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The Blood Beast Terror

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber

1968 / 1.85: 1 / 88 Min.

Starring Peter Cushing, Wanda Ventham, Robert Flemyng

Written by Peter Bryan

Directed by Vernon Sewell

A serene British countryside is rocked by a series of brutal murders with a common thread; each victim has been mutilated and drained of their blood. All eyes are on a nearby university and its resident eccentric, the mysterious Dr. Mallinger, an entomologist with a fascination for Death’s-head moths. His daughter Clare shares his interests but her concerns are more personal than academic—Clare is a shapeshifter, transformed into a deadly butterfly when her blood is up and romance is in the air.

Directed by Vernon Sewell, this not so thrilling thriller features Robert Flemyng as Mallinger, and Wanda Ventham as Clare, whose blank-faced beauty suggests an otherworldly nature or a general lack of enthusiasm for the project—if it’s the latter she’s...

(This review pertains to the UK Region 2 video releases). 

By Adrian Smith

Michael Armstrong, the writer and star of Eskimo Nell,once said, "It's hard to wank and laugh at the same time". In the 1970s filmmakers gave it a very good try however, and the British sex comedy was virtually the only kind of film being funded. The problem is that the majority of them were neither funny or sexy. They were generally grubby and embarrassing for the actors and the audience. One of the pioneers of the British sex film was director and producer Stanley Long, responsible for The Wife Swappers (1969) and Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1975) and many others. An occasional cinematographer on prestigious films like Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), Long often recognised and nurtured new talent, particularly if he could see a financial reward.

Michael Armstrong had written The Sex Thief for Martin Campbell (1975), a film that Stanley Long admired,...

Italian poster for Operation Crossbow    This year's Widescreen Weekend at Bradford, England takes place March 25th thru 28th and once again will host a terrific line-up of classic movies being shown in their original widescreen formats. Apart from the rare chance to see Operation Crossbow and The Great Race in 70mm on the curved screen, classics such as Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawerence of Arabia are being shown in their original widescreen formats too. On Saturday 26th film historian Sir Christopher Frayling will be introducing a performance of How The West Was Won in it's original 3-strip Cinerama presentation, and film producer Stanley Long will take to the stage on the Sunday to discuss the merits of the Sixties cinema gimmick Cyclorama. All of this and much more in a wonderful weekend event where movie fans get the chance to not only see great films,...

It was today announced that Woody Allen’s new film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2011) will open the Bradford International Film Festival on 16th March 2011. This year’s festival will run 16th – 27th March.

Allen has attracted stellar British talent for his new feature including Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Pauline Collins, Ewen Bremner and Anna Friel. Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts, Lucy Punch, Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto round out the ensemble cast.

The film tells the story of a pair of married couples. Alfie and Helena (Hopkins and Jones), and their daughter Sally and husband Roy (Watts and Brolin) – discover that their passions, ambitions, and anxieties drive them out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue a free-spirited call girl, she surrenders herself to the advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy,...

Starting tomorrow at the National Media Museum, the Fantastic Films Weekend is the UK’s fastest growing festival dedicated to horror, fantasy and sci-fi cinema and television. This dynamic annual celebration of old, new, bloody and obscure is hosted by the National Media Museum in Bradford, a unique site that can screen all film formats including widescreen 70mm, 3-strip Cinerama and IMAX.

This years 9th Fantastic Films Weekend will take place from Friday 4th – Sunday 6th June 2010, and looks set to be a great mix of films and television, old and new. Highlights include a midnight screening of James Nguyen’s Birdemic, Q&A’s with British directing veterans Stanley Long and Michael Armstrong, and screenings of The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, Witchfinder General, and the notorious cult classic Mark of the Devil – all of which haven’t been seen on the big screen in years! There will also...

Mosaïques Festival Of World Culture, London

World cinema festivals might be more common these days, but this one shows you the parts of the globe British festivals don't reach, ie: the French post-colonial landscape. There's quality cinema here from north and west Africa, south-east Asia and the Middle East, much of it produced with French support. Whisper With The Wind is set in Iraq, mind you, and deals with a clandestine radio messenger, while Brazil's The Famous And The Dead is a dreamy Bob Dylan-themed thriller. Closer to home there's London River, in which Brenda Blethyn and Malian actor Sotigui Kouyaté play parents brought together by the 7/7 bombings.

Ciné Lumière, SW7, Thu to 12 Jun, visit institut-francais.org.uk

Science On Film, London

Which would you rather watch, Craig Venter in a lab coat spending 10 years creating the world's first synthetic life form, or James Whale's crazed Dr Frankenstein screaming,...