Review of The Reptile (1966) by L J — 26 Oct 2007
I have seen my own future and it's "Mad Peter" - an eccentric perceived as the village nutcase - played by John Laurie (of Dad's Army)!!
Director John Gilling made this concurrently with his The Plague Of The Zombies, using the same village sets and also one of that film's cast (Jacqueline Pearce) in the title role. (I rather enjoy the notion (in my own mind, you understand) that it's actually set in the SAME village as the one in Plague... - that it's a village in Cornwall where weird shit just keeps inexplicably occurring.).
This has vague similarities with Hammer's earlier film, The Gorgon, which is generally accepted as the better film (with Cushing, Lee, Shelley in its cast, and directed by the mighty Terence Fisher), but this has the advantage of being set in that creepy Plague... village.
Pearce is pretty excellent as the cursed Anna, suffering for her father's knowledge of the covert Snake People Cult of Borneo in a rather nasty way - but also effectively scary in reptilian form!
The GREAT Michael Ripper features as the innkeeper (with a FANTASTIC beard!), a pretty good role for him - and a much larger one than usual. Jennifer Daniel had previously appeared in Hammer's Kiss Of The Vampire, and her role here is no less bland, to be honest.
Not a bad little chiller - in fact, quite underrated, I would say. Released originally as support feature to Rasputin, The Mad Monk!
This review of The Reptile (1966) was written by L J on 26 Oct 2007.
The Reptile has generally received mixed reviews.
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