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British Horror Quadruple Feature
Die Screaming, Marianne (1971)       The Flesh and Blood Show (1972)
House of Whipcord (1974)       Frightmare (1974)


Titles

 

 


 

Die Screaming, Marianne (1971) - Set in Portugal, the story involves the young and beautiful Marianne (played by Susan George), a sexually-liberal woman who's first seen in bed with a shore-leave sailor. She then takes off from her family home and is almost accidentally run over by a motorist, Sebastian (Christopher Sandford), whom she reluctantly agrees to marry in London a couple of weeks later at his steadfast urging. But she pulls a bit of a doozy: while Sebastian is distracted, she has the name of his likable friend and best man at the wedding, Eli (Barry Evans), put on the marriage certificate, making her technically married to him. Sebastian is outraged, Marianne quickly moves out of his place and takes refuge at Eli's. This, however, is just the beginning of things.

Excerpt from Monster at Play located HERE

 

The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) - A bunch of young aspiring actors all take a job at a stage theater that just happens to be set on an ocean pier. From the opening shot of that pier ending the credits with blood spilling into the water, you know it is a “bad place” to go. Feeling more like a dry run for Bob Clark’s great Black Christmas (reviewed elsewhere on this site) than an early slasher film, there is frankly not enough horror or murder to fulfill the basic needs of the genre, instead opting too often for false starts and a desire to emulate full color episodes of the 1960s Avengers series. With that said, it is still interesting enough to take a look at it and its sincerity and attempts at originality failed are still better than the slate of garbage in the genre we have been getting lately.

Excerpt from FulvueDrive-In located HERE

 

House of Whipcord (1974) - An above average sexploitation/horror that has been put together with some polish and care from a fairly original script. The film is dedicated ironically to all those who wish to see the return of capital punishment in Britain, and it's about a senile old judge and his wife who are so appalled by current permissiveness that they set up a gruesome house of correction for young girls. The only trouble is that the film undercuts its potentially interesting Gothic theme by some leering emphases, and the final result is likely to be seen and appreciated only by the people who will take the dedication at its face value.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE


Frightmare (1974) - With Frightmare following on House of Whipcord, David McGillivray's scriptwriting is undoubtedly having a marked effect on Walker's exploitation pictures. Where he used to settle for routine plots, his films now teem with demonic life, plus vicious and genuinely disturbing shock effects. Frightmare is about a psychopathic mum (Keith) who has the nasty habit of going at her victims with an electric drill before devouring them raw. It is far better written and acted than you might expect, and Walker's direction is on another level altogether from Cool It Carol! or The Flesh and Blood Show. The problem is that there is absolutely no exposition or analysis, no flexibility about the theme; still contained within a basic formula, it tends to leave a highly unpleasant aftertaste.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE 

Posters

Theatrical Releases: Various from 1971 - 1974

  DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Shriek Show (Media Blasters) - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover

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Distribution Shriek Show - Region 1 - NTSC
Time: over 6 hrs. total on four discs
Audio English (mono), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Shriek Show

Aspect Ratio:
Aspect Ratios - 1.85 

Edition Details:

Die Screaming, Marianne
Commentary track by director Pete Walker and Jonathon Rigby
Still Gallery
Trailers

The Flesh and Blood Show
• Interview - Pete Walker: A Man Of Flesh & Blood (12:15)

Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

House of Whipcord
• Audio Commentary
• Interview with director Pete Walker, director of photography Peter Jessop and Steven Chibnall
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer (4:3)
 

Frightmare
Audio commentary with director Pete Walker and director of photography Peter Jessop.
Still Gallery
Trailers for The Comeback, The Confessional, Die Screaming, Marianne!, The Flesh And Blood Show, Frightmare and The House Of Whipcord


DVD Release Date: April 22nd, 2008

4 standard keep cases inside a cardboard box
Chapters:

Die Screaming, Marianne - 12
The Flesh and Blood Show - 12
House of Whipcord - 12
Frightmare - 12

 

Comments:

NOTE: The four DVDs in this package are the exact same ones released individually in the summer of 2006 by Shriekshow a division of Media Blasters (ported from Anchor Bay I believe). All have "The Pete Walker Collection" across the top but that may not have been noteworthy enough, marketing-wise, for this compilation and it is instead called the "British Horror Quadruple Feature Collection". The savings by purchasing the boxset as opposed to individually is extensive - 4 X $17.99 (individually) = $71.96 vs. $19.99 for the entire collection. In the UK there is also a 'Pete Walker Collection' from Starz Home Entertainment that includes: 'Die Screaming Marianne', 'House Of Whipcord', 'Frightmare', 'House Of Mortal Sin' and 'The Comeback'.

