The Monster Club (1981)

I admit that I am not a great fan of horror movies, but for me the ones from the 1970s and 1980s were the best of them all. It begins with vampir Eramus (played by Vincent Price, a veteran of the genre) that invites writer Chetwynd-Hayes (played by John Carradine in one of his MANY movies) to a monster club, full of various vampires, witches and other un-natural beings. And they share three horror stories:1) Two swindlers (played by Simon Ward and Barbara Kellerman) decide to take advantage of a recluse, with disastrous (and scary) results. Because the recluse is a shadmock2) A little boy discovers that is the son of a vampire, and while three vampire hunters led by clergyman Donald Pleasence break at the kid's home, his father bites Pleasence and soon he gets staked by his assistants while the vampire dad faked his death. Richard Johnson and Britt Ekland are also good.3) (My personal favourite) Sam, a film director (played by Stuart Whitman) visits some locations for his next film, and ends in an horrifing village inhabited by ghouls (corpse-eating monsters). Sam meets a girl named Luna, and she advices him to hide in the church because ghouls can't enter in sacred places; soon Luna tries to help him escape, but she gets killed by ghouls and Sam is forced to return in the village by ghoul policemen.In the end Chetwynd-Hayes is made a member of the Monster club. And Eramus admits that humans are the worst type of monsters.Roy Ward Baker (in his horror swansong) is great as usual, and the actors all did a fine job. Kudos to Vincent Price in his only interpretation of a vampire!

The Good bits are the individual tales of horror - some genuinely creepy and well made featurettes, a sort of Tales of the Unexpected but with more oomph.The Bad bits are the ridiculous 'Monster Club' "monsters". I suppose if you're eight, great, but then you shouldn't be watching the Good bits (above). The often seemingly irrelevant live music interludes bridge the two, but generally they look (& sound) even more dated than the rest of the movie!The Ugly; well, the truly awful disco dancing fancy dress (sorry, but it is!) at the end.There are some LONG reviews here on Amazon; I'm keeping it a lot shorter. For a start, I'm not an avid fan of horror, but enjoy the better flicks of the genre.However, it's good that it's got Vincent Price in it. He indelibly stamps authority and authenticity on any horror film, even if it's rubbish.I give four stars to the short portmanteau stories, one for the "Club" and two for the live music - averaging three. I watched it on The Horror Channel.

Although I generally lapped up the star-studded horror compendiums produced by the British film company Amicus (a Hammer rival), I kept postponing this one (despite there being a readily available SE DVD of it from Pathfinder) because of its poor reputation! I did acquire it from ulterior sources some time ago and, now that I was going through a Vincent Price phase on account of his centenary, I had the opportunity (or the excuse) to finally submit myself to it! Even if producer Milton Subotsky lived on for 10 more years and he made other films after it, THE MONSTER CLUB proved to be, sadly but unsurprisingly, Amicus' swan-song.Actually, on paper, this had all the right ingredients to succeed as much as Amicus' earlier efforts given the participation of past alumni like director Baker, stars Price, Donald Pleasence, Britt Ekland and Richard Johnson, plus character actors Patrick Magee and Geoffrey Bayldon – not to mention new additions like John Carradine, Stuart Whitman, Simon Ward (who, 3 years earlier, had appeared in Subotsky's non-Amicus but equally strongly-cast DOMINIQUE) and Anthony Steel! Apparently Christopher Lee was the first choice for the part eventually played by Carradine and Klaus Kinski was also offered a role but declined! Where it does go horribly wrong, however, is in the disco-set(!) bookend sequences in which vampire Price (only his second time playing a traditional monster{!