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When I left England in 2009 to live in the Czech Republic, I was totally done with the whole thing. I was broke, had no career prospects, and hated the lifestyle. If it wasn't for family and a few close friends I would have gladly never set foot on the island again. That disillusionment might have lasted forever if it wasn't for folk horror which, in its strange way, helped me reconnect with my home country.

It was the BBC's wonderfully chilling adaptation of "A Warning to the Curious" that really got me into it. Based on the ghost story by M.R. James, many scenes were filmed in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast not far from where I grew up. That really gave me a jolt of recognition; I love the county's desolate beaches and big open skies, and I was suddenly filled with affection and longing for England for...

Welcome back to Let’s Scare Bryan to Death, where this month we’re going Og folk horror with the 1971 Piers Haggard film, The Blood On Satan’s Claw. Our guide this month is Chandler Bullock, who in addition to having bylines at Dread Central, We Are Horror, Morbidly Beautiful, and Film Cred, also created The Beauty of Horror podcast to explore “the unsettling beauty found in the horror genre.” Bullock takes a very thorough but accessible approach to explaining how we can find the macabre to be attractive, and I’m excited to incorporate that into a discussion about a subgenre known for its contrast of traditionally pleasant aesthetics with more horrific elements.

Directed by Piers Haggard, The Blood on Satan’s Claw takes place in a small 18th-century English village, where farmer Ralph (Barry Andrews) accidentally unearths some ghastly remains in one of the fields. While the local...

For me it usually starts with the title, and The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) has a doozy; provocative and exploitative, it evokes images of rituals, bloodlust, and other sundry delights. And sometimes the stars align, the film more or less living up to the promise of the title, or at least to the promise of the promise.

Released by Cannon Releasing Corp. Stateside in April and by its own Tigon Pictures in the U.K. in July, The Blood on Satan’s Claw didn’t do well; Tigon had a hit with The Witchfinder General (1968) with Vincent Price, and were looking to replicate that success. Regardless of its fate, The Blood on Satan’s Claw is an effective example of folk-horror, killer kids, and some light Satanism, as a treat.

We open on a field in early 18th Century England, as Ralph (Barry Andrews - The Spy Who Loved Me) ploughs the...

Gangland London, 1960: Expatriate director Joseph Losey gives the Brit crime film a boost with a brutal gangster tale starring the ultra-tough Stanley Baker — and seemingly every up & coming male actor on the casting books. A committed thief returns to his craft the moment he’s freed from prison, but the emphasis is on the nasty betrayals and squeeze-plays of the criminal underworld, that conspire to foil Baker’s plans.

The Criminal

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1960 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad, Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, John Van Eyssen, Noel Willman, Kenneth Warren, Patrick Magee, Kenneth Cope, Patrick Wymark, Paul Stassino, Tom Bell, Neil McCarthy, Nigel Green, Tom Gerard, Edward Judd.

Cinematography: Robert Krasker

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

Original Music: John Dankworth

Written by Alun Owen and Jimmy Sangster

Produced by Jack Greenwood...

The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

Blu ray

Disney Movie Club

1964/ 1:66 / 151 min.

Starring Patrick McGoohan, George Cole, Michael Hordern

Directed by James Neilson

One part Walt Disney, one part Patrick McGoohan – a bittersweet recipe if ever there was one. The notoriously brusque Irishman was immune to the crowd-pleasing sentimentality that shaped Disney’s empire yet he headlined two of that studio’s most appealing entertainments, The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. An esoteric feline fantasy and a blood and thunder adventure tale, the films couldn’t have been more unalike but McGoohan anchored them both, reveling in the contradictions of his own characters. In Thomasina he plays a veterinarian with little love for animals. In Scarecrow he’s a kindly minister who spends his evenings terrorizing the parish.

In 18th century England, a brutal age marked by despots and dissent, the Scarecrow haunts the tiny fishing port of Dymchurch.

‘Mission impossible’ escapism about high-stakes wartime sabotage looks at an authentic, dramatic episode of WW2 — the onslaught of futuristic V-Weapons on London — and then veers into fictional fantasy (think big explosions). George Peppard toughs it out to get free of his MGM contract. Lili Palmer and Barbara Rütting do the heavy lifting, while Sophia Loren is in as a glamorous sidebar. Weirdly, the movie all but lionizes the Germans that develop, test and fire the V-Weapon rockets at England … exaggerating their scientific progress and giving them a strange kind of ‘Right Stuff.’

