Farr, has "been tapped" to pen Quatermass, a new film for Legendary and Hammer. Produced by Simon Oakes of Hammer Films, the movie is viewed as a remake and will be supervised by Jon Silk and Jay Ashenfelter for Legendary.

Plot details are unknown at this time, but previous Quatermass serials and movies from the 1950s and ’60s often pitted Quatermass against extraterrestrial beings that threaten Earth, so perhaps we could see visitors from the stars paying the scientist a visit in the new film.

Legendary Entertainment said it haas partnered with Hammer Films for Quatermass, a film based on the British mid-20th-century sci-fi hero Bernard Quatermass.

David Farr, who penned the script for The Night Manager and the sci-fi pic Hanna, is adapting. Hammer’s Simon Oakes is producing. Jon Silk and Jay Ashenfelter will oversee production for Legendary.

The character Professor Bernard Quatermass is a rocket scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale, As a pioneering force of the British space program, he encounters terrifying extra-terrestrial lifeforms and must draw from science to save humanity. He appeared in a 1950s BBC series and in three Hammer Film movies in the mid-’50s and -’60s including the 1967 pic Quatermass and the Pit (known as Five Million Years to Earth in the U.S.). Andrew Keir played the lead role.

Farr, who also wrote and produced the...

Legendary Pictures announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with Hammer Films on a new adaptation of the classic British sci-fi series “Quatermass,” with “The Night Manager” writer David Farr attached to write the script.

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional rocket scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale who, as a pioneering force of the British space program, encounters terrifying extra-terrestrial lifeforms and must draw from science to save humanity. The character has appeared in movies, TV shows, books and radio dramas over the decades, most famously in a hit 1950s BBC series that is regarded as the precursor to “Doctor Who.”

Hammer Films, which has produced several “Quatermass” films in the past, will produce th film with Simon Oakes representing the studio and Jon Silk and Jay Ashenfelter overseeing for Legendary. Farr is represented in the Us by UTA and in the UK by Curtis Brown Group.

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David Farr (The Night Manager) has been tapped to script Quatermass for Legendary Entertainment and partner Hammer which promises to be a new take on the iconic British sci-fi hero. The film will be produced by Hammer’s Simon Oakes and follow the story of Bernard Quatermass, which was made popular by the successful BBC 1950s series, and a trio of films from Hammer Film Productions from the mid-50s to the mid-60s and seen as a precursor to Dr. Who.

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional rocket scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale who, as a pioneering force of the British space program, encounters terrifying extra-terrestrial lifeforms and must draw from science to save humanity. Heralded as Britain’s first television hero alongside Sherlock Holmes, Quatermass’ monumental influence spanned films, TV series, radio programs and print media over five decades, most notably in 1967 when Hammer Film Productions...

“Brace Yourself For A Shock!…200 Feet of Living Burning Horror!” Eugène Lourié’s second feature about an irate sea monster wrecking a city features sober eco-preaching, good performances by Gene Evans and André Morell, and several minutes of exciting stop-motion animation nirvana. One just needs to overlook a few lunkhead effects scenes and concentrate on the key Willis O’Brien / Pete Peterson material. It’s a Shock all right — do you prefer to be stepped on like a bug, or fried by a zillion volts of ‘projected radiation?’

The Giant Behemoth

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1959 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Derren Nesbitt.

Cinematography: Ken Hodges

Production Design: Eugène Lourié

Special Visual Effects: Willis H. O’Brien, Pete Peterson, Phil Kellison, Jack Rabin, Irving Block, Louis DeWitt.

Original Music: Edwin Astley...