The Plague of the Zombies – 1966

A Hammer film production presented by Associated British Pathe Limited and released through Warner-Pathe Distributors Limited (UK) and Twentieth Century Fox (USA)
Copyright MCMLXVI Hammer Film Production, Ltd, – All right, reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios, England
Technicolor 90 mim
Storyline
Sir James Forbes, a renowned professor of medicine, receives a letter from an old pupil, Dr Peter Thompson, who has set up practice in a remote Cornish village. Peter is worried by the recent outbreak of a mysterious sickness which has claimed the lives of several of his patients, so Sir James, with his daughter Sylvia, travels to Cornwall to find out what is going on. Once there, he finds himself embroiled in a terrifying chain of events which lead him to the conclusion that someone in the village is practising
witchcraft!
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits |
Art Director | Don Mingaye | 37 | 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 25 |
Assistant Director | Bert Batt | 35 | 25 Apr 1930 | 6 Nov 2011 | 81 | 13 |
Camera Operator | Moray Grant | 48 | 13 Nov 1917 | 17 Sep 1977 | 59 | 29 |
Continuity | Lorna Selwyn | 58 | 1908 | 2002 | 94 | 4 |
Directed by | John Gilling | 53 | 29 May 1912 | 22 Nov 1984 | 72 | 21 |
Director of Photography | Arthur Grant, BSc | 51 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 30 |
Editor | Chris Barnes | 28 | 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 |
Hair Stylist | Frieda Steiger | 28 | ||||
Make-up | Roy Ashton | 56 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 |
Music Composed by | James Bernard | 40 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 |
Musical Supervisor | Philip Martell | 58 | 6 Oct 1907 | 11 Aug 1993 | 85 | 103 |
Produced by | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 54 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 |
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 53 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 |
Production Manager | George Fowler | 53 | 21 Dec 1912 | 29 Nov 1993 | 80 | 4 |
Screenplay by | Peter Bryan | 46 | 28 Sep 1919 | 1 Sep 1972 | 52 | 22 |
Sound Editor | Roy Baker | 38 | 1 Jul 1927 | 1 Feb 2011 | 83 | 29 |
Sound Recordist | Ken Rawkins | 48 | 1918 | 1971 | 53 | 18 |
Special Effects | Les Bowie | 52 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 32 |
Supervising Editor | James Needs | 46 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 |
Wardrobe | Rosemary Burrows | 36 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances | |
Alice Thompson | Jacqueline Pearce | 22 | 20 Dec 1943 | 3 Sep 2018 | 74 | 2 | |
Clive Hamilton | John Carson | 38 | 28 Feb 1927 | 5 Nov 2016 | 89 | 4 | |
Constable Christian | Dennis Chinnery | 38 | 14 May 1927 | 29 Feb 2012 | 84 | 1 | |
Denver | Alex Davion | 36 | 31 Mar 1929 | 28 Sep 2019 | 90 | 2 | |
Dr Peter Thompson | Brook Williams | 27 | 22 Jan 1938 | 29 Apr 2005 | 67 | 1 | |
John Martinus | Ben Aris | 28 | 16 Mar 1937 | 4 Sep 2003 | 66 | 1 | |
Manservant | Louis Mahoney | 27 | 8 Sep 1938 | 28 Jun 2020 | 81 | 2 | |
Martinus | Marcus Hammond | 28 | 1938 | 84 | 1 | ||
Sergeant Swift | Michael Ripper | 52 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 | |
Sir James Forbes | Andre Morell | 56 | 20 Aug 1909 | 2 Dec 1978 | 69 | 9 | |
Sylvia Forbes | Diane Clare | 27 | 8 Jul 1938 | 21 Jun 2013 | 74 | 1 | |
The Vicar | Roy Royston | 66 | 5 Apr 1899 | 7 Oct 1976 | 77 | 1 | |
Young Blood | Bernard Egan | 33 | 1933 | 89 | 1 | ||
Young Blood | Francis Willey | 1 | |||||
Young Blood | Norman Mann | 1 | |||||
Young Blood | Tim Condron | 39 | 22 Oct 1926 | 19 Jul 2006 | 79 | 1 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 30 June 1965 | |
UK RELEASE | 9 January 1966 | |
STUDIO | Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England | |
LOCATION | Black Park Lake, Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England | Forest |
Frensham Ponds, Farnham, Surrey, England | Moorlands |
Footnotes
This film marks a high water mark in Hammer’s history, and the five-minute graveyard sequence – part reality, part nightmare – is justly considered to be one of the most frightening in the British cinema.
Jacqueline Pearce’s characters at Hammer did not have a good time and no sooner had she been ‘zombiefied’ and beheaded in this film, she was promptly doomed to become “The Reptile”. Perhaps she should have taken the advice of the title of the Carry On film “Don’t Lose Your Head”, in which she appeared in 1967! More recently, she gained a cult following for her role as Servalan in the BBC TV sci-fi series “Blake’s 7”.
Diane Clare was no newcomer to scary films, having also had parts in Robert Wise’s “The Haunting” (1963) and Don Sharp’s “Witchcraft” (1964).
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection