Cry of the Banshee (1970) – Episode 119 – Decades of Horror 1970s

"Don't you know this house is cursed? You are cursed, and Edward's cursed, and everybody's cursed.” Sounds like Oprah’s curse-giveaway show. Join your faithful Grue Crew - Doc Rotten, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they try to find the banshee (or is it a sidhe?) in Cry of the Banshee (1970).

Decades of Horror 1970s
Episode 119 – Cry of the Banshee (1970)

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A team of researchers discovers a strange mutation of man and octopus who proceeds to terrorize them.

IMDb

 

• Director: Gordon Hessler
• Writers: Tim Kelly, Christopher Wicking 
• Lighting/Cameraman: John Coquillon
• Cast
  • Vincent Price as Lord Edward Whitman
  • Essy Persson as Lady Patricia Whitman
  • Elizabeth Bergner as Oona
  • Hugh Griffith as Mickey
  • Patrick Mower as Roderick
  • Hilary Heath as Maureen Whitman (as Hilary Dwyer)
  • Sally Geeson as Sarah
  • Stephan Chase as Sean Whitman
  • Carl Rigg as Harry Whitman
  • Marshall Jones as Father Tom
  • Andrew McCulloch as Bully Boy
  • Michael Elphick as Burke
  • Quinn O'Hara as Maggie
  • Pamela Farbrother as Margaret

None of the 70s Grue-Crew had seen Cry of the Banshee until now, but American International Pictures and Vincent Price! What could go wrong? Well, Bill can’t find anyone to root for and he is not a fan of director Gordon Hessler with the exception of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973). Jeff points out there is no banshee in Cry of the Banshee. Doc is disappointed in the overall meanness of the movie and Chad can’t find any redemption or satisfaction with the ending. On the other hand, they can all agree on Vincent Price’s all-in performance and Terry Gilliam’s introduction credits animation sequence. 

If for any reason, after hearing or watching the Grue-Crew’s discussion, you still find it necessary to watch Cry of the Banshee, either again or for the first time, at this writing it’s available to stream on Amazon Prime and on Blu-ray in Scream Factory’s Vincent Price Collection III.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror 2-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the next episode in their very flexible schedule will be The Beast Must Die (1974), the film with a Werewolf Break when viewers are asked to answer the question, “Who is the Werewolf?”

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