The Plague of the Zombies
00:36:38
About
We’re sticking with under-appreciated Hammer films this episode, and another from 1966 - “The Plague of the Zombies”. A film in which André Morell is such a badass, he stabs a man who is already on fire; the local constabulary are so obliging that they don’t just turn a blind eye to grave robbing: they also help fill in the hole; and Servalan is feeling really rather tired. This was originally released as a double bill with “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”, and while the Count brought the box office clout, “The Plague of the Zombies” is definitely the more exciting and interesting film. Hammer’s only foray into zombie territory wisely transplants the myth’s Haitian origins to Cornwall, thus bringing in an element of British colonialism, which is then married to a comment on capitalist exploitation of the workers, making for a remarkably modern subtext. But the gothic visceral chills are there too, both supernatural and all too horribly human, with a standout dream sequence that really gives these zombies some evocative menace, that may have played into George A Romero’s take on the monsters a mere two years later. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.
I, I find all kinds of witchcraft slightly nauseating and this I find absolutely disgusting.
Famous lines
- "Only The Lord Of The Dead Could Unleash Them!"
- "Someone in this village is practicing witchcraft. That corpse wandering on the moors is an undead, a zombie." — Sir James Forbes
Quotes verified against Wikiquote.
Transcript
Show full transcript
Unknown Good evening and welcome to Horror.
Lee I'm Lee.
Chris I'm Chris.
Adam I'm Adam.
Lee And we are here as promised for 1966's The Plague of the Zombies, brought to you by Hammer, there will be spoilers, there may be swearing, I mean, there's definitely going to be zombies.
Lee So let's get stuck in.
Lee Chris.
Lee I'm assuming this is not something you would have seen before.
Chris It's not.
Chris I'm going to call you out on that little preamble just a little bit and highlight the worst thing about this film.
Chris I wasn't totally sure for a long time that there was a plague appearing.
Chris However, I completely forgave it as we got towards the end I was like, I don't care, you could have called this anything, this is a very good film.
Lee Yeah.
Chris Yeah, and I kind of think either I'm getting used to some of these older style films or you have really hidden a few gems and are showing me some of the best Hammer.
Adam It's all.
Chris Surprisingly good and seems extremely modern.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Chris Ahead of its time, so yeah.
Lee I've got to say, that's the thing, although Hammer is, you know, as we always say, is known for its franchises and its multiple Draculas and its multiple Frankenstein movies.
Lee It's the side ones that I really enjoy, you know, this, The Reptile, I love.
Lee What's the circus one?
Adam Circus of, no, Vampire Circus.
Lee Vampire Circus, yeah.
Chris So it sounds like we've got a few more still to go.
Lee Yeah, there's loads of these sideliners that are just fantastic.
Lee Especially these super early ones when I, I feel it's before they kind of got their tread game, which is why it's lots of people.
Chris Once, once they started to get, I suppose, those iconic films, then they, it was hard not to stick with them.
Adam Oh.
Adam They knew they were money spinners.
Adam I mean, the weird thing was, this, when this originally came out, this was a double bill with Dracula Prince of Darkness.
Chris
Adam And Dracula is definitely better than Dracula Prince of Darkness.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Even though it's, like, because it is the second Christopher Lee Dracula film.
Adam But this is much more interesting, much more, I, to be honest, I think weirdly, the, it's when Hammer go off-piste that they come up with some really interesting stuff.
Adam Because a lot of it is obviously, even though they make like the first Dracula or Horror of Dracula is just, is their retelling of the Bram Stoker story.
Chris
Adam They still kind of dip into those elements.
Adam So they're always kind of constrained from an adaption or they've, you know, they've got, whereas these things seem to freewheel a lot better.
Lee
Adam You know, because I mean, let's face it, Andre Morel's character is basically a Van Helsing.
Adam Or a Sherlock Holmes.
Chris Right.
Chris So, yeah, I totally, especially when you mentioned Columbo earlier, I was like, yeah, I actually thought of that.
Chris I was like, a bit of Columbo in him starting to come out, a bit of Sherlock Holmes.
Lee He's.
Lee Yeah, he was in the Hammer Sherlock Holmes as well, he was in The Hound of the Baskervilles with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, he played Watson.
