Fillum Review - "Juggernaut" (1974)

You know, to a lot of people these days, terrorism wasn't invented until September the 11th 2001, but, with like most Americanism, its completely incorrect.
People in the British isles had been enjoying the benefits of terrorism since the 1960s in one form or another, usually due to Irish nationalists thinking it was Ok to set off bombs in public areas so that they could somehow garner sympathy and/or fear, which would eventually lead to a united Ireland...then their loyalist counterparts would do the same to them....er, didn't work did it?.

So, what does this have to do with 1974s "Juggernaut"? (also known as "Terror on the Britannic").. not much really, although the first half of the film is spent blaming Irish nationalists for the fact that DIRTY HUGE GREAT BOMBS!!!!! have been planted on a British luxury cruise liner.....

The film stars an impressive (for the time it was made) ensemble cast, with Omar Sharif, Richard Harris, Freddie Jones, Roy Kinnear, Julian Glover, Cyril Cusack, a young looking Ian Holm and a very young looking Anthony Hopkins all playing major parts, the film also stars John Bindon in one of his typecast roles as a "heavy" (Bindon would later go on to narrowly escape being jailed for murder, and eventually died of an AIDs related illness), and a very young looking Simon MacCorkindale in a minor role as one of the ships crew.

Storywise, the film follows an "A-plot/B-plot" style, both of which intertwine somewhere in the middle...

A-Plot
Nicholas Porter (Ian Holm), the owner of a successful British Cruise liner company, receives a telephone call from a man with an Irish accent. The man, who insists on being referred to by the code name "Juggernaut", informs him that the companies premier cruise liner, the SS Britannic, has had several bombs placed on it, all of them wired to detonate while the ship is in the mid Atlantic, which is about 24 hours from now. Juggernaut demands £500,000 in cash to be left in two suitcases at a railway stations lost property office. Once he receives the money, he will give instructions on how the bombs can be safely defused. To show he means business, two smaller bombs are detonated in the vicinity of the ships bridge, causing minor injury to some of the ships bridge crew.
Porter is horrified as his wife and son are aboard the Britannic, however his attempts to peacefully resolve the problem by simply paying up are thwarted by the involvement of government anti terrorism authorities, who state that if he pays up, his government subsidy will be withdrawn, thus leaving the company an unprofitable one.
It is decided that as a full evacuation of the ships crew and passengers is not a viable option due to its remote location, a team of Royal Navy bomb disposal experts will be air dropped on to the Britannic in an attempt to defuse the bombs, whilst Superintendent McLeod (Anthony Hopkins) of Scotland Yard will investigate and hopefully arrest "Juggernaut".

B-Plot
The Royal Navy bomb disposal team arrives on board the Britannic, where the crew are struggling to maintain morale amongst both themselves and the passengers (Roy Kinnear really shines here as the ships entertainments officer, maintaining the facade of cheery optimism despite the fact that he, like everyone else on the Britannic, is terrified).
The first attempt to defuse one of the bombs, all of which are housed in oil drums and placed at strategic points below the water line, goes horribly wrong as Porters son wanders into the area where the bomb is and gets locked in. The resulting explosion caused by the remote bomb disposal robot triggering a trembler switch causes the death of one of the ships stewards who was looking for the boy and got trapped with him. The bomb disposal team changes tactics, Fallon (Richard Harris) allocates one member of his team to each bomb, he will begin trying to disarm the one he is at, with the remainder of the team following his actions, if he fucks up, then the next member continues on a different track until they have all been disarmed.
Another accident sets off a bomb when one of the team goes ahead and does something which Fallon had said he was going to do but didn't,resulting in another death and cutting the teams safety margin down. Fallon eventually finds that the path he has been following is in fact a wild goose chase, made up of a number of booby trapped puzzles which ultimately result in him finding a rude message hidden inside the bomb, however this reminds him of an incident during world war 2 where a German bomb maker did exactly the same thing, this piece of evidence allows McLeod to narrow down the list of suspects and eventually find and arrest "Juggernaut".
Realising the bombs have been made in a similar vein to the WW2 bomb, he manages to find the real detonator and, with a little help from the now captured "Juggernaut", figures out how the bombs are to be defused.



This film is very much one of its time, released during a period of near constant bomb threats in the UK due to domestic terrorism of one sort or another, the feeling of helplessness in the face of this is really well put across, especially by Roy Kinnears character.
The film is let down by the fact that although the Britannic is described as being a luxury cruise liner, it has that distinct 70s "cross channel ferry" feel to it, and all of the scenes of it at sea were shot in the appalling weather conditions as found in the North sea, this was due to the script requirements needing to show that an evacuation of the vessel was impossible due to poor weather conditions etc.

Nonetheless, "Juggernaut" works as a good example of a 70s/80s "Thriller" type film, everyone involved plays their roles really well, although Omar Sharif seems wasted in his role as the Captain of the Britannic.

Still, well worth a watch.

Pilot erroR - Roddenberrys Fails...

TV Writer/Producer Gene Roddenberry is best known as the man who created Star Trek, which, although initially not thought of too highly, went on to become one of the most successful sci-fi franchises of all time.

Star Trek was not Roddenberrys only attempt at creating a Sci-Fi universe though, and during the 1970s he had many ideas for other TV shows, most of which were given the go ahead for a pilot to be filmed....Unfortunately, it is difficult to beleive that the creator of Star Treks subsequent TV projects all ended in failure, as all of them failed to recapture the recognition that Star Trek had garnered for itself, and thus, most of them ended up being put down as mere footnotes in TV history.
It wasn't until the 1990s that any of Roddenberrys ideas hit the small screen again, and then only airing after his death in 1991.

Genesis II (CBS 1973)
Its a bit like -  Buck Rogers in the 24th Century, Stargate SG-1

Premise -
In 1979, scientist Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord ) volunteers to be the first human to undergo an experimental suspended animation procedure, intended to be used for deep space flights at some point in the future.
He is successfully placed in stasis, however rather than being asleep for a mere 7 days, he instead awakens to find it is the year 2133, and the Earth as he knew it has ceased to exist following a global nuclear war.