} and an expert in monster genealogy, the hybrids between species and even humans being given would-be hilarious names) takes celebrated horror author Carradine (after giving him one harmless little bite!) for some more legitimately served liquid sustenance at the ghastly titular abode (which has a werewolf for a secretary!) brimming with hideously made-up punters embarrassingly gyrating on the dance floor to the sounds of UB40 and The Pretty Things (who perform the ska-tinged title song as Carradine and Price get embarrassingly footloose, the latter with a so-called "Buxom Beauty"!) among others!! Still, if one were to twist my arm I would have to say that I did like 2 of the cheesy numbers performed therein: Night's "The Stripper" (with red-haired singer Stevie Lange energetically belting it out and accompanied by a blonde who, literally, strips all the way down to her bones – albeit in a silhouetted bit of animation!) and B.A. Robertson's cheekily goth "Sucker For Your Love"; the stupid "Monsters Rule O.K" tune is best forgotten, however.As for the trilogy of tales, these are decent enough in themselves but nothing that we have not seen before in better movies. The first has James Laurenson as a Shadmuck(!) whose whistle can prove deadly (a greedy cat falls victim to it after it attacks his pet pigeons), as well as Barbara Kellerman and the above-mentioned Ward as a couple who intend to rob the reclusive 'monster' of his fortune. To this end, the woman presents herself for a secretarial job but, besotted with her beauty, he asks her to marry him; naturally, she wants out of the scheme after that but Ward persuades her to go along with the ruse. At the nuptials, Laurenson's monstrous family turns up for a fancy dress ball (recalling the opening scene of Price's classic vehicle THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES {1971}) while Kellerman absents herself from the festivities to loot her brand-new hubby's safe. Caught in the act, he gives her the whistle...and she goes back to Ward a monster, assuring him that he can learn to love her despite her gruesome appearance (a hope Laurenson himself had harbored in her case), which drives Ward off-the-wall.The second tale involves the childhood of film producer Lintom Busotsky (Steel, obviously sending up Subotsky himself!) among his vampire parents Johnson and Ekland who are forever 'stalked not staked' by vampire hunter (masquerading as a priest) Pleasence and his men (who include Neil McCarthy, the memorably hideous Calibos in the contemporaneous original Malta-shot version of CLASH OF THE TITANS). This is perhaps the most enjoyable segment, largely eschewing the others' glumness for amusing campiness (especially by way of Johnson's look and Pleasence's antics – though the latter thinks he has killed the vampire, Johnson is revealed to have been wearing a stake-proof vest and, 'infecting' Pleasence, the vampire hunter can do nothing to stop his own men from giving him a dose of his own medicine!).The third story finds Stuart Whitman as a Hollywood director filming a horror film in London. Distracted by the unprofessionalism of his associates (a dig at the fall of British cinema, perhaps?), he goes in search of real atmosphere and stumbles upon a village that seems lost in time, presided over by creepy inn-keeper Magee. Eventually, it transpires that the locals are all ghouls (or, if you like, zombies) as, in fact, the graveyard is filled with holes through which the corpses had risen! Magee's daughter is the only normal person since she is a Hum-goo(!) and, given that she tries to alert him to the danger (he manages to barricade himself in the church fending off the hungry assailants with a large crucifix), eventually falls victim to their wrath as the couple flee. Meeting up with a cop, Whitman thinks he has reached safety but the car soon takes him back to where he had come from as it was officially escorting the Elders of the village just arrived from the netherworld to celebrate its anniversary! This is easily the least effective episode (if mainly because it is the most ordinary, with Magee in particular wasted); however, it does garner some extra points via the use of evocative illustrations in the flashbacks depicting the history of the cursed community.

