Awkwardly plotted but chilling just the same, this beautifully-filmed tale of Victorian experimentation with death has nightmarish qualities that won’t go away. Class actors Robert Stephens, Robert Powell & Jane Lapotaire bring believability to a deadly-serious idea that scores the ‘phantom-trapping’ concept years before Ghostbusters. The cinematographer was Freddie Young; both versions are included, along with a commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
The Asphyx
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 98, 86 min. / Street Date January 31, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Robert Stephens, Robert Powell, Jane Lapotaire, Fiona Walker, Ralph Arliss.
Cinematography: Freddie Young
Production Designer: John Stoll
Costume Design: Evelyn Gibbs
Film Editor: Maxine Julius
Original Music: Bill McGuffie
Written by Brian Comport, from an idea by Christina and Laurence Beers
Produced by John Brittany
Directed by Peter Newbrook
The Asphyx is a strangely disturbing horror film with a consistently morbid theme. Despite its web of borrowed ideas and forced ironies,...
The Asphyx
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 98, 86 min. / Street Date January 31, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Robert Stephens, Robert Powell, Jane Lapotaire, Fiona Walker, Ralph Arliss.
Cinematography: Freddie Young
Production Designer: John Stoll
Costume Design: Evelyn Gibbs
Film Editor: Maxine Julius
Original Music: Bill McGuffie
Written by Brian Comport, from an idea by Christina and Laurence Beers
Produced by John Brittany
Directed by Peter Newbrook
The Asphyx is a strangely disturbing horror film with a consistently morbid theme. Despite its web of borrowed ideas and forced ironies,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dysfunctional families have long been a cornerstone of the movies; conflict is key, and the closer to home the harder it hits. Horror has capitalized on this for several decades; Spider Baby (1967), The Baby (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (’74), and The Hills Have Eyes (’77) are just a few examples of familial ties more than a little twisted and frayed. But hey, that’s hospitality North American style; let’s hop across the pond and check in with the clan in Girly (1970), Freddie Francis’ veddy British and very dark comedy of manners, games, and psychotic role playing.
Distributed by Cinerama Releasing in February stateside but not until April in its homeland, Girly did much better business in North America than back home (where it was released under its original title Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, & Girly); this can be attributed to the U.K. buttoning up while exploitation films pulled everyone else’s knickers down around the globe.
Distributed by Cinerama Releasing in February stateside but not until April in its homeland, Girly did much better business in North America than back home (where it was released under its original title Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, & Girly); this can be attributed to the U.K. buttoning up while exploitation films pulled everyone else’s knickers down around the globe.
- 3/31/2018
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Special Mention: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Directed by Jim Sharman
Screenplay by Richard O’Brien and Jim Sharman
1975, USA
For the unfamiliar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the film adaptation of a popular musical stage production composed and written by Richard O’Brien, a struggling actor at the time who was best known for his performances in such musicals as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. For O’Brien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was an homage to drive-in double features and science fiction B-movies of the fifties, and ironically, the film itself went on to become the ultimate midnight movie. To this day, screenings held in and around its anniversary as well as on Halloween sell out. It has never been pulled by 20th Century Fox from its original 1975 release, and it continues to play in cinemas four decades after its premiere, making it the longest-running theatrical release in film history.
Directed by Jim Sharman
Screenplay by Richard O’Brien and Jim Sharman
1975, USA
For the unfamiliar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the film adaptation of a popular musical stage production composed and written by Richard O’Brien, a struggling actor at the time who was best known for his performances in such musicals as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. For O’Brien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was an homage to drive-in double features and science fiction B-movies of the fifties, and ironically, the film itself went on to become the ultimate midnight movie. To this day, screenings held in and around its anniversary as well as on Halloween sell out. It has never been pulled by 20th Century Fox from its original 1975 release, and it continues to play in cinemas four decades after its premiere, making it the longest-running theatrical release in film history.
- 10/4/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
Every year, we here at Sound On Sight celebrate the month of October with 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles. I’ve also decided to publish each post backwards this time for one reason: the new additions appear lower on my list, whereas my top 50 haven’t changed much, except for maybe in ranking. I am including documentaries, short films and mini series, only as special mentions – along with a few features that can qualify as horror, but barely do.
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Screenwriter of British horror feature films such as The Asphyx and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly
Brian Comport, who has died aged 74, was the screenwriter for the cult films Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970), The Fiend (1972) and The Asphyx (1973). Like so many others working in the British film industry during the last half century, he had ups and downs, but the horror feature films he wrote are widely regarded as classics of the genre.
His break into films came in 1967 when he was introduced to Norman Cohen, a film editor on his way to becoming a very successful director, who had acquired the film rights to Geoffrey Fletcher's delightful 1962 book The London Nobody Knows.
Cohen had secured James Mason to narrate the commentary, and Brian was engaged to provide the words. It was Brian's idea to have Mason walk and talk directly to the camera, making the film a...
Brian Comport, who has died aged 74, was the screenwriter for the cult films Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970), The Fiend (1972) and The Asphyx (1973). Like so many others working in the British film industry during the last half century, he had ups and downs, but the horror feature films he wrote are widely regarded as classics of the genre.
His break into films came in 1967 when he was introduced to Norman Cohen, a film editor on his way to becoming a very successful director, who had acquired the film rights to Geoffrey Fletcher's delightful 1962 book The London Nobody Knows.
Cohen had secured James Mason to narrate the commentary, and Brian was engaged to provide the words. It was Brian's idea to have Mason walk and talk directly to the camera, making the film a...
- 10/14/2013
- by John Crome
- The Guardian - Film News
Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
124: (Tie) Inside (À l’intérieur)
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury
Written by Alexandre Bustillo
2007, France
Four months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman is tormented by a strange woman who invades her home with the intent on killing her and taking her unborn baby. This movie is not recommended for women on the brink of motherhood. Inside is one of the most vicious and...
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
124: (Tie) Inside (À l’intérieur)
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury
Written by Alexandre Bustillo
2007, France
Four months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman is tormented by a strange woman who invades her home with the intent on killing her and taking her unborn baby. This movie is not recommended for women on the brink of motherhood. Inside is one of the most vicious and...
- 10/5/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
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