Plot of Pilot -
Following his awakening, Dylan finds himself amongst a community of people who call themselves "Pax", who are the descendants of scientific personnel that managed to escape the war by hiding in underground bunkers. The people of Pax tell Dylan that they dedicate their lives to rediscovering the knowledge of the past and using it for peaceful exploratory purposes.
The people of Pax are strange to Hunt, as they live in a true meritocracy with full equality between males and females, to the point at which there are literally no distinctions between them (this is referred to in the show as "unisex"). This has led to a decreased birth rate amongst them, however some of the older members of the society note that the younger members have begun returning to "the old ways" (that is, to pursue heterosexual relationships and begin reproduction via sexual means).
Hunt is persuaded by Lyra-A, a woman who comes from an area which was formerly known as Phoenix, Arizona (The people of Pax are said to occasionally allow "outsiders" to enter their society, provided that they adhere to Pax's strict laws regarding non-violence), to leave Pax and travel with her via sub-shuttle, a series of underground high speed trains constructed in the 1970s to counter air terrorism, back to her homeland to repair their failing nuclear fission reactor, as none of her people know how to fix it, but do know that if it breaks down completely, it will cause a disaster. Lyra-A explains that her people, the Tyranians, pleaded with Pax to assist them, as Pax is the only place that has the right knowledge to fix it, but they refused, Lyra then lies to Hunt and tells him that the people of Pax are tyrants who want to conquer the world using their advanced science and knowledge of ancient weapons.
Dylan fixes the reactor, but is then horrified to learn that the rulers of Tyrania intend to use the power generated from it to reactivate and launch several ICBMs they have in their posession. Hunt manages to escape and sabotages the reactor so it explodes before the mutants can begin attacking their enemies, but the ruling council of Pax, whom he returns to once he has learned the error of his ways, explain that they knew that the Tyranians had access to the weapons, and they knew that should their reactor be fixed, they would immediately begin attacking people, thus setting in motion another war which would finally kill everyone on Earth. Knowing that Hunt was unaware of this, and had been tricked, they make him promise to never again use his knowledge of science or the past to harm another life form, to which he agrees. Hunt is then assigned to an exploration team and begins his new life rediscovering the reborn Earth.

Why did it fail?
This project failed quite simply because the TV people didn't like it, both because they found the storyline to be uninteresting, and because the series special effects budget would have been quite high.
The premise of this series is similar to Star Trek in many ways, as each week we would have seen Dylans exploration team visit a different region of Earth and interact with any people they found there. Roddenberry had already created several draft ideas for episodes when he submitted his original idea for consideration, but many of the plots were pretty much samey-wamey with the only variations being that each "new" people that the team met would be similar to but different from civilisations we are already familiar with.

Although I quite liked Genesis II, It didnt really have enough entertainment factor for it to be considered for a full series. The limitation placed on it by having Pax be a totally pacifist society would seriously hamper the chances of any action scenes, and, like Star Trek Voyager ended up being, most of the series' "drama" would come from long scientific and/or philosophical discussions between the main cast members, something which 1970s television wasn't really interested in.

Overall - 5/10


Planet Earth (ABC 1974)
Its a bit like -  Genesis II, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek

Premise -
In the year 2133, the people of Pax, one of the few cities to have survived world war 3, send out teams of explorers to make peaceful contact with other surviving communities so they can rebuild and reacquire scientific knowledge. One of these teams is led by Dylan Hunt, a man who was revived by Pax after being placed in stasis in the late 20th century, the series follows their adventures in the post apocalyptic Earth.

Plot of pilot -
Dylan Hunt (now played by John Saxon ) leads his team into the wilderness in search of a missing doctor, whom they need to perform a very delicate operation on a high ranking member of Paxs ruling council, who was injured during a conflict with the Kreegs, a race of warlike mutant humans descended from the military survivors of the war.
They find the trail leads to a small country which calls itself "The Confederacy of Ruth", a society which has adopted a matriarchal model and where men are treated as little more than beasts of burden.
Two members of Dylans team, The former savage Isiah (Ted Cassidy), and field medic Baylock go missing while attempting to make contact with the people of the Confederacy, so, Dylan and his remaining team member, the woman Harper-Smythe, infiltrate the settlement by masquerading as a woman with her male property looking to leave Pax and settle in Ruth.
The pair run in to Marg, one of the rulers of the Confederacy, who challenges Harper-Smythe to a fight and wins, thus taking possession of Hunt.
Hunt is placed into a slave pen, where all the males, referred to by the women as "Dinks", are kept prior too being sold to other mistresses. Hunt finds Isiah and Baylock, but they seem to be drugged in some fashion, being absolutely terrified whenever he tries to speak to them, it is only by way of using Baylocks latent telepathic ability that he finds that the food the men are given is drugged with something that induces terror in the men, this way Hunt manages to avoid eating any of the drugged food he is later served, and manages to fool the mistresses into thinking he has been "trained".
Marg decides to keep Hunt for use as breeding stock, as for several year snow, the Confederacy of Ruth has suffered from a decline in the number of pregnancies, as more and more of the men they have there become sterile for some unknown reason, Hunt notices that one of Margs slaves is the man they are looking for, and finds out from him that the reason the men are becoming sterile is because of the drug they are given to keep them docile, but, he has found an antidote for it but has as yet had no opportunity to be able to distribute it amongst the men.
Hunt tricks Marg into getting drunk and passing out while she is attempting to seduce him, having led her to believe that back in Pax, he has several wives and has fathered over a dozen children. Hunt then assists in putting the antidote into the food intended for the men, so that all the men are no longer in a permanent state of terror.
Meanwhile, Harper-Smythe has managed to ingratiate herself into Confederate society, and wins Hunt back after challenging Marg to a duel. Hunt explains what he has learned and they agree to organise a mass break out the next day, however it doesnt go according to plan as the Confederacy comes under attack by a group of marauding Kreegs, who decided to pick on the town because they knew that the men wouldn't fight back, and the women were too few in number to effect any resistance.
By the time they launch their attack though, all of the towns men have received the antidote, and much to the Kreegs surprise, they find themselves being attacked by the towns men, while most of the women stand back surprised as they never thought the men would fight for them, seeing them only as being savages fit only for work or breeding.
The Kreegs are successfully repelled, Hunt manages to get the doctor back to Pax, where he carries out the surgery, and the men of the Confederacy decide to stay and continue their lives, but this time free from being drugged or abused.