Adam Yeah, he's Watson to Cushing's Holmes.
Adam And he's also, he's also the third Quatermass.
Chris All right.
Adam He did Quatermass and the Pit, which is the TV version of Quatermass and the Pit, which is.
Adam I think the pinnacle of, which incidentally also has Michael Ripper in it.
Adam Michael Ripper, who's in this, nice big role for him.
Adam He was the police sergeant, Chris.
Chris
Adam But Michael Ripper is the, he's the, the actor who's appeared in the most Hammer films.
Chris Right.
Adam It's something like 35 or 36, I was kind of trying to work it out.
Adam But there's one, there was one I was a bit, is that a Hammer film or is that not?
Adam It was like a Peter Sellers comedy.
Chris
Adam And I was trying to work out whether it was Hammer by another name or something like that, but anyway.
Adam But regardless of that, yeah, like Michael Ripper, who plays the police sergeant.
Adam He's just once, once you're aware of him, you will see him in a number of Hammer films.
Chris Yeah.
Lee He's always an innkeeper or a bartender, he's always got a very small role.
Lee But whenever you go into a, yeah, whenever you go into a village, he is there somewhere running stuff.
Chris Yeah.
Chris And I thought it's funny, I was going to say, this is another film where almost the horror element it's like the icing on the cake.
Chris You've got a really good film and you almost don't even fully need the horror aspect.
Chris You know, they've, whereas, you can imagine some films where it's like take the horror out and it's a pretty rubbish film.
Lee Yeah.
Chris But really, they have got an absolute, you know, the character's fascinating, the dialogue's great, it's, it all works really well together.
Lee It's a lovely looking film, it feels polished and.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Lee Yeah, just beautiful and the zombie make up is terrifying.
Chris Yeah.
Adam It's, it's weird, isn't it, because it's the first, I think it's the first time because the, the zombie was usually just someone who was.
Adam Like, previously when Universal doing stuff like I Walk with a Zombie, they would just be essentially, they'd just be sleepwalking almost.
Adam This is the one of the original, oh it's here's a rotting corpse.
Chris Oh, yeah, okay.
Chris And, and this has got to be fairly early in the zombie industry.
Adam It's two years prior to Night of the Living Dead.
Chris Is it?
Adam So this is the sort of, this is the last of the original, not original run, sorry, but this is the last of zombie films before Romero is.
Chris Yeah.
Adam Basically becomes the over of the genre.
Chris Yeah.
Chris
Adam And interestingly enough.
Adam It is oddly, because they're going, they've obviously with this, they're still going with the zombie tradition as like associated to Voodoo.
Chris Yeah.
Adam And stuff like that, but what I think is great because again, you know, like we said with The Witches where it has that opening sequence in Africa.
Chris Yeah.
Adam This also you could be, you know, if they'd have just done a Hatian Voodoo film, yeah, I don't think that would be, that would come over particularly well nowadays.
Adam Whereas actually.
Chris Gets away with.
Adam Well.
Adam Weirdly enough, not only does it get away with it, it's a lovely explanation of, or sort of exploration rather, of.
Adam It's like a colonial thing because it's basically this posh English arsehole has gone over to, has gone over to Haiti.
Adam Nicked their tech or nicked their magic and brought it back home.
Chris Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Adam Yeah, in order to also have a completely compliant workforce that you don't have to give a shit about.
Chris Yeah.
Chris Well that's, I think that.
Chris I think that adds to the modern feel of it, it's, it is like a, a almost satirical take on, yeah, exploiting the working class.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But zombies.
Chris Yeah.
Adam It's basically, what's the ideal way to run this tin mine now that people actually expect a living wage?
Chris Yeah.
Adam Well, I'll employ the living dead.
Lee Yeah.
Chris So yeah, it is a big, big social commentary film again, which I didn't realise Hammer did this as much as they clearly do.
Adam I'm not sure, because that's the thing is, I think it's individuals within it.
Adam I think it's script writers, I think it's directors and stuff like that.
Adam It wasn't necessarily Hammer had the vision.
Chris Right.
Adam It was just, yeah, just how it sort of went.
Adam I'm.
Chris Sorry, Lee, I, I.
Lee That's all right.
Lee I'm sorry.
