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"For The Sake
of Completism":
Feature-Length TV Episodes
During my research on the 'Pass the Marmalade' project, it has been noted that many of the reference sources accessed include feature-length episodes of British television series as 'movies'. In particular, the shows 'Mystery And Imagination', 'Thriller', and 'Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense' have been given such treatment. Although I don't regard these productions as 'British Horror Films', and therefore might consider them beyond the scope of this work, I felt I ought to at least mention any relevant titles in passing. Also listed here are compilation 'movies' comprising paired-up episodes of the series 'Journey To The Unknown' and 'Hammer House Of Horror', as broadcast on U.S. television.
Thriller
ANATOMY OF TERROR (Peter Jeffries 1974) - MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE-like brainwashing/reprogramming thriller.
IF IT'S A MAN, HANG UP! (Shaun O'Riordan 1975) - Carol Lynley as fashion model stalked by black-gloved psycho/phone pest.
A KILLER IN EVERY CORNER (Malcolm Taylor 1974) - psychology professor Patrick Magee invites students to his home for a weekend tutorial - interrupted by a series of murders.
KILLER WITH TWO FACES (John Scholz-Conway 1974) - twins, one of whom is insane strangler.
MURDER MOTEL (Malcolm Taylor 1974) - girl investigates the disappearance of her brother, an embezzler who is traced to an out-of-the-way motel...rehash of Hitchcock's PSYCHO, featuring Ralph Bates and Edward Judd.
THE NEXT VICTIM (James Ormerod 1976) - Carroll Baker as wheelchair-bound woman, left alone for weekend in almost-deserted apartment building - where a mad strangler is at large.
NURSE WILL MAKE IT BETTER (Shaun O'Riordan 1974) - Diana Dors plays the Devil, disguised as a nurse and initiating a paralysed patient in the black arts.
ONE DEADLY OWNER (Ian Fordyce 1974) - Rolls-Royce with 'a mind of its own'.
A PLACE TO DIE (Peter Jeffries 1974) - devil-worship in a small village.
POSSESSION (John Cooper 1973) - newlyweds battle supernatural force in country house.
THE SAVAGE CURSE (John Sichel 1974) - men entombed alive in cellar, a la Poe's 'The Cask Of Amontillado'.
SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS (John Sichel 1973) - old man in attic controls the lifeforce of (dead) inhabitants of Victorian mansion.
SPELL OF EVIL (John Sichel 1974) - Diane Cilento as 16th century witch in modern times, marrying and murdering rich husbands.
TERROR FROM WITHIN (James Ormerod 1974) - young woman has psychic link with a dead man.
(The episodes listed above are those included in Donald C.Willis' 'Horror And Science Fiction Films II' or in James O'Neill's 'Terror On Tape', both U.S. publications. Willis includes two further shows, THE CARNATION KILLER (1973) and ONLY A SCREAM AWAY (1974) in his 'Problems' section. For further information on 'Thriller', including a complete guide to all 43 episodes, I heartily recommend Peter Culley's informative website on
http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.culley/thriller.htm)
Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense
AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN (Paul Annett 1984) - evil force released when old church is demolished.
BLACK CARRION (John Hough 1984) - journalist investigates mysterious disappearance of two 1960s pop stars.
CHILD'S PLAY (Val Guest 1984) - family find their home is surrounded by an impenetrable black wall, with no means of exit.
THE CORVINI INHERITANCE (Gabrielle Beaumont 1984) - masked prowler menaces young woman.
CZECH MATE (John Hough 1984) - man disappears in Prague, leaving his young wife in peril.
A DISTANT SCREAM (John Hough 1984) - innocent man convicted of murder dreams the truth about the circumstances of the crime.
IN POSSESSION (Val Guest 1984) - married couple begin to experience strange visions in their new home.
LAST VIDEO AND TESTAMENT (Peter Sasdy 1984) - videotaped will; man fakes own death in order to plot revenge on wife and her lover.
