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"The Wicker Man" is the gold standard of occult horror. Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), a God-fearing Englishman, arrives on the island of Summerisle to investigate the reported disappearance of a young girl. Howie soon discovers the islanders are pagans and spends the movie angrily berating them. Soon, it becomes clear the cultural differences are more sinister than the proper way to worship.

The islanders' crops are failing, so Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) has plotted a virgin sacrifice to appease their gods. No one ever said the virgin had to be a young girl; no, it's the unmarried Howie, who is burned to death in an excruciating sequence as the Summerisle villagers sing.

Despite being underserved by producer/distributor British Lion Films (to the point where Lee had to promote the film on his own time), "The Wicker Man" is now regarded as a horror classic. 2023 was the 50th anniversary of "The Wicker Man,...

Welcome to the island of St Jory, population: one less than there used to be.

A year ago, St Jory teenager Cai Prideaux went missing and the police did very little about it. Now there’s a new sheriff in town in Sgt Grace Narayan (Anjli Mohindra), an outsider with an unbending belief in the letter of the law that’s ruffling feathers among the locals. The islanders, you see, are used to running things their own way. The True Way.

That’s the Hot Fuzz-meets-The Wicker Man premise for The Red King, an original six-part series written by Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and directed by Daniel O’Hara and Lisa Clarke. It’s a crime drama/folk horror mash-up that uses murder mystery trappings to tell a story about religion, insularity and national identity.

St Jory is your typical folk horror island in that there’s nothing typical about it.

In Robin Hardy's supremely creepy 1973 cult picture "The Wicker Man," a cop named Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to a remote island called Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. The citizens of Summerisle are secretive and strange and still abide by ancient Celtic religious rites. Howie, a devout Christian, is put off by their pagan weirdness. During his investigation, Howie stays at a local inn, The Green Man, overseen by Mr. McGregor (Lindsay Kemp) and his comely daughter Willow. Willow is sexually forward with Howie, something else he finds discomforting.

Later that night, while Howie attempts to sleep, Willow strips nude in her own room and gyrates seductively against the wall that neighbors Howie's. Howie can't see or hear it, but he seems to sense something strange is happening. Is she casting a spell of some kind?

It turns out that the nude body audiences saw dancing wasn't Ekland at all,...

Even the most die-hard 007 fans know that James Bond movies don’t always hit. There’s the yellow face of You Only Live Twice, the pigeon double-take in Moonraker, the surfing in Die Another Day. But never has the franchise done worse than when a certain Louisiana police officer bumbles into the otherwise solid Live and Let Die.

Yes, I’m talking about Sheriff J.W. Pepper, a loudmouth distraction who sort of makes sense in the American-set Live and Let Die, but then he somehow also shows up in Thailand to further drag down The Man With the Golden Gun.

Modern viewers meeting the character for the first time today will likely be confused by Pepper’s shtick. But to the viewers of the early 1970s, Pepper not only hit as a funny joke, but he was very much in line with Bond’s history of pop culture Johnny-come-latelyisms.

A classic film that not only endures but continues to inspire half a century later is a true marvel. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, The Wicker Man helped popularize the folk horror genre that continues to flourish with the likes of Midsommar, The Witch, and The Ritual. Its impact extends beyond cinema, from inspiring Radiohead (“Burn the Witch”) and Iron Maiden (“The Wicker Man”) songs to being included in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

In the film, Sergeant Neil Howie travels from the mainland to the Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. The devout Christian is appalled to learn that the islanders practice a form of paganism characterized by blasphemous beliefs, degeneracy, doublespeak, and peculiar customs. Like The Bride of Frankenstein, the namesake doesn’t show up until the final moments of the film, but it leaves an indelible impression long after the credits roll.

Robin Hardy’s folk horror classic The Wicker Man introduces its protagonist, Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), in only a few short scenes that sketch him as a devout Christian and religious conservative. As he takes the sacrament and sings hymns in a small Scottish church, he appears to be in his element but nonetheless uncomfortable. He’s a man who looks petrified to touch any surface of the material world lest it corrupt his being.

One quickly knows everything about how Howie regards the world. This allows The Wicker Man, as written by Anthony Shaffer, to swiftly upend the man’s sense of reality when the police officer flies out to the remote Hebridean town of Summerisle to investigate a missing persons case and discovers that all of the hamlet’s residents practice a pre-Christian form of paganism.

The film lays the town’s practices out in the open,...

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the folk-horror classic, The Wicker Man, we are giving away The Wicker Man Posters Signed by Britt Ekland to 3 lucky winners!