Lee That's all right, I was just going to say, yeah, because it did leave me with a bit of a question mark, I've seen this film a few times, but again, it's when you're looking at it critically like to do this.
Lee Because I had made a note, I was like, there's definitely more so his turning them to have them working in the tin mine.
Lee That makes perfect sense, there's still lots of men around that town.
Lee Why is he starting turning women, and then I was like, oh, there aren't any women working in the mine, but they don't ever actually touch on why he is converting these two women.
Lee I think it's probably just best, they decided it's probably just best not said really.
Lee But I can't imagine them swinging a pickaxe.
Adam Yeah.
Adam I mean, it's also that sequence where like his, they're referred to as the young bloods in the credits.
Lee Yeah, that's right.
Adam Which, which immediately nowadays I'm just thinking, well, where are the Crips, but obviously it's the, it's the older use of that ridiculous term of basically, you know.
Adam Oh, they're bully boy arseholes have come off the fox hunt to be pricks to people.
Adam But you know, they're just young bloods, aren't they, you know.
Adam It's, it's.
Adam I mean, still a lovely example of what you can get away with when you're posh, insomuch as the police find you grave robbing.
Chris
Adam You know, they don't know you, but basically you flash your sort of, your your business card, tell him you're an eminent doctor, then next thing they're going is, no, don't, don't you worry about filling in that hole, sir.
Lee We'll do that.
Chris Yeah.
Adam And you're like, fucking hell, that's that.
Adam That, that's posh in action, do you know what I mean, Andre is such a smooth bastard.
Chris Yeah.
Adam So.
Adam Actually, and also stabbing a man who is already on fire.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Yeah, you know, that's, yeah, that's pretty sort of like, fucking hell, he ain't shitting about, you know, quite.
Chris That's it, there's even decent action in it.
Adam And actually, actually, I think that's the other thing as well, is I think that when with the adaptations and stuff, maybe they just got too sort of rolled up in is that what that character would do?
Lee Yeah.
Adam Do you know what I mean, like, well, if the man's on fire, would Sherlock Holmes stab him?
Adam It doesn't matter, this is, this is Sir James and it's so it's.
Adam You know, it's a lot sort of, it's a lot simpler, that's what he does.
Lee I think you're right, they do have a lot more, a lot more freedom when they do their own stuff and it comes across.
Lee And it's, it is a shame that they got so wrapped up in, you know, in doing the franchise stuff.
Lee Because as much as, as much as I love all of the vampire movie, all the Dracula movies and stuff.
Lee Yeah, like it's these side ones that I really enjoy, and I think if they'd put more time and effort into those that they had more control over, as you say, where they didn't have to worry about.
Lee Sticking to guidelines and upsetting the fans of the books and all that kind of stuff, and you've got a character who you, you've got him 15 movies so you can't really change who he is or what he does.
Lee Yeah, I, I honestly think they could have done so much better stuff if they'd, you know, done more of their own content really, but.
Chris
Lee Can't complain, there's enough of it out there.
Adam And but it's really weird.
Adam Because obviously, 66 is quite, it's obviously quite a good vein for this.
Adam Because obviously, The Witches, I hadn't, when we planned this, I hadn't realised that The Witches and Plague of the Zombies were both 66, which also means, because you mentioned it earlier, like The Reptile.
Adam And The Reptile is another one of these films where.
Adam You know, it's their own thing, so they can, it's really great.
Adam But they filmed it back to back with this, so if you watch it, if you watch them together, it's the same sets.
Chris
Adam Michael Ripper's in that one as well.
Adam So Jacqueline Pearce, who plays Alice in this.
Lee Yeah.
Adam who.
Adam I don't, I assume neither of you have ever seen Blake's 7.
Chris No.
Adam But she is the main baddy of Blake's 7.
Adam She is the Emperor of Blake's 7, she's the Palpatine.
Adam And she is fucking amazing in it.
Adam And yeah, so this is, this is, this is a far different role to that is.
Adam but yeah.
Adam As like this sort of like space dominatrix villain that she sort of plays in Blake's 7, but.
Adam so, but yeah, they're both in The Reptile.
Chris
Adam And you'll see that they're all the same sets.
Adam And then.
Lee So this was release they used Oakley Court in both as well, they use Oakley Court in both.
