Britannia Hospital (1982)

A dark comedy and satirical look at Britain, especially the National Health Service which is seen at being in thrall to money (so still quite topical then!)

Strange things are going on in Britannia Hospital and Malcolm McDowell is investigating them. The hospital is in trouble, an African dictator is a patient (sparking protests outside) and half the staff are on strike due to the extravagant demands of private patients, while elderly NHS patients are left to die. The mad Professor (Graham Crowden) seems only interested in his bizarre medical experiments including putting a brain in a blender and tricking people to drink it!

It all starts getting a bit weird and the medical experiments become quite frankly grotesque. We end up with a cyborg, which then starts to break down.

As a dark comedy it works, as a satire I'm not so sure. It is maybe a bit too much. The cast is great though, including appearances by Mark Hamill and Leonard Rossiter.

Terror in the Crypt (1964)

An atmospheric Gothic horror film about a cursed family. The film, an Italian/Spanish co-production is also known as La Cripta e I'incubo.

Christopher Lee is a count whose daughter Laura (Adriana Ambesi) is having visions of strange deaths in the family. An investigator in the historical occult is bought in to research a legend. We learn that in the distant past the count's ancestor had a witch put to death and a curse was laid on the family... which now seems to be coming true.

So it has all the ingredients of a fine horror film: a creepy castle, men in pointy hoods, black magic et cetera. While it is an enjoyable film there are issues. The acting is often a bit indifferent (though the dubbing doesn't really help), the story is also rather unoriginal and sometimes a bit confusing.

Well never mind that, the atmosphere in this film is wonderful. It is also has it's fair share of Euro beauties with heaving bosoms.

Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)

Naturally the success of Star Wars invigorated the space-opera genre in the late 1970s and a number of similar type films were released, Battle Beyond The Stars was among the better of these.

Very heavy based on the Magnificent Seven plot: a planet is threatened by a crazed space warlord (John Saxon). Young Shad (Richard Thomas) then sets out to recruit warriors to help defend his otherwise defenseless world.

The warriors are a crazy bunch ranging from the scarred old veteran (Robert Vaughn), happy-go-lucky space trucker (George Peppard) to a number of strange aliens. The film is quite different in some ways to Star Wars, rather more campy and exotic and adult though at the end of the day its space ships firing laser beams at each other.

The story is basic, the budget was fairly low but a decent cast and plenty of cheese helps win the day, and indeed save the galaxy from evil!

The Shadow Strikes (1937)

Lamont Granston (Rod La Rocque) is The Shadow, hero of pulp fiction and radio serials. This film assumes you already know all about The Shadow as there is very little introduction.

Indeed we're straight into the action. The Shadow interrupts a couple of burglars trying to rob the office of a lawyer. The Shadow then impersonates the lawyer when the police turn up and gets involved in a murder mystery. The murder being of his "client" who was bumped off while a new will was being written up.

It is all rather ridiculous and often quite baffling at times. The Shadow isn't really much of a super hero, rather a keen amateur detective who wears a hat. Supposedly a master of disguise he relies mostly on the naivety and stupidity of all around him, especially the police, to maintain his pretense. The film is fast paced but nonsense. It's a lot of fun though. The Shadow and his loyal servant Henry (Norman Ainsley) make a great team.

It Happened in Soho (1948)

A murder takes place in Soho, a reporter Bill Scott (Richard Murdoch) and his new found friend from the country Susan (Patricia Raine) investigate the cosmopolitan streets of London in what at times is a rather strange but undeniably charming travelogue of Soho in the early post-war period.

Nowadays it comes across as rather quaint though in 1948 it probably seemed exotic with it's racial mixing, illegal dancing and cool coffee shop society to the average Briton still recovering from the war.

Inspector Carp (Henry Oscar) is investigating the murder, his sardonic manner is quite entertaining. When mutual friend Julie (Eunice Gayson) is the next murder victim the film takes a much darker turn. A very low budget film, most of the film takes place in just a couple of locations including the cafe but an enjoyable little film.