The Reptile (1966)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1966
Running Times: 86 mins (Germany)     90 mins (USA)     91 mins (UK)
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Hammer Films/Associated British Pathe Limited/Seven Arts Productions
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: George Fowler

SCRIPT
Script: John Elder (real name: Anthony Hinds)

DIRECTION
Director: John Gilling
Assistant Director: Bill Cartlidge

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Arthur Grant
Camera Operator: Moray Grant
Colour: DeLuxe

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Roy Hyde

MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: Philip Martell
Music: Don Banks

SOUND
Sound Recording: William Bulkley
Sound Editor: Roy Baker
Sound System: RCA Sound System

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Roy Ashton
Hair: Frieda Steiger
Wardrobe: Rosemary Burrows

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Bowie Films Ltd

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson
Art Director: Don Mingaye

OTHER CREW
Continuity: Lorna Selwyn

LOCATIONS
Locations: Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, UK

CAST
Noel Willman (Dr Franklyn)
Jennifer Daniel (Valerie)
Ray Barrett (Harry)
Michael Ripper (Tom Bailey)
John Laurie (Mad Peter)
Jacqueline Pearce (Anna)
Marne Maitland (Malay)
David Baron (Charles Spalding)
Charles Lloyd Pack (vicar)
Harold Goldblatt (solicitor)
George Woodbridge (Old Garnsey)

PLOT SUMMARY

The small Cornish village of Clagmoor Heath is afflicted with "The Black Death", a mystery condition that leaves locals dead and disfigured by poisoning. Harry Spaulding, the brother of a recent victim of the plague, comes to the village with his wife Valerie and meets the sinister Dr Franklyn and his beautiful daughter Anna who, thanks to a Malayan curse, periodically transforms into a venomous humanoid reptile...

An impressive companion piece to The Plague of the Zombies (1966) which, thanks to Jacqueline Pearce's performance, is one of Hammer's most subtly erotic movies, a chilling and sensual study in repressed sexuality and desire. Pearce is perfectly cast as the innocent yet lethal victim of her own father's human frailties; the combination of her alluring innocence and Ashton's monstrous make up results in one of Hammer's most memorable and original monsters. It's a refreshingly inventive film that certainly has its cinematic precedents - notably Sidney Furie's less than impressive The Snake Woman (1960) - but which stands head and shoulders above any product of a similar nature.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Warner-Pathe Distributors Limited

USA
Theatrical Distributor: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment Inc
Laserdisc Distributor: Elite
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay (DV 10682 - includes: the World of Hammer episode Vamp)

Finland
Rating: banned in 1966

Germany
Rating: 16

Sweden
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: unrated

1966
March
6: UK - theatrical release

April
6: USA - theatrical release

1967
March
28: Sweden - theatrical release

1999
November
2: USA - DVD release (Anchor Bay (DV 10682))

2001
November
2: UK - television broadcast (on Carlton Cinema)

December
10: UK - television broadcast (on Carlton Cinema)

What strange power made her half woman - half snake?

La femme reptile - French title
Kobieta-waz - Polish title
La morte arriva strisciando - Italian title
Reptilen - Swedish title
Das Schwarze Reptil - German title

MAGAZINES

Video Watchdog no.42 pp.29-30 (UK)
review

BOOKS

The Hammer Story pp.102-103
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.397
credits

reptiles, transformations, cemeteries, monsters, snakes, villages, curses