General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens in his directorial debut. Clemens was celebrated for his work as a screenwriter, particularly for his contributions to British television series. Prior to Captain Kronos , he wrote and produced Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde for Hammer. Other films he wrote that fall into and circl...

The Dæmons is the final story in the eighth season of Doctor Who , with Jon Pertwee playing the eponymous hero (see episode 48 covering The House That Dripped Blood for some fantastic Pertrivia). It aired over five weeks on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971. In The Dæmons , the Master, played by Roger Delgado, awakens the ancient horned alien Azal, hoping to gain his immense power. Delgado, a close...

This time, we listened to and read Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman. Robert Fordyce Aickman was an English conservationist and writer. As a conservationist, he played a key role in preserving and restoring England's inland canal system. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories." On his mother’s side, Aickman was the grandson of the pro...

"The House That Dripped Blood" is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. The film is a collection of four short stories, each concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building.     Denholm Elliott appears in the segment "Method for Murder," playing Charles Hillyer. He is joined by Joanna Dunham, who portrays A...

Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology series that aired from February 5, 2014, to June 12, 2024. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith and produced by the BBC. The only recurring elements are a setting related to the number 9 and a hidden brass hare statue. The show blends comedy, horror, and plot twists. The episode we watched, "The Devil of Christmas," is a Christmas special...

Intro music from: Arthemis - Survivor (Destiny's Child Cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYCOtYjCY4 The Survivor is a 1981 supernatural horror Australian-British co-production directed by David Hemmings and starring Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotten. In Adelaide, Australia (not Eton in the UK as in the original novel written by James Herbert), airline pilot David Keller (played...

We return to Hammer Productions with Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972. It marked the final chapter in the Hammer Frankenstein saga and director Terence Fisher's last film.  The Film Features:  Peter Cushing in his sixth and final portrayal of Baron Victor Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein. Despite being 59 and...

Welcome back to our “Beasts” Double Bill! Last time, we watched "The Dummy" from the infamous anthology series by General Witchfinders hero Nigel Kneale. We now leave the smashed-up movie set of "The Dummy" with its snarling Y-fronts-wearing jilted actor and join Angie and Roger Truscott in their secluded Hampshire home for "During Barty's Party." This episode features the only actual 'beasts' as...

We continue where we left off in episode 27 with our exploration of the 1976 British anthology series "Beasts," written by the legendary Nigel Kneale (who now has his own dedicated page on our website!), tonight we watch the first of two episodes "The Dummy." Directed by Don Leaver (not Cleaver), a veteran of many shows from our youth and boasts credits on two episodes of "Hammer House of Horror":...

28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film, our first film from the 21st Century. Ewan McGregor was the original choice to play the protagonist, ‘Jim’, but he and director Danny Boyle had a falling-out at the time over The Beach, in which McGregor was to play the lead but was replaced by Leonardo DiCaprio (McGregor and Boyle have since reconciled). After McGregor, the role was of...

Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It is based on the 1968 novel of the same name by John Blackburn. A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, cofounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys (producer of may Hammer films, this was his last listing on IMDB). #BigChrisLee...

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is a supernatural drama produced by the BBC as part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series. Once again, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the screenplay was written by John Bowen (Writer of the Series’The Guardians’ In a declining England of the 1980s, the UK has broken up and England is ruled by a fascist military force), with an atmospheric musical score by Geoff...

The Stalls of Barchester was first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11:00 pm on December 24, 1971. It is based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M. R. James, it was adapted, produced, and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed every BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas between 1971 and 1977. Can you name them all, Jon? The Stalls of Barcheste...

"Dracula the Damned" is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions starring ‘Big’ Christopher Lee…  Scratch that… Rather, the original sequel to the first Hammer Dracula film was cancelled without explanation, although Christopher Lee's decision not to return due to fear of typecasting probably led to The Brides of Dracula taking its place.  #BigChrisLee...

Lifeforce (aka Space Vampires) is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon (writer of Alien!) and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. It also features John Forbes-Robertson as ‘The Minister’ The film is based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel, The Space Vampires. It portrays the events that un...

Tonight, we complete the Hammer Quatermass trilogy (albeit out of order) with The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown in the US) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial written by Nigel Kneale. Produced by Anthony Hinds, one of the of 37 films he made for Hammer. Hinds wrote a number of fi...

Murder by Decree is a 1979 mystery thriller directed by Bob Clark (Director of ‘Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things’ and ’Dead of Night’ (not the brilliant black and white British film from 1945 - featured in episode 13, but the 1974 American film ), he also directed ‘Black Christmas’, ‘Porkys’ and ‘Porkys 2’  Murder by Decree was written by playwright John Hopkins, who scripted the Bond...

Tonight we are discussing the  1989 British horror drama television film directed by Herbert Wise (most famous for I, Cladius, who worked solidly from 1957 to 2001 on everything from The Bill to 9 episodes of Tales of the Unexpected - including ‘The Landlady’ which may well be the episode that Jon talked about remembering in episode 29)  It  stars Adrian Rawlins (Harry Potters Dead...

After his involvement in the reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise was scuppered by the Pandemic, Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England and High-Rise, announced in September 2020,that he had written and directed a horror film over the course of 15 days in August. This became In the Earth, a science fiction horror film staring Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squ...

Clips from the best bits from episodes four to six 4 - James Herbert - The Rats https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/fcc6efe904b6f9160ab7a0656bc46dd0f5901e93/view 5 - Nigel Kneale’s - The Stone Tape https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/ff8003920d88e2462eaa2353dc2a007a102c2789/view 6 - The Satanic Rites of Dracula https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/752336...

The Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (who is also an Actor was in Mars Attacks and played a General in Marvels The Avengers).  It was based on a short story by Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius and great friend of Spike Milligan, with whom, from the 1960s until his death, he frequently exchanged letters, Many of which are collected in the book ‘Dear Robert,...

Quatermass and the Pit (or as it’s known in the US ‘Five Million Years to Earth’) is a 1967 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 (see General Witchfinders episode 17 for more details). Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial, of the same name, written by Podcast hero Nig...

Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff (season 1–10), Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate lo...

"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968 BBC television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force. The production sta...

The martial arts horror film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires was released in 1974.  It stars. Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing  Christopher Lee… oh hang on… John Forbes-Robertson as Count Dracula (Not the son of Johnston Forbes-Robertson, but did play Mr Badger in 2 episodes of Jonny Briggs)  Robin Stewart as Leyland Van Helsing  (29 episodes of Sons and Dau...