Studiocanal is delighted to release a glorious new 4K restoration of The Wicker Man. All three versions of the film; The Final Cut, The Director’s Cut and The Theatrical Cut, have been painstakingly restored and will be released in an exclusive 5-disc Collector’s Edition as well as a 4-isc Steelbook version. The Final Cut will also be available on Digital from September 25th.

It Is Time To Keep Your Appointment With The Wicker Man. In the 50 years since its original release, The Wicker Man has achieved true cult status as one of the most revered horror films in cinema history, despite a difficult production and heavily cut original theatrical release. The search for the fabled missing scenes has only added to...

Beyond Fest returns with an eclectic mix of films that will have you racing to pick up tickets! With over 55 films, there's something for everyone, including early screenings of The Toxic Avenger, a 10th anniversary screening of Pacific Rim with Guillermo del Toro in attendence, a screening of The Wicker Man with Britt Ekland in attendance, and more. Here are all of the details from the press release:

Beyond Fest, the highest-attended genre film festival in the US, is excited to announce its complete slate of 2023 programming comprising 55 features, including 5 world premieres, 3 North American Premieres, 7 US premieres, and 18 West Coast Premieres. After entertaining over 19,000 guests in 2022, Beyond Fest returns for its 11th edition from September 26th - October 10th. Built in partnership with the American Cinematheque and presented exclusively by Neon, Beyond Fest will screen at the Aero Theatre, Los Feliz 3 and Regency Village Theatre with all ticket sales going...

Giuliano Montaldo, the admired Italian filmmaker who wrote and directed Sacco & Vanzetti, the John Cassavetes-starring Machine Gun McCain and every episode of the big-budget 1982 miniseries Marco Polo, has died. He was 93.

Montaldo died Wednesday at his home in Rome, his family announced.

His big-screen résumé also included The Reckless (1965), starring Renato Salvatori; Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh; Giordano Bruno (1973), starring Gian Maria Volonté and Charlotte Rampling; And Agnes Chose to Die (1976), starring Ingrid Thulin; and The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), starring Philippe Noiret, Rupert Everett, Stefania Sandrelli and Valeria Golino.

Of the 20 films Montaldo helmed, 16 were set to music by Ennio Morricone; no other director collaborated with the famed composer more.

Montaldo also served as president of Italy’s Rai Cinema from 1999-2004.

Montaldo’s gangster tale Machine Gun McCain (1969), which also starred Britt Ekland, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, and Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), about the Massachusetts trial and 1927 execution of...

It is the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking 1973 British folk horror masterpiece, a tale of paganism run riot on a remote Scottish island. Starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee, and directed by Robin Hardy, here are rarely seen photographs of the film-makers and cast on location in Scotland

• A special 5-disc Collectors Edition of the Wicker Man will be released by Studiocanal on 25 September...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Wicker Man 4K Uhd Steelbook from Best Buy

Best Buy will exclusively carry The Wicker Man on Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital on October 17 via Lionsgate. Richey Beckett designed the artwork. Pre-orders are live for $21.99.

In her recent 50th anniversary retrospective, Meagan Navarro called the 1973 British folk horror film “a classic horror movie whose legacy only seems to grow more potent with age.” Robin Hardy directs from a script by Anthony Shaffer (Frenzy). Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee star.

The 94-minute “Final Cut” has been restored in 4K with Dolby Vision/Hdr and Lpcm mono audio. Special features include “The Wicker Man at 50” featurette; interviews with Hardy,...

Cult Horror Masterpiece, The Wicker Man, Arrives on a SteelBook in 4K Ultra HD October 17: "The cult horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man, arrives on a SteelBook® in 4K Ultra HD™ (+ Blu-ray™ + Digital) on October 17th from Lionsgate. Directed by Robin Hardy (The Fantasist), the film follows Police Sergeant Howie, as he investigates Lord Summerisle and his secretive pagan society. The Wicker Man will be available for the suggested retail price of $27.99."

Official Synopsis

When a young girl mysteriously vanishes, Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to a remote Scottish island to investigate. But the seemingly quiet community is not as it appears, as the detective uncovers a secretive pagan society led by the strange Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). While the townsfolk tempt and threaten him with bizarre rituals and wanton lust, Howie must race to discover the truth behind the girl's disappearance before his clash with Lord Summerisle builds...

Bond girls just wanna have fun – or at least had more of it in the early days of the franchise. But according to Britt Ekland, who played Mary Goodnght in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun opposite Roger Moore, today’s standards have limited the amount of “fun” that modern Bond girls can have.

