Savage Night - Creature Feature: The Reptile

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	spacer The Reptile 1966 Color - John Gilling, Director Filmed in English _________________________________ Reviewed by Christopher Fulbright spacer
	I was surprised to find that there hadn't been much written about this gem of a Hammer horror classic. When Anchor Bay re-released a number of Hammer films on DVD last year, I was going mad to buy each and every one of them I could possibly afford. Who could resist The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Vengeance of She, The Lost Continent, Plague of the Zombies, and Rasputin - The Mad Monk? One of the movies I grabbed among these was The Reptile, a film I'd neither seen nor heard of before. It certainly had a cool cover, so I popped it in, expecting only as much as any horror fan knows to expect from a blind purchase. I was frankly impressed with The Reptile, considering the quality of this movie in comparison to most of the crap out there posing as horror. I'd seen the dismal attempt at filmmaking called SSSSSsssssss! starring, as I recall, Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) of Battlestar Galactica fame as the snake-person mutatee. But the snake person on the cover of Anchor Bay's re-release looked much scarier, so I gave it a shot.
	*The Reptile* begins as Charles Spaulding is wandering across a moor in Cornwall, England, stalked by a mysterious shadow. As he reaches his destination - a large stately manor - he wanders upstairs only to be attacked by a shadowy creature that sends him reeling back down the stairs, clutching his neck and turning black in the face, foaming at the mouth.
	Soon after dear Charles is buried in a hastily arranged and discreet funeral, his brother, Capt. Harry Spaulding is summoned to the lawyer's office, where he and his wife find they've been bequeathed little more than Charles's cottage in Cornwall, and a conspicuous mystery. Harry is immediately suspicious of the reports of his brother's death being a result of heart failure. He and his wife travel to Cornwall immediately. The local folk give them a pretty cold shoulder upon their arrival, all but the friendly ex-seaman Tom Bailey (played by Michael Ripper), who runs a local bar. Upon their arrival at the cottage, the Spauldings realize the cottage has been ransacked and completely destroyed on the inside. The former army captain storms back up to the local watering hole and makes a scene that empties the place - which seems to happen just about every time he walks in. Meanwhile, his wife is at home alone, and Dr. Franklyn, owner of the aforementioned stately manor (and presumably the murderous monster), comes creeping out of the bushes being weird and setting Mrs. Spaulding ill at ease. He says some strange things and goes stalking off before the hubby manages to make it home.
	On his way back from the watering hole, Capt. Spaulding comes across an old man who claims to be the town drunk (uh-huh - you probably guessed his fate already) spouting nonsense, introducing himself as "Mad Peter." After having dinner with the Spauldings, the old man takes off only to show up in the middle of the night, scratching at the window, foaming at the mouth, and - yes - dying.
	From this point the movie really picks up, sustaining the suspense admirably, and carrying the viewer along with some dark moments and moody atmosphere. We become a bit more acquainted with the strange Dr. Franklyn, his daughter Anna, and a strange Indian who seems to hold them prisoner. Tom the ex-seaman teams up with Dr. Spaulding to solve the mystery, beginning by digging up the bodies of Mad Peter and his brother, to find mysterious bite marks on their necks. For a bunch of fairly unknown actors (with the exception of Jacqueline Pearce who plays Anna), the whole cast pulled it off well, portraying believable characters faced with a mythic horror.
	As stated on the box, the movie is reminiscent of Bram Stoker's Lair of the White Worm, but is original in that this premise of snake people hasn't been tried too many times before with much success. The end for me was shocking as I discovered the nature of the reptile creature, and I was duly pleased with the final unveiling of the creature, which had been left mostly in shadow until the final few scenes.
	This film was directed by John Gilling, who also directed Plague of Zombies back-to-back with The Reptile. I thank God I watched The Reptile first, because the set used for Plague of Zombies is exactly the same, and seemed tired to me by that time. Although he uses different camera angles, you can still recognize key features of the set. The Reptile is 10 times better than Plague, and as a side note, Plague of Zombies was a pretty dismal attempt itself in light of some of the greater zombie movies we've come to know and love. The promos for this film were coupled with Rasputin - The Mad Monk, which starred Christopher Lee, so it didn't even get its own advertising budget, and probably got buried under the fact that Lee starred in Rasputin. In any event, The Reptile scored big points with me for mood, suspense, and overall execution. Just a fantastic monster movie, which stands out among the pack. The DVD features a cool 30-minute show called World of Hammer "Vamp," and of course, trailers and TV spots. I highly recommend this affordable Anchor Bay purchase for fans of classic horror cinema. spacer
	Related Links Horrordvds.com Hammer Films Web Ring The Films of Jacqueline Pearce The Hammer Collection Reviews Support Savage Night - Purchase "The Reptile" from Amazon:



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