When Kim Philby died in Soviet Russia, the last member of the notorious British Communist spies was given a hero’s funeral procession, sealing one of England’s most incredible spying sagas. Branded The Cambridge Spies, the group of five, reduced to a key four, were ultimately responsible for giving away major secrets during their tenure in high-profile positions…
Here’s a quartet of films starring Christopher Lee: Gordon Hessler’s Scream and Scream Again (Twilight Time), Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (Severin), and two rare experimental films by Pere Portabello – Cuadecucu, vampir (1971) + Umbracle (1970).
Scream and Scream Again may sound like an AIP co-production packed with a stellar Hammer Films cast, but this supposed ‘vampire killer’ thriller is really three seemingly disparate storylines that converge in the final act…
Jess Franco’s Count Dracula is an example of what happens when certain parameters designed to bolster a production’s salability reduce a filmmaker, known for sex and violence and trippy perversions, to a hired gun, and a bored one at that…
During the filming of Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), experimental filmmaker Pere Portabello was engaged to direct a making-of documentary, titled Cuadecuc, vampir (1971), and sometime before, during, or after, it seems star Christopher Lee was snagged to appear in a few scenes which Portabello edited into a feature film…
Connect