In a recent interview, Britt Ekland told Pa Media (as per Metro) that shifting values have given today’s Bond girls different opportunities, both for good and bad. “There are no more Bond girls, they are Bond women today. They have it with the political correctness and the #MeToo, they have a much better time than we had…But I don’t think that the end product is as fun as ours were, because we were pretty and we had good bodies and we didn’t try to look sexy, we just were.”

Britt Ekland...

A new season of The Wicker Man is upon us. The classic 1973 horror film, which is arguably the best-known of three British films from its era that embody “folk horror” (the others being Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan’s Claw), is returning to UK cinemas for one night on June 21 in a special new 4K remastered version of the “Final Cut,” complete with re-edited footage deleted from the original, troubled theatrical release.

Following that, the three existing versions of the film (The Wicker Man may rival Blade Runner in the department of different cuts), all in 4K Uhd, will be released in an exclusive 50th anniversary collector’s edition on Sept. 4. The five-disc set will also contain a bevy of goodies, including new essays, an EP of music, and plenty of other bonus content.

Despite a turbulent production and initial release, The Wicker Man has only grown in stature over...

The Wicker Man turns 50 this year, and to celebrate it's being re-released in UK cinemas for one day only, on June 21st. And to celebrate that, in this interview special Chris Hewitt sits down with the legendary Britt Ekland, who plays Willow in Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer's classic folk horror, and talks about her troubled relationship with the film and her treatment during/after it, how that relationship has healed over the years, becoming friends with Christopher Lee at the Empire Awards, and much, much more.

It's a fun and frank interview that is a must for all fans of The Wicker Man, so whether you have come here of your own free will, whether you have the power of a king, whether you're a virgin, or whether you're a fool, enjoy.

Listen to the episode on the pod app of your choice — or via the PlanetRadio player above.

50 years after its release and filmmakers, including Ari Aster, Mark Jenkin, Ben Wheatley, and Robert Eggers, continue to draw direct inspiration from Robin Hardy’s folk horror freak-out The Wicker Man. To celebrate its half-a-century milestone, the film has been given a 4K restoration and will hit theaters in the U.S. beginning on July 7. Ahead of the release, a new trailer has now arrived for the film starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, and Britt Ekland.

This restoration was scanned in 4K by Silver Salt Restoration UK, from the original 35mm negative. A second-generation 35mm intermediate positive produced in 1973 was used to replace a small section with unrepairable damage in the original negative. The additional footage is sourced from 35mm prints, which are the only known sources for this material. Colour grading and restoration were completed by Silver Salt Restoration UK who dedicated over 500 hours to fix physical damage to the 35mm negative,...

Director Robin Hardy’s 1973 folk horror film The Wicker Man (watch it Here) is considered to be a genre classic – and the folks at Studio Canal are certainly showing it a lot of love and respect with their upcoming 5-disc collector’s edition release, which will contain Blu-ray (which may be locked to Region B) and 4K Uhd (All Region) discs. The street date for this release is September 4th – and before that, Studio Canal will also be holding a “one night only” theatrical re-release event on June 21st.

In addition to the 5-disc collector’s edition, there will be a new digital release and a steelbook.

Inspired by David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual, The Wicker Man was directed by Hardy from a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer. The film has the following synopsis: When a young girl mysteriously disappears, Police Sergeant Howie travels to a remote Scottish island to investigate.

"It is time... to keep your appointment with The Wicker Man." StudioCanal has unveiled a brand new trailer and poster for the 50th anniversary re-release of this cult classic horror film The Wicker Man. Originally released in 1973 in the UK, the film gained more notoriety after the 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage. Reborn in glorious 4K, The Wicker Man: The Final Cut will return to UK cinemas this Summer Solstice, June 21 with a series of one night only screenings. The 50th Anniversary Event took place at Picturehouse Central in London on May 1st and was a star-studded on-stage celebration of the film. Presented by Edith Bowman, the on-stage show included guest of honour, actress Britt Ekland, associate musical director from the film Gary Carpenter, family of director Robin Hardy, and others. In the film, a puritan Police Sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who...

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of horror classic The Wicker Man, UK company Studiocanal has announced today that the 1973 film will return to cinemas June 21 in 4K, and it’s also hitting 4K Uhd as a special Collector’s Edition, Steelbook & Digital from September 4.

The good news for fans in the United States? 4K discs are Region Free.

