S3E14 Off-Brand Hammer Horror feat. Rowan Lee w/ The Creeping Flesh (1973) & The Crimson Cult (68)

With Halloween only 21 days away, folk horror blogger Rowan Lee joins us to discuss a pair of offbeat Brit horror movies with totally loaded casts. First, Peter Cushing discovers that the humanoid fossil he discovered in New Guinea transforms into the slimy embodiment of pure evil when you just add water in THE CREEPING FLESH (1973). In a film with f--d-up family dynamics, Cushing almost immediately injects cells from his creepy skeleton's newly formed flesh into his young daughter (Lorna Heilbron) in a hair-brained attempt to inoculate her against evil. Christopher Lee is Cushing's hyper-competitive half-brother who mismanages a mental hospital and decides that stealing the fossil during a rainstorm is a great idea. What could go wrong? Directed by Hammer veteran Freddie Francis (DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE), who went on to late-career success as the director of photography of three David Lynch movies (ELEPHANT MAN, DUNE, THE STRAIGHT STORY) and Scorsese's remake of CAPE FEAR. Next, Christopher Lee teams up with the great Boris Karloff and 60s scream queen Barbara Steele in THE CRIMSON CULT aka CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR (1968). This one starts off with a bang with psychedelic sex parties and pagan sacrifices, so as Greg suggests, get high quick because the movie soon gives way too much screen time to Mark Eden as a dense antiques dealer looking for his brother where everyone is losing their minds (and articles of clothing) over anniversary of the burning of the witch Lavinia (Steele). I mean, um, Christopher Lee is right there! Also starring Michael Gough who played Alfred in the Tim Burton BATMAN movies. Both of our films today are from Tigon British Film Releasing Productions, the studio that released two folk horror classics: THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) and THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971) along with some sex comedies. We also discuss folk horror and the pandemic with Rowan Lee and Bob saw MEGALOPOLIS! Check out Rowan's blog at https://theharvestmaidsrevenge.com/ Hosts: Greg Franklin, Philena Franklin and Bob Calhoun Cory Sklar is on assignment OMFYS theme, "Funky Frankenstein," and "Bigfoot Bonanza" by Chaki the Funk Wizard used with permission. "Pelagic" by Density and Time; "Black Mass" by Brian Bolger; and "Apocalyptic Echoes" by Jimena Contreras courtesy of YouTube Audio Library Trailer audio courtesy of Archive.org Web: www.oldmoviesforyoungstoners.com Instagram/Facebook (Meta): oldmoviesforyoungstoners Bluesky: @oldmoviesystoners.bsky.social Twitter (X): @OM4YStoners Contact: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail DOT com NEXT EPISODE: AP Mike aka Mike Lisk joins us for a pair of Bogart classics with THE BIG SLEEP (1946) and IN A LONELY PLACE (1950).