Virtual Murder: A Dream Of Dracula

They say bad things come in threes, and that's certainly true as Doctor Velvet and Blackout chalk the final circle to complete this year's trilogy of terror on the eve of Samhain.

Because it's not really Hallow'een without some Draculas, and it's not really The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour without Peggy Mount, dark gods conspired (in 1992) to combine the two in Virtual Murder: A Dream of Dracula, and it certainly takes potions of hitherto unparalleled strength to sit through this hour of supernatural mayhem...

How do a pair of (admittedly amateur) horror-obsessed cultural historians manage to completely miss the definitive televisual translation of one of cinematic and literary-culture's most enduring villainous touchstones? How does Mount always manage to get hallucinogenic head-decoration into her contract? And how does something this colon-clenchingly cheap get on the actual BBC telly when people will be watching, though?

Load up on the garlic, candlesticks and holy water bottles filled with port, then press Play to find out...

WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Programme: Virtual Murder: A Dream of Dracula
Broadcast: Friday 21 August 1992, 21:30
Production/Channel: Pebble Mill Studios / BBC One
Writer: Bennett Sims
Music: Harry Robertson
Producer/Director: Brian Degas, Harry Robertson / Phillip Draycott
Starring: Kim Thomson, Nicholas Clay, Peggy Mount, Jill Gascoine, Tessa Wyatt, Alfred Marks, Hugh Quarshie, Sam Kelly, Phillip Whitchurch, Ronald Fraser, Julian Clary, Stephen Yardley, Alan David

And herein be the terror...

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The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

The Hamlyn Book of Horror

Unearthing horrors from the past is of course the default setting at The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour, so Hallow'een makes that especially enjoyable. And what could be nicer on a wet, grey autumnal evening than a dram of something potent and a book by the fireside?

The second of this year's supernatural specials is but a turn of the page away, as Doctor Velvet and Blackout creak open the eldritch tome of 1979's Hamlyn Book Of Horror, suppressing the hard-wired fear of more than four decades to give it another pass...

How does a book which is already largely a historical study age over the decades, when compared with an evolving cultural appreciation of its original source material? Is the the compulsion to scare oneself with un-nerving media as universal and timeless as the horror-genre would suggest, or does it only feel that way to people already predisposed toward it? And can a book really give you the diarrhoea?

Light the thirteenth candle, press Play and see what answers float through the aether...

WE HAVE BEEN READING:

Programme: The Hamlyn Book of Horror
Published: July 27th 1979, hardcover.
Publisher: Hamlyn
Author: Daniel Farson
Illustrations: 'The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited'. Outrageous.
Featuring: Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Max Schreck, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, M.R.James, Robert Louis Stevenson, Montague Summers and his absolutely magnificent hair.

...and these are the things we see when we close our eyes...

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The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com

Mad Monster Party

Why, it seems to come around earlier each year! Yes, as the decorations go up once again and the dark nights seep firmly in to our homes and our very souls, The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour returns for another unholy trinity of Hallow'een themed podcast episodes to keep a chill in your spine as you shiver 'til dawn.

It's back to the video shop first of all, with Rankin/Bass's 1967 animated cabal Mad Monster Party coming under the critical eye of Doctor Velvet and Blackout, casting new judgement on classic creatures...

Is it really that important to spend time working on the music and the comedy when you're putting together a musical comedy? Is the climactic euthanasia of a range of x-rated villains really a fitting subject for animated entertainment which will be a draw to a young audience? And is Phyllis Diller the ultimate, unabashed, unsanitisable horror?

The answers - like the drinks - are but a tap away and not for the faint of heart...

WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Programme: Mad Monster Party
Release/Broadcast: 18 Oct 1967 (UK cinemas), 30 May 1983 (ITV), 07 Apr 1994 (Channel 4)
Production: Rankin/Bass
Writer: Len Korobkin, Harvey Kurtzman, Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music: Maury Laws, Ethel Ennis
Producer/Director: Arthur Rankin Jr. / Jules Bass
Starring: Boris Karloff, Gale Garnett, Phyllis Diller, Allen Swift

...and this is what happens when you have two model-making teams not talking to each other:

You can Subscribe, Like, Follow, Rate and Review on:



The Peggy Mount Calamity Hour is a free podcast from iPorle Media, which holds production copyright. Opinions and recollections expressed are not to be taken as fact. The title and credit music is by Doctor Velvet, with additional live accompaniments by Ozzy Bognops. Audio segments from television programmes are presented for review and informational purposes only under fair use, and no ownership of these is claimed or implied by this show. Email enquiries to PeggyMountPod@gmail.com