We return to Hammer Productions with Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972. It marked the final chapter in the Hammer Frankenstein saga and director Terence Fisher's last film.  The Film Features:  Peter Cushing in his sixth and final portrayal of Baron Victor Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein. Despite being 59 and apparently in poor health when he made this film, Cushing still insisted on performing a stunt requiring...

Welcome back to our “Beasts” Double Bill! Last time, we watched "The Dummy" from the infamous anthology series by General Witchfinders hero Nigel Kneale. We now leave the smashed-up movie set of "The Dummy" with its snarling Y-fronts-wearing jilted actor and join Angie and Roger Truscott in their secluded Hampshire home for "During Barty's Party." This episode features the only actual 'beasts' as the main threat: in this case, large, super-evolved, intelligent rats. Elizabeth Sellars plays...

We continue where we left off in episode 27 with our exploration of the 1976 British anthology series "Beasts," written by the legendary Nigel Kneale (who now has his own dedicated page on our website!), tonight we watch the first of two episodes "The Dummy." Directed by Don Leaver (not Cleaver), a veteran of many shows from our youth and boasts credits on two episodes of "Hammer House of Horror": "Witching Time" and "The Mark of Satan"   Bernard Horsfal as Clyde Boydl: He appeared in classic...

28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film, our first film from the 21st Century. Ewan McGregor was the original choice to play the protagonist, ‘Jim’, but he and director Danny Boyle had a falling-out at the time over The Beach, in which McGregor was to play the lead but was replaced by Leonardo DiCaprio (McGregor and Boyle have since reconciled). After McGregor, the role was offered to Ryan Gosling, who passed, having a scheduling conflict, leading to the film being...

Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It is based on the 1968 novel of the same name by John Blackburn. A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, cofounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys (producer of may Hammer films, this was his last listing on IMDB). #BigChrisLee and Charlemagne Films optioned two other books by John Blackburn, "Portrait of Barbara" and "Bury...

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is a supernatural drama produced by the BBC as part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series. Once again, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the screenplay was written by John Bowen (Writer of the Series’The Guardians’ In a declining England of the 1980s, the UK has broken up and England is ruled by a fascist military force), with an atmospheric musical score by Geoffrey Burgon (Who also created the music for the BBC Narnia series and Monty Python’s the Life of...

The Stalls of Barchester was first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11:00 pm on December 24, 1971. It is based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M. R. James, it was adapted, produced, and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed every BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas between 1971 and 1977. Can you name them all, Jon? The Stalls of Barchester (1971)A Warning to the Curious (1972)Lost Hearts (1973)The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)The...

"Dracula the Damned" is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions starring ‘Big’ Christopher Lee…  Scratch that… Rather, the original sequel to the first Hammer Dracula film was cancelled without explanation, although Christopher Lee's decision not to return due to fear of typecasting probably led to The Brides of Dracula taking its place.  #BigChrisLee did return five years later, however, when he starred in Dracula, Prince of Darkness. The Brides of Dracula...

Lifeforce (aka Space Vampires) is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon (writer of Alien!) and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. It also features John Forbes-Robertson as ‘The Minister’ The film is based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel, The Space Vampires. It portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being...

Tonight, we complete the Hammer Quatermass trilogy (albeit out of order) with The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown in the US) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial written by Nigel Kneale. Produced by Anthony Hinds, one of the of 37 films he made for Hammer. Hinds wrote a number of films under the  pseudonym 'John Elder' which he adopted after Her couldn't afford a screenwriter for The Curse of the...

Murder by Decree is a 1979 mystery thriller directed by Bob Clark (Director of ‘Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things’ and ’Dead of Night’ (not the brilliant black and white British film from 1945 - featured in episode 13, but the 1974 American film ), he also directed ‘Black Christmas’, ‘Porkys’ and ‘Porkys 2’  Murder by Decree was written by playwright John Hopkins, who scripted the Bond film Thunderball, and the Alec Guinness TV version of Smileys People. Hopkins referenced Conan...