Lee So obviously they've kind of pruned it and dressed the outside because obviously the inside was a derelict mess at this point.
Lee Yeah, so they've obviously done the outside work, so they're like, let's get as many exterior shots of it in different films as we can before we have to get the gardeners back in and it goes to shit again.
Adam And I think they.
Adam But yeah, so The Reptile is another recommend.
Chris
Adam In this similar vein because again, it's just a weird outlier that and yeah.
Adam I really think that there's a, there's a lot of wealth in the sidelines of Hammer.
Chris
Adam And not because it's weird, because the stuff, not so much the stuff they do, they only did one werewolf movie, Curse of the Werewolf, which again is a really great film.
Adam And really sort of like more in the sort of Gothic tradition, but yeah, they do a lot of interesting things there.
Adam But.
Adam
Adam Yeah, I think that, so like I say, this was back to back with The Reptile.
Adam And then The Reptile was released with Rasputin, the Christopher Lee Rasputin film as a double bill.
Lee Right, yeah.
Adam So what.
Adam But Rasputin was also was filmed back to back with Dracula Prince of Darkness, again, same sets, most of the same cast.
Chris I like, I like efficiency.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And so, yeah, but so that's why they mixed them up when they released them.
Adam So that you wouldn't be sitting there going.
Chris It's not that, it's like the same set, yeah.
Adam Hang on, this is the same building or whatever like that.
Adam You know, they would make sure that they, but I.
Adam But definitely, I think, I mean, Rasputin and, The Reptile's hell of a double bill as well.
Adam
Adam But yeah, so John Gilling, who, directed this, also did, for Hammer, he did The Mummy's Shroud.
Adam Shadow of the Cat, The Pirates of Blood River, the Brigand of Kandahar and The Scarlet Blade.
Adam but he also did, The Flesh and the Fiends, the Burke and Hare movie with Peter Cushing.
Lee Oh.
Lee Which again is.
Adam That's a great little film.
Adam And, some others that there's also a film called The Night Caller that I've got to watch at some point.
Adam Because I keep hearing it come up.
Adam But yeah, John Gilling was basically like who directed it was, I think he rewrote the script pretty much as well.
Adam And similarly with The Reptile.
Adam So both of them are kind of his end of Hammer as it were.
Lee Yeah.
Lee I get this is one of those that I don't, I don't get out and watch very often.
Lee but it just means that when I do, I always go, yeah, it's always, it's always better than I remember it.
Chris Yeah.
Adam Absolutely.
Lee Yeah.
Lee It's so glorious looking, that's the thing that gets me, is that lovely soft look about it, it's the perfect like Sunday evening relaxing horror movie, which I know sounds daft, but it is, that's how it works.
Lee It's a, it's just beautiful.
Chris Yeah, great atmosphere.
Adam I think the graveyard set is amazing, frankly.
Adam And I really love the, I think the mine works are just the right level of stark, especially because they're doing.
Adam The the day for night shooting isn't that great, but it almost gives it a nice, it makes it monochrome, it almost makes it like a black and white movie for those bits.
Lee Yeah.
Lee I I noticed that as well.
Lee They were, I was like, I I appreciate that they can't shoot at night, but according to this, the young bloods were still out fox hunting at 11 o'clock at night and I was like, I mean, even in the height of summer, it's still dark by 9:30 surely, I mean.
Adam And that's, and that's the thing is, I think, I mean, genuinely, the scene where they run his daughter down and like drag her back to the house and everything is.
Chris Yeah, that got pretty intense.
Chris I was like, I wonder how far they're going to take this.
Adam It's fucking horrible.
Adam It really is.
Adam And it's odd because again, it's that thing where you don't think Hammer's going to come up with anything that's going to be too.
Adam And then, yeah, that that sort of just plays to almost to the right point.
Adam Of like, this is getting really fucking uncomfortable.
Adam And then it's like, thank fuck for that, we're going back to fantasy.
Adam And, you know, and.
Lee You've got the bad guy who has turned up.
Lee Like, yeah.
Lee Like, fuck.
Chris
Lee I mean, I thought he was brilliant in it as well, such a great, he gave a such a good performance.
Adam Oh, he's a brilliant shithouse.
Adam He's brilliant, isn't he?