Why did it Fail?
Roddenberry, still smarting from being told that "Genesis II" was boring, reworked one of his draft scripts, titled "Poodle Parlour", into this show, adding on more action oriented scenes and even including the Klingon-like Kreegs to act as an enemy for Dylan and his team.
Unfortunately though this change did little to increase the shows charm. Dylan Hunt was changed from being an "action-scientist" to being "budget Captain Kirk", and the remainder of his team were of little significance, except maybe Isiah, who did get a little bit of backstory thrown in in the opening scenes to explain why he, a "savage" was welcome amongst the people of Pax.
At the time the show aired, the "Womens Liberation" movement was quite vocal in their campaign for gender equality in the western world, and many viewers sort of objected to womens depiction on screen as being little more than ignorant tyrants who treated men as indentured slaves. Hunts famous line "Is this womens lib?, or womens lib gone mad?", which was seen by many as being an insult to women and supporters of gender equality, while some pointed out that the Kreegs spoke and acted in a way that seemed to mimic a stereotypical "African savage", as the Kreegs would speak in a series of gutteral grunts and were completely obsessed with destruction.
Another factor in its downfall was again, a high budget required for special effects and makeup appliances, as actors playing the Kreegs would all require to have bony headpieces applied and their skin darkened.
All in all though, the show wasn't too bad, but would never have really worked as a TV series for the same reason that its earlier incarnation, Genesis II, wouldn't have worked, but it was better than Genesis II insofar as it is actually entertaining to watch in places, and not scene after scene of science bits and philosophical dilemmas and so on. 
Overall - 7/10

 Strange New World (Warner Brothers TV - 1975)

Premise -
In the late 20th century, a scientific organisation named "Pax" launches a space station into orbit, its purpose, to test a suspended animation process by placing 3 people into stasis for 18 days.
3 days into the mission, Pax observers spot a swarm of meteors heading directly for Earth, so they move the space station into a deeper orbit, lasting 180 years, and extend the stasis period to cover that time. The meteors impact the planet, causing the worst natural disaster to ever occur during human history, however, some people, including the families of the three people in space, are placed into stasis in Paxs underground bunker, to await the return of the three space travellers.



Plot of Pilot -
Astronaut Anthony Vico (John Saxon), together with navigator/communications officer Alison Crowley and medical Doctor William Scott are revived and informed as to what has happened while they have been in stasis. They are given the instructions to return to Earth and make their way to the Pax headquarters to revive the survivors, if any, that they find there.
The disaster has left Earth a changed planet, completely wiping out all civilisations and countries that occupied it previously, and leaving only a handful of survivors.
After landing, the three travellers begin their journey using an advanced 6 wheeled all terrain vehicle, and come across a society of people who model themselves somewhat on ancient Rome, who also claim to have discovered the secret of eternal youth. They are however, much more sinister as they have perfected cloning, thus allowing them to replace organs at will, not only that, but they also use their own clones as slave labour.
The next people they meet on their travels are people descended from zookeepers, who now worship and protect the animals their ancestors watched over from tribes of marauding humans who hunt animals for food and sport.

Why did it fail?
Of the three "Pax Trilogy" pilots, this was the only one which Gene Roddenberry had no direct involvement in creating. Warner Brothers, who now owned the "Pax" series concept, decided to give it one last go and completely reworked the format, keeping very little from the original premise.
What remained, and what eventually aired was a poorly conceived "adventure" type show in which the team of "heroes" searched for the "lost" Pax HQ, encountering a new adversary each week, pretty similar to any number of other shows that were on at the time.
The production itself was riddled with cheapo special effects, poor acting, terrible dialogue and flimsy formulaic plots which were neither interesting nor entertaining to watch.

Its a shame that a solid concept as this ended up as a simple run of the mill TV show full of cliches, bargain basement effects and boring plots. After this show aired, the Pax concept was discarded completely by Roddenberry as "unworkable", although many people have noted that the subsequent "Logans Run" TV series did indeed have many similarities to "Strange New World".
Overall - 3/10

The Questor Tapes (NBC 1974)

Premise -
Dr. Vaslovik had a dream to build the worlds first super realistic android, however, just as his dream was reaching fruition, he disappeared without trace.
His team complete the assembly of the android, however their inability to understand the robots programming causes them to erase most of the data left behind on a series of program tapes.
They try and activate the robot using a substitute program they wrote themselves, but are unsuccessful, so in a last ditch attempt to get it working, they input the remains of the original tape, which again appears to fail, causing them to abandon the project.
However, when the android is left alone, it suddenly activates, and, after making cosmetic changes to itself so that it can pass for human, it begins to wonder what its purpose is.

Plot of pilot -
Questor, as the android names itself, has fragmented memories of what it is supposed to do, left over from its original programming. It knows it must find Dr. Vaslovik, and that his location has something to do with a boat. The problem is that Questors nuclear power source, located in his stomach, will explode within a week if he is not reunited with his creator.
Questors investigations eventually lead him to mount Ararat, where he is reunited with Vaslovik, who reveals himself to be another android, one of many in a line left behind by "The Masters" to act as a guardian of mankind. Each android has a lifespan measured in centuries, and at the end of its lifetime, it must build a replacement and "pass on the torch" of responsibility, as it were. Questor takes on the mantle and begins his quest to help mankind move towards a peaceful existence.