Operation Crossbow

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, Lilli Palmer, Barbara Rütting (Rueting), Paul Henreid, Helmut Dantine, Richard Todd, Sylvia Sims, John Fraser, Maurice Denham, Patrick Wymark, Richard Wattis, Allan Cuthbertson, Karel Stepanek,...

Robert Bloch and Milton Subotsky may have helped to codify the Giallo in this murder thriller but the results are not up to even the shaky standards of Amicus. That said, horror fans are going to flock to get their hands on a big color & ‘scope release that’s gone missing for decades. It’s a significant ‘save’ by Kino Lorber.

The Psychopath

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen Techniscope / 82 min. / Street Date April 10, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Patrick Wymark, Margaret Johnston, John Standing, Alexander Knox, Judy Huxtable, Don Borisenko, Thorley Walters, Robert Crewdson, Harold Lang, Gina Gianelli, Greta Farrer, John Harvey.

Cinematography: John Wilcox

Film Editor: Oswald Hafenrichter

Art Direction: Bill Constable

Original Music: Elisabeth Lutyens

Written by Robert Bloch

Produced by Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky

Directed by Freddie Francis

A look at the cast and crew of The Psychopath raises one’s hopes. Good actors Patrick...

Peter Cushing! Christopher Lee! Each is at the top of his game, playing competing collectors of occult incunabula — the kind that comes with a satanic curse, when the purloined item in question is the Skull Of The infamous, despicable and sharp-toothed Marquis De Sade! Freddie Francis directs up a storm in this amicable Amicus chiller: the mysterious skull-duggery is beautifully shot and edited, giving the horror scenes real Bite.

The Skull

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Peter Cushing, Patrick Wymark, Nigel Green, Jill Bennett, Michael Gough, Ceorge Couloris, Christopher Lee.

Cinematography: John Wilcox

Art Direction: Bill Constable

Film Editor: Oswald Hafenrichter

Original Music: Elisabeth Lutyens

Written by Milton Subotsky from a story by Robert Bloch

Produced by Milton Subotsky, Max J. Rosenberg

Directed by Freddie Francis

Nine years ago Legend Films brought us a DVD of this 1965 horror item,...

Well, I hope you guys have been saving your pennies, because there are a lot of great horror and sci-fi titles coming home on March 14th. Scream Factory is giving Firestarter the Collector’s Edition treatment this week, and both Drive-In Massacre and The Skull are being resurrected in HD as well.

If you missed them during their theatrical runs late last year, both The Love Witch and Paul Verhoeven’s award-winning thriller Elle are getting Blu-ray / DVD releases this Tuesday, and Demon Seed is making its way to Blu-ray as well (which I highly recommend watching if you haven't).

Other notable home entertainment titles for March 14th include Passengers, Z Nation Season 3, Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word, Stray Bullets, and The Man Who Could Cheat Death.

Drive-In Massacre (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)

It was one of the few true slasher movies to pre-date Halloween and Friday The 13th,...

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, two of the horror genre's greatest and classiest titans, star in The Skull, and Kino Lorber has revealed the special features and cover art for their upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release of the 1965 film.

From Kino Lorber Studio Classics: "Coming March 14th on DVD and Blu-ray!

The Skull (1965) with optional English subtitles

• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas

• Jonathan Rigby on The Skull" featurette (24:14)

• Kim Newman on The Skull" featurette (27:18)

• "Trailers From Hell" with Joe Dante

• Reversible Blu-ray Art

• Trailers"

Synopsis: "The skull of the Marquis de Sade has been taken from its grave, bringing terror to those who own it. Demonologist Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing) is eager to add the piece to his occult collection. Despite the warnings of a friend (Christopher Lee), he's got to have it. And does he ever get it.

"The Skull (1965) Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee,...

Kino Lorber has announced a new Blu-ray and DVD release of 1965's The Skull, starring two of the horror genre's greatest and classiest titans: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

While the Blu-ray / DVD cover art and special features for The Skull have not yet been revealed, we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details. In the meantime, we have a look at Kino Lorber's official announcement below, as well as the film's poster and trailer. Will you be adding The Skull to your home media collection?

From Kino Lorber: "Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray! Bonus Features to be Announced Soon!

The Skull (1965) Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee, Michael Gough, George Coulouris and Peter Woodthorpe - Based on story "The Skull of the Marquis de Sade" by Robert Bloch - Screenplay by Milton Subotsky - Directed...

