Top British Films of the 2. Century. Top 1. 00 British Films of 2. Century: Early. in 1. British Film Institute (BFI) produced a selection booklet and sent. UK - producers, directors, writers. Participants were asked to consider (and vote for up to. British' feature films, released in cinemas during. Altogether, more than 2. The final selection makes compulsive. Descriptions were excerpted from the. BFI web site. The BFI admitted: The key to the BFI 1. Lawless euro union was created in a illegal lawless coup d etat - and this unlawfull stalinist terror-torture unit will collapse with a fucking big bang. Top 20 British Horror Films Last updated at Sun. It contributes immensely to the film's atmosphere. Of course one person might urge that one title should. Of course, there may be films that are. The. list is intended, and offered, as a starting- point for any discussion. Facts. and Commentary About the Top 1. British Film Institute (BFI) Selections: The films spanned seven decades, from 1. The list contained no silent films. The earliest film. Hitchcock's The 3. Steps (1. 93. 5) at #4. There was just one documentary. Fires Were Started (1. Of the seven decades represented (1. Movies/videos starring Poodles!* Silent films, 1895-1930. We are indebted to Karin Taylhardat, who contributed (2/'09) the attached list of 59 silent films (1895-1930. The BFI exists to promote greater understanding and appreciation of, and access to, film and moving image culture in the UK. There were three from the 1. David Lean directed six of the 1. Noel Coward: In Which We Serve (1. The actor with the most included films to his credit. Sir Alec Guinness, who appeared in nine films, three of them in. Lawrence of Arabia (1. Great. Expectations (1. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1. Michael Caine and Julie Christie each starred in six. Hammer Film Productions is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films. A list of notable horror movie character actors and actresses. Notable Horror Character Actors. Smart British guy who's not smart enough to prevent his. Unsurprisingly, literary adaptations featured strongly. Shakespeare and Dickens to Roddy Doyle and Irvine Welsh. Carry. On was found on the list. Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that. British horror stars at the Westminster Film Convention, November 2. A festival of horror opposite the Houses of Parliament.. I never used to miss the London Film Memorabilia fairs at the Methodist Central Hall of Westminster, for their variety of stalls from around Britain and even Europe. A day of rifling through posters, publicity photos, memorabilia, rare magazines, new and old.. But with the advent of e. Bay, I haven't been for a few years. But tipped off (by a friend in New York), the increasing number of guest appearances is now as interesting as the biggest conventions in London, particularly for fans of older British films. In November 2. 01. I'd never met. Actors and directors whose names in credits are reason enough to watch the movies. In person, I'm awestruck. It's been a big deal to try and say anything intelligible. But spurred on by the icons I'd been too afraid to talk to in the past (like David Lynch, doh!), I now barrel in, but politely! Buoyed by my high esteem for these life- long heroes of the horrors, it can also be deflating to see an absence of queues forming to see them. Also means it's easy to meet everyone you want, and allows time for a short, precious chat. At the big conventions, there's rarely time for anything more than grabbing a signature. But this was more like a series of little interviews, plus I took a few photos, so I think it's worth writing up here. My blog, my rules. Martin Stephens was there with two other actors who'd been children in the Village of the Damned. But Martin had several other horror hits, even though his film career was quite short. His last screen role was as a teenager in Hammer's The Witches (1. Martin Stephens and Ingrid Boulting in The Witches (1. Martin's face has been on some of the new posters for the The Innocents, revived as part of the extended BFI Gothic season. This 1. 96. 1 film is also out on blu- ray, and there's a Christopher Frayling book out about it (Sir Frayling was also there that day, hosting Q& A sessions). Coincidentally, we'd recently visited Sheffield Park Gardens where most of the exteriors for the film had been shot. Our visit to the exterior location of The Innocents. I also asked about his working with Deborah Kerr and he not only sang her praises, but added that she was even easier to work with because they'd already made a film together (Count Your Blessings, two years earlier). His role in Village of the Damned, as the leader of the unearthly children, occasionally sounds like the voice is too loud, as if he's been post- synched. The diction is also very precise, so I wondered if his lines had been replaced, maybe by an actress who specialised in child voices. He denied this completely - it's his voice that was used. I also mentioned that the UK version is still missing from DVD (it didn't have the 'glowing eye' effects). Martin talked about doing a radio interview with the director Wolf Rilla, shortly before he passed away, and how the glowing eyes were never intended