Behind the Couch

Diabolique is a bimonthly magazine covering every aspect of the horror genre, including film, literature, theatre, art, music, history and culture. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, each issue is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking articles. Issue 25 is now available. A very special issue indeed, it is entirely devoted to celebrating the life and work of Sir Christopher Lee . Inside you’ll find essays and features such as: A WICKER MAN’S MAN - Jennifer Blair examines Christopher Lee’s iconic role as Lord Summerisle in Robin Hardy’s 1973 folk horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man . COUNT PERVERSION, THE WHIP AND THE LIVING DEAD - Kat Ellinger champions Christopher Lee’s oft-overlooked mainland European genre films, from Uncle Was A Vampire to Horror Express and everything in between. CHRISTOPHER LEE: METALHEAD - Joseph Schafer speaks with Luca Turilli of the symphonic power metal band, Rhapsody of Fire, on Christopher Lee’s headfirst dive into the world of ...

Rest in Peace, Sir Christopher Lee. The Silver Screen will flicker a little dimmer without your commanding presence, gravitas and dignity. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Dracula (1958) The Mummy (1959) Horror Hotel (1960) Horror Hotel (1960) The Whip & The Body (1963) Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) On set with director Terrence Fisher The Devil Rides Out (1968) The Wicker Man (1973) The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) House of Long Shadows (1983) also starred Vincent Price, Peter Cushing & John Carradine Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) The Hobbit (2012-2014) His most iconic role... Count Dracula With dear friend and frequent co-star, Peter Cushing

1958 Dir. Terence Fisher Perfectly epitomising the brand of lurid horror Hammer is now famed for, Dracula is one of the most important titles in the history of British horror cinema. Despite its low budget, it boasts a rich gothic atmosphere, impressive production design and iconic performances from Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Jimmy Sangster’s screenplay, coupled with Fisher’s agile direction, not only streamlines Bram Stoker’s original novel, but accentuates the underlying sexual themes evident within it. Lee’s incarnation of Dracula emerges as a sexual predator, stealthily corrupting the morals of those he encounters. With feral ferocity he pierces the heart of polite Victorian society, unveiling repressed desires and creating lustful, hideously grinning she-demons in his wake... This new cut of the film includes previously excised moments such as Dracula’s bloody seduction of Mina and his decomposition in a shaft of sunlight at the film’s riveting denouement. Hea...

1970 Dir. Jess Franco 17th Century England is in the grip of Satanic Panic, and amongst those seeking to rid the land of traitors to the throne and anyone 'in league with the devil’, is Judge George Jeffreys, whose unreasonable sentences and excessively violent tortures are dished out with puritanical abandon. He soon becomes obsessed with Mary, a young women whose sister he accused of witchcraft and whose lover is a rebel against King James II. When the rebels are defeated, Mary tries to save her beau by surrendering herself to the Judge’s cruel lust. Betrayal, bloody torture and murder ensue. Believe it or not, The Bloody Judge marks the first time I’ve reviewed a Jess Franco film for this blog. Despite his insanely prolific career - spanning decades and genres alike - this humble scribbler has seen but a mere scrap of Franco’s films, which, not including my recent indulgence in The Bloody Judge , includes his kitsch classic Vampyros Lesbos and his more recent not so...

1967 Dir. Samuel Gallu AKA Blood Fiend The investigation into a number of grisly murders in which the victims bodies have been exsanguinated, leads detectives to a creepy Parisian theatre specialising in horror productions. Could someone at the theatre be responsible? No! Surely not ! Opening with a scene in which a woman is forced onto a guillotine and decapitated in front of an appreciative audience, only for her to emerge alive and well from behind the theatre curtain to accept her applause, Theatre of Death is intent on letting us know from the outset that all will not be as it seems. The lines between what is real and what is not twist and turn throughout proceedings. Setting the story in the real-life Theatre du Grand Guignol in Paris is an inspired choice. Between the years of 1897 and 1962 it specialised in the production of deliberately shocking and lurid plays, the raison d’être of which was to depict bloody scenes of murder and torture on stage to titillate and te...

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ – who turns 89 today - really needs no introduction. Born in 1922, he is well known for his portrayal of various exquisite villains suffering from the 'loneliness of evil' throughout the years, particularly Count Dracula in the fabulously gothic Hammer Horror films of the 60s and 70s. Despite having performed in over 266 films since 1948 – a fact which gains him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most film acting roles ever – one of the films he is most proud of is Robin Hardy’s pagan folk horror, The Wicker Man (1973). Lee plays Lord Summerisle, the leader of a small pagan community not averse to ritualistically sacrificing virgin coppers from the mainland in order to help their failing crops. Lee was knighted in 2009 and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011. Some of his more recent film work includes Hammer’s latest excursion into dark matters The Resident , medieval action-horror Season of the...

1972 Dir. Gary Sherman AKA Raw Meat When students Alex and Patricia (David Ladd and Sharon Gurney) find a dying man on the London Underground, naturally they go for help. However, when they return the man has disappeared. Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasance) launches an investigation which leads them into London’s murky Underground rail system, where they make a grisly discovery – a group of cannibals that have been feasting on the flesh of London commuters! Death Line is one of the more interesting and unusual British horror films from the Seventies, with its tale of cannibalism in the London Underground and a scathing, scarily accurate commentary on the British Class system. The sleazy opening follows a smartly dressed, dapper 'gentleman' on a trawl through the seedy, neon-drenched streets of Soho, as he wanders through various peep shows, propositioning various women before venturing into the London Underground where he is attacked by an unseen assailant. The grimy,...

1977 Dir. John Hayes When Professor Andrew Boran (Kirk Scott) decodes messages received from deepest space that coincide with recent natural disasters, his investigations lead him to a spooky convent where the inhabitants are not what they seem. They are actually aliens attempting to destroy earth because it has become too polluted and diseased. No, really. Dearest Reader – allow me to present the deliciously entertaining schlock that is – End of the World. Mysterious messages from the cosmos! Parallel dimensions! Cloning! Laser beams! Christopher Lee! Nuns from outer space! Well, strictly speaking the nuns aren’t really from outer space – they are clones of nuns inhabited by the forces of an alien race who are desperately trying to leave earth and return to their own planet… And even though they have effortlessly mastered the concepts of inter-stellar time travelling and stuff, they still need the help of a mere mortal human scientist to assist their attempts to leave earth. You...

Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, this moody and hauntingly beautiful film easily recalls the work of Val Lewton and is as drenched in foreboding and creepy atmospherics as the likes of Cat People or The Seventh Victim . The opening shots of mysterious hooded figures emerging from the mists with clawed and pointing hands are an unnerving delight. The story follows Nan (Venetia Stevenson), a college student who journeys to a creepy town in order to research its bloody and witchcraft-laden past. As Nan’s professor, Christopher Lee provides another knowing and sinisterly suave performance. Much tension is garnered from whether or not he knows more about the creepy goings on in the sinister town than he lets on, and the wry dialogue between him and Nan’s brother sets us on our guard: ‘Have you ever met a witch?’, the brother asks. ‘Perhaps’, comes the cool reply.   The Lewton tradition of creating terror through suggestion is utilised here with graceful aplomb, particularly ...