“The Wicker Man has had an enduring fascination for audiences since its release in 1973. A unique and bone-fide horror masterpiece, brilliantly scripted by Anthony Schaffer and featuring an astounding performance by the legendary Christopher Lee. Director Robin Hardy’s atmospheric use of location, unsettling imagery and haunting soundtrack gradually builds to one of the most terrifying and iconic climaxes in modern cinema.”

Special Features include:

5-disc 4K Uhd collector’s edition rigid ‘book’ pop-up packaging, including all 3 cuts of the film restored in 4K X1 exclusive EP featuring artists from Heavenly records...

Walpurgisnacht, also known as Walpurgis Night or Hexennacht, is a pagan holiday celebrated on the night of April 30th. It is named after Saint Walpurga, an eighth-century nun who Christianized parts of Germany. However, the holiday has roots in pagan traditions that celebrate the coming of spring and the triumph of life over death. It is also associated with witchcraft and supernatural phenomena, making it a perfect occasion to indulge in some spine-chilling horror films.

So, grab some popcorn and get ready for a night of scares with these ten chilling recommendations for Walpurgisnacht.

1. Dracula (1931)

What better way to kick off Walpurgisnacht than with the most iconic vampire movie of all time? Dracula (1931) stars Bela Lugosi as the titular count who travels from Transylvania to England to spread his curse of the undead. The beginning of the film is actually set on Walpurgisnacht, as Renfield (Dwight Frye) arrives at Dracula...

She’s done everything from Bond films to I’m a Celebrity, and has found time to inspire a song or two along the way. So now’s your chance to ask the question you always wanted to

This week we welcome Britt Ekland to the Reader Interview chair, to celebrate the 50th-anniversary re-release of British folk horror classic The Wicker Man. So … what to know, and what to ask? There’s her other famous films: as showgirl Rachel Schpitendavel in The Night They Raided Minsky’s in 1968, Anna to Michael Caine’s Get Carter in 1971, alongside Roger Moore’s 007 as Mary Goodnight in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun, and as real-life socialite/prostitute Mariella Novotny in 1989’s Profumo affair drama Scandal.

As well as all that, Ekland has done panto (Cinderella in Swindon in 2007); starred on Swedish reality TV show Stjärnorna på Slotted and I’m...

Roger Moore's turn as James Bond is typically known as one of the more whimsical interpretations of 007. Moore would compare himself in interviews to his predecessor in the role, Sean Connery, saying, "I always say, Sean was a killer; I was a lover."

Whereas Bond has always had a womanizing side and been prone to making quips towards the villains he brutally murders, Connery's Bond took himself a bit more seriously than Moore's. Connery leaned a bit more into the calculated, professional killer aspect of the character, whereas Moore's Bond worked under the assumption that he wouldn't enjoy killing, but would do so "professionally, quickly, and accurately." Moore's gentler Bond would make goofy jokes and pretend his villains had bad breath.

However, behind the scenes, Moore's Bond was just as heroic as any of the agent's other iterations. From the very start of his stint with the character, Moore...

Back in 1973, director Robin Hardy and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer brought us the horror classic The Wicker Man (watch it Here), which was inspired by David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual. In the decades since, The Wicker Man has inspired the likes of Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz, received a “spiritual sequel” called The Wicker Tree, and had its good name sullied by the 2006 remake directed by Neil Labute and starring Nicolas Cage. Now it’s set to get the TV treatment. Deadline reports that a The Wicker Man TV series is in development at the Studiocanal-backed company Urban Myth Films and Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s company The Imaginarium.

Howard Overman, creator of the Epix series War of the Worlds, is writing The Wicker Man TV series and the production companies are currently pitching the project to potential broadcasters. Overman told Deadline that the series “will differ from the...

The classic horror movie The Wicker Man is set to be adapted into a television series by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s Imaginarium Productions and Urban Myth Films. According to Deadline, BAFTA-winning writer Howard Overman (War of the Worlds) has written the script, and Imaginarium and Urban Myth have acquired the rights from Studiocanal. The project is currently in the early stages of being pitched to potential broadcasters. The original Wicker Man was released in 1973, directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. It was penned by Anthony Shaffer, who was inspired by David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual. The film centers on Police Sergeant Neil Howie, a devout Christian, who visits an isolated Scottish island in search of a missing girl, only to find the island’s inhabitants involved in Celtic paganism. While the TV adaptation is expected to differ from the original film,...

TV’s Norman Lear produced William Friedkin’s good-natured farce about early American burlesque houses and the inadvertent invention of the striptease. Jason Robards plays a fast talking vaudevillian and Britt Ekland is Rachel Schpitendavel, a showbiz hopeful who hits the big time by losing her clothes. The supporting cast is a who’s who of comedians including Elliott Gould, Norman Wisdom, and the great Bert Lahr.

