Very loosely adapted from stories written by British horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Roy Ward Baker's bizarre, scary and charming 1981 horror anthology
'The Monster Club' features three tales told inside a framing story which in this instance involves a vampire named Eramus (Vincent Price) taking the human author also named R. Chetwynd-Hayes (John Carradine) that he's just chewed on for a drink at the titular club. Critics hated it, and younger audiences seeking violence, sex and more visceral and nihilistic entertainments in the vain of The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th were put off by its old school charms, meaning that it was a box office dud. Sure the stories vary wildly in terms of quality, but it remains a fun trip. The tale of the lonely shadmock (James Laurenson) with its murderous whistle being robbed by heartless villains Barbara Kellerman and Simon Ward feels like a filler story that has fallen out of one of the Amicus anthologies which is hardly surprising given that this particular movie was produced by that company's founder Milton Subotsky. There is a vampire tale that is played strictly for laughs featuring a frumpy looking Britt Ekland, Donald Pleasence as a civil service vampire hunter, and Richard Johnson as a vampire who wears a stake proof vest. The third and best story (and according to Chetwynd-Hayes the only one to resemble his source material) tells of a horror movie director searching for locations who happens upon a mist shrouded village where he is set upon by corpse eating ghouls and has to take refuge on holy ground all to a lovely, haunted synth tune called 'Ghouls Galore' by Alan Hawkshaw and some fantastic John Bolton illustrations. The movie features musical performances by The Viewers, B.A. Robertson, Night and The Pretty Things. UB40 also contributed to the soundtrack but do not appear in the film.
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