The Devil's Undead

I think this movie was the premis for the modern movie Get Out. It's too coincidental not to be. That being said it's not a bad movie. A little slow until the end but worth the wait. It's more mysterious than horror until the conclusion. If you're a Cushing fan I think you'll like it.

Every now and then you stumble on an unheard of gem.. This is one of those movies you've never heard of which has a decent story and good cast. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in this modern film about a mystery surrounding the children of an orphanage and a bizarre series of deaths. This is definitely worth watching if you like these Hammer stars and like occult movies. I must admit this one caught me off guard. The end could have been fleshed out a bit more but I definitely enjoyed the story and have even managed to obtain a DVD transfer for my collection. I think this plot could be done to make a great modern horror. I found it on Youtube...

Rich men are dying, with no especial connection save they are all trustees for a young girl. Colonel Christopher Lee thinks that's the connection, so he contacts Peter Cushing, because they haven't made a movie together in a month. Diana Dors appear is this movie, looking a trifle pudgy, alas. She's the mother of the girl, fresh out of prison, ten years after committing a triple murder. Newspaper woman Georgia Brown is trying to get the trust broken, because everyone's in favor of mother love, aren't they? But why did a bus driver die, burnt to a crisp in a bus crash, when there was no fire? It's a nicely produced movie, but it holds few surprises in its story for the modern viewer. The casting is pretty good, with Michael Gambon giving his second big-screen appearance, but the genre was getting pretty tired by this point.

In spite of having some exciting (and daring) sequences, NBTN just never gets going. There are exploding boats, hat pin murders, mass suicides, pathologists with body parts, and all sorts of classic mystery/horror scenes, but they're interspersed with extended periods of pure exposition. Everybody in the movie looks bored. This is a shame because many of the sequences would be considered daring at the time this was filmed. Add to this the "too-proper" Brit characters and you feel like you've drifted into a Sherlock Holmes movie. Finally, the cinematography is very ordinary. There are lots of opportunities for beautiful shots of of the countryside, or complex shots of someone being pulled into a huge bonfire, but the whole thing is unimaginative and dull. Definitely only for Lee and Cushing fans.

I don't think this film is as bad as it's been suggested. If you go in viewing it more as a mystery than expecting faced paced horror from the start, I think it's enjoyable...it just requires some patience. The ending rewards you if you allow yourself to stick with it. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing do their best with a less than great script, but it's important to keep in mind that most novel-to-screen adaptations do suffer badly, and I think this is more the case here. Gwyneth Strong does an amazing job as Mary Valley, and it makes me curious to see what other work she's done. If you find a bargain DVD of this one, or see it on late night cable, give it a shot. And if you're a fan of British horror like I am, it is always great to have a visit with Lee and Cushing once again!

The horror team of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee team up again in Nothing But The Night produced by Lee himself in his only venture into producing. Lee is a police inspector and Cushing a forensic pathologist who successfully dabbles in hypnotism. Cushing will need all his skills as he teams up with Lee to solve a group of serial murders involving some truly horrific deaths at an orphanage. The mother of one of the kids there Diana Dors was a prostitute and just came back from serving a prison term for murder. She's demanding answers and doesn't want to wait for Lee and Cushing to work their case. Of course it involves the kids at the orphanage including Dors's little girl. More I will not say. Not as good as those old Hammer productions.

This is one of the lesser talked about films starring the superb duo Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It's pretty good film but it is a bit slow - this one could have done with a little quicker pace. 3 prison deaths that appear as suicides on the surface stirred some questions but once 3 more trustees and 30 orphan children are in a bus accident and most die then police colonel Bingham (Christopher Lee) starts seriously investigating. Sir Ashley (Peter Cushing) agrees to help investigate the mysterious happenings. It's a supernatural mystery. 6/10