The post The Night They Raided Minsky’s appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

The Wicker Man

Blu ray

Viavision [Imprint]

1973 / 1.85 : 1 / 93 Min.

Starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland

Written by Anthony Shaffer

Directed by Robin Hardy

While away on assignment in Scotland, a melancholy company man experiences a life-changing, and possibly supernatural, transformation. This tale of magic and metamorphosis isn’t Bill Forsyth’s utopian Local Hero but Robin Hardy’s apocalyptic The Wicker Man, the story of a god-fearing detective named Neil Howie. The lonesome hot shot of Forsyth’s film is given a new lease on life but for Howie there’s no such reward—just a whiff of fire and brimstone as his dreams go up in smoke.

The title card reads “Anthony Shaffer’s The Wicker Man“, suggesting that the famed playwright was a more than equal partner along alongside Hardy and the film’s producer, Peter Snell. Shaffer based his screenplay on David Pinner’s Rituals, a...

The release of “No Time to Die” marks a key turning point — for moviegoing in the pandemic era and for James Bond. Variety chief film critics Owen Gleiberman and Peter Debruge discuss the end of the Daniel Craig cycle, the legacy of Bond, and whether 007 can really live twice. Warning: This dialogue includes major spoilers.

Owen Gleiberman: “No Time to Die” arrives at a special moment. For months now, even as movie theaters have slowly stirred back to life, we’ve been asking when a film would come along that could break the dam of trepidation and anxiety that so many viewers still feel — understandably — about the prospect of going back into a crowded movie theater. There have been genuine hits, like “F9” and “A Quiet Place Part II” and “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” Nevertheless, it’s...

I've worked remotely for more than 15 years, so the transition to pandemic life wasn't as jarring as it was for some, but even I wasn't mentally prepared for will likely be 2+ years of us being in lockdown. It's been a real struggle to watch anything that's super serious (I'm still waiting to see Relic!), and I've turned to some of my favorites as horror movie comfort food, including... The Monster Club!

Those who have listened to our Corpse Club podcast over the years know that this has been a favorite of mine for quite some time now. It's easily the movie I've watched the most in the last ten years and no other movie comes close, but it isn't nostalgia driving my interest in re-watching this. I didn't see the movie until maybe 10-15 years ago, but thanks to the Code Red Blu-ray release, it's been a regular watch ever since.

Alex Cord, the rugged former rodeo performer who portrayed Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known by the code name Archangel, on the 1980s CBS drama Airwolf, has died. He was 88.

Cord died Monday at his home in Valley View, Texas, his publicist, Linda McAlister, told The Hollywood Reporter.

On the big screen, Cord starred in Synanon (1965), a film directed by Richard Quine that was set in a rehab facility; played Ringo Kid — John Wayne’s role — in a 1966 remake of Stagecoach; and worked alongside Kirk Douglas in The Brotherhood (1968) and with Britt Ekland in Stiletto (1969).

In 1977, he appeared ...

Alex Cord, the rugged former rodeo performer who portrayed Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known by the code name Archangel, on the 1980s CBS drama Airwolf, has died. He was 88.

Cord died Monday at his home in Valley View, Texas, his publicist, Linda McAlister, told The Hollywood Reporter.

On the big screen, Cord starred in Synanon (1965), a film directed by Richard Quine that was set in a rehab facility; played Ringo Kid — John Wayne’s role — in a 1966 remake of Stagecoach; and worked alongside Kirk Douglas in The Brotherhood (1968) and with Britt Ekland in Stiletto (1969).

In 1977, he appeared ...

Bond girl Britt Ekland has a cautionary tale about going under the knife.  The Swedish actress, who starred in the 1974 James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun, told Platinum Magazine in a recent interview that she's sworn off plastic surgery after undergoing a "lip-plumping" procedure in her younger years.  "Everyone has the right to choose," Ekland explained to the outlet. "I did all of that in my 50s, but wouldn't consider it again. I have no desire to look any different than I am."  According to Platinum, the 78-year-old star described the lip augmentation as the "biggest mistake" of her life. "It felt like I'd ruined...

Update: Tanya Roberts, known for playing Stacey Sutton in the 1985 James Bond film “A View to a Kill” and Midge Pinciotti on “That ’70s Show” between 1998 and 2004, died Monday night after it was prematurely reported by many outlets that she had died on Sunday night. She was 65.