With the advent and huge success of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), studios were quick to hop aboard the killer train. Out were the outsized monsters of the ’50s, in were mama’s boys and socially maligned women dealing with sins of the past. Dementia 13 (’63) and No Way to Treat a Lady (’67) are just a sample of the ’60s horror films that focused on smaller scale, human dilemmas, regardless of how twisted they may be. One film that seems to have been misplaced in the schizoid shuffle is Freddie Francis’ The Psychopath (1966), a lean little thriller that acts as a gateway for one of the most revered European horror sub-genres: the giallo.

Of course, Psycho plays a major part in this association; the Italian-originated giallo wallowing in mysteries of the mind shot through with a razor-sharp emphasis on the visceral, stemming from a psychological need, a desire, to fix wrongs,...

Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee, Peter Woodthorpe, Michael Gough, George Coulouris | Written by Milton Subotsky | Directed by Freddie Francis

For fans of Hammer Horror films, Amicus was another studio that felt comfortably close to its style, yet just different enough to bring more diversity to your horror taste. With The Skull, Amicus brought together horror icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in yet another story of the dangers of the darker side of life…

The Skull sees Cushing star as Dr. Maitland a collector of strange and unusual artefacts. When he buys a skull said to be that of the Marquis De Sade, he ignores the warnings from fellow collector Sir Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee) of the dangers of owning it. As the skull soon begins to take control of his mind, he soon realises the danger he has put himself and his wife in,...

As the undisputed king of American gothic, Vincent Price holds a unique position regarding his association with British horror. From the mid sixties, nearly all his films were made in the UK, and while not as distinguished as The House of Usher (1960), Tales of Terror (1962) and The Raven (1963), they are not without interest. As an actor perfectly suited to English gothic, Price’s output includes two career-defining performances. In a nutshell, he had the best of both worlds.

Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The British phase of his career began with a bang. After directing all of Price’s Poe chillers for American International Pictures, Roger Corman wanted to give the formula a fresh approach by making his next film in England. Aip’s Samuel Z Arkoff and James H Nicholson had already produced several European films, so the next step was to establish a London base with Louis M Heyward in charge.

Although Hammer Films will always be associated with British horror, the studio did have stiff competition. Amicus specialised in the successful horror anthologies and Us counterparts American International Pictures established a permanent UK base in the mid sixties. Other smaller independents took their own bite from the cherry tree of horror with some success, the best known being Tigon Films.

Tigon has received some belated recognition in recent years. Andy Boot’s book on British horror Fragments of Fear devotes a chapter to the company while John Hamilton’s excellent book Beast in the Cellar covers the varied career of Tigon’s charismatic founder Tony Tenser.

Like Hammer’s Sir James Carreras, Tenser was one of the British Film Industry’s great entrepreneurs. Born in London to poor Lithuanian immigrants and a movie fan since childhood, he was an ambitious man with a natural talent for showmanship. Combining shrewd business...

This past week, I attended a private screening of the hard-to-find British folk horror, Blood on Satan’s Claw. This film has become the stuff of legend. Though it is a well-known horror film in the United Kingdom, it never had a DVD release stateside and was only privy to a very limited VHS run. Once every few years, it will play at off-hours on MGM’s movie channel. But unless you happen to be aimlessly flipping channels at 2a.m. on a random Tuesday, this film is hard to see, making it the perfect inclusion for this week’s The Unseen.

Tigon Film Productions never got quite the attention that Hammer or Amicus garnered, but they produced some greats in their own right, most notably Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan’s Claw. Both of these fall under the small sub-genre of “folk horror,” a group of films united...

Paul Henreid in ‘Casablanca’: Freedom Fighter on screen, Blacklisted ‘Subversive’ off screen Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013, Paul Henreid, bids you farewell this evening. TCM left the most popular, if not exactly the best, for last: Casablanca, Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, is showing at 7 p.m. Pt tonight. (Photo: Paul Henreid sings "La Marseillaise" in Casablanca.) One of the best-remembered movies of the studio era, Casablanca — not set in a Spanish or Mexican White House — features Paul Henreid as Czechoslovakian underground leader Victor Laszlo, Ingrid Bergman’s husband but not her True Love. That’s Humphrey Bogart, owner of a cafe in the titular Moroccan city. Henreid’s anti-Nazi hero is generally considered one of least interesting elements in Casablanca, but Alt Film Guide contributor Dan Schneider thinks otherwise. In any case, Victor Laszlo feels like a character made to order for Paul Henreid,...

