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The Monster Club (1981)

My rating 8/10

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An author is approached in an alley by a starving vampire. The vampire persuades him to "donate" some of his blood and in return he takes the author to an exclusive club populated by all manner of strange creatures. While there the author is told three tales involving the vampire's fellow creatures.

I love this fun anthology film!. It has a great cast including Vincent Price, John Carradine, Donald Pleasence, Britt Ekland, Richard Johnson, Stuart Whitman, Barbara Kellerman and Lesley Dunlop among many others. The whole cast look to be having a fun time in their respective stories. And speaking of which...

The first story about a Shadmock, a human hybrid who must never whistle otherwise... Well, that would be spoiling things. A young woman goes to work for him and he falls in love with her. She doesn't feel the same way due to his looks, but her boyfriend convinces her to go through with the engagement so she can get access to his safe and rob him of his fortune. Great story with some excellent acting from James Laurenson as Raven the Shadmock.

The second story is a humerous one which sees Donald Pleasence trying to befriend a young boy in the hope of persuading him to reveal the location of his father who is believed to be a vampire. This does have some funny moments in it and as said earlier everyone looks to be having fun in it.

The last story sees a filmmaker stumbling upon an isolated, run down village as he searches for a new filming location for his horror film. The inhabitants won't let him leave and after befriending one of the young girls there who wants to get out herself they take refuge in the church, which the villagers refuse to enter. While there he learns the truth about what's going on and discovers the story of The Elders. One of my favourite anthology stories, this one is creepy, atmospheric and the backstory about the Elders is one of my favorite moments in horror!.

Inbetween the stories we get musical numbers including a song called The Stripper from the band Night which features the amazing voice of lead singer Stevie Vann.

The creatue make-up and masks in the club scenes are pretty cheesy but they don't take away from the entertainment value of the film as a whole, and as said all three stories are really good. Definitely recommend this one!.

SCREEN SHOTS

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