The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Despite being considered by many as an original story, The Abominable Snowman (1957) is in fact a remake of a made for television play, The Creature, that was originally broadcast in the UK in 1955. Hammer Films would often purchase the rights of popular TV programs and subsequently re-work them for mainstream, international cinema. Larger production budgets and fewer censorship restrictions allowed them to make their cinematic interpretations more lurid, thus commercially viable. Hence The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit were all given a big screen makeover and were commercially successful. The Abominable Snowman was written by acclaimed writer Nigel Kneale, who also wrote the original television drama and the aforementioned Quatermass trilogy. Although ostensibly marketed as a horror film this production is actually an interesting blend of psychological thriller and science fiction.
Scream and Scream Again (1970)
I first saw Scream and Scream Again as a teenager while watching late night television. I was expecting the usual sort of lurid, seventies, exploitation horror and much to my surprise was met with something quite different. The film left a marked impression upon me and so I decided to re-watch it recently. This second viewing only further compounded my sense of surprise. Scream and Scream Again was clearly marketed as a horror film upon release but it strays more into the science fiction genre. I was reminded of Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and there is a further hint of conspiracy thrillers such as The Parallax View. Although a low budget film, quickly made to meet production schedule and fill a gap in the market, Scream and Scream Again has an intriguing premise and is presented in an engaging format, with three seemingly separate stories coming together to form a rather sinister conclusion. There are more ideas here than you’ll find in many big budget contemporary movies.
I, Monster (1971)
I, Monster is a low budget Amicus production and a cunning retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Due to copyright reasons, these names are not used in the film and are replaced with new characters, Marlowe and Blake respectively. However, despite the modest budget and the aforementioned legal issues, this is a very faithful adaptation of the original gothic novella. Milton Subotsky’s screenplay incorporates all the essential elements of the source text which is both a boon and a bane. A boon because it really does capture the essence of Stevenson’s concept, which has been drastically misrepresented by previous adaptations. And a bane in so far that the original novella is a little too insubstantial to sustain a feature film. Even at a modest 75 minutes running time I, Monster feels somewhat “thin”.