in the original film. The 'eyes' effect was later added optically to the US version, and highlighted in the US posters. For continuity, the effect was then continued in the sequel, Children of the Damned. Janina Faye and Michael Gwynne in Never Take Sweets From A Stranger. I then looked over at where Janina Faye was sitting (there are signs over each table) and for a moment thought that the years had barely aged her.. In Hammer's Dracula (1. Peter Cushing who not only rescues her from a vampire, but reassures her and protects her from the cold with his overcoat. What a lovely Van Helsing he was. In Never Take Sweets From a Stranger (1. Hammer were accused of making a ghastly exploitation film and it disappeared for many years - I've never seen it play on TV. The first official release was in the Icons of Suspense DVD set in 2. Today, the story still plays out realistically while showing nothing at all distasteful. It's a tough drama and even an apt flipside of the story of the recent Mads Mikkelsen film, The Hunt. It's always rewarding when actors are still actively interested in their older films, especially the stigmatised horror genre. Even better that Janina's daughter shared her enthusiasm, watching her mum's films, (when she was old enough, of course). I told her that I thought I'd spotted her, an uncredited part, in The Headless Ghost. She's still piecing together a list of all of her early appearances. We also talked a little about what work was missing from DVD - she's particularly keen to see A Dance of Death on DVD, as it stars her opposite Lawrence Olivier! This is pay- per- view on You. Tube, but if anyone knows of a DVD release anywhere in the world, please let us know. More info and plenty of photos on Janina Faye's website. David Warner as Sark in Tron (1. I'd happily have interviewed everyone for hours. David Warner has a ridiculously long and interesting filmography. We talked a little about his role as Evil in Time Bandits (1. I asked if he'd actually worked with Ralph Richardson. He confirmed that they'd met, but most of their scenes were shot separately. Mr. Warner had impressed me in The Omen, along with the whole cast convincing us of the unseen forces working against them. His character's demise is a regular talking point, but I wondered if he tired of the focus on that. The photos laid out in front of him, available to sign, were all supplied by the event. But it seemed rude to get him to sign a photo of a dummy of him being killed. And he mentioned he also felt uncomfortable about signing those. Inspiration struck as I asked if he'd actually witnessed his spectacular death scene in The Omen. After a pause he replied, possibly a moment of realisation of a resurfaced memory, that he'd missed it! He was down the pub! In Amicus' From Beyond The Grave, he dominates a segment where he's possessed by a creepy character living in a huge mirror. There was a good photo of him in this, so that's what I got him to sign. I mused that 'the mirror man' might have been the eternal spirit of Jack The Ripper, a pet theory I'd been nurturing, but he strongly denied that! David Warner's website. Julian Barnes, Jill Haworth and director Michael Armstrong on the set of The Haunted House of Horror. Then had a long chat with Michael Armstrong, mostly about one of the earliest slasher films The Haunted House of Horror. I congratulated him on writing and directing such a bloody slasher as early as 1. I was interested that, despite a group of young men and women going into the 'haunted house', it was the men who were attacked. He replied that at the time he was very much against linking sex and violence, to buck the trend that women should always be the ones being threatened. He also wanted to avoid the sexualisation of the violence, and therefore made the victims men. It was a great opportunity to hear about working with the late Jill Haworth. It was sad to hear that he thought she was quite troubled and was often fazed on set, with dulled reactions, possibly because of pills, prescribed or otherwise. I complimented him on directing her scene of sheer terror, and was alarmed to hear that the trick he used to motivate her fears wasn't the elegant motivating pep talk that I'd imagined. He simply found out what frightened her (mice) and dangled one in front of her to get a reaction! Michael Armstrong's website. My look at Jill Haworth's horror films. Onto director John Hough. Would have liked to talk about The Legend of Hell House (1. I've already seen a few interviews about that. I got him to sign my Japanese programme, and wanted to know a little more about Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and how he went from British horror films to filming a spectacular high speed car chase movie in the USA. He denied that the stunts were done by a second unit (another of my assumptions), he was personally involved in filming it all. There was also no undercranking to cheat the appearance of high speed. They had to close off miles of roads to allow the cars to get up to high speed and maintain it, while keeping the public held up and out of sight. To make it look fast, they simply drove along at a hundred miles an hour! He told me how he heard that he must watch the end of Death Proof, where he found a huge onscreen