Why did it fail?
Oddly, "The Questor Tapes" was actually greenlit for a full series before the pilot had even aired on TV, however, the series never happened, simply because NBC demanded numerous changes be made to the shows format, and then further causing insult by saying that the show was scheduled to air on friday nights at 10pm, a time slot which is considered to be a "death slot" for any TV program put in it (the 3rd series of Star Trek was placed in this time slot, and suffered horribly because of it).Roddenberry refused to make any of the changed demanded by the networks and after the timeslot was announced, he quit the production. Without him at the helm, the series fell through.
Although the premise itself was sound, the formula of having an "outsider" shepard mankind towards its destiny had already been tried out in the backdoor pilot episode of Star Trek named "Assignment: Earth" and had similarities to Doctor Who.

Overall - 6/10

Spectre (1977)

Premise -
William Sebastian is a Criminologist who during one of his cases ends up being cursed by the demon Asmodeus. The result of this curse is that he requires constant medical attention. Lucklily, Sebastians friend Dr. Hamilton is on hand to provide him with medical assistance whenever he needs it, thus leaving Sebastian free to continue solving cases related to the occult in the hopes that he will find a cure for the curse.

Plot of pilot -
While investigating a case on behalf of the Cyon family, Sebastian is attacked by a succubus, whom he defeats. This leads him to further investigate the family in their ancestral home in London.
Every step of the way, Sebastian and Hamilton are beseeched by supernatural entities who commit several murders in order to stop anyone investigating the family.
The pair eventually find a hidden temple dedicated to the demon Asmodeus and defeat him, thus removing Sebastians curse.

Why did it fail?
At the time the pilot was proposed, occult detective fiction was quite popular, however, due to this, numerous other pitches were made in a similar vein, many of which never made it into production.
By the time the filming of a pilot had been greenlit, it was already obvious that the pilot wouldnt be picked up for series, so instead the script was reworked into a standalone film, with the hopes that maybe it would become a series. Although the finished film was released at cinemas, it didnt do too well, being as that the main characters were basically Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in everything but name, and the story was bland and uninteresting, having pretty much been done to death before.
One item of note is that the UK theatrical release of the film featured a "black mass" scene at the end of the film, which included full frontal nudity, this section of the film was edited out for US release.

Overall - 5/10



 

Dystopiarama - Zardoz (1974)

Zardoz, the 1974 sci-fi/fantasy film is another strange entry in this sub category, but again nonetheless, it depicts a bizarre future time period.

The film actually stars people I have heard of, in the form of Sean Connery (who spends the entire film wearing, as he himself stated was "a red nappy, thigh length boots, a pony tail and a zapata moustache") Charlotte Rampling and John Alderton (cast against "type" in the role of a bizarre and effeminate man) , and it makes good use of these stars while the surreal and sometimes disturbing storyline plays out.

In the future of 2293 AD, the Earth has been reduced to an almost medieval landscape (it is never really explained why, although it is hinted that there was some sort of global war) with tribes of "Brutals" living in the remains of the former world. One tribe of these people, called "the Exterminators" are favoured by the god Zardoz, who appears as a giant floating stone head and demands that the exterminators kill brutals in order to stop them from repopulating the earth as they once did. In return for killing people, and providing Zardoz with grain, the exterminators receive weapons and ammunition.
One of the Exterminators, named Zed, stows away in one of the grain shipments and rides the stone head back to its point of origin, where en route, he accidentally kills a rather strange man who calls himself "Arthur Frayn".
When the head lands, Zed finds himself in a surreal world occupied by people who refer to themselves as "Eternals", humans with highly developed mental powers, who live in a society of total democracy and equality, who devote their eternal lifespans to developing and maintaining human knowledge under the custodianship of a being referred to as "The Tabernacle".
Zed quickly finds that not is all it seems amongst these people, as their supposedly perfect society is just as fraught with infighting as it is in the outside world, with a group of staunch conservatives seeking to maintain the status quo of their society, and other smaller groups seeking to make changes, such as actually allowing people to die, or allowing them to explore the outside world and learn of any changes that have occurred while they have been locked away in "The vortex" (there are actually several vortexes, all of which are areas which are kept shielded from the outside world by an invisible and impenetrable force field)

During his time amongst the immortals, Zed learns much about both them and himself, including that his being there was part of a long term plan to liberate the Eternals from their never ending state of boredom and stagnation, having reached the limits of their capabilities long ago and being unable to progress further due to the dictats of the Tabernacle.

Zardoz is a wonderfully surreal film, the likes of which we will never see again. Its bizarre blend of science fiction and fantasy is skillfully used to tell a story which, in essence is about living life itself and coping with and accepting change.
The surreal imagery and hippy leanings of the Eternals contrast wonderfully with Zeds harsh upbringing and lifestyle, with his simple thoughts belying his hidden intelligence.


A definite watch id say!

Amicus Horror Anthologies - From Beyond The Grave (1974)

During the 60s and 70s, British film makers Amicus productions made a series of films containing several short horror stories, linked by a framing story.
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.

From Beyond the Grave was the penultimate film in this series, which was release din late 1974.

Framing Story
"Temptations Ltd" is a poky little backstreet curiosity shop in which the owner, Peter Cushing ,claims to make customers "Offers they cannot resist"..... 