THE LATE NANCY IRVING (Peter Sasdy 1984) - woman golfer, forced off road in her car, awakens in remote hospital - rich, ailing man plans to siphon off her blood for himself.
MARK OF THE DEVIL (Val Guest 1984) - killer, pricked with tattooist's needle, finds a design spreading uncontrollably across his whole body.
PAINT ME A MURDER (Alan Cooke 1984) - artist fakes his death in order to increase the value of his paintings, but his wife decides she likes the idea of him as a dead man...
THE SWEET SCENT OF DEATH (Peter Sasdy 1984) - scripted by Brian Clemens. Couple menaced at their country retreat.
TENNIS COURT (Cyril Frankel 1984) - couple finds that the tennis court at their new home is possessed by the evil aura of a still-living but horribly injured plane crash victim.
Mystery And Imagination
Donald C.Willis' 'Horror And Science Fiction Films II' lists the following feature-length dramas from this series as 'movies':
CURSE OF THE MUMMY (1970) - with Isobel Black and Patrick Mower in a version of Stoker's 'The Jewel Of Seven Stars',
later filmed as Hammer's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB.
THE SUICIDE CLUB (1970) - Alan Dobie stars in adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson tale.
SWEENEY TODD (1970) - with Freddie Jones as the notorious barber.
UNCLE SILAS (1968) - Lucy Fleming and Robert Eddison in a version of the Sheridan le Fanu shocker.
Other productions in the series are mentioned in the informative entry in 'The BFI Companion To Horror'. I have been unable to confirm running times, and suspect that most of these may be less than feature-length, but will include them here in any
case (Stephen Jones'
'Essential Monster Movie Guide' suggests that these programmes were an hour
long, with FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, and the four titles noted above being 90
minutes). The BFI research by Tony Mechele, and the episode guide on the 'Action
T.V.' website (www.action-tv.org.uk/)
uncover the following:
THE LOST STRADIVARIUS (1966) - with Jeremy Brett
THE BODY SNATCHER (19660
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1966) - with Denholm Elliott, Susannah York
THE CANTERVILLE GHOST (1966) - with Bruce Forsyth
THE OPEN DOOR (1966) - with Jack Hawkins
THE TRACTATE MIDDOTH (1966) - from M.R. James' story
LOST HEARTS (1966) - another M.R. James adaptation
ROOM 13 (1966) - more from the pen of M.R. James
CARMILLA (1966) - with Natasha Payne
THE BECKONING SHADOW (1966)
THE PHANTOM LOVER (1966) - with Robert Hardy
THE FLYING DRAGON (1966) - from Sheridan le Fanu's story
THE LISTENER (1968) - adaptation of an Algernon Blackwood tale
A PLACE OF ONE'S OWN (1968) - with Megs Jenkins and Joss Ackland
THE DEVIL'S PIPER (1968) - from 'Wandering Willie's Tale' by Walter Scott
CASTING THE RUNES (1968) - the M.R. James classic, previously filmed as the masterly NIGHT OF THE DEMON
FRANKENSTEIN (1968) - with Ian Holm as both creator and monster
DRACULA (1968) - Denholm Elliott as the Count
THE TELL-TALE HEART (1968) - from the Poe classic
FEET FOREMOST (1968) - from L.P. Hartley's vampire/ghost tale
Journey To The Unknown
Episodes of this 1968 Hammer horror show were double-billed as 't.v. movies'
for American television.
JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS (1968) - stories 'Paper Dolls'/'The New People'.
JOURNEY TO MIDNIGHT (1968) - stories 'Poor Butterfly'/'The Indian Spirit Guide'.
JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN (1969) - stories 'Matakitas Is Coming'/'The Last Visitor'.
JOURNEY TO MURDER (1972) - stories 'Do Me A Favour And Kill Me'/'The Killing
Bottle'
Hammer House Of Horror
As with 'Journey To The Unknown', stories from this 1980 Hammer/ITC series were
paired up under the title HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR DOUBLE FEATURE for U.S. television.