The 4 main features of this boxset are housed in individual keep cases (see images above and below). I still consider the price for the package extremely reasonable for what you are getting. The transfers are all dual-layered and anamorphic but show some slight interlacing. 3 of the 4 have a director-involved commentary and offer boosted 5.1 tracks along with original English language mono. None offer subtitles and are coded for regions 1 in the NTSC standard.

Image: Fairly consistent with Marianne and Frightmare looking the best in terms of detail. I don't see untoward manipulation and I'll assume they are reasonably faithful to their theatrical roots (although I suspect aspect ratio's should be 1.66, no?). I don't anticipate that any fans will be totally unhappy with the quality of the image aside from the visible 'combing' - but I've seen much worse. Bitrates are high - all exceeding the 8.0 mb/s level. The screen grabs below give a fair indication of the quality to expect.

Audio - I'm not fan of bumps and mostly watched with the more modest track (where offered). I sampled some screams in 5.1 but the effect produced wasn't extensive enough for me to stick with that option. These tracks show their age a bit but reproduce the film's dialogue to an acceptable audible level. Unfortunately there are no optional subtitles.

Extras - I must admit - the three commentaries are quite good and Walker is very affable occasionally interjecting some intelligent humor and amusing anecdotes about the performers - like Susan George. For The Flesh and Blood Show someone dug up an 12 minute interview with the director but the rest of the supplements are mini stills galleries and trailers. Still the effort for the inclusions is appreciated.

Overall impression: Horror may be my least favorite genre, personally, but, although not their intention on production, there is a kind of 'groovy' niche about these films today. Some, cheap gore, T + A and the perennial bulbous-lipped blondie Susan George (focus of too many adolescent fantasies) swaying to Go-Go music. I mean - what's not to like? Just don't expect, say Hammer Films output quality (of the same timeframe). These were cost prohibitive, occasionally exploitive, surprisingly well-acted, features - gearing towards an audience that probably knew exactly what they were in for. One can't argue with the price of nearly a 400% savings on the initial releases. For those even remotely keen this is a decent enough collection at a great price.         

Gary W. Tooze



DVD Menus


 


 

Keep Case Cover

 

NOTE: the exact same editions are available in this 'Brit Quad Horror' boxset. 4 X $17.99 (individually) = 71.96 vs. $19.99 (Entire Collection)

 

 

Directed by Pete Walker

Starring - Susan George, Barry Evans, Christopher Sandford and Judy Huxtable

 

Screen Captures

 

 


Keep Case Cover

 

NOTE: the exact same editions are available in this 'Brit Quad Horror' boxset. 4 X $17.99 (individually) = 71.96 vs. $19.99 (Entire Collection)

 

 

Directed by Pete Walker

Starring - Jenny Hanley, Ray Brooks, Luan Peters, Judy Matheson, Candace Glendenning and Robin Askwith

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 


Keep Case Cover

 

NOTE: the exact same editions are available in this 'Brit Quad Horror' boxset. 4 X $17.99 (individually) = 71.96 vs. $19.99 (Entire Collection)

 

Directed by Pete Walker


Starring - Barbara Markham, Patrick Barr, Ray Brooks, Ann Michelle, Sheila Keith and Dorothy Gordon

 

Screen Captures

 

 


Keep Case Cover

 

NOTE: the exact same editions are available in this 'Brit Quad Horror' boxset. 4 X $17.99 (individually) = 71.96 vs. $19.99 (Entire Collection)

 

 

Directed by Pete Walker

Starring - Rupert Davies, Sheila Keith, Deborah Fairfax, Paul Greenwood and Kim Butcher 

 

Screen Captures

 


 

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Shriek Show - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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Gary Tooze

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