PURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

What do you find in a werewolf's purse?
Change of course!

FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE WALL

I image Frankenstein castle would have some remarkable framed family portraits on its walls.

How amazingly amazing a gallery would be filled with all the different faces of all the variety of creature that ever stomped about its grounds.  Here's two,  almost polar different in their Frankensteiness. 

RIP Christopher Lee

Learnt this morning that the imposing and legendary actor that was Christopher Lee passed away Sunday June 7th.
The news of his death at the age of 93 wasn't officially announced  by his family until today the 12 of June.

I was actually catching a rerun of  SCARS OF DRACULA just a couple of days earlier and so as tribute to one of the screens greatest DRACULAs I scribbled up this hasty homage to one of horrors major players. ( I opted to keep that ridiculously fake looking bat out of my shot.)

In reading up on his background, achievements and screen career one of my favourite anecdotes was the one of him working with Peter jackson on Lord of the Rings trilogy .
while filming the death scene of his character Saruman in the RETURN OF THE KING    ( seen only in the extended version) Jackson had requested Christopher to scream when grim Wormtongue stabs him in the upper back, it was then that Christopher interrupted Peter jackson saying "Peter have you ever heard the sound a man makes when stabbed in the back?"
"Um no" says Peter to which Christopher replies "Well, I have, I know what to do"

As the lung is punctured the stabbed man would only be able to let out a groan as his last breath is exhaled.

The hushed crew never pushed him for further information regards the when and the why knowing that he'd served in the British Royal Air Force intelligence service during World War 2.


Another weird fact about Sir Christopher Lee is that he witnessed the execution of Eugen Weidmann who was the last person to be publicly executed in France in 1939

"Every actor has to make terrible films every now and again, the trick is not to be terrible in them"

HAMMER TIME!

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell was a very recent discovery for me and I must add a jolly fine find it was too! Its been a while since I had this much unadulterated fun watching an horror film
 and this turned out to a superb final offering of Frankenstein medical mayhem from Hammer studios.
Peter Cushing looking particularly grim and gaunt plays Dr.Victor Frankenstein hiding out in a crumbling gothic lunatic asylum . The sets were wonderful 70's horror fare and the story I found to nose along at a comfortable pace takings us on rounds to the inmate, to secretive burials and best of all to the mad scientist laboratory hidden behind a secret door.

The monster is nothing like you expect oddly reminiscent of a Neanderthal ape man but with a hankering to inflict injuries using broken glass,  he's more of a brute than a man - the monsters role was acted by Dave Prowse, the second time he had done so,  apparently in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell he could be masked, suited and all set ready in 30 minutes!  Aside from it being a basic costume and make-up combo the creature's usual  look might well be explained away by the continuation of Baron Victor Frankensteins story from Evil of Frankenstein where his hands were rendered unfeeling due to fire damage so unable to put the creature together himself here in this movie we find him initially assisted by Angel,  mute girl who handled the sewing up duties.

I remember an article in a back issue of Rue Morgue magazine where they mention that during one of the gory surgery scenes where they remove the top of a ''donors" cranium to expose the brain, the effects department placed a real sheep's brain into a prop body ready for filming. Unfortunately  it was left  on set longer than expected so when the cameras finally rolled and the top of the head was removed a unnecessarily nasty stink was also released - the natural reaction can be seen on his assistants face but Peter the consummate professional plays out the scenes without missing a beat!

Frankie says...go to hell!