When we first started this blog, we hadn't planned on using very many Hammer flicks, because, let's face it, the eras that most Hammer films were shot in, don't really lend themselves to rockin' or swingin' elements! But, we have re-discovered that it's pretty hard to say 'Horror' or 'Terror' musically without getting pretty weird, and weird is something we have always enjoyed around here, which brings us around to tonight's feature, and a real classic, lovin' that howl from "The Cursed Werewolf!" Too bad the soundclip is no longer available!!
"Curse Of The Werewolf" is about a raging concept that has been going on since time immemorial, the battle between the rich and the poor, and how both sides always get screwed in the end in one way or another!! This is the pompous ass behind the whole thing, a wonderfrul actor by the name of Anthony Dawson, who does a horribly dispicable job as The Marques Siniestro! It's his wedding day, and he doesn't really like being disturbed!! The Marquis' blushing bride, The Marquesa, is played by Josephine Llewellyn in the second of the only two roles she ever took on. Maybe the pressure of having four L's in her name was just too much, or maybe it was just the goose!!
Enter a nameless beggar looking for a handout, played by Richard Wordsworth, who disrupts the party just enuf to piss off the Marquis, who then proceeds to throw him into jail forever! Check out The Marquis' Dawg Pound!!
Mr. Beggar ain't lookin' that swell after a many years in the hole!
And one day, the little servant girl, played by Yvonne Romain, who has been feeding him for years, once again, pisses off The Marquis, and gets tossed into the cell with Mr. Beggar! You'd a thought he would have had mercy on her since she's the only one who has ever cared about him at all, but No, he's just an animal now, and sexually ravages her! Now, how exactly that combination of DNA creates a werewolf offspring is up for debate, but that is what happens!
The Marquis keeps busy like all guys in charge, and now spends all his time making these very serious decisions!!
Have or have not, payback is a bitch!
The servant girl got away, had a baby boy, and dies. The boy gets adopted, grows up farily normal and turns into Leon Corledo, portrayed by, the one, and only, Oliver Reed!
Martin Mathews as Jose Amadayo, is Leon's new friend and co-worker!!! Jose is quite the horny cut-up!!!
Jose convinces Leon to go out with him, and have a good time dancing and drinking at a nice respectable place!! Hey, donde esta Sancho Lopez??
But Leon doesn't seem to enjoy dancing as much as his father did!!
Oliver Reed is one of many heroes we've got here in The Dungeon, and "The Curse Of The Werewolf" is one of the many reasons why!!
Makeup artist extraordinaire Roy Ashton is the man to thank for how cool Oliver looks as the wolfman. Roy did the makeup on so many Hammer films, it will make your head spin, because, Roy was
The Guy!!!
The composer for the music used in "Curse Of The Werewolf" was Mr. Benjamin Frankel, a brilliant man who we haven't had a chance to talk about before, because he didn't do much work on horror films, but who had been working on music in the movies since 1934!!!!
Oliver Reed should have been knighted!
ReplyDeleteYvonne Romain was good in Devil Doll, too.
Well, let's just take care of that right now! As nominated by Prof. Grewbeard, and by the power vested in me by the Dungeon, I hereby decree that from this day forth, Oliver Reed is a knight of the holy order, and from now on, can be referred as Sir Oliver Reed on these pages!! Drumroll, Crash Cymbal, Fanfare please!
ReplyDeleteI notice that they eyes over the credits at the start of the film are not Oliver Reed's. They seem to be hazel, not Reed's baby blues seen throughout the film as haman and werewolf!
ReplyDelete