Lee Yeah.
Adam John Carson.
Lee Yeah.
Lee Yeah, so smarmy and nice, but still constantly untrustworthy, yeah, and then you always see the other side of him when he is just an absolute prick.
Lee He's just brilliant, absolutely great.
Adam Yeah, I think I think that's again, it's a great cast, it's not necessarily like a, it's not, it's not an audience draw Hammer cast necessarily.
Adam But.
Chris Oh, top, top, like, all just works so well, especially what was the, the scene where Forbes confronts.
Chris What's his name?
Adam Hamilton.
Chris Clive.
Chris Hamilton, yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Chris That, you know, that's great seeing them stand off against each other and Forbes is clearly like showing that he is tough even if he's, you know, he's got a bit older, but.
Adam Yeah.
Chris He does mess around.
Chris I suppose, I suppose as well, how likable he is, even with his relationship with his daughter from the start.
Chris What does he say?
Chris He's like, I don't know why I put up with you at all.
Chris I should.
Chris I'm like, that's it.
Chris I'm, I'm using that tomorrow.
Adam That's my.
Adam This thing, is that's, that's one of those ones where you can imagine sort of like that people just not getting it.
Adam And you're like, that's a loving, that's a loving family, I know that, you know, that was.
Chris Yeah.
Adam I just, yeah, no, I think they have a.
Chris It's, the look she gives him, it's just yeah, it's completely like.
Adam They have a great relationship.
Adam Diane Clare was also in The Haunting.
Adam Obviously we did however many episodes ago, she's like, she's Eleanor's sister in it.
Adam So she's not in it a lot.
Adam
Lee 200 episodes ago now, isn't it? Yeah, something like that.
Adam Yeah.
Adam Something like that.
Adam But, no, I, I, I think they've got a great relationship, the, the other doctor is a bit of a wet blanket, but then he is a bit of a wet blanket.
Adam That's the character.
Chris Yeah.
Adam You know what I mean.
Adam It's like he's, you know, he's not.
Chris He, he's good, you know, apparently he was one of the top students, so he's clearly good at his job, but yeah, he's struggling with what's going on.
Adam He's out of his depth, he's intimidated and basically given up on it.
Adam And,
Lee I love that line.
Lee I laughed out loud when they were doing the washing up after dinner.
Lee And, and yeah, he immediately says, you know what we're going to have to do, we're going to have to go and dig one up.
Lee And he goes, what?
Adam What.
Lee No.
Adam What I also love about that is again, confidence.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Because because you two have just proven to me quite conclusively that you can't wash up without breaking a plate.
Adam But you're both quite, but you know, certainly Andre Morel is certainly, fuck it, it's just a bit of grave robbing, yeah, we'll do that.
Adam We'll have it sorted by morning.
Adam You've just broken two plates, guys, come on.
Adam And also according to, according to Claire, lighting a cigarello on a candle is very cool.
Adam She wanted that noted down.
Lee I think that is worth noting, that definitely is.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But I think, and and there's, I think there's also.
Adam Again, it feels, you know, like where Sylvia immediately is like, no, the fox went the other way.
Adam And it was like, yeah, good for you.
Adam Because, you know, she was, although, although it did seem a bit like, father, do something.
Adam And it's like.
Adam What from here.
Adam In a movie, what am I meant to do?
Lee Chase those men who are rushing across the field on a horse.
Adam I'll write a letter to the times.
Adam I don't know.
Lee But again, it is, it's that thing of, they'll never know, they'll just think they haven't found it.
Lee And then when he doesn't find it, he immediately says, it went that way, didn't it, you better hope I don't see you again, I was like, all right, so because you can't find a fox, you immediately go, that woman was lying.
Lee It couldn't possibly be that it did go that way and you just didn't find it.
Adam Yeah.
Adam I think that's the again, a beautiful feeling that because at the start of it.
Adam Obviously, Hamilton is wearing the mask.
Adam And then the next time you see him, they just show you very close up the ring with the same mark.
Adam So it's not a mystery for any of us.
Adam It's not a mystery for the audience at all.
Adam It's you, again, back to Columbo, you, it's watching someone work it out rather than, you know, what you're going, oh, that's what they're clocking or that's where they're going.
