La femme reptile

Harry and Valerie Spalding (Ray Barrett and Jennifer Daniel) move in to a quaint little cottage in a small village. The cottage used to belong to Ray's brother, before his untimely demise. It seems he died from "heart failure", but as time goes by, a far more insidious cause arises.

Enter Dr. Franklyn and his beautiful daughter, Anna (Jacqueline Pearce). What's really going on in that big, spooky old house of theirs?

THE REPTILE is a well-made Gothic horror film. It takes the basic "monster movie" idea, and adds a good deal of mystery and suspense. A classic Hammer film with loads of heavy atmosphere.

Special mention for the makeup department. A lot of time and effort went into this practical creation. In the age of CGI, such artistic genius seems to have been lost...

Made back-to-back with Plague of the Zombies, and using many of the locations, the same director, and some of the cast from that film, The Reptile isn't quite as good as Hammer's only zombie movie, but is still splendid fun nonetheless.

Ray Barrett plays Harry Spalding, an ex-soldier who moves to Cornwall with his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel), after he inherits a country cottage from his recently deceased brother.

Unfortunately, the Spaldings' new life in the West country is far from idyllic: the locals are less than friendly (with the exception of Tom Bailey, the pub landlord, played by Hammer regular Michael Ripper); their new neighbours—Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman), his beautiful daughter Anna, and their manservant—are more than a little creepy; and some kind of extremely venomous creature is on the loose and claiming victims right, left and centre.

Don't expect too much in the way of blood and boobs in this offering from Hammer: there is very little of both. What you do get, however, is a decent cast giving some fine performances (Michael Ripper, in particular, gets a chance to shine), some suitably atmospheric direction from John Gilling, and a memorable monster which, despite being kinda silly looking, is still pretty freaky.

And that's good enough for me!

A young couple, Harry and Valerie Spalding, inherit and move into a small cottage previously owned by the husband's now deceased brother, Charles. Charles' death is something of a mystery, but none of the locals in the small Cornish village want to discuss it or any of the other deaths they've seen. Harry has seen some strange things in his time and believes that these deaths are similar to the cobra bite victims he saw in India. But a cobra in Cornwall - it's not possible. The couple meets their standoffish and odd neighbor, Dr. Franklyn, and his charming, but strange daughter, Anna. The Franklyn's are hiding a secret, but is it a secret capable of killing Charles and others in the community? Is there a giant, snake-like creature hiding in the Franklyn's house?

Of all the wonderful movies that Hammer made, I'm of the opinion that The Reptile is one of the most often overlooked gems in the catalog. It's a really nice movie that doesn't seem to get near the attention I feel it deserves. Good acting from a rather small cast (with a big, meaty role for Hammer regular Michael Ripper), nice pacing, solid direction, and that Hammer "look" (for lack of a better word) that I always enjoy. But what really sets The Reptile apart is the atmosphere. There's a real sense of fear and mystery about the whole movie. It's as creepy and suspense filled as anything Hammer ever made. And I just love the whole notion of a snake-cult putting a curse on Franklyn and his daughter. It's a unique, original idea for a movie. Sure, there have been other snake-to-man movies, but none that I've seen are as well done as this one. Finally, I've read complaints about the make-up effects. Personally, I think they're fine given the relative modest budget Hammer put-up for the movie. The snake appliances may not look as real as one might have hoped for, but at least they're not some weightless CGI nonsense. Just go with it and have fun.

Upon the mysterious death of his brother, Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) and his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) decide to move to the inherited cottage in a small village in the Cornish countryside. On arrival in the village they are received coldly by the locals, with one exception, bartender and owner of the village pub, Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper). The couple are further mystified when their odd neighbours, Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman) and daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce), try to persuade them to sell the house and leave the place as soon as possible. Deciding to stay, Harry and Valerie come to learn that their brothers' death was not the only one to have happened mysteriously. Is there any truth in the Black Death rumours? And does the strange Franklyn family hold the key?

Quality Hammer production that belies it's problematic shoot. As common knowledge now dictates, The Reptile was filmed back to back with Plague Of The Zombies and thus used the same, and excellent, sets. However, with a tight budget, make up problems and constant rewrites of the script, it was a far from a happy production. So somewhat surprising then that it's actually a real tight and effective picture. There is a lovely sense of mystery dripping throughout the piece, and it's real nice to see a Hammer film being driven by its characters. Yes we are all desperate to see the "creature" of the title, but this is astutely kept from us by director John Gilling. So when the last quarter arrives and the story unravels its mystery, the impact is doubled, while make up problems be damned, the "creature" is excellent and a nice addition to the Horror genre. The performances from the cast are uniformly strong, particularly from the stoic Ripper, while Don Banks' music is right on the money. Released as the support feature to Rasputin The Mad Monk, The Reptile is a little Hammer gem waiting to be discovered by more people outside of Britain. 8/10

Ray Barrett and Jennifer Daniel inherit a small cottage in Cornwall. Barrett's brother died under mysterious circumstances, and the new couple soon see that people are not very friendly in the country. John Gilling made this the same time he directed Plague of the Zombies. And although that would be the superior of the two films, The Reptile is nonetheless another Hammer horror picture that captures a moody atmosphere filled with distrust and secrets, a talented acting troupe(particularly with regard to the character actors like John Laurie and Michael Ripper), an effective, thought-provoking(though highly implausible) script, good, solid direction, and some of the most credible settings and costumes about. Noel Willman plays a doctor of theology with a daughter that somehow have been involved with a cult of snake people or worshipers or something like that. He has a manservant who treats him as an inferior, played rather deftly by Marne Maitland. The film opens with one of those great Hammer openings as Barret's brother(Played by none other than Harold Pinter) - note in hand - comes running into this palatial English house - only to be attacked with what looks like a human snake. OK, the make-up isn't much to talk about, and if the movie wasn't called The Reptile and snakes were not mentioned - I might have thought it was a human mole too. But special effects or their lack of aside, Gilling does a fine job bringing this material to the screen and creating tense scenes as we see this couple slowly find out the truth. The biggest joy for me to behold was the presence of Michael Ripper again giving one of his solid, earthy performances as an inn keeper who decides to buck the village trend and cooperate with the new couple by telling them what he knows. Ripper has a much bigger role than many of his Hammer films allowed, and I thought he did a superb job creating a caring, frightened man trying to make a go of things in the country. In fact all of the performers give nice, solid performances. I heartily recommend The Reptile if you are a fan of Hammer and its horror film formula. This one keeps the formula in tact and works - really despite an absurd story that Gilling and company manage to pull off in spite of itself.