On Tuesday, Roberts’ publicist, Mike Pingel, confirmed to Variety that she died Monday night at 9:30 p.m. Pt due to a urinary tract infection that spread to her kidney, gallbladder, liver and blood stream. However, Pingel mistakenly told many publications that Roberts had died on Sunday night after her partner, Lance O’Brien, visited her in the hospital and presumed she was no longer living. She remained hospitalized in “dire” condition Monday, Pingel told Variety earlier that day.

Roberts was out walking her dogs on Christmas Eve when she collapsed. The cause of death is not understood to be related to Covid-19.

Born Victoria Leigh Blum,...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"One of the truly outstanding incompetents" may have been Orson Welles's hilarious verdict on Franco-Irish director and madman John Guillermin, and looking at something like King Kong (1976) or God help us King Kong Lives (1986) one can't help but sense some justice in this, but in his earlier career, the energetic Guillermin showed some promise. His films throughout the fifties were solid and stolid in the way of too much British cinema of the time, but Rapture (1965) is a crazily stylish tour-de-force of excessive, out-of-control camera lurches and assaults which even Welles might have admired.The previous year Guillermin had made Guns at Batasi, a 99% British feature, but produced by...

The Swedish actor on her infamous marriage with Peter Sellers, being stuck in London under lockdown – and why there will be no more Bond girls like her

Two days after their first date – which was also their first meeting – the comedian Peter Sellers gave Britt Ekland a dachshund puppy called Pepper.

Ekland had just arrived in London from Sweden to be 20th Century Fox’s next big star. She was 21 years old and living at the Dorchester hotel; a dog was a ridiculous gift, she says. So was Sellers’ previous largesse – every bloom in the hotel’s flower shop. “That was the way he wooed me.”...

BBC Two has commissioned blue-chip documentary producer Brook Lapping to make a 75-minute documentary on Pink Panther star Peter Sellers.

Peter Sellers: A State Of Comic Ecstasy (working title) will be broadcast to mark the 40th anniversary of the British comic actor’s death this summer, and will explore his talent and complex personal life.

It will feature an exclusive interview with Britt Ekland, Sellers’ second wife and the star of movies including The Man With The Golden Gun, as well as contributions from the likes of Michael Palin and Steve Coogan.

BBC Arts director Mark Bell said: “Peter Sellers had a profound impact on film and comedy,...

We have a relatively quiet week of home media releases ahead of us this week, but the titles that are coming out are a rad bunch of films nonetheless. Scream Factory is doing the Dark Lord’s work with both the Collector’s Edition of April Fool’s Day and the HD release of Frankenstein: The True Story. If you missed it in theaters back in January, Nicolas Pesce’s The Grudge (2020) is headed to various platforms this Tuesday, and Arrow Video has put together a stellar Special Edition release of Philip Ridley’s The Passion of Darkly Noon as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for March 24th include Endless Night, Cabal, Hunter’s Moon, The Zombinator, and The Wizard: Collector’s Edition.

April Fool’s Day: Collector’s Edition

Good friends...with some time to kill. When Muffy St. John invited her college friends up to her parents' secluded...

Juliano Dornelles on Michael in Bacurau: “When Udo Kier’s character said to the outsiders about the Brazilian collaborators, ‘They don’t speak Brazilian here.’ Brazilian, it’s not a name.”

In celebration of the theatrical release of Bacurau in New York, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles will present Mapping Bacurau, a program of films that include John Sayles’s Lone Star,; Colin Eggleston’s Long Weekend; Paul Morrissey’s Blood For Dracula; 70mm print of John Carpenter’s Starman; Ted Kotcheff’s Wake In Fright, and a 4K restoration of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man: The Final Cut.

Kleber Mendonça Filho with Juliano Dornelles on Bacurau: “The horses for us is a very interesting marker that this is a Western. They’re beautiful animals, the way they move.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Bacurau, shot by Pedro Sotero, edited by Eduardo Serrano, costumes by Rita Azevedo, with a.

Why does CineSavant write so many positive reviews, even for films not commonly thought of as even being ‘good?’ Well, I’m about to offend committed fans of this Hayley Mills thriller… it bothered me in such basic ways that I had to watch it twice to make sure I hadn’t missed something important. Hayley Mills loves Hywel Bennett, a poor boy who gets a chance at the good life. But are they going to be victimized by envious relations, murderous gypsies, a deranged architect? The big superduper plus here is the film’s original music score by Bernard Herrman, one of his last.

