Swinging London flick Haunted House of Horror (1969) gets a DVD reissue

A movie we've raved about in the past gets a new DVD reissue courtesy of Odeon - Haunted House of Horror.

Remake of cult classic And Soon The Darkness heads to DVD

Regular reader will know that the original version of And Soon The Darkness is one of our favourite films. The work of the team behind The Avengers and set in rural France in 1970, the film has been remade, with much the same scenario, in Argentina. That version is getting a reissue on DVD this month.

In the remake, best friends Stephanie and Ellie decide to head off on their own for the final days of the trip hoping to find a bit more fun before having to head back home to the US. They wind up in a pretty rural village and spend the evening getting drunk in a bar, where Ellie picks up a handsome local while Stephanie heads back to their hotel alone intending to get a good night’s sleep. Stephanie is soon awoken by a booze-fuelled altercation between Ellie and her new 'friend', which is eventually broken up by an American ex-pat called Michael, who is also staying at the hotel.

Review: Kiss of the Vampire (1962)

Originally intended as Hammer Films' third Dracula movie, Kiss of the Vampire emerged instead as one of the studio's most obscure, yet wonderfully stylish vampire movies.  The script by producer Anthony Hinds (written under his usual pseudonym: John Elder) is a dry-run for all those Dracula scenarios he drafted throughout the sixties.

While on a motoring holiday in the Carpathian mountains, Gerald (Edward De Souza) and Marianne (Jennifer Daniel) find themselves stranded at a local inn.  Lovely Marianne attracts the attention of Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), leader of a cult of pleasure-seeking vampires.  Ravna's children: Carl (Barry Warren) and Sabina (Jacquie Wallis) lure the newlyweds to an extravagent masked ball, where Marianne is abducted and initiated into the cult, while Gerald is cast out and told his wife never existed.  Elsewhere, drunken vampire-killer Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans) stalks Tania (Isobel Black), a beautiful teenage bloodsucker prowling the village.  Zimmer comes to Gerald's aid and they set out to rescue Marianne. 

Hinds offers some interesting twists.  Here, the vampire-hunter is cold, brutal and menacing; tortured by the death of a loved one.  Although Ravna is an effete sadist, his vampire kin are warm and welcoming to Marianne.  As with many Hammer horrors, sex is brought to the fore.  From Isobel Black's seductive vampire minx (the actress returned for Hammer's Twins of Dracula (1971), but was a regular face on children's TV - from Ace of Wands to Jackanory!), to the teasing out of Marianne's repressed sexuality.

Coming to DVD: Magic Roundabout's Dougal and the Blue Cat movie (1972)

Quite possibly the strangest kid's movie ever made is heading to DVD for the very first time - Magic Roundabout's Dougal and the Blue Cat movie.

Originally produced in 1972, it underwent the same treatment as the TV shows - created in France by Serge Danot, then re-written in English by Eric Thompson. Thompson himself did all the voices, except one - the creepy Madame Blue, which was voiced by Fenella Fielding. But that's only half the tale.

DVD Review: Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970)

From the trailer, you might expect this strange relic of the early 70s to be something of a bloodthirsty affair. But Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly actually aims a little higher than that.

Based on a stage play, Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly is rather like a dark version of Entertaining Mr Sloane, but weirder. Much, much weirder.  The movie focuses on a family lost in time - Sonny and Girly (Howard Trevor and Vanessa Howard) are adults dressed as (and in the main acting as) schoolchildren, while Mumsy (Ursula Howells) is the matriarch and Nanny (Pat Heywood) is...well, the Nanny. But something isn't right.