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(imdb)
THE
MONSTER CLUB-1981-Aramis (Vincent Price), a vampire bites R. Chetwynd
Hayes (John Carradine), the horror writer. Aramis then takes the
writer to “The Monster Club” so he can get some ideas and The
Viewers do “Monsters Rule OK”. After Aramis explains the
genealogy of vampires and werewolves we get our first story in this
anthology. A con artist couple have a scheme to swindle a lonely
unusual looking guy Raven (James Laurenson) when the girl Angela
(Barbara Kellerman) helps him catalog his collections. He creeps her
out but she also feels sorry for him. Her boyfriend George (Simon
Ward) wants to make a big score and when the guy proposes George
wants her to marry him. Raven says he is a “shadmock” and can
never whistle. He throws a costume party with his relatives. Angela
is caught robbing his safe and he whistles turning her into a
monstrosity much to the surprise of George when she visits him.
BA
Robertson performs. Then, vampire/film producer Limton Busotsky
(Anthony Steel) shows a scene from his upcoming movie. This is the
second story, a young, bullied boy wonders about the night work his
father (Richard Johnson) does. His mother (Britt Ekland) says he was
a nobleman in Europe. A priest (Donald Pleasence) urges the boy to
discover why dad sleeps all day. The boy discovers dad is a vampire
and the priest is a vampire hunter. The vampire turns the tables on
his hunters in the comical finale.
Then the band Night performs
“Stripper”. The 3rd story is about a “Humgoo”. A grouchy
American director (Stuart Whitman) goes to scout a shooting sight in
a remote village. An old man (Patrick Magee) tells him the village is
run by The Elders. The decrepit townspeople force him to stay. He
meets a young girl Luna (Lesley Dunlop) who informs him that the
whole village is made up of ghouls. From a diary he learns how some
evil ghouls took over the village. The only place they won't go is a church, so he hides out there with Luna, who is half human. They
escape but Luna is killed. He's picked up by some ghoul policemen and
taken back for “the great eating”. In the end, Aramis makes a
great case for allowing a “hume” in the club. Everyone dances to
The Pretty Things doing the title song.
This was the last film
produced by Milton Subotsky, who in the 1970's, along with his
partner Max J. Rosenberg produced many horror films under the Amicus
banner. This was an independent production, however.
The stories are
based on ones written by real horror & ghost story writer R.
Chetwynd Hayes who didn't like the movie or Carradine's portrayal of
him (he thought the actor too old). The filmmakers had wanted Sir
Christopher Lee but he turned it down. It's also the last film
directed by the great Roy Ward Baker. Most folks seem to run this
movie down and admittedly it's no classic, it's just a fun combo of
horror, comedy and music.
Thanks for reading!