CHARLIE BOY/THE THIRTEENTH REUNION (1980) - African fetish doll; cannibal gathering.
CHILDREN OF THE FULL MOON/VISITOR FROM THE GRAVE (1980) - werewolves/LES DIABOLIQUES
variant.
GUARDIAN OF THE ABYSS/CARPATHIAN EAGLE (1980) - satanic cult plans sacrifice
of young woman; reporter investigates series of murders in which hearts have
been torn out.
THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH/GROWING PAINS (1980) - clever spin on the AMITYVILLE
HORROR shocks-for-profit circus; boy killed as result of scientist father's
experiment returns.
THE TWO FACES OF EVIL/RUDE AWAKENING (1980) - doppelgangers; man has series
of strange, interlocking dreams.
WITCHING TIME/THE SILENT SCREAM (1980) - 17th century witch escapes execution
by propelling herself into modern times; former Nazi (Peter Cushing) controls
animals, and ultimately humans, in electrified cages-without-bars.
The episode THE MARK OF SATAN is not recorded as having played in this 'movie-style' format.
“Another
(Public Information Film) I remember still with a shudder is a film warning
children about the perils of getting into strangers cars, and involves a couple
of moppets doing just that on the promise of ice cream. The final shot is of
two little graves at dusk, the ghosts of the now deceased kids appearing at
the feet of the graves, ice cream still smeared around their screaming mouths...you
can see why that has stayed with me for 25 plus years. Still, suppose it had
the desired effect. Does anyone else remember that one, or is my memory cheating?
Or was it on Screen Test?!”
('Dredger' posted about the film again on 10/2/06, this time giving it the title ICE CREAM KIDS)
‘John
Sewell’ (posted on 6/6/03)
“I
remember that one! From what I remember, it was one of the entries for the
annual Young Filmmaker of the Year contest, but could have doubled as a genuine
PIF quite easily!
I
seem to recall that there were quite a few horror/supernaturally themed entries
for the contest. One that sticks in my head featured a ghostly echoing football
match, finishing with a slow pan across a school sports trophy room, revealing
that the team had been killed in a bus crash on their way to a game. Must've
been something they were putting in our Quosh and Westlers hot dogs in the
70s!”
Finally, something of an oddity. Graeme Clark, regular contributor to
‘The Spinning Image’ website ( www.thespinningimage.co.uk
), contacted me with a query concerning an amateur horror film competition
hosted by the 1970s BBC news/current affairs t.v. show ‘Nationwide’. Graeme
states:
“I
was looking at your website recently and was interested in the short horror
films section. I wonder if you can help me with this, I didn't see them
mentioned on your site, but years ago on Nationwide there was some kind of horror
film competition introduced by Frank Bough.
They showed three clips, all in colour:
The first was of a T-Rex wandering down a British street. A policeman
shoots at it, but in response the dinosaur eats him as two old ladies stand
and watch in terror.
The second was a woman trapped in a car at night, being terrorized by a bloke
with a white, blobby face and wearing a black cape. He was trying to get
in.
The last one was the weirdest: a man sits in a room writing a letter with his
gloves on. He pauses, but when he does so his hand comes off and continues
writing, much to his alarm.
I asked on a nostalgia site about these, and the only thing I found out was
that the third one might have been called "With This Hand". “
The head honcho at 'British
Horror Films', Chris Wood, e-mailed the following addition to me on 28/11/05:
"I'm pretty sure that another entry in that 'horror films' competition
involved a man sitting watching the television - the screen went to static,
and I think an animated mouth might have appeared on-screen. The upshot was
that the man was sucked into the screen, leaving just his clothes lying on the
floor in front of the telly. This scared me to death as a child, and I still
can't bear the sight of an untuned screen. Funny how these things just pop back
into your head!"
Naturally, I’d be grateful for any further information!