Story #1 "The Gatecrasher"
Eddie Charlton (David Warner ) enters the shop and spies an antique mirror that tickles his fancy. The owner says the price for it is £250, but Eddie lies and says that he is an antiques dealer and can recognise a modern reproduction when he sees one, and offers £25, which the owner reluctantly accepts.
Eddie hangs the new mirror in pride of place in his home, and loudly boasts to his friends about swindling the old man. One of his friends suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour, and the should hold a seance, which Eddie says ia a marvellous idea.
During the seance, a couple of weird things happen, like the candle on the table begins shooting out a long blue flame, but nothing really horrible happens, except to Eddie, who experiences a vision of a bearded man wearing very old style clothing attacking him with a knife in a wood, Eddie comes round screaming as the lights are switched on.
That night, while Eddie is alone, a ghostly voice calls him to the mirror, and when he looks into it, a face appears and demands that he feed it, entranced, Eddie goes out and hires a prostitute, who he brings back to his flat. As she is having a drink, the mirror commands him to kill her, which he does.
Eddie wakes up with a start, thinking it was all just a dream, but then he finds that his clothes and the sofa are covered in blood.
The following night, the mirror demands to be fed again, Eddie tries to refuse, but the mirror uses its power to try and compel him to kill one of his friends, he refuses to do this and silently agrees to kill someone else. He asks it how many more it wants dead, and it simply answers that it will keep asking until it is "fulfilled".
Eddie picks up a woman in a bar and kills her in front of the mirror, he demands to know why the mirror wants him to kill, and it tells him that long ago he gave his sacrifices, and now it is his turn to give his. Eddie wakes up again and finds himself covered in blood, but this time he is looking very ill. as the mirror is telling him it will soon be time for him to stop the killing, he smashes it. His telephone rings and his frind asks him if he is ok, he says he is, but then when he looks up, he sees that the mirror has repaired itself, and it demands that he kill his friend again, this time, Eddie is in no shape to resist, so he invites her over.
When she comes, Eddie refuses to answer the door, but the mirror commands him to, he tries to refuse, as he likes this girl, so the mirror tells him to find someone else for him. Eddie tells her to go home.
Downstairs, Eddies neighbour, Mr. Jefferies, is reading a bedtime story to his cat when blood starts dripping from the ceiling. He goes upstairs and complains about the noise and the mess Eddie has been making over the past few days, but Eddie slams the door in his face and checks the bodies he has hidden under the floorboards. Mr. Jefferies hammers on the door so Eddie lets him in, then kills him.
The ghost in the mirror manifests itself in physical form, and explain that now it has been fed enough, but one more sacrifice must be made so he can be truly free to join the other immortals. He takes Eddies knife, and asks him to throw himself on it, which Eddie does without hesitation, killing himself in the process.

Years pass and the mirror sits on the wall while the flat has many different tenants, until one day, a young couple are having a party, and one young woman suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour and that they should hold a seance, the male host says that is a marvellous idea, and a seance is held, during which, Eddies ghostly face appears in the mirror.....

The owner of the shop shakes his head as he watches Eddie walk away with his new mirror, while outside, a shifty looking man hangs around in the street as though he is waiting for something.
Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen ) walks up and starts looking at some medals the owner has on display, which causes the shifty man to walk off....

Story #2 "An act of Kindness"
Christopher Lowe is a boring man with a boring life. He is stuck in a middle management admin job that he hates, and his wife (Diana Dors ) is constantly nagging at him and belittling him in front of their young son, who also gives him no respect. One day while on his way home from work, he buys a pair of shoelaces from a peddler (Donald Pleasence ) after seeing him displaying a sign saying he is an ex-serviceman who fought in World War 2. Over dinner, his wife gives him a taste of her sharp tongue, saying that when she first met him he was a Sergeant in the army pay corps with a soft job and a civilian future, but now he is a boring little man with a crap job who doesnt earn much money. This causes Lowe to storm out childishly.
The next day, he strikes up a conversation with the peddler, and lies and tells him he was an officer in an infantry regiment, he even goes back to Temptations ltd and steals a distinguished service cross in order to impress the peddler, when the owner notices the medal missing, he simply tuts and says "naughty naughty!" The peddler, being suitably impressed, invites him to his home for a meal and a chat, which he happily accepts just so he can get away from his wife for a while.
At the peddlers home, he introduces himself as "Jim" and his daughter as "Emily" (played by Pleasences real life daughter Angela), and they sit down to have a nice, but somewhat awkward chat, where Emily recites passages from books she has memorised, albeit some rather strange and out of context passages of no relevance to the conversation.
Weeks pass, and Lowe spends more and more time round at Jims house, lying and saying he is working overtime whenever she asks where he has got to. He gives Emily a gift of a fake gold watch, which pleases her immensely, and admits that he is unhappy with his wife, as she spends most of her time playing bingo and gossiping with her friends instead of doing her wifely duties.
some time later, Emily appears in Lowe and his wifes bedroom as they are sleeping, and, while wearing a black veil, she produces a knife and makes as though she is going to stab the wife, but she wakes up screaming and says she has had  abad dream, Emily is nowhere to be seen.
Lowe is having dinner with Jim and emily one night when Jim apologises and says he must leave early as he is meeting up with some old friends for a drink, and that Emily should be more than able to entertain him. Lowe is happy at this news as he has secretly fallen for Emilys rather strange beauty and creepy charms. As he eats the meal she has prepared for him, Emily walks around the flat, singing a very strange and discordant song, when he enquires about the song, she begins telling him he is a lonely man, and that his wife is not a wife to him, and that she wishes to serve him, and will do anything he commands her to.
Lowe wakes up in bed after having sex with Emily, he quickly dresses and follows her through to the lounge, where she lights a candle and produces a wax effigy of his wife, made using hair clippings and blood she had secretly gathered from his wife. She holds a knife to the effigies throat and asks Lowe if he wants her to finish it, when he refuses, she explains that every day they are still married his life will become more miserable, as she will not improve with age. Thinking its all just a bit of a game, he orders her to do whatever she wants, so she stabs the figure, causing blood to drip from the figures mouth.
Lowe is horrified and rushes home, to find that his wife is indeed dead, stabbed in the throat by a woman dressed in black. The doorbell rings, and Jim and Emily enter uninvited dressed in wedding garments, Jim salutes Lowe, and a wedding march begins playing.
Emily and Lowe marry, and on their wedding day, they celebrate with champagne, Lowe tells Emily to cut the wedding cake, and she asks if that is an order, to which he jokingly says, yes, she then asks Jim and Lowes son if they order it too, and they both say yes, so she takes a knife, but instead of cutting the cake, she chops down on the groom effigies head. Lowe collapses on to the table, blood gushing from a severe and fatal head wound.
Jim then says to Lowes son that they always answer childrens prayers, in one way or another....

The shop owner stands looking out of his shop window, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside. The shifty man makes to enter the shop, but turns away as Reggie Warren comes walking down the street and enters the shop.