Adam And,
Lee It's, those masks, again, like with the zombies, what a horrific design they are, that is nightmare fuel, isn't it?
Adam Oh, yeah, when they chase the vicar, though.
Adam I can, I can honestly say.
Adam That you're sitting there digging up a body, if I was that vicar, I'd have been like, when they say, oh, we're going, you're all right.
Lee Are you sure?
Adam I was only saying, I was staying out of a misguided sense of politeness, but frankly, I'm fucking freezing.
Adam Yeah.
Adam I think that's the again, a beautiful feeling that because at the start of it, obviously, Hamilton is wearing the mask.
Adam And then the next time you see him, they just show you very close up the ring with the same mark.
Adam So it's not a mystery for any of us.
Adam It's not a mystery for the audience at all.
Adam It's you, again, back to Columbo, you it's watching someone work it out rather than, you know, what you're going, oh, that's what they're clocking or that's where they're going.
Adam And,
Lee Yeah, I think I'll I do need at some point to go through and make a note of all of these that I haven't seen.
Lee Because again, like this and The Reptile and stuff, because they don't get mentioned so much, if it wasn't for the Hammer Horror box set having them in, I wouldn't have seen them.
Lee So there is so much other stuff out there that I clearly need to need to track down.
Lee I mean, there could be gems out there that I still haven't seen like this.
Lee thingy was.
Adam Yeah.
Adam Even even on telly, I think when they used to show Hammer, when they showed Hammer films on the telly, it would be, again, it was drawers.
Adam You know, it would be, we've got Dracula in the title, you got Frankenstein, you got, I do remember seeing The Reptile actually on TV, which was a.
Adam Fucking revelation.
Adam But yeah, again, there is that sort of, there is that sort of tendency that you don't get the, the sort of.
Adam I mean, I don't, I would say Plague of the Zombies had a bit of a resurgence because zombies had a resurgence, so people were just watching all of the history of zombie movies.
Adam So it sort of, you know, it, so it's sort of and started getting a bit of a better appreciation then.
Adam So I don't think it's as, I don't think it's as sort of unseen as The Witches is.
Adam But I still think there are plenty of people out there that, you know, this, this, there is a, like you say, there's the, the sort of accepted classic Hammer list versus.
Adam You know, no, actually, these are great ones that you've got to see that you may not know the name, you may not know, you know, it hasn't got Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee in it, but.
Adam You know, they are genuinely great films.
Lee I'm currently trying to look up, there was one that came out fairly recently that I'd never seen.
Lee Can't remember the name of it.
Lee It's not exactly, a horror is the thing.
Lee It's to Peter Cushing, oh Captain Clegg, that's the one.
Chris Oh.
Adam Whatever happens, watch Captain Clegg.
Lee Yeah.
Adam It's fucking great.
Lee I only saw it about four years ago for the first time.
Adam Oh, right.
Lee And I was, because I saw a still from it and I was like, look at that, it was a Hammer film.
Lee And obviously it was the, the skeletal horses.
Adam Oh, yeah.
Adam The horses.
Lee Oh, and it's got Peter Cushing in it.
Lee And I've never seen it.
Lee Yeah, and although it isn't a horror, it's fantastic and it looks like this and it's just gorgeous.
Adam And, and also.
Adam Really good role from Michael Ripper in that because he's basically Peter Cushing's second in command, isn't he, he's like his ship's mate.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And they've also got the guy who sounds like that in it.
Lee Yeah.
Adam But yeah, no, that, that is a,
Adam A really, like you say, it's not horror, because, and actually that is a, that is a, adaptation.
Adam But it's really well done, Ollie Reed's great in it as well.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Like young Ollie Reed in there.
Adam
Adam But no, I think that they are, yeah, Captain Clegg is, is definitely one.
Chris I just felt, did you say Clegg?
Adam Clegg, yeah.
Adam it's also, I think in America it's called Night Creatures or night something, yeah.
Lee It is.
Lee Oh, it's Night Creatures, yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But again, and actually, weirdly, that was when, when the Horror channel used to exist, that's how they used to show a lot of Hammer films.
Adam They'd show them under the American titles because they had the American prints.
Lee
Adam So actually you could sort of catch up with some, as long as you knew what they were.
