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‘What unusual energy made her half girl – half snake?’
The Reptile is a 1966 British horror movie about villagers dying from mysterious snake bites which the coroner deems to be coronary heart assaults till a household of newcomers begins an investigation.
Directed by John Gilling (back-to-back with The Plague of the Zombies) from a screenplay by John Elder [Anthony Hinds]. The Hammer Movie manufacturing stars Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Ray Barrett and Jacqueline Pearce.
Plot:
On the flip of the twentieth century within the fictional village of Clagmoor Heath in Cornwall locals are dying from what’s deemed to be the “Black Dying”.
Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) inherits his late brother’s cottage and arrives along with his new bride, Valerie (Jennifer Daniel). The inhabitants of the village preserve away from the newly arrived couple, and solely the publican, Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper), befriends them. Bailey explains that the hostility exhibited by native folks is the results of many mysterious deaths locally.
The sinister Physician Franklyn (Noel Willman), the proprietor of the close by Nicely Home, is the one resident within the neighborhood of the cottage, and he lives along with his daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce). The Physician treats his daughter with merciless contempt, and he or she is attended by a silent Malay servant (Marne Maitland).
Hoping to be taught one thing in regards to the deaths, Harry invitations the native eccentric, Mad Peter (John Laurie), residence for dinner. After warning them that their lives are at risk, Mad Peter shortly departs solely to return later that night foaming on the mouth, along with his face blackened and swollen. He dies inside a couple of minutes. The Spaldings try and alert Physician Franklyn, however Franklyn arrogantly states that Peter’s dying is just not his concern…
Evaluations:
“In her few appearances as herself, Pearce presents a gloriously sensual efficiency which, along with Gilling’s managed route and alluring imagery, constitutes the spotlight of the uneven, however cinematically seductive, image.” The Aurum Movie Encyclopedia: Horror
“The same old veiled warnings and one thing nasty up on the manor home, fairly neatly achieved on this case.” Howard Maxford, The A – Z of Horror Movies, Batsford, 1996
” …The Reptile’s manufacturing group clearly realised that whenever you’re lumbered with making a horror film that has no distinctive stars, no attention-grabbing new idea, and a particular results funds that doesn’t stretch a lot past one questionable monster swimsuit, your greatest wager is to fall again on extra quaint virtues. Y’know – like tight scripting, stable performing, and that outdated chestnut… environment.” Breakfast within the Ruins
“Pessimistic doom hangs over this Hammer movie […] Customary monster stuff, however nicely achieved. John Stanley, Creature Options
“It was a shrewd transfer on John Gilling’s half […] to make nearly all of the creature’s appearances sudden and shadowy. Sadly, no such reticence can be proven by poster designers and stills photographers. Jacqueline Pearce, in one other splendidly intense efficiency, transcends the make-up by investing the Reptile with an aptly sinuous grace…” Jonathan Rigby, English Gothic, Reynold & Hearn, 2004 (third version)
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“The make-up from Roy Ashton is superb, and John Gilling directs John Elder’s script with tempo and fireplace. Jacqueline Pearce is chilly and distant right here…” Andy Boot, Fragments of Concern, Creation Books, 1996
” …it is among the firm’s most underrated fantasies. It was a uncommon try by Hammer to create a “new” monster and a feminine one at that…”Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer Movies: An Exhaustive Filmography, McFarland, 1996
“Taut and tense Hammer providing directed with appreciable model by John Gilling and benefitting from wonderful performances, make-up and artwork route.” Alan Frank, The Horror Movie Handbook, Batsford, 1982
“Muted by way of on-screen motion and horror, and ending conventionally with a cathartic fireplace, this film could lack the blood and cleavage of Hammer’s higher recognized works, however high-quality performances and fantastically nuanced route mark it as a top quality manufacturing all spherical. The successfully wet, ambient backdrop proves excellent for a steadily unfolding plot stuffed with unusual deaths and gloomy exhumations.” Steven West, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Movies 1960 – 1969
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“This isn’t a movie merely in regards to the gothic horror of the state of affairs offered however is as an alternative an attention-grabbing have a look at the darkish and evil nature led to by the unperturbed paternal love. The thriller and the goings on to do certainly encompass the Franklyn’s however there’s actually little question that each one the motion that ensues is right down to the Physician defending his daughter.” The Spooky Isles
“Shades of Kurt Neumann’s The Fly (1958) right here‚ and one other stellar manufacturing from Hammer Movies. Jacqueline Pearce is excellent because the ill-fated woman.” The Terror Lure
“As he did with The Plague of the Zombies, director John Gilling creates a memorable chiller inside the confines of a second-feature standing and a restricted funds…” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Desires, McFarland, 2000
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