The Monster Club

Plot

A fictionalised version of author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (John Carradine) is approached on a city street by a strange man (Vincent Price) who turns out to be a starving vampire named Eramus. Eramus bites the writer, and in gratitude for the small "donation", takes his (basically unharmed but bewildered) victim to the titular club, which is a covert gathering place for a multitude of supernatural creatures. In between the clubs unique music and dance performances, Eramus introduces three stories about his fellow creatures of the night.

The Shadmock

A young, financially struggling woman (Barbara Kellerman) takes a job at a secluded manor house owned by Raven (James Laurenson), a hybrid creature called a Shadmock, who leads a troubled and tragic existence and is notorious for its demonic whistle. As time goes by, the girl, Angela, develops a friendship with the mysterious Shadmock, named Raven, and he eventually proposes to her. Alarmed, Angela refuses but her controlling boyfriend (Simon Ward) forces her to go through with it to gain the Shadmocks vast wealth. At the night of the engagement party, Angela is caught robbing the Shadmocks safe, and screams that she could never love him. Heartbroken, the Shadmock whistles and destroys Angelas face. Upon seeing her, her boyfriend is driven insane and locked away in an asylum.

The Vampires

The timid son (Warren Saire) of a peaceable family of vampires lives a miserable, lonely life where he is bullied at school and his father (Richard Johnson) spends little time with him. The son discovers his father is a vampire, being relentlessly if ineptly hunted by a team of bureaucratic undead-killers led by Pickering (Donald Pleasence). The hunters break into the house and stake the vampire father, but the tables are turned when the father bites Pickering, meaning he will have to be staked by his own assistants. A chase ensues and Pickering is staked. After his men take his body away the timid son and his mother (Britt Ekland) return to the basement to find that the father faked his death using a stake proof vest filled with ketchup.

The Ghouls

A movie director (Stuart Whitman) scouting locations for his next film pays a horrifying visit to an isolated, decrepit village, Loughville near Hillington, Norfolk, where the sinister residents refuse to let him leave. He discovers to his horror that the village is inhabited by species of corpse-eating demons called ghouls who unearth graves for food and clothes. And now there are no more graves to plunder and the ghouls are hungry for flesh. While imprisoned by the ghouls, he meets Luna (Lesley Dunlop), the daughter of a ghoul father (Patrick Magee) and a deceased human mother. Luna advises him to hide in the church, as ghouls cannot cross holy ground. Whilst in the church, the director discovers the terrifying truth of Loughville; centuries before, a swarm of ghouls invaded the village, mated with the humans and made their nest there. The director with the aid of Luna attempts to escape, only for Luna to be killed by the ghouls and the director captured again and returned to the village by ghoul policemen.

At the end of the film, Eramus cheerfully lists to the other club-members all the imaginative ways that humans have of being horrible to each other, and declares that humans are the most despicable monsters of all. Thus Chetwynd-Hayes is made an honorary monster and member of the club.

Cast

Behind the scenes

Despite Vincent Prices decades-long career as a horror actor, The Monster Club features what may be his only film performance as a vampire; although he appeared as Dracula in the educational film "Once Upon a Midnight Scary". Christopher Lee was originally sought for the role of Chetwynd-Hayes, but flatly turned the offer down simply upon hearing the films title from his agent. Peter Cushing also turned down a role.

In-jokes

There are a number of in-jokes in the movie relating to Amicus Films:

Reception

The film was released to cinemas in the UK on 24 May 1981.

Chetwynd Hayes was disappointed with the film, finding the humour silly, disliking the script and how his original stories were changed (he said only Ghoulsville was faithful), and hating the pop music. He also thought John Carradine was too old to play him.

The movie was a commercial failure. During the 1980s, it was released to video and TV and became a small cult film. It was liked mainly for the pairing of Carradine and Price, who were preparing to leave horror for other ventures.

Music

Musical artists performing between stories include B. A. Robertson,The Viewers and The Pretty Things. The soundtrack features UB40 though they do not appear in the film. The rock band Night perform the track "Stripper", which did not appear on either of their albums.

The films soundtrack album including both songs and instrumental tracks is included as a bonus feature on the US release of the DVD and Blu-ray.