Adam Otherwise you just go, night creatures, never heard of it, right.
Adam What's on?
Adam What's on the other side?
Chris I've also got Come Up Here, The Gorgon.
Lee Oh, that should, yeah.
Adam The Gorgon, again, and some great names, it's both Cushing and Lee.
Chris It is, yeah, again.
Adam Yeah, and Patrick Troughton's in there.
Adam Barbara Shelley, it's, yeah, no, it's.
Adam And and actually, the, I can't remember her name, the old witch from The Witches.
Lee Oh, who's also in Devil Rides Out.
Adam Yes, I think she is, yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Yes.
Lee I can't remember her name, but she's amazing.
Adam But there's, yeah, there's a lot of.
Adam I'll tell you what actually, just it's so Michael Ripper, I wrote I his 35, 36 Hammer films.
Adam So like we said, we got The Reptile, you got Captain Clegg, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From His Grave, Scars of Dracula, The Brides of Dracula.
Adam Vengeance of Frankenstein, Curse of the Werewolf, The Mummy, where was it, The Ugly Duckling, have you ever seen The Ugly Duckling, Lee?
Lee No.
Adam Hammer Horror comedy with Jon Pertwee and Bernard Bresslaw.
Lee What?
Adam And it's basically a Jekyll and Hyde film, but he, it's Bernard Bresslaw is a nerd who then becomes a head like a teddy boy.
Lee I mean.
Adam And Jon Pertwee is his dad.
Lee How the fucking hell have I never seen it?
Adam Yeah.
Adam And again, it's those sort of, it's those weirdly, because I mean, Hammer obviously it wasn't just Hammer Horror that they did, they did the On The Buses movies, they did like the adaptations of Rising Damp, yeah, Rising Damp was a Hammer film, I think.
Adam The adaptation of that.
Adam And,
Adam Yeah, they were always doing, they weren't never exclusively horror, but that was just the thing that they absolutely had the most success with.
Adam And they were going for quite a long time before they, sort of, it was Quatermass experiment that was the thing that was like, oh, horror, so we'll look into that and we'll do more sort of horror.
Adam Well, first they sort of kind of went, oh, sci-fi and then they were like, no, it was definitely the horror bit that was that was what sold it to people.
Adam
Adam But yeah, they, I mean, they were like releasing films from like the, basically from the 30s, I think.
Adam And there's lots of, there's a, I can't remember what they're called, but there's a podcast I've been listening to who do Hammer, doing Hammer films.
Lee Oh, god.
Adam And, they are literally doing every Hammer film in chronological order.
Lee Oh, god.
Lee See, I don't know if I'd want to do that.
Lee I'd want to do all the the the horror stuff.
Lee I wouldn't want to do all of the, yeah, as you say, the the On The Buses and all of those type of.
Adam Well, they're not even, they're not even at that point yet at the moment, where certainly where I've been listening to, it's a lot of like noir knockoffs and police comedies and things like that.
Adam It was all sort of, yeah.
Lee I'd like to listen to them talk about it, but I don't know.
Lee But again, it might be one of those where I'll find gems where that, you know.
Adam That's the reason I'm listening to him, to be honest, is because I've become so intrigued and it sounds like, and it's, it is, it's a very well-produced show.
Adam and, it's, I think, I think it's House of Hammer.
Lee Okay.
Adam No, I'll have to, I'll have to check.
Adam And.
Adam I don't know.
Adam But yeah, they, they, no, that's a, it's a very, very good show, but yeah, that is a, that is a task that I.
Adam I kind of envy them.
Adam But I'm glad they're doing it and I'm not.
Lee I imagine some of those are going to be a nightmare to track down as well.
Lee Because even some.
Adam Well, they've already had, they've already in the, in the sort of line of stuff, I know they've already had to lose, there's two that they've said, right, we can't do this film because it doesn't exist anymore.
Lee Oh.
Adam So.
Lee That must be so frustrating.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Yeah, I mean, but that's the thing, you do forget about all the other great stuff they put.
Lee You know, they put out the the old Dark House, William Castle remakes and stuff, like.
Adam I always forget that's them, yeah.
Lee Yeah, there's so much stuff in there that's just brilliant and as soon as you start watching it, you're like, oh, of course this is Hammer.