Story #3 "The Elemental"
Reggie Warren is a somewhat pompous businessman, when he enters the shop and finds it seemingly deserted, he opens one of the cabinets and looks at an antique silver snuff box, quickly replacing it when he sees the price tag of £40. He looks at another that has a price tag of £5, and quickly swaps the two tags over. the shop owner appears and asks if he can help him, to which Warren replies that he is looking for a snuff box, and he has his eye on one in particular (the £40 one). The owner gets the box out of the cabinet and checks the price, which now says £5, so warren agrees to buy it, even managing to get the owner to drop the price to £4. Pleased with his purchase, Warren bids the shop owner good day, and the shop owner says he hopes Warren enjoys snuffing it.
On the train home, Warren is set about by a dotty old woman who tells him he has a nasty looking elemental sat on his shoulder, this particular one is unusual because although it is sexually frustrated and greedy like most elementals, this one is willing to kill to get what it wants. Warren doesnt believe such rubbish, but the woman, who introduces herself as Madam Orloff, "Clarvoyant Extrraordinaire!", insists that he takes her card, as he will more than likely have need of her services soon.
At home, Warren notices that all of a sudden his dog becomes hostile towards him, and, while talking with his wife, she suddenly shouts at him for hitting her, even though he was nowhere near her.
that night in bed, his wife complains that he is holding her hand too tight, and that he needs to cut his nails, even though he isnt touching her, she then begins to choke, as though something is strangling her, which she assumes was him.
Realising they have a serious problem, Warren calls Madam Orloff, and she comes straight away.
Seeing that the elemental has grown, and intends to take over Warrens body, Madam Orloff says they will need to exorsize the beast immediately, so, to wit, she gets Warren to sit in a chair and begins chanting various ridiculous verses, which she says may seem unusual but they help her to focus her psychic powers.
As the exorsism goes on, the house erupts into chaos, with winds randomly blowing through the doors and windows and things moving and exploding all around them. Mid way through the exorsism, Madam Orloff requests a glass of whisky, and while his wife fetches it, she gives him a warning that his wife is the sort of person who will attract evil spirits like a magnet. The exorsism is eventually successful and the elemental leaves Warrens body, so madam Orloff leaves after being in the house for less than 10 minutes and demanding an enormous fee for it, but nontheless Warren says he feels much better.
After tidying the house up, and the dog returning to them, Warren and his wife settle down for a celebratory drink, but are disturbed by an ominous banging sound from upstairs, which puts the willies up both of them.
As he goes to investigate the sounds, a strange wind knocks Reggie down the stairs, causing him to black out.
When he comes to, he finds his wife standing over him glaring, he asks if she is alright, and she says, in a deep and other worldly sounding voice that he "denied her life", before she beats him to death with the fire poker and then leaves the house laughing.

The shop owner lights his pipe, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside, this time, the man is looking extra fidgety, and fiddles with an iron bar that he has tucked up his sleeve. As he crosses the road to enter the shop, he bumps into Will Seaton (Ian Ogilvy ) as he too makes his way into the shop. The shifty man quickly runs away....

Story #4 "The Door"
Will tells the shop owner he has his eye on an antique door that he has in, and the owner explains that it is a very old antique that he rescued form an old house that was being demolished. He tells him the price for the door is £50, but Will says all he can afford is £40, the shop owner agrees to sell it him and takes his name and address, before putting the money in the till, which he leaves open, displaying that it is full of cash, while he goes through the back to get Bill a receipt. As Will leaves the store, The owner begins to slowly count the money in the till.
The door is delivered to Wills house, where he tells his wife he intends to redecorate his study and replace the door to the stationary cupboard with the antique one he bought, his wife wonders what such a grand old thing would have been the door to, which she eventually speculates that it was a big old fashioned room, which was all painted blue.
The door is put in place, and while admiring it, Will notices that the door appears to have blood stains on it, but it soon comes off when he cleans it.
That night, Will feels the sudden urge to walk up and open the door, which when he does, is surprised to see that instead of being his stationary cupboard beyond it, there is a grand old fashioned blue room.
He enters and explores the room, finding firstly a painting on the wall depicting a man wearing what appears to be a civil war era cavalier costume, and secondly what appears to be a large leather bound journal of some kind. He is about to read from the book, when he is scared off by the sound of approaching footsteps from one of the rooms internal doors. He leaves quickly and slams the door behind him, but then when he reopens it, he finds his stationary cupboard has reappeared.
His wife says he is mad when he tells her about it, but that night while Will is working, the door opens by itself, once again leading to the blue room, this time, he makes straight for the book and begins reading.
The book is entitled "An experiment in darkness" by "Sir Michael Sinclair".
From reading the book, Will finds that the room was created using evil magic by Sir Michael Sinclair in 1683, a time when if anyone of the lower classes was caught using or even speaking about magic, they would be burned at the stake for witchcraft, but he, as a nobleman and friend of the king, was immune to such punishment. The book goes on to explain that the room, and thus Sinclair himself, will exist forever, so long as the spell which keeps the room in existence is maintained by offering a blood sacrifice every so often to the door, which Sinclair prefers to be a woman, as their life essence is more potent.
Will flees when he hears Sinclair approach, but runs into his wife, who has come to see what is going on. Sinclair himself emerges from the doorway and grabs the woman, challenging Will to follow him, as "two souls are better than one". Will grabs an axe and begins smashing the door with it, each stroke causing Sinclair pain and the room to be damaged in some way. When Sinclair appears incapacitated, Will rushes in to rescue his wife, but Sinclair stops him and wrestles him to the ground. Will tells his wife to use the axe to break the door, which she does, eventually causing Sinclair himself to collapse. Will grabs the axe and smashes the door off its hinges, which causes the room beyond to totally collapse, and Sinclair to rot away to dust.