Outstanding actor of stage and screen who made his name as Bri in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

The British theatre changed for ever when Joe Melia, as the sardonic teacher Bri, pushed a severely disabled 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on to the stage of the Glasgow Citizens in May 1967 and proceeded to make satirical jokes about the medical profession while his marriage was disintegrating. The play was Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which transformed the way disability was discussed on the stage. It made the names overnight of its author, the director Michael Blakemore, and Melia. Albert Finney took over the role of Bri on Broadway.

Flat-footed, slightly hunched, always leaning towards a point of view, Melia, who has died aged 77, was a distinctive and compassionate actor who brought a strain of the music hall to the stage, a sense of being an outsider.

Witchfinder General

Stars: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Rupert Davies, Patrick Wymark, Robert Russell | Written by Michael Reeves, Tom Baker | Directed by Michael Reeves

When England was going through the civil war between the Royalists and Roundheads what is the last thing you would think the country needs? That’s right witches. That’s why they needed the self-appointed Witchfinder to scour the countryside hunting down the people with the devils mark, the witches that are ruining the country with their wicked ways and their evil work against God. Well that’s what people like Matthew Hopkins wanted to be believed anyway.

Witchfinder General takes the historical and infamous figure of Matthew Hopkins and his partner in crime John Stearne as they move from village to village creating fear and paranoia in the people as they hunted down the “witches”, which normally meant torturing a confession out of them leading to...

Let’s go back to when Britain had its own cinema and see who some of our homegrown stars were then. If we dissolve back to 1960, we find a plethora of movie stars - enough to guarantee full houses in all the West End, and regional theatres, in the country. Here are just some of them: Margaret Rutherford, Joyce Grenfell, John Mills, Leslie Phillips, Joan Sims, Virginia McKenna, Denholm Elliott, Fenella Fielding, Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Diana Dors, Terry Thomas, Richard Burton, Dirk Bogarde, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, Joan Greenwood, Hermione Baddeley, Moira Lister, Oliver Reed, Dennis Price, Michael Hordern, Robert Shaw, Michael Redgrave, Robert Morley, Laurence Harvey, Paul Scofield, Richard Harris, Tom Courtenay, Leslie-Anne Down, George Formby, Peter Ustinov, Peter Finch, Harry Andrews, Maxine Audley, Nigel Stock, Eric Porter, Noel Coward, Dinsdale Landen, Bernard Cribbins, Patrick Wymark, Shirley-Anne Field, and Moira Redmond…...

This week’s pick is the 1969 Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Force 10 From Navarone) directed classic Battle of Britain, which depicts the valiant struggle of Great Britain’s Royal Air Force against the onslaught of the numerically superior German Luftwaffe during the summer of 1940. The film opens as France falls in May 1940, and the British and their allies avoid capture with the massive evacuation at the coastal city of Dunkirk. With time to regroup and strengthen their home defenses, the British lie and wait for Hitler’s forces to eventually invade England.

The film is told through a collection of fighter squadron groups (English and German) who are veterans in the skies over France and the low countries during early 1940. Like many films of the mid to late 1960’s, Battle of Britain has its fare share of brilliant English and German actors. Screen legend Sir Laurence Olivier leads the cast as Chief Air Marshal H.

Linda Hayden, the teen femme fatale of 1970s British films, as a seductive sorceress in The Blood on Satan's Claw.

TCM (North America) will have a rare broadcast tonight of the kinky 1971 British Tigon Studios horror film The Blood on Satan's Claw dealing with witchcraft among teenage girls in 17th century England. The wonderful character actor Patrick Wymark has the lead role and super-sexy teen Linda Hayden parades around starkers. The film is gripping throughout and evokes aspects of the better Hammer horror movies.  The telecast is at 3:45 Am (Est)...

Brian G Hutton, 1968

I keep waiting for the day when Where Eagles Dare begins to pall. I mean, how many films can stand up to multiple viewings over such a vast span of time (about 40 years)? In fact, the opposite seems to be happening – it gets better, yields deeper layers of meaning, every time I see it.

Adapted from the novel by Em Forster… no, hang on, that's Where Angels Fear to Tread, but there's a point to be made here. Where Eagles Dare is a great title, anticipating the widespread popularity of the Sas motto "Who Dares Wins", even though it was made years before the storming of the Iranian embassy in 1980, of which the film could be seen either as a prophetic allegory or a direct inspiration. And the title is not just a sonorous bit of rhetoric plucked from Shakespeare. No, the castle scaled by Richard Burton,...