Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett)
travels with his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) to Clagmoor in Cornwall, to discover how
his brother died. They are befriended by Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper), landlord of the
village pub, and a strange local called Mad Peter (Peter Laurie). When Mad Peter is found
dead with foaming lips and a blackened face, Harry exhumes his brother's body, and finds
it in the same condition. Tom Bailey recognizes the symptoms as those of a snake bite...
Valerie meets Anna Franklyn (Jacqueline Pearce), a beautiful but distant girl who seems terrified of her father, the strict Dr Franklyn (Noel Willman). Franklyn in turn seems controlled by his sinister Malay manservant. Harry receives a letter from Anna, saying she is in danger, and goes to Franklyn's house where he is attacked and bitten by a hideous reptilian creature. Harry staggers back to his cottage where Valerie cuts the poison from the bite, then sets off herself in search of Anna.
She meets Franklyn who desperately explains how his daughter was initiated into a terrible cult, the 'Ourang Sancto' or snake people of Borneo, and how she now sheds her skin and turns into a monster. Franklyn kills the Malay, the agent of the cult, but in the struggle starts a fire.
Awoken by the heat, the reptile stalks.....
Produced by Hammer Films, and directed by John Gilling with a screenplay by John Elder
(Anthony Hinds) it was released in March 1966 on a double bill with "Rasputin The Mad
Monk". Hammer fans may notice a similarity with the location. "The Reptile"
was shot on the same sets used for "Plague Of The Zombies" also released in
1966.
Well that's just a brief rundown of the plot. What of the print quality, previewed on my 3' screen the picture seems very good, perhaps not up to the standards of modern films (The Reptile dates from 1966). After viewing on my main screen which is 6' I will change my view and say it is up to modern films standards. The sound was very clear, one point the night scenes are very bright and clear (almost daylight), this is not a complaint though, at least you can see what is happening on screen, I was not old enough to see it in the cinema so not sure if it should be like that.
Overall another excellent Hammer Film Production, well worth adding to your collection. And its always nice to see Michael Ripper a great character actor.
Released to the cinemas by Warner-Pathe in the UK and 20th Century-Fox in USA
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Distributed by: Derann
Films. I have this film in my collection my rating: Picture |
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002
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