Monday, December 2, 2013

THE MONSTER CLUB 1981 (SCORPION)

Interesting horror anthology.

John Carradine is a writer of horror tales that is invited to a mysterious club by a vampire. The vampire, played by Vincent Price, tells Carradine three tales of horror, and in between every tale is some great music by such groups and artists as UB40 and The Pretty Things.

The stories themselves are very interesting. The first involves what is called a Shadmock, a vampire/werewolf crossbreed that kills with a very loud whistle. A young couple, hard up for cash seek to take advantage of the Shaddmock's family and steal their money and end up with terrifying results. The story stars Simon Ward, Barbara Kellerman and James Laurenson as the Shadmock.

The second story stars Donald Pleasence as the leader of an inept squad of vampire hunters who use the young son of a vampire to lead them to his father. Richard Johnson plays the vampire and lovely Britt Ekland is his wife. Lots of comedy and fun in this tale.

The third and final tale stars Stuart Whitman as a movie director who, while looking for a location for his horror film, stumbles upon a small fog shrouded town infested with ghouls. He gets help in trying to escape from a humghoul, a cross between a human and a ghoul. This is easily the most frightening story of the three.

The wrap around has Price explaining the cross breeding monster chart to Carradine while various bands play music. There is an interesting stripper routine, and great songs like "Sucker For Your Love by B.A. Robertson and "Monsters Rule O.K. by the Viewers.

Roy Ward Baker directed this film and many mistake it for an Amicus film, but alas it is not. The wonderful Blu-Ray disc is hosted by the always sexy Katarina Waters who brings a lot of facts about the film to light. I highly recommend this film for anyone who likes horror films.

It is nice to see the film get the Blu-Ray treatment on it's first release to DVD.

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