dedication from Quentin Tarantino. He later heard that they'd reused his precise original locations from the climax of Dirty Mary. I asked about the shock ending of the film, and John said that the film was such a success that they could have had a sequel with those characters.. He wanted the message of the film to be . John Carson, Brian Clemens and Caroline Munro were all there too, linked by Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. I was delighted that John Carson remembered working on The Night Caller, adding that it led to his working on Plague of the Zombies - both were directed by John Gilling. Zombies was a good role for him, as he was the lead baddie. You ever noticed that it's John Carson who often gets onto the front cover.. Nobody thought to watch the film and find that he wasn't Captain Kronos! Brian Clemens, director of Captain Kronos (and also the creator of The Avengers TV series!) was one of the many interviewed for a new book about actor Ian Hendry. The author, Gabriel Hershman, was sat on the next table, and signing a copy for me. I've read it already - Hendry had again been in many cult films, including Captain Kronos, Get Carter, and the first series of The Avengers. But his battle with alcoholism was soon at odds with his career. It's a dense and fascinating story about the British film industry in the 6. My review of Gabriel's Ian Hendry biography here. A huge thank you to all the organisers who made the day possible and arranging such wonderful guests. And especially my other half for taking the photos of me with Barbara Shelley and Janina Faye. Click here for details of upcoming London Film Memorabilia Conventions at Central Hall, Westminster, London. The 2. 0 Best British Horror Movies of All Time « Taste of Cinema. Around a quarter of the way through a typically riveting Season 2 episode of The Sopranos, Dr Jennifer Melfi reiterates a vivid nightmare she has had to her own psychologist Elliot Kupferberg (played by Peter Bogdanovich). Kupferberg stares at her, and asks her quietly – “Why do we like rollercoasters Jennifer? Scary movies?” Melfi knows the answer: “To experience the thrill of being terrified. There’s nothing quite as remarkable as a viewing experience that temporarily removes you from the safe surroundings of reality, and places you in a terrifying alternative world from which there appears to be no escape. Whilst America, Japan, Germany and Spain are renowned for producing horror films that have kept audiences awake for weeks, the British Isles is another country that has given a considerable amount toward horror cinema over the years. Whilst covering every terrific British horror film ever made be a somewhat insurmountable task, here at Taste of Cinema we’ve opted to select a spread of movies across the decades that reflect the kind of contribution Britain has made toward making horror film the popular genre it is today. These are the films that represent the finest in British horror since cinema’s inception. Eden Lake (2. 00. Hoodie- horror Eden Lake carries a chilling realism not just in its execution, but also given how it arrived on the back of the revolting happy- slap craze that briefly engulfed the British nation in the form of blurry mobile phone videos back in the early noughties. The plot sees Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly star as a couple who travel to the eponymous Eden Lake for an idyllic holiday, only for their camping trip to be continually interrupted by the vile gang of youths who loiter in the area. Tensions rise up until the point where Fassbender actively confronts the teens, and it is only then that the couple realise that these youngsters are a lot more than simply unpleasant people. In the same vein as “Harry Brown”, James Watkins’ film gives hood- bearing teens a demonic presence, but ensures to maintain a sense of familiarity and authenticity. Everything is framed within realist aesthetics, punctuated by the ominous rattle of bicycle wheels skidding across crunchy dry bark and the phlegmy drawl of Jack O’Connell – who plays the role of the manipulative gang leader. The events that conspire lead to Reilley taking the reins for long periods, and by the time that the picture has reached its unsettling climax she has adopted a haggered, blood- stained appearance that invites comparisons to the weary, depleted female leads of I Spit On Your Grave and Last House On The Left. Surely no accident. One particularly intelligent moment in Eden Lake arrives late in the day, where the communication and interaction between several grown men intriguingly mirrors that of the teens we’ve been watching all the way through the film. It’s about as unsettling as it gets, and whilst Eden Lake is a tough watch, it’s certainly a rewarding one for horror fans. The Descent (2. 