The Monster Club (1981) Reviews

• I liked it

  estabansmythe2004-05-01

  What can I say? I liked it. Then again, I've had a love affair with Britain's Hammer, Amicus and Tony Tensor's Tigon films since I was a kid in the Los Angeles area in the early 60s and caught Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). For me, it's just a kick to see John Carridine and Vincent Price together again. I'm also a Roy Ward Baker fan and enjoy most of his work. Are the stories truly scary? No, not really. They're eerie. Strange. That's good enough for me. That works. And the capper is getting The Pretty Things as the Monster Club's house band. I have no idea what song Phil May & Co. play, but I love it. I've got several PT CDs as well as their 2-CD anthology and it's not contained in anything I've ever found. I'd dearly love to get a copy of their MC music. Any horror fan who writes that it was high time Hammer and Amicus rode off into the sunset ain't no horror fan, because they just don't make classy little gems like this anymore.

• Highly underrated final movie from Amicus!

  manchester_england20042009-08-07

  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.

• Fun Horror Collection

  Prof-Hieronymos-Grost2006-06-26

  The Monster Club was the final installment in Amicus studios portmanteau series and concerns R.Chetwynd-Hayes(John Carradine)a noted Horror writer who runs into an elderly Vampire named Erasmus (Vincent Price) .Erasmus duly takes his fill of the authors blood and after recognizing him becomes all apologetic and invites him to The Monster Club where he hopes Chetwynd-Hayes might garner some new ideas for a new book.As the guest of Erasmus, Chetwynd-Hayes is regaled with three stories of the macabre. Story 1:A young couple George and Angela are hard up for cash, so they answer an advertisement in a newspaper looking for someone to help catalogue antiques in an old manor.Angela goes and meets the owner who as it turns out is a Shadmock,kind of a Vampire/werewolf hybrid,Angerla is scared of at first but soon settles in to her job.Angela soon becomes friendly with the soft spoken and thoughtful employer but comes under increasing pressure form George to steal something from the house, and she decides to take advantage of an invitation to a masqued ball with the Shadmock's family at the manor to fulfill her objective. Story 2:A Vampire stalks the London underground is being chased by the B-squad a team of vampire hunters lead by Pickering, (Donald Pleasance) . Pickering uses the vampires son who unknowingly leads the B-squad right to his father. Story 3: Stuart Whitman plays Sam an American movie Director scouting the English countryside for the perfect location for his upcoming movie. He stumbles across a fog bound town full of Ghouls where he befriends a Humghoul (Human and ghoul hybrid) and struggles with her help to make his escape from his living nightmare. Review The shadmock story I found to be quite unique, its nice to have a different monster and this one was a rather a nice chap and I felt for his pain at the end, but it was definitely a missed opportunity, the idea of a masqued monster ball I find intriguing, but Ward obviously only used this as a means perhaps to save money on Monster make-up.The second story is played for laughs which is a shame and is by far the least of the three stories.The Ghoul story I found to be the best,and full of atmosphere with a nice twist at the end.The in between segments with Price and Carradine are poor and full of very bad monster make-up and annoyingly bad music(No really bad), these two great horror legends were fine,considering the quality of script, but they deserved more. This is the kind of film I was raised on and for that reason and the people involved I really enjoyed it,sure its not the best from the esteemed Amicus studio or Baker,but for pure fun its hard to beat and I unreservedly give this a whopping 6/10 against my better judgement.

• Where do I join?

  lordzedd-32007-01-20

  First off it was cool to see John Carradine and Vincent Price in the same movie, it was way too long coming. Secondly, the stories are kind of cool. The soundtrack has some great eighties music, some of the best bands of the eighties are monsters apparently who play at the Monster Club. Now for the bad part. You heard me, the bad part. In the club sequences some of the background monsters look like store bought masks and Hollywood Toy and Costume on Hollywood Blvd. But that's just minor compared to the big picture. The girl that played the Humgoo was pretty, as a whole the monster club is major league cool movie with great performances and great story telling. So I would call the Monster Club a buried treasure worth discovering if you haven't seen it. 9 STARS.

• I LOVE this movie!

  pkiley12006-03-23

  This movie is good old fashioned scary fun, like walking through a "haunted house" at Halloween. The songs are fun. My ten year old niece really likes "I'm just a sucker for your love" (sung by a vampire- get it? "wink-wink"). It's a great Saturday afternoon- popcorn- scary- movie for the whole family (those old enough for trick-or-treat type scares. A refreshing break from the slasher, gory, sicko movies that they keep churning out at an annoying rate these days. Vincent Price is charming as a sweet, non-lethal vampire (the only time he ever played one, by the way.). Patrick Magee and Donald Pleasance, veterans of the old Amicus films, are terrific also. Rounding out the cast are Britt Ekland, Stuart Whitman, and Simon Baker. I really wish Hollywood would make more movies like this- imaginative stories with great spooky atmosphere instead of gallons of fake blood and body dismemberment.