THE MONSTER CLUB is the final movie from the excellent British movie production company, Amicus.Although the movie is an anthology, opinion is divided as to whether or not it forms part of the Amicus anthology canon.I see THE MONSTER CLUB as a separate movie from the remainder of the Amicus anthologies. However, it is a highly entertaining final movie from Amicus. I'm truly puzzled as to why the movie was not successful financially.The single greatest idea behind THE MONSTER CLUB is the combination of three elements - traditional British horror Amicus is famous for, the darkest of dark humour and a collection of fine examples of 1980s disco music.There are only three stories in this compendium, rather than the usual four or five seen in Amicus movies. However the stories, along with the linking story, are so entertaining that this is easily overlooked.The linking story sees Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, a character based on a real horror story author of the same name, who is attacked in the street by a sinister character named Eramus. When he wakes up after a vampire bite, the author discovers Eramus is a vampire. Ermaus promises to repay him by inviting him to a disco known as The Monster Club, where he assures him there will be plenty of material for a new book of horror stories. Vincent Price and John Carradine are on top form in their roles as Eramus and Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes respectively.The Monster Club is full of famous horror creations of various types including vampires, werewolves and ghouls. Disco music blends well with the setting, with almost all songs having a horror theme to them. The costumes are unbelievably cheesy but this is easily overlooked by the uplifting feeling of the disco atmosphere. As an added bonus, the movie brings something unique here - a monster genealogical chart.The first story sees Barbara Kellerman and Simon Ward as a pair of opportunists looking to take some rich person for all he or she is worth. Eventually Kellerman's character comes into contact with an eccentric man who lives in a large Gothic house. Without revealing spoilers, I can say that he turns out to be a shadmock, a hybrid of various creatures including vampires, werewolves and ghouls. James Laurenson gives a supreme performance as the shadmock, a kindly and gentle creature, who is simply uncomfortable with being outside his house. Predictably, the tale becomes a tragic love story that is so emotionally moving I was actually in tears when the ending came.The second story takes a different course to the first with more dark humour. Richard Johnson has a great time playing the vampire father of a young boy, Lintom. He goes out at night hunting for blood, whilst telling his son that he is "working". Britt Ekland plays Lintom's mother but she has very little to do here. Lintom finds himself being bullied at school because he is quiet and shy. He is rescued from torment by a priest, played by Donald Pleasance in another of his superb performances. I will give away no further details. But I'll say that this story was highly enjoyable due to its tongue-in-cheek approach not only to vampire clichés but to clichés of another genre as well. Look out for Anthony Valentine and Neil McCarthy having fun as a pair of vampire hunters dressed up as undertakers who carry violin cases! The final story is easily the darkest and best of the three. Stuart Whitman is cast perfectly as an impatient movie director looking for a remote location to make an atmospheric horror movie. His impatience with his crew leads him to seek out the location himself. We get to see some of the beautiful English countryside as he drives down a country lane hoping to find a remote village at the end. What he finds in reality is a very strange foggy place with only an old crumbling inn, a church and a graveyard. There is more to this atmospheric location than meets the eye. I will spoil no more of this story as this is one you'll want to see for yourself without warnings. But I will say a few things about the characters. The innkeeper is a very sinister character, played perfectly by the always great Patrick Magee. Lesley Dunlop deserves credit for her superb performance early in her career as the innkeeper's daughter, a hybrid of a human and a ghoul.Roy Ward Baker directs Amicus's final movie perfectly. He demonstrates a clear understanding of the various subject matters - Gothic horror, dark humour and 1980s disco entertainment, directing each element accordingly. As a result, he guarantees the three blend well enough to produce a highly entertaining piece of entertainment worthy of a final movie for such a great horror production company.Douglas Gamley, an Amicus veteran, produces some excellent background music to the movie including an excellent score. His choice of music in the first story blends perfectly with the Gothic setting and the tragic love story theme.As was the case with previous Amicus movies, this one makes excellent use of classical music. These blend perfectly with the settings.Kudos to the music bands - The Viewers, Night and The Pretty Things - whose catchy tunes make this movie worth watching by virtue of their presence alone. Special kudos as well to 1980s singer, B.A. Robertson, whose song - Sucker For Your Love - performed after the first story is easily the best of his career.Overall, THE MONSTER CLUB is a highly entertaining final movie from Amicus and a must-see for all fans of movies made by this great movie production company. I especially recommend it for fans of Vincent Price and John Carradine who have a superb time in this late stage of their careers.