Endless Night

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1972 / Color B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / / Street Date , 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, George Sanders, Lois Maxwell, Patience Collier, Ann Way, Leo Genn, Shirley Jones (voice).

Cinematography: Harry Waxman...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released a slew of worthwhile 60s spy movies and TV series. Among the under-rated gems is The Double Man, a 1967 Cold War thriller starring Yul Brynner, who gives a powerful performance as American intelligence agent Dan Slater. His teenage son is killed while skiing in Switzerland and Slater suspects it was actually murder. He finds he's been lured to Alps as part of a complex plot to kill him and replace him with an enemy agent with his identical facial features and characteristics. The plot was covered with moss even at the time since it formed the basis of a two-part Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode, The Double Affair, that was released theatrically the previous year as The Spy With My Face.  Still, this is a highly intelligent, gritty film with Brynner as the most hard-ass hero imaginable. Devoid of any humor,...

For almost as long as we’ve been hearing about “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino and Sony Pictures, which will release the film, have tried to dispel the notion that it will be all about the Manson murders.

They couldn’t have made their point better than they did with the teaser trailer released Wednesday. Tarantino signals with the teaser that that the film won’t just be a portrait of one horrible night in 1969, but rather of an entire era, sweeping across at least three years prior to the Manson murders.

Because he’s Quentin Tarantino, he doled out those clues via obscure Bruce Lee knowledge, old TV and movie marquees. Let’s look at all the signs, literal and figurative, that “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” won’t surrender its story to Manson.

First, Some Background

On Aug. 9, 1969, Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie...

Already eclipsed by James Bond and sexier European films, Paul Newman does his best to energize this derivative but lively spy-chase thriller set during Nobel season, in a Stockholm populated by the glamorous Elke Sommer, Diane Baker, Micheline Presle and Jacqueline Beer. Toss several Hitchcock pictures into a blender, and what comes out is reasonably engaging… and more than a little dated.

The Prize

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date January 15, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer, Diane Baker, Micheline Presle, Gérard Oury, Sergio Fantoni, Kevin McCarthy, Leo G. Carroll, Sacha Pitoëff, Jacqueline Beer, John Wengraf, Don Dubbin, Virginia Christine, Rudolph Anders, Martine Bartlett, Karl Swenson, John Qualen, John Banner, Teru Shimada, Albert Carrier, Jerry Dunphy, Britt Ekland, Gergory Gaye, Anna Lee, Gregg Palmer, Gene Roth, Ivan Triesault.

Cinematography: William H. Daniels

Film Editor: Adrienne Fazan

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith...

Welcome back for another week of horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases, readers! January 16th features plenty of intriguing offerings, from cult classics to sequels of cult classics to even a few recent films as well. If you happened to miss Blade Runner 2049, Happy Death Day, or The Snowman in theaters, all three are making their way home this Tuesday. Severin Films has put together The Amicus Collection (which features Asylum, And Now The Screaming Starts and The Beast Must Die), and Scream Factory is giving Eye of the Cat the Blu-ray treatment as well.

Beyond Skyline is also coming to Blu on January 16th, and for all you Joe Dante fans out there, Shout Select has put together a Collector’s Edition release of Matinee that looks like it’s a must-have.

The Amicus Collection (Severin Films, Blu-ray)

Known as The Studio That Dripped Blood, the British film...

With Christmas now only a week away, there’s a big day of genre-related home entertainment releases to look forward to in the meantime, just in case you were in need of some last-minute gift ideas (or if you were looking to spoil yourself, which is totally cool). Easily my most anticipated Blu-ray release for all of 2017, Synapse Films' stunning 4K restoration of Suspiria gets the royal treatment via an incredible three-disc limited edition Steelbook set this Tuesday, and Severin Films is also keeping busy with their HD upgrade of The Amicus Collection, which includes Asylum, And Now The Screaming Starts, and The Beast Must Die.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases for December 19th include American Gothic, Leatherface, mother!, and the limited edition Steelbook for Donnie Darko.

American Gothic (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

A new tale of terror from the director of The Legend of Hell House and The Incubus.

Severin Films will bring horror to the holidays this December with their box set of three 1970s movies from Amicus Productions, aka "The Studio That Dripped Blood."

Slated for a December 5th release, Severin Films' The Amicus Collection includes Blu-rays of Asylum, And Now the Screaming Starts, The Beast Must Die, and a bonus disc of interviews, trailers, and more.

Each remastered Blu-ray is packed with new special features that offer insights into the making of the movies and the creative minds behind each effort.