Lee It's got it written all over it, but yeah.
Lee But again, until you sort of put two and two together and watch it through that filter.
Lee You wouldn't necessarily, you just think, oh, it's William Castle.
Chris I suppose now all films are digital, probably, pretty much all films are recorded digitally, then nothing will be lost from now on.
Adam Well, depends, give it give it long enough, one good EMP.
Lee Yeah.
Chris That could, yeah, we might not care too much if, if it manages to wipe out.
Adam I, I don't know, I'll still be, I'll still be annoyed.
Adam You know, this, I mean, there's a number of films I don't care.
Adam In fact, they, there's a lovely thing that, because obviously there's missing episodes of Doctor Who and there's a lovely game that Doctor Who fans play, which is, right, you can swap out episodes so they're like, right, do you want Evil of the Daleks episode, episode six, but you have to get rid of another episode.
Adam And then everyone's like, yeah, Fear Her, obviously, fuck it.
Adam It's crap.
Adam And.
Adam And it's a, and it's a really interesting game to play as well, where it's like, okay, so here's all the missing films that you definitely cannot see.
Adam But here's all the films we've still fucking got, what one are you punting out, so we can have London After Midnight back.
Lee Do you know what, the amount of stuff I would give away to see London After Midnight just once.
Adam Oh, yeah.
Adam No, I think there's, you're.
Adam I'm sure there's an entire franchise I could sacrifice for that, you know.
Lee It's called Saw.
Lee Actually, no, I shouldn't be mean, I love the first Saw movie, so I can't.
Chris They, they should have just stuck there.
Lee Yeah, but the thing was it was, it was that, it was one of those franchises where it was non-horror fans.
Lee Yeah, who were, yeah.
Chris It got.
Chris So big that it was.
Lee They were making a killing from it because it had a great twist, so it took off.
Lee But then the rest of them didn't have a great twist, but they just still kept pumping them out and people kept turning up to him, so.
Adam They they basically had the same great twist, didn't they.
Lee I I think possibly, yeah.
Adam Every time.
Adam It was like.
Adam Oh, that was, was it we thought?
Lee Yeah.
Lee Yeah, I think I checked out after the third one maybe.
Lee but yeah, somehow they're still going.
Lee
Lee Yes, so,
Lee As promised, we are going to be back again in a fortnight's time, we are going to be covering not a movie at all, we are going to be discussing the amazing podcast, Broken Veil.
Chris
Lee
Lee Which, yeah, I I can't wait to get stuck into really.
Adam I.
Adam Yes.
Lee There's so much to unpack in that.
Lee and it covers so much and it kind of.
Lee Side references so many things.
Lee I think it's going to be a nightmare trying to keep it down to less than two hours, but we'll see how we get on.
Adam We'll see what we can do.
Adam
Adam But, yeah, no, I'm looking forward, I'm, even though it was only a few weeks ago.
Adam I'm really looking forward to re-listening to that.
Lee Oh, yeah.
Chris Oh, that's good.
Lee And me, the same, yeah, probably three weeks ago I listened to it and I'm, I can't wait to sit down and do the whole three hours.
Lee I told my brother about it, Dr. Dean, who's been on this show before.
Lee And that's precisely what he did, he sat down and listened to the entire thing from beginning to end.
Lee But I'll bring you his feedback for the episode.
Adam Yeah, good man.
Lee Yeah.
Lee Excellent.
Lee Right.
Lee Anyway, thank you ever so much for listening, everybody, go and check out Plague of the Zombies, go and check out all the the side stuff from from Hammer.
Lee That is just sitting out there relatively untapped.
Lee There's some real gems out there.
Adam We'll do more on the show as well.
Adam Because.
Lee Oh, yeah.
Lee 100%, I've I've written down another three that we definitely have to cover at some point.
Adam Nice.
Lee
Lee Yes, so, thanks ever so much for listening, everybody.
Lee Go and check all those out.
Lee Go and check out Broken Veil before we cover it.
Lee Go and check out our friends over at Welcome, no, we are Welcome to Horror, our friends over at Not For Everyone podcast.
Lee And we will see you back here at a fortnight's time.
Lee Thanks very much for listening.
Lee Good night.
Chris Good night.
Adam Good night.
