Gothic Terror Buried Beneath 80's Camp_part 01

DVD Covers from 3 releases of The Monster Club [1980]

The Monster Club is probably the last of the British anthology horror film of which I've seen only a few. More familiar are Stephen King's Creepshow films, an homage to the best of Horror and Sci-Fi comics from the 1950's EC tradition.

The Prolific and Stylish John Carradine and The Immortal Vincent Price.

These are the two actors that initially prompted my keen interest interest in The Monster Club on an early 80's USA Network cable station fright feature. Carradine and Price deliver, despite the campy dialogue and silliness in the scenes devised to frame the films trilogy format.

A Conversation with Two All-time Favorite Classic Horror Film Stars.

Monster movies played an important part in forming my already overactive imagination. The Monster Club manages to serve up a two tales with striking visuals and bleak Gothic themes that reinforced my fascination for arcane imagery. [continued next post.]

  

The Monster Club TM 2006 Pathfinder Home Entertainment.

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Gothic Terror Buried Beneath 80's Camp_part 02

A John Bolton Pin up from House Of Hammer Magazine for The Monster Club movie[1980.]

The Monster Club's rock 'n roll nightclub narrative framing device had it's share of memorable moments, such as the New Wave bands performing the campy Monster Club music and a stripper who takes it all off...right down to the skeleton. These segments make the movie fun, but were not the part that really grabbed my imagination.

The Shadmock displays his gentle innocence.

The first story, entitled "The Shadmock" showcased lush period settings, striking costume design, and Gothic atmosphere reminiscent of classic Hammer Films. Based on the short story written by the late British horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes, featuring a hybrid-monster with a diabolical whistle. The tale begins with the monstrous mogul hiring a new assistant, Angela, to help catalog his possessions. The tension mounts to an awful ending for the young woman, as she reluctantly agrees to help her crooked boyfriend swindle The Shadmock out of his fortune.

Shadow and foreshadowing in The Shadmock's garden.

The art from the comic book adaption has its own appeal.

 

John Bolton's art on the comics version of the Lost In Town.

The Monster Club's final tale concerns an American film director who stumbles into a  mysterious 17th century village populated by Ghouls. The antique illustrations used as part of the plot were my first exposure to the incredible art of John Bolton, a fact that I didn't realize until several years later. The art was equally frightening and fascinating; it burrowed its way into my brain as these were easily the best ink drawings I'd seen.

I remembered this scene vividly from 25 years ago.

My early influences were gleaned from great novels, classics, The Twilight Zone and a host of other shows in the same vein. If course it all started with the Universal monster flicks replayed on PBS. These were all transformed by my outlandish imagination into something more than vivid. It's hard to experience some of the source material the same way now, but the memories are as potent as ever.  

The Monster Club has been released at least 3 times on DVD; it's still fun to watch my own copy from time to time.

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