CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

FlashCallahan Brenda leaves Liverpool, telling her mum she's pregnant, and gets a job in a boutique in London. She moves in with Caroline, but her set shuns her, because of her plain looks. She kidnaps a young man's dog, so as to get to know him while returning it. The young man turns out to be a psychopath with a penchant for killing beautiful things. He renames Brenda, and they start a strange relationship.....On first viewing its so reminiscent of Collinsons' Up The Junction, the way it's filmed, and the attitude of supporting characters, and Brenda's personality, so its familiar ground, quite strangely comforting, when you watch the opening act.But then during the second act, its changes rapidly, with some wonderful editing and camera-work, it's as if someone has given the camera to Ken Russell and said, 'off you go Ken, give us Blow Up mixed with Vertigo'.For a Hammer movie, its miles away from anything you'd expect them to do. Its as if your watching Henry: Portrait Of A Kitchen Sink Killer, and just added the working class element into a thriller.The main character of Peter is interesting, but its so reminiscent of David Hemmings you cannot but help to compare it to Blow Up.Its a curioso piece, very psychedelic in nature, but just loses its way toward the end.

Jonathon Dabell Perhaps the least formulaic film ever released by Hammer, Straight On Till Morning is a bleak and unforgiving "kitchen-sink" horror flick that doesn't quite come off. It is undeniably refreshing to find the studio veering away from the usual period chillers with which it built (and then subsequently bludgeoned) its reputation. However, Straight On Till Morning has not dated particularly well and seems somewhat stuck in a time capsule of music, costumes and attitudes (other controversial movies of that era – Straw Dogs, Performance, Deliverance, Frenzy, etc - have all aged much better). Also, director Peter Collinson's busy and fragmented narrative style proves just a bit too wearisome for the film's own good.Ugly duckling Brenda Thompson (Rita Tushingham) lives in a terraced house in Liverpool, where she spends hours writing children's' fairy stories and dreaming of a perfect life. She lies to her mother that she is pregnant and heads off to London, claiming that she wants to find a nice man to raise her baby (when, in reality, she thinks she will find her perfect prince with whom to live happily ever after). Brenda is incredibly naïve and inexperienced, and it isn't long before she is literally throwing herself at men in desperation. When she fails to woo a work colleague named Joey (James Bolam), losing him instead to her beautiful room-mate Caroline (Katya Wyeth), she runs off into the dark London streets in despair. Whilst out wandering, she comes across a stray dog and takes it back to her lodgings to clean it up and make it look pretty. Later Brenda returns the dog to its rightful owner, the handsome yet day-dreamy Peter (Shane Briant). He seems to like her and offers her the chance to move in with him, but later – while Brenda is away collecting her things – he stabs his dog to death with a knife. Seems that Peter is psychologically messed-up and has a real problem with "beauty"…. in fact, he is behind the disappearance of various beautiful girls in the Earl's Court area of London, all of them brutally murdered by him because of their good looks. Blindly, agonisingly, Brenda allows herself to walk into the life of this dangerous psychopath….There are no characters in the film with whom we can empathise. They range from psychotic (Peter) to promiscuous (Caroline); from stupid (Brenda) to cruel and cold (Joey). To share an hour and a half with such mean-spirited people is fascinating in some respects, yet very unpleasant in others. (This is certainly not a film that encourages repeat viewings). The pacing is slow but deliberate, and the shocks are fairly infrequent (but powerful and disturbing when they come). The film ends on a typically bleak note – no great crescendo of action at the end with the villain getting his just desserts; instead a painfully realistic conclusion which cruelly refuses to play to genre expectations. Straight On Till Morning marks a major departure for Hammer and is interesting, challenging stuff. Sadly - having set up its grim tone, style and themes - it doesn't make a terribly good job of shaping them into a great film.

MARIO GAUCI This one is perhaps Hammer's most incongruous film - a flashily-directed modern suspenser with pretensions; actually, the horror brand-name is only displayed at the very end (even if the credits themselves are unmistakable) - whereas the trailer proudly advertises it as "A Love Story From Hammer"! While the film features gratuitous nudity (virtually a Hammer mandate by this stage), in spite of a number of murders occurring throughout, it's surprisingly bloodless for this studio.Director Collinson's fragmentary style is appropriately disorienting at times and actually proves quite economical - for instance, in the course of the first couple of minutes, we get to know practically the entire back-story of the two protagonists - but it also becomes irritating very quickly! Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant are quite good in their roles, the former typically kooky and the latter effectively disturbed; lovely Katya Wyeth appears as Tushingham's colleague/room-mate, an unfortunate association which ends in her brutal murder.The title (and title tune) are inspired by "Peter Pan" and, in fact, the script makes several references to J.M. Barrie's popular tale: the leading characters call one another Peter and Wendy when their names are really Clive and Brenda; Briant is a bit the boy who never grew up, whereas Tushingham's relocation from humdrum Liverpool to Swinging London (cue some horrid 70s fashions and hairstyles) can be seen as the equivalent of the journey to Neverland. The film ends rather abruptly on a downbeat note.The Rita Tushingham Audio Commentary (moderated by Jonathan Sothcott), unsurprisingly, is not up to the level of tracks I've heard for other Hammer films - given the star's limited connection with the company. However, she displays a winning sense of humor throughout and her recollections prove engaging enough to make it a worthwhile listen nonetheless. Incidentally, here it's mentioned that STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING was released as the A feature in a double-bill with another Hammer thriller - FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972) - which I also recently watched for the first time and is, ironically, the superior effort!

catherinekeohane I say it is one of the most memorable Hammer films for me because I remember watching this film as a child. However, I didn't know its title, the actors/actresses names nor remember that it was a Hammer film, only that it was a rather tragic tale of a plain girl seeking a partner.After a week or so searching via a movie guide book I stumbled upon the title and acquired the movie to watch it all over again.It is an early 1970s film and not one that I would associate with Hammer, but is very good. I think of it as a tragic tale really. The serial killer, Peter (Shane Briant) is obviously a deeply troubled individual bothered by things of beauty which he feels he must kill. The "Plain Jane" tells her mother she is pregnant and goes off to London to search for the man who can make her pregnant, she finds him in Peter unfortunately for her. She's infatuated with him and both live in a fantasy world.She kidnaps his dog in order to get to know him. In its time this film was quite different from all the other films I've seen and I suppose it still is. Shane Briant is a very good looking actor, extremely blonde and it is easy to see why "Wendy" would become besotted with him.The ending is very sad and the tape recordings disturbing. The ending was probably a necessity to the film but nevertheless had Peter not decided to play the tape to her the ending wouldn't have had to be the way it turned out.In short I found the film remains one of my most memorable childhood memories, but isn't in the usual Hammer Horror league. It's difference is what makes it unique.