By James Whittington, 22nd March 2023
THE VINTAGE VAULT continues to brighten up Sunday nights with its popular classic horror double-bills, including the Channel premiere of cult sci-fi comedy mystery THE TERRORNAUTS, starring Simon Oates, Charles Hawtrey and Patricia Hayes. You can also journey into the history of 60s genre cinema with Jack The Ripper thriller A STUDY IN TERROR (1965), psycho horror BLACK TORMENT (1964), DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965), starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966), Hammer's sole foray into the Zombie genre, THE REPTILE (1966). Another Hammer mid-'60s shift away from the traditional staples of Dracula and Frankenstein, THE SORCERERS (1967), the debut feature of cult-director Michael Reeves, Terence Fisher's DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966), FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967), the fourth of Hammer's Frankenstein series starring Peter Cushing and eco sci-fi chiller NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT (1967).
April's entertaining slate of premieres is spearheaded by the UK premieres of action thrillers EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, starring Richard Dreyfuss, and MONEY PLANE, starring Kelsey Grammer and Denise Richards. Plus, there are Channel premieres for air highjack thriller EXECUTIVE COMMAND, starring Bryan Cranston, high-octane crime adventure AN EYE FOR AN EYE (1981), starring Chuck Norris and Christopher Lee, and tense detective thriller STANDOFF, starring Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane.
Let's start on the 1st and the channel premiere of EXECUTIVE COMMAND. A group of terrorists steal a deadly toxin and then hijack a plane that has the vice president on board. But the only man who can stop them is Dr Rick Harding (Michael Didikof), the toxin's inventor. In a race against time, can Harding be found and can he stop the terrorists? Co-stars Bryan Cranston. The Vintage Vault on the 2nd has double you need to stay in for starting with A STUDY IN TERROR. In this Sherlock Holmes tale, Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary 19th-century British sleuth is on the trail of Jack the Ripper. The trail takes Holmes (John Neville) from the lowest rungs of society all the way to the peak of the aristocracy, discovering blackmail and family insanity everywhere he goes. Also features Judi Dench, Barbara Windsor and Robert Morely. This classic is followed by THE BLACK TORMENT. When Sir Richard (John Turner) returns to his manor with his new wife. he hears rumours that he had already secretly returned and had committed several murders. Has he lost his mind, or is something dark afoot? Also stars Heather Sears and Patrick Troughton.
Moving onto the 7th and a classic, action-packed thriller for you, AN EYE FOR AN EYE. Sean Kane (Chuck Norris) is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places. Also stars Christopher Lee. The Vintage Vault double on the 9th starts with the anthology DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS. Just as a train departs, a mysterious stranger, Dr Shreck, enters the carriage with his pack of tarot cards to tell the fortunes of five fellow passengers. The cards predict that every one of them will suffer a terrible death, but will fate deal them the same hand. Stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. A Hammer classic is resurrected straight after, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES. Directed by John Gilling, this is Hammer's sole foray into the Zombie genre and attracted the scrutiny of the British Board of Film Censors, who expressed concerns over the scene where a lumbering corpse (Jacqueline Pearce) is decapitated with a spade. The support feature to Dracula Prince of Darkness may have been a B movie with no star names, but it is widely regarded to be a superior film.
EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM on the 14th concerns a desperate to find his missing daughter, Jake Hunter (Paul Sloan), tracks her last known whereabouts to a small desert town. As Jake uncovers the truth about his daughter's whereabouts the answers become terrifyingly clear and he goes on a merciless quest for revenge. Also stars Richard Dreyfuss. Action-packed thrills on the 15th, STANDOFF. When Isabelle (Ella Ballentine), a young girl with a knack for photography, sees something she shouldn't, an assassin (Laurence Fishburne) follows her to a lone farmhouse, inhabited by grieving Carter Green (Thomas Jane). Unable, and unwilling to hand the girl over, Carter vows to protect her from the ruthless hitman. The Vintage Vault on the 16th starts with a Hammer classic, THE REPTILE. Harry and Valerie inherit the Cornwall home of Harry's brother, who died under mysterious circumstances. The couple's neighbour, the hostile Dr. Franklin (Noel Willman), had been investigating a secret tribe of snake-people on his last trip to Borneo, and they had reacted to his intrusion by making Anna, his daughter, one of them. As a result, she turns into a hideous cobra-woman every winter. This is followed by another British chiller, THE SORCERERS. A scientist and his wife possess a device that enables them to impose, through telepathy, their fantasies on people and allows them to experience sensations felt by their subjects. They take control of a teenager and have him live out what they associate with contemporary youth: violence and sex. This disturbing and powerful film is the debut feature of cult-director Michael Reeves and stars Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey and Ian Ogilvy.
A UK TV premiere on the 22nd, Kelsey Grammer stars in MONEY PLANE. A professional thief with $40 million in debt and his family's life on the line must commit one final heist - rob a futuristic airborne casino filled with the world's most dangerous criminals. More Hammer goodness in The Vintage Vault on the 23rd starting with DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS. Christopher Lee stars in this chilling tale of four English tourists who become stranded in the Carpathian mountains. When a driverless coach appears and takes them to a sinister castle, can they survive the night? Directed by Terence Fisher and also starring Andrew Keir and Barbara Shelley. This is followed bytThe fourth and one of the best of Hammer's Frankenstein series, FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) once again experimenting with human bodies. This time he transplants the soul of an executed young man into the disfigured body of the young man's female lover, Christina, who had committed suicide. But the revenge impulse of her male soul takes over and she seeks out those who brought about her/his unjust execution.
A nerve-shredding thriller will be waiting for you on the 29th, NARROW MARGIN. Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman), the DA of Los Angeles, has been protecting Carol Hunnicut, a prime witness in a murder case. But he was careless and they are forced to hide on a train going to Vancouver. But the mafia killers are on board. As the train speeds around the Rocky Mountains, how will they escape the trained hit men? The final Vintage Vault double for April starts with a rarely seen classic, THE TERRORNAUTS. Joe Burke heads a radio telescope project at a British observatory, hoping to pick up signs of life from another planet; thus far, the team has reported no positive results. But just when the project is about to be cancelled, Burke discovers a faint signal the same mysterious signal that intrigued and haunted him as a child and decides to respond. Doomwatch star Simon Oates takes the lead role in this cult '60s sci-fi gem, adapted from visionary author Murray Leinster's novel 'The Wailing Asteroid'. Also features typically comedic turns from Patricia Hayes and Charles Hawtrey. Things start to awrm up after this as we experience NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT. A freak heat wave sends the temperatures soaring on a remote island. Dr Stone (Peter Cushing) and Callum (Patrick Allen) try to uncover the mysterious reason for the sudden change in climate. But the arrival of Callum's former mistress (Jane Merrow) forces the atmosphere to boiling point and it falls to Godfrey Hanson (Christopher Lee) to discover that the rising heat is the start of an invasion of merciless aliens...
Related show tags: A STUDY IN TERROR, AN EYE FOR AN EYE, BLACK TORMENT, DR TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, EXECUTIVE COMMAND, FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN, MONEY PLANE, NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT, STANDOFF, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE REPTILE, THE SORCERERS, THE TERRORNAUTS MORE FEATURES Crime and sci-fi adventures headline May 2024 premieres on LEGEND
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