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!
Production details
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
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios, England
Technicolor 90 mim
Filming Began: 30th June 1965
UK Release: 9th January 1966
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England
Locations:
Black Park Lake, Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
Frensham Ponds, Farnham, Surrey
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Art Director | Don Mingaye | 37 | 1 Jan 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 26 | 14 | 40 | |
Assistant Director | Bert Batt | 35 | 25 Apr 1930 | 6 Nov 2011 | 81 | 13 | 13 | ||
Assistant Make-up Artist | Richard Mills | 3 | 4 | 7 | |||||
Camera Operator | Moray Grant | 48 | 13 Nov 1917 | 17 Sep 1977 | 59 | 29 | 29 | ||
Continuity | Lorna Selwyn | 58 | 1 Jan 1908 | 1 Jan 2002 | 94 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
Director | John Gilling | 53 | 29 May 1912 | 22 Nov 1984 | 72 | 21 | 21 | ||
Director of Photography | Arthur Grant BSc | 51 | 1 Jan 1915 | 1 Jan 1972 | 57 | 31 | 31 | ||
Editor | Chris Barnes | 28 | 1 Jan 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 | 12 | 33 | |
Focus Puller | Bob Jordan | 16 | 16 | ||||||
Hair Stylist | Frieda Steiger | 62 | 29 Dec 1903 | 19 Aug 1993 | 89 | 28 | 28 | ||
Make-up | Roy Ashton | 56 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 | 4 | 40 | |
Music Composer | James Bernard | 40 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 | 1 | 25 | |
Musical Supervisor | Philip Martell | 58 | 6 Oct 1907 | 11 Aug 1993 | 85 | 104 | 1 | 105 | |
Producer | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 54 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 | 41 | ||
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 53 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 | 3 | 49 | |
Production Manager | George Fowler | 53 | 21 Dec 1912 | 29 Nov 1993 | 80 | 4 | 4 | ||
Screenplay | Peter Bryan | 46 | 28 Sep 1919 | 1 Sep 1972 | 52 | 22 | 22 | ||
Second Assistant Director | Hugh Harlow | 26 | 17 Jun 1939 | 17.06.1939 | 84 | 3 | 28 | 31 | |
Sound Editor | Roy Baker | 38 | 1 Jul 1927 | 1 Feb 2011 | 83 | 29 | 1 | 30 | |
Sound Recordist | Ken Rawkins | 48 | 1 Jan 1918 | 1 Jan 1971 | 53 | 18 | 18 | ||
Special Effects | Les Bowie | 52 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 32 | 11 | 43 | |
Special Effects Assistant | Terry Schubert | 28 | 01 Jan 1938 | 01.01.1938 | 86 | 6 | 6 | ||
Stunts | Bernard Barnsley | 33 | 01 Jan 1933 | 01.01.1933 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Stunts | Peter Diamond | 36 | 10 Aug 1929 | 27 Mar 2004 | 74 | 4 | 23 | 27 | |
Supervising Editor | James Needs | 46 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Wardrobe | Rosemary Burrows | 36 | 5 | 41 | |||||
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Alice Thompson | Jacqueline Pearce | 22 | 20 Dec 1943 | 3 Sep 2018 | 74 | 2 | 2 | ||
Clive Hamilton | John Carson | 38 | 28 Feb 1927 | 5 Nov 2016 | 89 | 4 | 4 | ||
Coach Driver | Joylon Booth | 33 | 01 Aug 1932 | 01.08.1932 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Constable Christian | Dennis Chinnery | 38 | 14 May 1927 | 29 Feb 2012 | 84 | 1 | 1 | ||
Denver | Alexander Davion | 36 | 31 Mar 1929 | 28 Sep 2019 | 91 | 2 | 2 | ||
Dr Peter Thompson | Brook Williams | 27 | 22 Jan 1938 | 29 Apr 2005 | 67 | 1 | 1 | ||
Gravedigger | Ron Gregory | 46 | 1 Jan 1920 | 25 May 2018 | 98 | 2 | 2 | ||
Graveyard Zombie | John Cam | 2 | 2 | ||||||
John Martinus | Ben Aris | 28 | 16 Mar 1937 | 4 Sep 2003 | 66 | 1 | 1 | ||
Landlord | Jerry Verno | 70 | 26 Jul 1895 | 29 Jun 1975 | 79 | 1 | 1 | ||
Lone Villager on Steps | Fred Wood | 44 | 26 Oct 1921 | 25 Jan 2003 | 81 | 19 | 19 | ||
Man at Funeral | John Adams | 4 | 4 | ||||||
Man at Funeral | Roy Lansford | 37 | 25 Feb 1928 | 6 Feb 2009 | 80 | 4 | 4 | ||
Man in Pub | Ernie Rice | 69 | 17 Nov 1896 | 1 Jan 1979 | 82 | 7 | 7 | ||
Manservant | Louis Mahoney | 27 | 8 Sep 1938 | 28 Jun 2020 | 81 | 2 | 2 | ||
Martinus | Marcus Hammond | 28 | 01 Jan 1938 | 01.01.1938 | 86 | 1 | 1 | ||
Pub Patron | Chris Adcock | 43 | 7 Apr 1922 | 1 Jan 1998 | 75 | 4 | 4 | ||
Pub Patron | Dickey Luck | 4 | 4 | ||||||
Pub Patron | Eric Kent | 28 | 16 Jul 1937 | 5 Dec 2012 | 75 | 6 | 6 | ||
Pub Patron | Jim O'Brady | 58 | 13 May 1907 | 1 Jan 1991 | 83 | 18 | 18 | ||
Sergeant Swift | Michael Ripper | 52 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 | 2 | 36 | |
Sir James Forbes | Andre Morell | 56 | 20 Aug 1909 | 28 Nov 1978 | 69 | 9 | 9 | ||
Sylvia Forbes | Diane Clare | 27 | 8 Jul 1938 | 21 Jun 2013 | 74 | 1 | 1 | ||
The Vicar | Roy Royston | 66 | 5 Apr 1899 | 7 Oct 1976 | 77 | 1 | 1 | ||
Undertaker | George Holdcroft | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Young Blood | Bernard Egan | 33 | 01 Jan 1933 | 01.01.1933 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Young Blood | Francis Willey | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Young Blood | Norman Mann | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Young Blood | Tim Condron | 39 | 22 Oct 1926 | 19 Jul 2006 | 79 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Zombie | Del Watson | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Zombie | Keith Peacock | 38 | 1 Jan 1928 | 1 Nov 1966 | 38 | 1 | 1 | ||
Zombie | Peter Diamond | 36 | 10 Aug 1929 | 27 Mar 2004 | 74 | 4 | 23 | 27 | |
Zombie | Reg Harding | 35 | 1 Jan 1931 | 1 Jan 1997 | 66 | 1 | 1 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
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).