Tonight we are discussing the  1989 British horror drama television film directed by Herbert Wise (most famous for I, Cladius, who worked solidly from 1957 to 2001 on everything from The Bill to 9 episodes of Tales of the Unexpected - including ‘The Landlady’ which may well be the episode that Jon talked about remembering in episode 29)  It  stars Adrian Rawlins (Harry Potters Dead Dad in the movies and Mr Pike in one episode of Neighbours),  Bernard Hepton (I, Claudius, Get Carter Tinker...

After his involvement in the reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise was scuppered by the Pandemic, Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England and High-Rise, announced in September 2020,that he had written and directed a horror film over the course of 15 days in August. This became In the Earth, a science fiction horror film staring Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia, John Hollingworth and Mark Monero. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the...

Clips from the best bits from episodes four to six 4 - James Herbert - The Rats https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/fcc6efe904b6f9160ab7a0656bc46dd0f5901e93/view 5 - Nigel Kneale’s - The Stone Tape https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/ff8003920d88e2462eaa2353dc2a007a102c2789/view 6 - The Satanic Rites of Dracula https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/75233646bd312312a10f794fb49b2ffed51b2a72/view Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show...

The Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (who is also an Actor was in Mars Attacks and played a General in Marvels The Avengers).  It was based on a short story by Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius and great friend of Spike Milligan, with whom, from the 1960s until his death, he frequently exchanged letters, Many of which are collected in the book ‘Dear Robert, Dear Spike’)  Grave's short story was adapted for the screen by Skolimowski and Michael Austin...

Quatermass and the Pit (or as it’s known in the US ‘Five Million Years to Earth’) is a 1967 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 (see General Witchfinders episode 17 for more details). Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial, of the same name, written by Podcast hero Nigel Kneale.  It was directed by Roy Ward Baker (who is responsible for such highs as A Night to...

Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff (season 1–10), Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted. The crew also claims to have recorded spirit possessions...

"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968 BBC television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force. The production starred Michael Hordern and was adapted and directed by Jonathan Miller. It was broadcast as part...

The martial arts horror film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires was released in 1974.  It stars. Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing  Christopher Lee… oh hang on… John Forbes-Robertson as Count Dracula (Not the son of Johnston Forbes-Robertson, but did play Mr Badger in 2 episodes of Jonny Briggs)  Robin Stewart as Leyland Van Helsing  (29 episodes of Sons and Daughters)  Julie Ege (pronounced eg-gay", not "edge") as Vanessa Buren (1962 Miss Norway and competed in Miss Universe...

NOT The 1980 James C. Wasson film in which an anthropologist and his students attempt to track down a Bigfoot responsible for a rash of violent murders… OR the 1988 Kevin Tenney film, Night of the Demons’ where Ten teenagers party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween, awakening demonic spirits… Rather, we all, hopefully, watched the 1957 British horror film, produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis directed by Jacques (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie) Tourneur (or ‘Jack Turner’...

Tales of the Unexpected was a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Every episode of series one, and a number of episodes in subsequent series were based on short stories by Roald Dahl, collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You. Made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst...

Possum is a 2018 British psychological horror film written and directed by Matthew (Garth Marenghi) Holness in his feature film debut, starring Sean Harris and Alun (Krull) Armstrong. It centres on a disgraced children's puppeteer who returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront the abuse and trauma he suffered there. Possum is an adaption of Holness' short story of the same name, published in the horror anthology The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, and partially inspired by the...

In this episode, we are joined by BOOMER from Podcast in the Woods https://linktr.ee/woodspodcast This is the episode Ross was in btw: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6G5TocltVLFUgVdPdPUC2V?si=fQ7JuHMLTP2mbSqlrpH20Q The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean horror film written and directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee. And was cited in  the documentary “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched” as an excellent example of international, specifically Asian, Folk...

The Ritual is a 2017 British/ Canadian horror film starring Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton (grandson of two time General Witchfinder featured actor, Patrick - 2nd Doctor -Troughton, or as we like to call him Kinky Klove)   The film is based on the 2011 novel The Ritual by Adam Nevill, which we've been told by listener ‘Mr London’, is pretty creepy. The original tagline that was used when advertising the film was 'They should have gone to Vegas'. But due to the...