''The Monster Club'' is a 1981 British anthology

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wa ...

and

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

. An anthology film, it is based on the works of the British horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes. It was the final film from

Milton Subotsky Milton Subotsky (September 27, 1921 – June 27, 1991) was an American film and television writer and producer. In 1964, he founded Amicus Productions with Max J. Rosenberg. Amicus means "friendship" in Latin. The partnership produced low-bu ...

, who was best known for his work with Amicus Productions; Amicus were well known for their anthologies, but this was not an Amicus film. It was also the final feature film directed by Baker.

Plot

Prologue

A fictionalised version of author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (

) is approached on a city street by a strange man (

) who turns out to be a starving

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

named Eramus. Eramus bites the writer, and in gratitude for the small "donation", takes his (basically unharmed but bewildered) victim to the titular club, which is a covert gathering place for a multitude of supernatural creatures. In between the club's unique music and dance performances, Eramus introduces three stories about his fellow creatures of the night.

The Shadmock

A young, financially struggling woman ( Barbara Kellerman) takes a job at a secluded manor house owned by Raven ( James Laurenson), a hybrid creature called a Shadmock, who leads a troubled and tragic existence and is notorious for its demonic

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...

. As time goes by, the girl, Angela, develops a friendship with the mysterious Shadmock, and he eventually proposes to her. Alarmed, Angela refuses, but her controlling boyfriend ( Simon Ward) forces her to go through with it to gain the Shadmock's vast wealth. On the night of the engagement party, Angela is caught robbing the Shadmock's safe and screams that she could never love him. Heartbroken, the Shadmock whistles and destroys Angela's face. Her boyfriend is driven insane and locked away in an asylum upon seeing her.

The Vampires

The timid son (

Warren Saire ''Lady Jane'' is a 1986 British costume-drama romance film, directed by Trevor Nunn, written by David Edgar, and starring Helena Bonham Carter as the title character. It tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, her marriage to Lord Guildford Dudley, ...

) of a peaceable family of vampires lives a miserable, lonely life where he is bullied at school and his father ( Richard Johnson) spends little time with him. The son discovers his father is a vampire, being relentlessly, if ineptly, hunted by a team of bureaucratic undead-killers, The Blini or B-Squad, led by Pickering (

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

). The hunters break into the house and stake the vampire father, but the tables are turned when the father bites Pickering, meaning that he will now have to be staked by his own assistants. A chase ensues, and Pickering is staked. After his men take his body away, the timid son and his mother ( Britt Ekland) return to the basement to find that the father faked his death using a stake-proof vest filled with tomato ketchup.

The Ghouls

A movie director ( Stuart Whitman) scouting locations for his next film pays a horrifying visit to an isolated, decrepit village, Loughville, where the sinister residents refuse to let him leave. He discovers to his horror that the village is inhabited by species of corpse-eating demons called ghouls who unearth graves for food and clothes. And now there are no more graves to plunder, and the ghouls are hungry for flesh. While imprisoned by the ghouls, he meets Luna ( Lesley Dunlop), the daughter of a ghoul father ( Patrick Magee) and a deceased human mother, making her a Hum-ghoul. Luna advises him to hide in the church, as ghouls cannot cross holy ground. Whilst in the church, the director discovers the terrifying truth of Loughville; centuries before, a swarm of ghouls invaded the village, mated with the humans, and made their nest there. With the aid of Luna, the director attempts to escape and almost succeeds - only for Luna to be killed by the ghouls and the director captured again and returned to the village by ghoul policemen.

Epilogue

At the end of the film, Eramus cheerfully lists to the other club members all the imaginative ways that humans have of being horrible to each other and declares that humans are the most despicable monsters of all. Thus Chetwynd-Hayes is made an honorary monster and member of the club.

Cast

as Eramus *

as R. Chetwynd-Hayes *

as Pickering * Stuart Whitman as Sam * Richard Johnson as Mr. Busotsky * Barbara Kellerman as Angela * Britt Ekland as Mrs. Busotsky * Simon Ward as George * Patrick Magee as Innkeeper * Anthony Valentine as Mooney * Anthony Steel as Lintom Busotsky * James Laurenson as Raven (The Shadmock) *

Geoffrey Bayldon Albert Geoffrey Bayldon (7 January 1924 – 10 May 2017) was an English actor. After playing roles in many stage productions, including the works of William Shakespeare, he became known for portraying the title role of the children's series ''C ...

as Psychiatrist * Lesley Dunlop as Luna * Neil McCarthy as Watson *

as Young Lintom Busotsky

Behind the scenes

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

was originally sought for the role of Chetwynd-Hayes, but flatly turned the offer down simply upon hearing the film's title from his agent.

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

also turned down a role. It was one of the last feature films for Anthony Steel.

In-jokes

There are a number of in-jokes in the movie relating to Amicus Films: * The character of Lintom Busotsky is a film producer, and his name is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of the real film's producer, Milton Subotsky. * Busotsky introduces a film called ''From Beyond the Tombstone'', an allusion to ''

From Beyond the Grave ''From Beyond the Grave'' is a 1974 British anthology horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by Kevin Connor, produced by Milton Subotsky and based on short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes. It was the last in a series of anthology films ...

''. * The cast includes Patrick Magee, Britt Ekland and

, all of whom appeared in the 1972 Amicus anthology film '' Asylum''. * There is a reference to a producer "Dark John" - many Amicus films were made by John Dark.

Reception

The film was released to cinemas in the UK on 24 May 1981. Chetwynd-Hayes was disappointed with the film, finding the humour silly, disliking the script and how his original stories were changed (he said only ''Ghoulsville'' was faithful), and hating the pop music. He also thought John Carradine was too old to play him.Ed. Allan Bryce, ''Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood'', Stray Cat Publishing, 2000 p 160-161 The movie was a critical and commercial failure.

Music

Musical artists performing between stories include BA Robertson, The Viewers and The Pretty Things. The soundtrack features UB40 though they do not appear in the film. The rock band

Night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As view ...

perform the track "Stripper", which did not appear on either of their albums. The film's soundtrack album including both songs and instrumental tracks is included as a bonus feature on the US release of the DVD and Blu-ray.

In other media

In 1980, ''The Monster Club'' script — before the film itself was shot — was adapted into a 25-page comics story by Dez Skinn, John Bolton (21 pages), and David Lloyd (4 pages). Used as a promotional tool for the film, the comic was originally published in a one-off called ''The Monster Club'' magazine.Skinn, Dez. "At the Monster Club," ''Halls of Horror'' vol. 3, #1 (#25) (1983). It was later reprinted in two parts in '' Halls of Horror'' issues #25-26, published in 1983. In 2019 , The Suncharms released a single called 'Monster Club' on iTunes and Bandcamp.The track was inspired by the film and by The Limit Club on West Street in Sheffield. A version of 'Monster Club' has been included on their debut album 'Distant Lights' released on Sunday Records in 2021.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monster Club, The British horror anthology films 1981 films 1981 horror films British supernatural horror films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Films directed by Roy Ward Baker Films scored by Douglas Gamley Amicus Productions films Films set in London British vampire films 1980s monster movies British monster movies British exploitation films 1980s English-language films 1980s British films