At the shop, the owner finishes counting the money in the till, and is happy that Will didnt steal any after all.
The shifty man finally enters the shop, closing the door queity as he does, and he finds the owner loading a pair of flintlock pistols with live ammunition. The owner asks him to hold one of the pistols while he loads the other, but once it is loaded, the shifty man grabs it and demands the owner hand over all of his money. The owner refuses to co operate and begins advancing on the would be robber meanacingly, so he opens fire, but none of his shots cause the owner any harm. Backing off in terror, the shifty man falls into an iron maiden which closes in on top of him. the shop owner then sits down on top of it and calmly lights his pipe and says 2the love of money is the root of all evil". The shop door opens, and the owner welcomes the new customers, saying that he has something for everyone, but, theres a free novelty surprise with every purchase........



  

Amicus Horror Anthologies - Vault Of Horror (1973)

During the 60s and 70s, British film makers Amicus productions made a series of films containing several short horror stories, linked by a framing story.
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.

The sixth of these films was 1974's "Vault of Horror", which contained a mix of stories from the "Tales from the crypt" and "Vault of Horror" comics.

Framing Story
Five men meet as they descend in a lift ( Daniel Massey , Terry-Thomas , Curd Jurgens , Michael Craig and Tom Baker ), which they are expecting to take them to the ground floor, however something goes wrong and they find themselves deposited in one of the buildings sub basements. Finding the room they end up in to be well furnished with chairs and drink, they assume that it is some sort of gentleman's club and make themselves at home while they wait for assistance to arrive. They begin talking to pass the time, and eventually the conversation comes around to the subject of dreams, horrible ones in particular. One by one, the men recount their tales....

Story #1 "Midnight Mess"
 Harold Rodgers (Massey) has hired a shady private detective (Mike Pratt ) to find his sister Donna (played by Daniel Masseys real life sister Anna Massey ) . Upon handing over the information and demanding payment, the detective is killed by Rodgers.
Rodgers travels to meet with his sister, finding her living in an out of the way village, where as soon as he gets there, a local warns him to get inside as it will be dark soon. Rodgers ignores the friendly warning and goes to get something to eat in a local restaurant, which he finds almost deserted when he enters. He asks for the menu, but is told that the place is closing for the night, as "they come out in the dark".
Rodgers leaves in disgust and makes for his sisters address, she isnt pleased to see him but invites him in anyway. He explains that he has been searching for her for a long time, and says he just wants to see her. She says his intentions are nothing of the sort and all he is after is her money. He asks why she would hide away in a place like this where everyone is afraid of the dark, but she explains that thus far, 17 people have been found with all their blood drained from them. Donna asks once again for him to tell her his reasons for wanting to see her, and he explains that their father died four weeks ago and left everything to her in his will, and so long as she is alive, she is a rich woman. He then produces a knife and quickly kills her in a flurry of crazed stabs.
As he stands outside her house, laughing at his good fortune, he notices a group of people entering the restaurant that was closed only a few minutes ago, so, now hungrier than ever, he decides to try his luck there again, this time finding the place bustling with customers.
The waiter recommends the special of the day so he orders it, noticing that everyone around him seems to be enjoying their meals.
The waiter brings him an aperitif, which he believes is tomato juice, but he sends it back after not enjoying the taste, so he is presented with his soup course, which again he remarks to the waiter that its flavour is unusual. The waiter asks him how he would like his "roast clots", rare, medium or well done, he asks what the waiter means, and is told that he means roast blood clots. Rodgers suddenly realises that his "soup" is actually blood and tries to get up, but the waiter forces him to sit back down and pulls back a curtain which is hiding a large mirror. None of the restaurants customers or staff, except him, cast a reflection in it, because all the assembled people apart from himself are vampires.
Two of the vampires rush off to close the curtains and lock the doors, while the rest of them eye him up with evil grins on their faces, then Donna appears, holding the knife that only a few minutes earlier he had stabbed her to death with.
Rodgers cries out in fear off camera, and, after Donna has descended the stairs, two female vampires, now sporting fangs, talk about how "the fresh stuff" is much better than the "frozen stuff" as they sip blood from glasses. Donna asks for a glass too, and laughs as her brother is shown hanging upside down from a hook in the ceiling with a tap attached to his jugular vein from which the waiter fills the assembled grinning vampires glasses with fresh blood, literally "straight from the tap".

Rodgers says his dream is silly, but for some reason he has it all the time. When asked by Critchit if he really does have a sister, he looks at the floor and says a simple "no", before asking Critchit what his dreams are like....

Story #2 "The Neat Job"
Arthur Critchit (Thomas) is an obsessive neat freak. Over dinner with one of his friends, he announces that after amassing a large fortune with a good home filled with lots of stuff, he plans to marry, as he needs someone to keep house for him. The woman he marries is Eleanor, a much younger woman who, in spite of Critchits expectations, is very messy and inept.
His continual nagging and belittleing of her over the most inconsequencial matters of neatness causes some upset, and, she reveals to her friend, she only married him for his money.
The last straw for her occurs when Arthur comes home from work to find she has messed up his woodworking bench by emptying out all of his screws while looking for a nail to rehang a picture on the wall. He screams and nags at her, so, in response, she caves his skull in with a hammer.
Later, Eleanor explains to Arthur that she has done just as he asked, and "everything is in its place, and theres a place for everything" before bursting out laughing. The camera pulls back to show that she has dismembered his corpse and placed the various pieces into a series of neatly stacked and ordered jars.

Critchit explains to Moore (Baker) that he is no more neater than anyone else, but yet, his dream seems so real, Sebastian (Jurgens) says he knows the feeling...

