The Monster Club (1981)/notes

 

I was watching a favorite podcast and one of the members of it mentioned The Monster Club (1981), directed by Roy Ward Baker, a callback to the Amicus anthologies of yore, headlined in the framework of an old vampire (Vincent Price) and a horror novelist (John Carradine, whose fingers looked horribly arthritic) he bites in the city while weakened from blood thirst. I dedicated a lot of time and effort to the film on my own blog in the past back in 2016, so no need to go in depth here. But I will say that Shudder's version of the film is best quality I've ever seen. And I'm thankful for that.

Price in clearly jovial form with Carradine's reactions to his quips with that "Oh, really?" and "Hmmm" facial response cracked me up. The stories aren't too bad actually. I liked the second one because of Donald Pleasence as a vampire hunter who got a bit too big for his britches while Richard Johnson, after quite a period featured in Italian Horror, has a role as a vampire dad outsmarting his foes, while Britt Ekland, I thought anyway, was very good. Ekland was often the flighty sexpot (and she's still quite attractive), but in the tale as Johnson's devoted wife, with a bullied son who looks up to his dad, she's such a matured adult mom dedicated to making her family work. Pleasence as the behind-the-bushes, gain-trust-from-a-picked-on-boy vampire hunter who relaxes too soon after putting the stake in Johnson is a hoot.

The club song interludes that follow the tales will not be for all audiences, some perhaps considering them intrusive and overlong. I didn't mind them actually. This club is unique to other Amicus' anthologies of the past which sort of developed a formula. The masked and costumed extras aren't all that effective, but the sense of fun and excitement seems quite in volume, with Price, always smiling with a devilish twinkle in his eyes, such a lynchpin the anthology benefits from.

Advocating on behalf of Carradine to join the club as "humes" (term for humans) were never permitted before is amusing because he's not wrong...humans really are monsters who have perfected the artform of killing each other. But watching Price just go on this long monologue, never missing a beat and in total command as the club members listen intently, is so damned impressive. An icon deserved of the love horror fans have given him, Price remains such a treasure.