Gordon Hessler Archives

The Oblong Box (1969)

Rating: ★★

Jan 5, 2001Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation

One of the films seeking to exploit the fad for Edgar Allan Poe adaptations started by Roger Corman in the 1960s. This has nothing to do with the Poe story and mostly shuffles around the familiar elements of the cycle

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Arne, Hilary Dwyer, …

Category: Horror

5 January 20012 August 2024 by Roog

Scream and Scream Again (1970)

Rating: ★★

Dec 20, 2001Mad Scientist/Android Takeover Conspiracy

Cult Anglo-horror film with a series of vampire killings that lead to Vincent Price trying to replace bureaucrats with androids

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Christopher Matthews, …

Category: Science Fiction

20 December 200131 August 2021 by Roog

Cry of the Banshee (1970)

Rating: ★

Aug 9, 2003Mysterious Stranger/Witch's Retribution

Dreary film in which Vincent Price is a magistrate who is haunted by a manifestation of The Devil for his witch persecutions. The publicity falsely tried to sell this as an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation.

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Vincent Price, Patrick Mower, Essy Persson, Hugh Griffith, …

Category: Horror

9 August 200317 June 2026 by Roog

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)

Rating: ★★★★

Nov 12, 2002Arabian Nights Adventure

The second of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad films, an Arabian Nights adventure. Made as a vehicle for Harryhausen's stop-motion effects, which are stunning. Everything about the film is classic

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: John Phillip Law, Tom Baker, Caroline Munro, Douglas Wilmer, …

Category: Fantasy

12 November 200212 March 2026 by Roog

Scream Pretty Peggy (1973)

Rating: ★★

Jun 27, 2023Psycho-Thriller

A psycho-thriller that offers up the plot of Jane Eyre by way of Psycho. With Bette Davis rising to form as an alcoholic mother

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Bette Davis, Sian Barbara Allen, Ted Bessell, Charles Drake

Category: Horror

27 June 202327 June 2023 by Roog

The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)

Rating: ★★

Aug 4, 2016Possessed Housewife

An The Exorcist copy made as a tv movie – where The Exorcist shocked audiences with barf bag theatrics and obscenities, this merely has Karen Black shucking her staid fashion sense and buying a sexy red dress. Rather peculiarly, this becomes a possession story as women's self-actualisation drama

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Karen Black, George Hamilton, Robert F. Lyons, Jean Allison, …

Category: Horror

4 August 201623 March 2023 by Roog

Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978)

Rating: ★

Mar 4, 2003Rock Star Superheroes

A Hanna-Barbera film based around 70s rock group Kiss where they are cast as superheroes fighting a mad scientist who operates from an amusement park with an army of android duplicates

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, …

Category: Science Fiction

4 March 200313 June 2026 by Roog

The Girl in a Swing (1988)

Rating: ★★½

Nov 30, 2000Haunting

A cryptic ghost story based on a novel by Watership Down author Richard Adams, featuring Meg Tilly as a newlywed bride who is haunted by events from her past

Director: Gordon Hessler

Actors: Meg Tilly, Rupert Frazer, Nicholas Le Prevost, Lynsey Baxter

Category: Horror

30 November 20003 March 2026 by Roog