20° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
A Different Europe 2002

The Plague of the Zombies

The Plague of the Zombies

Country: UK
Year: 1966
Duration: 91'


In 1996 Gilling directed two films for Hammer, the middling The Reptile and this extraordinary zombie film in which the living dead are exploited by corrupt and cowardly noblemen. A horror classic in form, morally this film is similar to the combat zombies inspired by Vietnam and filmed by George Romero the following year.

Biography

film director

John Gilling

John Gilling (London, UK, 1912-1985) began working in cinema in 1933. After the war, he began writing screenplays and in 1949 made his first film, A Matter of Murder. In 1952 he directed Bela Lugosi in the farce Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire. In 1959, after a dozen films and many screenplays for Hammer, the infamous film production of fantastic and horror films, Gilling came to the attention with his film The Flesh and the Fiends, starring Peter Cushing. He then directed for Hammer The Shadow of the Cat (1961), The Pirates of the Blood River (1962) and in 1966 The Reptile and The Plague of the Zombies. After the third chapter of the Hammer mummy saga, The Mummy’s Shroud (1967), Gilling directed his last movie in Spain, La cruz del diablo.

FILMOGRAFIA

A Matter of Murder (1949), Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952), The Flesh and the Fiends (Le iene di Edinburgo, 1959), The Shadow of the Cat (L'ombra del gatto, 1961), The Pirates of Blood River (I pirati del fiume rosso, 1962), The Scarlet Blade (La lama scarlatta, 1963), The Brigand of Kandahar (Il bandito di Kandahar, 1965), The Night Caller (Madra, il terrore di Londra, 1965), The Plague of the Zombies (La lunga notte dell'orrore, 1966), The Reptile (La morte arriva strisciando, 1966), Where the Bullets Fly (1966), The Mummy's Shroud (Il sudario della mummia, 1967), La Cruz del diablo (1975)

Cast

& Credits

Director: John Gilling.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: Peter Bryan.
Director of photography: Arthur Grant.
Music: James Bernard.
Art director: Bernard Robinson.
Editor: Chris Barnes.
Cast and characters: AndrÈ Morell (James Forbes), Diane Clare (Sylvia Forbes), Brook Williams (Peter Tompson), Jacqueline Pearce (Alice Tompson), John Carson (Clive Hamilton), Alexander Davion (Denver).
Production company: Anthony Nelson Keys perHammer Film Productions.
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