Main Cast: Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman
Release Year: 1981
Country: UK
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This quaint horror anthology is loosely based on the works of horror novelist R. Chetwynd-Hayes -- who is portrayed by John Carradine as an active participant in his own tales. The author is invited by a suave vampire (Vincent Price) to accompany him to the title establishment, where he observes the secret social customs of various species of monsters -- which apparently include drinking, dancing, and watching undead strippers remove more than just their clothing. He is also made privy to the mating patterns of these creatures, whose tendency to inter-breed creates such new strains of monsters as the "shadmock" (a vampire-like entity with a deadly high-pitched whistle) and the "humgoo" (the sullen offspring of a human and a flesh-eating ghoul). Price's descriptions of these new beasties trigger accompanying vignettes far less entertaining than the framing story, which is rife with horror movie in-jokes, cheesy rubber monster masks, and music by pop-reggae band UB40(!). Accomplished horror-omnibus director Roy Ward Baker seems to delight in the opportunity for pure camp, although the overall silliness of the proceedings has put off more than a few horror buffs. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Tony Curtis - Art Director, Roy Ward Baker - Director, Peter Tanner - Editor, Douglas Gamley - Composer (Music Score), Peter Jessop - Cinematographer, Milton Subotsky - Producer, Edward Abraham - Screenwriter, Valerie Abraham - Screenwriter, John Williams - Featured Music, Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes - Book Author
A fictionalized version of Chetwynd-Hayes (Carradine) is approached on a city street by a strange man (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 club's unique music and dance performances, Eramus introduces three stories about his fellow creatures of the night: A hybrid creature called a Shadmock leads a troubled existence and kills by whistling, a peaceable family of vampires is relentlessly if ineptly hunted by a team of bureaucratic undead-killers, and a movie director scouting locations for his next film pays an unpleasant visit to a small backwards village, Loughville near Hillington, Norfolk, inhabited by a species of ghoul. 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 Chetwynd-Hayes is made an honorary monster and member of the club.
Despite Vincent Price's 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 film's title from his agent. The character of Lintom Busotsky is a film producer, and his name is an anagram of the real film's producer, Milton Subotsky.
Musical artists performing between stories include B. A. Robertson, The Pretty Things and, though they don't appear in the film, the soundtrack features an early appearance by UB40. The rock band Night also perform the track Stripper, which did not appear on either of their albums. The film's soundtrack album including a selection of both songs and instrumental tracks is included as a bonus feature on the DVD.