Story #3 "This Trick'll Kill you!"
Sebastian and his wife are on holiday in India, while there they search for new tricks to use in Sebatstians day job as a magician. None of the tricks he sees performed by any of the street fakirs impresses him until he sees a woman using a flute to charm a piece of rope out of a basket so it stands solid and erect in the air, with no discernable way of holding it up there, he is even more astonished when she shimmys up it and hangs in mid air. He offers the woman a large sum of money if she will tell him how the trick works, but she refuses and says that there is no trickery involved, the rope itself is magic. He offers to buy the rope, but she refuses and says that the rope has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries.
Angry that the woman will not tell him her secrets, he hatches a plan to get them. He approaches the woman and says that he will pay her if she comes to their hotel room and shows his wife the magic, however when the woman comes, she performs the trick, and Sebastian stabs her.
Try as they might, neither Sebastian or his wife can figure out how the rope works, but when Sebastian plays a few notes on the flute, the rope begins to rise. His wife climbs the rope and finds that it is solid enough to take her weight, but then she screams and vanishes into thin air, and blood begins to drip from the ceiling just above where the rope hangs. Sebastian tries to run away, but the rope prevents his every effort to leave by whipping around the room, eventually, it coils around his neck and strangles him.
In the market, the fakir that Sebastian humiliated earlier performs his "magic basket" trick, while his assistant, the woman Sebastian killed earlier, plays her flute....

The other men sit in silence as Sebastian finishes his tale by saying that he doesnt believe in ghosts, as they are just illusions created by magicians.
Maitland (Craig) says that he too has a similar experience to share...

Story #4 "Bargain in Death"
Maitland and his friend Alex have hatched a plot where Maitland will fake his own death in order to claim the payout on his life insurance. The plan goes that he will take a drug which will make him appear dead, and then after he is buried, Alex will dig him up and they will both be rich. The plan goes swimmingly, until Alex decides to double cross Maitland and leave him buried in a coffin. Meanwhile, two medical students pay a grave robber to steal a fresh corpse for them to dissect. The grave robber digs up Maitlands grave, and as he cracks open the coffin, Maitland bursts out gasping for air, which causes the medical students to run out of the graveyard into the road, where they cause Alexs car to crash as he passes to bid a sarcastic farewell to his "friend". The grave robber, eager to get paid for his work, approaches the two students and demands payment, apologising for the damage to the bodies head, then Maitland is shown still lying in his coffin, albeit now with a massive and fatal head wound.

Critchit denounces the tale as preposterous, and when Moore questions it, he is told to tell his tale...

Story #5 "Drawn and Quartered"
 Moore (Baker) is a struggling artist living on the island of Haiti. Even though he produces a lot of work, he is told by his agent that his work is considered rubbish by one of Londons leading art critics. One day, one of Moores old friends turns up and during idle conversation reveals that Moores paintings, far from being worthless, are actually selling for large amounts of money back home.
Moor visits a witch doctor and asks if he can use Voodoo to get revenge on those who have wronged him, the witch doctor tells him to put the hand he paints with into his cooking pot. Moore sarcastically asks if he needs a little doll to stick pins into, but the witch doctor tells him he is an artist, so he doesnt need one, Moore pays the man but leaves thinking he has been ripped off.
Later, Moore does a sketch of a vase, which he messes up, as he tosses the paper in the bin, the vase breaks. He then makes a quick pencil sketch of a piece of bread, and when he rubs a corner off his drawing, a rat comes in and eats the corresponding corner of the bread. Finally, he makes a red mark on  the face of a self portrait he painted earlier, and is surprised when nothing happens, but later, after a restless sleep, he awakes and finds that his face now bears a wound in exactly the same place as he made the mark.
Borrowing money from his friend, he flies back to London, taking the self portrait along with him.
Setting up an art studio in the home he lived in before he moved to Haiti, he locks the picture of himself inside a safe, so no harm can come to him while he sets about his task.
He then confronts the three men who swindled him, his agent, an art critic and a publisher, none of whom apologise for what they have done, and laugh him out of the office.
He paints portraits of the three men, all looking smug, and then, adressing the pictures in turn, as though they were real people, he outlines his revenge.
For  Fenton the art critic, he states that because he saw his pictures and then lied about their value to the public, his punishment will be to never see another picture again, and he gouges out the pictures eyes...

....Fenton argues with his wife over whether he is having an affair or not, and more or less admits that he is, and intends to go on doing so, in response, his wife throws acid in his face, blinding him....

Gaskill, the art dealer, is told that because he used his hands to handle the paintings and sell them for a lot more than he had been told that they were worth, he will never handle anything again, and then he cuts the bottom of the picture, containing Gaskills hands, off...

....Gaskill belittles a young clerk who is having trouble using the guillotine to cut some card, and shows him how to do it. On his second demonstration, the guillotine drops down before Gaskill can get his hands out of the way, chopping them both off at the wrists....

His agent, Mr Diltant, is told that he can wait until tomorrow.

Diltant reads the news of his co-conspirators accidents in the paper, and gets a little worried. Moore turns up unannounced at his office and demands to speak with him, Dilitant tells his secretary to let him in, and then to go home. Moore enters carrying Dilitants portrait and, afte rplacing his watch on dilitants desk, he tells him he has precisely two minutes to live. Dilitant pulls a gun out of his pocket, but Moore tells him he just wants to show him something, and removes a red felt tip pen from his pocket, which he then uses to paint a red dot on the portraits forehead. dilitant looks puzzled at first, but then realises with horror that the hand he is holding the gun in is now aiming the gun at his own head, and Moore, sporting a cheeky grin, watches with delight as Dilitant shoots himself in the head.
Moore then struggles to breathe, and, remembering the safe he locked his self portrait in was airtight, he rushes home and lets air into the safe by opening its heavy door. Once he is alright again, he places his self portrait on an easel under the skylight in his art room, but then as he checks his watch, he remembers he left it behind in Dilitants office, and  rushes out to try and get it back, as its very presence there could implicate him in Dilitants murder.
A workman who is painting a sign above the skylight gets a little careless and kicks a can of paint stripper off his platform, which falls and smashes through the skylight and douses the self portrait, destroying it. At the same moment, Moore is crushed under the wheels of a truck as he runs across the road to hail a taxi....

The men discuss how their dreams could be warnings of something that could happen, when all of a sudden, the lift they came down in pings, and the doors open. They enter the lift and instead find themselves standing in a graveyard.
One by one, all the men except Sebastian silently file towards their own graves, where they vanish. Sebastian explains that every night for all eternity, they are forced to tell their stories to each other as punishment for what they did when they were alive. Sebastian then makes his way to his own grave, and vanishes....