#Alan Birkinshaw

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[ozu-teapot]

The House of Usher | Alan Birkinshaw | 1989

Carole Farquhar, Anne Stradi

[gatutor]

Yehuda Efroni-Branda Vaccaro "Muerte en el safari" (The little indiàns) 1989, de Alan Birkinshaw.

[moviesandmania]

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH 1989 Herbert Lom, Brenda Vaccaro and Frank Stalone hold a Poe party

‘Death is the life and soul of the party’ The Masque of the Red Death is a 1989 horror film about a female photographer who sneaks into a lavish party at a Bavarian castle. Mayhem ensues as assorted Poe story devices start doing away with the guests. The movie was directed by Alan Birkinshaw (The House of Usher 1989 Ten Little Indians; Invaders of the Lost Gold aka Horror Safari; Killer’s…

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Don't Open Till Christmas

After seeing SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, PART 2 (1987), I said to myself, “Self, you will never see a Christmas horror film worse than that.” Boy, was I wrong! Before the opening credits of Edmund Purdom’s DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984, Shudder and YouTube), we hear heavy breathing from behind the camera as a man in a Santa outfit makes out with his girlfriend in the back seat of a parked car. No, this isn’t some meta-porn film in which we experience not just meaningless sex but also the behavior of those watching it. The pair are being stalked by an unseen killer who takes out the man first and then the woman. She has an easy escape avenue, but she never takes it because this is a bad movie. Then the credits inform us that in addition to being directed by Purdom and written by Derek Ford, the film has additional scenes written and directed by Alan Birkinshaw. That’s because Purdom quit the film over interference from exploitation producer Dick Randall. Whatever Randall assembled for release, doesn’t really hold together, though Purdom, as a Scotland Yard inspector investigating a serial killer taking out Santas, is much more relaxed and even charming than he ever was in his Hollywood days. There are jumps in logic because of scenes that were never filmed and one whole sequence of the killer stalking a drunken Santa in a chamber of horrors that defies reason. Leading lady Belinda Mayne plays the film with an air of perpetual annoyance. You can’t really blame her. The poor actor cast as the killer can make no sense of his character, because there’s none to be made. And just when you think things can’t get any worse, Caroline Munro turns up as herself, singing the dreadful “I’m the Warrior of Love” while moving as if she had never come within spitting distance of a dance class. Fortunately, the number is cut short when an elevator effect reveals a Santa with a scimitar buried in his skull. On the plus side, you get to see urinating Santas (twice), smoking Santas (three times), drunken Santas (too many to count), Santa roasting with chestnuts and Santa at a peep show. Merry Christmas!

[mcbastardsmausoleum]

Jess Franco's NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER (aka THE BLOODY JUDGE) arrives on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray 4/26 from Blue Underground

Label: Blue Underground

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 103 Minutes

Audio: English: 1.0 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles

Video: Dolby Vision HDR 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.35:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)

Director: Jess Franco

Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Hans Hass, Maria Rohm, Margaret Lee, Howard Vernon, Diana Lorys

Jess Franco's landmark epic of violence and sadism, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER (aka THE BLOODY JUDGE), is coming to 4K UHD & Blu-ray on March 26, 2024!

Christopher Lee (THE WICKER MAN) gives one of his most unforgettable performances as Judge Jeffreys, the infamous 17th Century witchfinder whose unholy obsession with a luscious wench (Maria Rohm of EUGENIE) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion. Howard Vernon (SUCCUBUS), Margaret Lee (FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS), Maria Schell (99 WOMEN) and Oscar nominee Leo Genn (QUO VADIS) co-star in this landmark epic of sexual violence and sadism, complete with a superb score by Bruno Nicolai (COUNT DRACULA) and directed with spectacularly deviant glee by the one and only Jess Franco (VENUS IN FURS).

Blue Underground is proud to present the most complete and uncensored version of NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER (also known as THE BLOODY JUDGE) from a brand-new 2023 Dolby Vision HDR 4K master, painstakingly restored from various European vault elements featuring additional nudity, bloodshed and what Christopher Lee himself calls “scenes of extraordinary depravity!”

Special Features:

- WORLD PREMIERE! Brand-new 2023 4K master of the complete uncensored version

- Audio Commentary #1 with Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson

- Audio Commentary #2 with Film Historians Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw

- Audio Commentary #3 with Film Historians David Flint and Adrian Smith

- Bloody Jess – Interviews with Director Jess Franco and Star Christopher Lee

- Judgement Day – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco”

- In The Shadows – Interviews with Filmmaker Alan Birkinshaw and Author Stephen Thrower on Harry Alan Towers

- Deleted and Alternate Scenes

- Limited Edition embossed slipcover and reversible sleeve with alternate artwork [First Pressing Only]

- Trailers and TV Spot

- Still Galleries

https://mcbastardsmausoleum.blogspot.com/2023/12/jess-francos-night-of-blood-monster-aka.html?m=1

[draculasdaughter]

The House of Usher (Alan Birkinshaw, 1989)

[iamcinema]

Killer's Moon (1978)

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2021:

83. The Masque of the Red Death (1989) - Dir. Alan Birkinshaw

[ozu-teapot]

The House of Usher | Alan Birkinshaw | 1989

[videoreligion]

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

[moviesandmania]

THE HOUSE OF USHER Oliver Reed and Donald Pleasence Poe-it-up Review and free on YouTube

‘A modern passion. An ancient terror.’ The House of Usher is a 1989 horror film about an engaged couple who are involved in an accident on the way to the man’s uncle’s mansion. The young woman becomes trapped in the house with deranged residents and weird happenings. Directed by Alan Birkinshaw (The Masque of the Red Death 1989; Invaders of the Lost Gold; Killer’s Moon) from a screenplay written…

[operazione-paura]

Killer’s moon (Alan Birkinshaw, 1978).

[movie-titlecards]

Ten Little Indians (1989)

My rating: 4/10

So... they took a novel with a pretty nasty racial slur in the title, replaced the slur (though if the replacement is much better is debatable) and then set the whole thing in Africa so they could still show some stereotypical depictions of natives as superstitious cowards? I mean... I guess that's a compromise, of sorts.

Anyway, once it gets to the high-stakes game of Among Us, it's passably entertaining. The cast is solid, and the whole thing works passably well despite the overly dramatic 80s TV synth score and the complete anticlimax of an ending. This is not a good movie, but I suppose it passes the time.

[draculasdaughter]

The House of Usher (Alan Birkinshaw, 1989)

[adimisenko]

Killer's Moon (1978)