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The Monster Club
Horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes has a run in with a vampire
named Eramus. Eramus takes the writer to a special club, The
Monster Club. At the club, between entertainment acts, the two
discuss monster genealogy and the writer learns of three chilling
tales of true monsters. The first is of a creature called a
Shadmock. What does a Shadmock do? It whistles. That
doesn't sound scary until the story unfolds. Then a film producer
shows a preview of his childhood story on film, involving his father
the vampire. The third tale is about a film director looking for
a location to shoot who stumbles into a village that he shouldn't have.
Grilled cheese lovers unite! The Monster Club is rightly
referred to as having its tongue firmly planted in its cheek.
This is a 1980 film made in the 60's style. There is little
to no violence, and very limited gore. That said, the bit there
is is still pretty spectacular special effects. The writer, based
on the real British author who wrote the book, is played by horror
staple John Carradine. Eramus is played by horror legend Vincent
Price. There is a host of other older horror stars.
Considering the purposeful camp and other eccentricities the
acting is pretty good. The directing is pretty cutting edge 80s
styles for the first year of the decade.
The first story in the anthology is by far the scariest.
It's downright chilling and a definite favourite. In fact,
for myself it was the only thing I distinctly remembered (from twenty
years ago) besides the end of the film. It is a classic style
tale with a bit of a twist. It kept me gushing about the film
for all that time. The second story stars Donald Pleasence with
all of his usual intensity, and is sort of funny. It has a wild
and almost outrageously heavy-handed musical score. The third
story is extremely atmospheric and leaves a lasting impression of the
colour grey. The overlaying story of the vampire and the writer
is not bad. It has some witty repartee. The entertainment
in the club is very interesting.
The musical score throughout is good. It's mostly pure
80's stuff, and a bit over the top on occasion. The lyrical
soundtrack is mostly provided by bands on the club's stage. They
have some very early punk music. The lyrics are often pun filled,
such as in "Sucker for Your Love". Some have a definite music
video feel in their direction. The makeup effects in the stories
are fairly good if a bit limited. In the club scenes there are a
lot of rubber mask monsters though. The interior sets in the film
are good throughout, as are the exterior locations. The Monster
Club is everything excellent I remembered about it, a glorious,
enduring classic.
DVD NOTES: The Monster Club DVD has
Interactive Menus, Production Notes, a Trailer for the film,
Biographies, a Stills Gallery, a Commentary Track, Scene Access, and
unmentioned on the back of the box, the film's soundtrack for its
special features. The video is an excellent transfer considering
it's age and the fact the disc before playing the movie says it did
not come from the original source stock. The picture is a little
soft, but there is minimal grain. The dark scenes are really
really good. There is the occasionally white flash in a small
part of the picture that is familiar to older films. The audio
quality is good though it is mono. The sound level is fairly
consistent so that you can hear the dialogue but not be blasted by the
music or sound effects. This DVD has been long awaited, and with
its low price it's worth every penny. The Monster Club is an
awesome movie and a pretty excellent DVD.
(
Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)
All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer
and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators
and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.