00. The Descent seemed to come from absolutely nowhere and take everyone by surprise. Directed by Neil Marshall (the man who has steered Game of Thrones, Hannibal and Constantine episodes over his career) it takes an all- female cast and plunges them into the depths of North Carolina caves. The group of girls wander into unknown territory after going on a spelunking expedition, become trapped with no exit in sight, and eventually encounter some truly bloodthirsty creatures who are unlike anything that resides in daylight of the ordinary world. Tense and absolutely terrifying, The Descent is one of the better British horror films of recent years, and smartly draws on its claustrophobic setting to create a rich atmosphere that is enough to scare you senseless. Village Of The Damned (1. Even if you haven’t seen Village of the Damned, chances are you’ll still recognise the eerie image of glowing eyes emanating from the pale faces of mop- topped children. It’s a movie that’s heavily referenced in the modern day, which is testament to the impact it created during its original run in 1. Eloquent and precocious kids can often come across as a little spooky, and Wolf Rilla’s movie certainly has a lot to answer for in this respect. The plot is an intriguing one: a small village in the UK suddenly falls asleep with no explanation. Everyone within the tiny region of Midwich tumble to the floor one day, and when the authorities go to inspect the area, their men too fall into a state of unconsciousness. A short time later the village suddenly wakes up, and within a matter of months all the women give birth to a bunch of eerie, Aryan children who use telepathic powers to exert control over the adults in the village. Village of the Damned is a classic drive- in horror film – harbouring the ability to send shivers wriggling down your spine. Hundreds of horror movies have created their very own versions of chilling, wild- eyed kids, but none of them are quite as curiously creepy as the ones born in Midwich. Kill List (2. 01. Watching Ben Wheatley’s Kill List is a bit like eating a piece of meat that’s slightly off. Part of you is aware that there’s something not quite right as you’re tucking in, but it’s not enough to stop you in your tracks. After a while a sense of regret bubbles up as your stomach gurgles, and before long it’s too late – you’re trapped in a terrifying, nauseating fever dream. The plot involves two former soldiers who return home to their ordinary lives and opt to take up an assassination contract. They’re provided with a list of names to wipe out – thus the movie’s title. Things get creepier and creepier the closer they get to finishing the job, and before long Kill List has roared into an entirely different genre altogether. It’s a little tricky to acknowledge the brilliance of Kill List in the immediate aftermath of the gawp- inducing final scene. But a brilliant film it certainly is. Wheatley’s picture morphs from an intriguing thriller into sickening horror so surreptitiously that you’re left shaken and stunned by the time the credits roll. You might also be a little angry at yourself for not turning away when you had the opportunity. Very few horror movies have quite the same effect as Kill List, and if you’re a fan of creepy, innovative horror – then you owe it to yourself to see this film. Berberian Sound Studio (2. Wonderfully weird from start to finish, Berberian Sound Studio stars Toby Jones as an unsuspecting sound engineer who accidentally finds himself involved with a suspiciously authentic- looking Italian giallo movie. Finding himself a little unsettled in the company of the crew, the sound technician slowly begins to become both paranoid and delusional, until eventually his life begins to blend with that of the movie that he has contributed to. Twisted and ambitious, Berberian Sound Studio wasn’t wholly accepted by the public upon release, and it’s easy to see why given its maddening, headache- inducing narrative. Still, a closer look at the movie reveals something quite spectacular. If you can bring yourself to take in multiple viewings, you’ll find Peter Strickland’s bizarre escapade into the concept of blurred boundaries a highly fulfilling viewing experience. Days Later (2. 00. Danny Boyle’s rip- roaring pseudo- zombie flick is considered one of the finest British horror films of recent times, and this reputation is most certainly justified. Days Later was a movie that brought fresh perspective to a tired genre in 2. Unabashedly taking inspiration from Day Of The Triffids (itself a close contender for a place on this list), 2. Days Later briefly sets the pretext before protagonist Jim (Cillian Murphy) opens his eyes in a hospital bed. He sets about wandering the deserted streets of London, with some magnificent shots creating a hauntingly realistic depiction of an evacuated UK capital. Jim eventually sees first- hand why nobody is around anymore, and takes refuge with two additional survivors. The movie is shot on digital video, adopting a grainy, cloudy texture that heightens the tense, frenzied atmosphere. The final product is something that looks as though it was cobbled together from footage caught by the last operative surveillance cameras in Britain. When the infected roar onto the screen the whole picture becomes immersed in hyper- kinetic action sequences, but Boyle is far more interested in his human characters than his salivating red- eyed villains. Half socio- political allegory that offers commentary on the state of current society, and half horror- thriller, 2. Days Later is a film that manages to captivate audiences for a wide variety of reasons, without allocating millions to the makeup budget.
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