The Amicus Collection box set is priced at $54.99, and it's also available in a special bundle that includes a T-shirt, enamel pins, book, and artwork (for an overall price of $129.00). You can also pick up And Now the Screaming Starst and Asylum as individual Blu-rays for $24.99 apiece).

For more information about The Amicus Collection, we have the full release details, cover art images, and...

Another one of Roger Moore’s onscreen vixens is paying tribute to the beloved 007 star in the wake of his death.

Britt Ekland – who was Bond girl Mary Goodnight to Moore’s 007 in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun – took to Twitter to mourn the 89-year-old actor on Tuesday.

“My Bond is gone, am filled with great sadness,” wrote Ekland, now 74. “Roger was the epitome of Bond, witty, sophisticated, elegant, funny. Rip.”

My Bond is gone, am filled with great sadness. Roger was the epitome of Bond, witty, sofisticated, elegant, funny. Rip

— Britt Ekland (@BrittEkland) May 23, 2017

Moore, who died...

After The Fox

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber

2017 / Color / 2.35 : 1 widescreen / Street Date March 22, 2017

Starring: Peter Sellers, Victor Mature, Martin Balsem, Akim Tamiroff.

Cinematography: Leonida Barboni

Film Editor: Russell Lloyd

Written by Neil Simon and Cesare Zavattini

Produced by John Bryan

Directed by Vittorio De Sica

After The Fox, a sunny mid-sixties farce about con-artists and movie-makers, boasts a powerhouse pedigree featuring leading men Peter Sellers and Victor Mature, a script by Neil Simon and Cesare Zavattini, music by Burt Bacharach, poster art from Frank Frazetta and the legendary director/actor/gambler Vittorio De Sica at the helm.

With such diverse talent on board, the film was somewhat misleadingly promoted as another in the line of 60’s screwball hipster comedies like Casino Royale and What’s New Pussycat. But the result is closer to De Sica’s laid back charmers from the ‘50s, Miracle in Milan and Gold of Naples (in fact,...

Gabrielle Weller.

Australian director Gabrielle Weller has enlisted Kate Moss, Mick Jagger, Kate Winslet and Laura Bailey to star in her new documentary Never In, Never Out.

Weller is a writer, actor, director and producer..

In 2016 her schedule will find her on both sides of the globe.

This coming June, in the gold rush town of Ballarat, Weller will play the lead role in her first feature length film, Box, directed by Samuel O.Brien..

In August, she will return to London where she will direct Never In, Never Out, which she also wrote and produced, about the life of fashion designer Thea Porter. .

Weller said the two projects have provided a good contrast.

"They.re both challenging, but in completely different ways,. .she says.

Box, developed .by O.Brien is a poetic and surrealist screenplay, which is co-written by Weller. She will also take the lead role..

Box tells...

Numerous prominent stars from the James Bond films will be appearing this weekend at the Hollywood Collector's Show at Lax. James Bond himself, George Lazenby, will be there as well as some of the loveliest Bond ladies including Lana Wood, Luciana Paluzzi, Maryam d'Abo, Tanya Roberts, Diana Lee Hsu, Valerie Leon and Britt Ekland.  For info and tickets click here. ...

Hollywood is remake crazy these days, so Cinelinx is taking a look at what makes a good remake and what makes a bad one. We'll be examining examples of some cinematic remakes; some that work and some that don’t. In the second in our series articles, we look at a remake that definitely did Not work...The Wicker Man (2006)!

In the previous article, which looked at Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and discussed what makes a good remake: It has to pay homage to the original while also adding a new twist to an old idea. It needs to be part faithful and part innovative. Above all, of course, it should be a well-written, well-produced movie. The 2006 remake of the Wicker Man failed on all counts.

For those unfamiliar with the original 1973 British cult classic, it’s an eerie mystery/horror hybrid about a devoutly religious Christian police officer named Sergeant Howie,...

With Hollywood studios being so remake crazy these days, Cinelinx takes a look at what makes a good remake and what makes a bad one, by examining examples of cinematic second attempts…some that work and some that don’t. In the second of several articles, we look at a remake that definitely did Not work…The Wicker Man (2006)!

As in the previous article on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, we discussed what makes a good remake: It has to pay homage to the original while also adding a new twist to an old idea. It needs to be part faithful and part innovative. It should also be a well-written, well-produced movie. The 2006 remake of the Wicker Man failed on all counts.

For those unfamiliar with the original 1973 British cult classic, it’s an eerie mystery/horror hybrid about a devoutly religious Christian police officer named Sergeant Howie,...