Tag Archives: Horror

RESISTING THE LURE OF THE LURID: COLOUR IN THE BLACK TORMENT (1964)

by Dr Paul Mazey The Gothic shocker The Black Torment (1964) represented a departure for the exploitation producers Michael Klinger and Tony Tenser and their company Compton Films.  They had worked with director Robert Hartford-Davis on his debut feature The Yellow Teddy Bears (1963), a salacious (for the time) film about promiscuity in a girls’ […]

Hypnosis as Spectacle in British Horror Cinema

by Dr Paul Frith The use of colour in cinematic representations of hypnosis is as old as the medium itself, often employed for the purpose of theatrical spectacle. Possibly the earliest use of hypnosis captured on film is a performance of the ‘serpentine dance’ original created by Loïe Fuller for the play Quack M.D. in […]

All the Colours of Christmas

The festive period is here once again and the team have donned their Christmas jumpers to bring you the finest selection of films. As Mark Connelly describes, representations of Christmas on screen act as ‘emotional shorthand to impart mood and mise en scène to the viewer’ and can often ‘play a role in films not […]