Killer’s Moon

"Killer's Moon" is a 1978 British horror film written and directed by Alan Birkinshaw, with uncredited dialogue written by his novelist sister, Fay Weldon. In spite of its low budget, poor production values and other drawbacks, the film has gained a cult following.

The plot

A coach full of schoolgirls breaks down in the Lake District, forcing the girls to take shelter for the night in a remote hotel. Meanwhile, strange and macabre things are happening to the locals (and their pets) and it is revealed that four escaped mental patients- Mr. Smith, Mr. Trubshaw, Mr. Muldoon and Mr. Jones -who have been dosed with LSD as part of their treatment, are roaming the area, convinced they are living a shared dream in which they are free to rape and murder - both of which they choose to do numerous times before the belated arrival of the police.

Background and history

During the mid-to-late 1970s, maverick directors such as Pete Walker and Norman J. Warren were trying to spice up the much-derided genre of British horror films. These films would later be dubbed “New Wave” British horror, on account that they pushed the boundaries of taste as much as was possible within the British Board of Film Classification's strict regime and were set in modern day 1970s Britain and centered around 20-30 aged protagonists, differing them from the predominantly period piece horrors of Hammer Films Productions that had gone before. Like Warren and Walker, Alan Birkinshaw had begun his career in sexploitation, directing and producing Confessions of a Sex Maniac in 1974, and viewed making horror films as a natural progression. “we decided that the horror film (genre) was more up market than a sex comedy” he told Creeping Flesh in 2003. Birkinshaws film has been cited as combinings elements of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, the notorious American sleaze epic Carnal Madness (which was released in Britain as "the Sizzlers"), and a low-rent, late-period Carry On film. Although he refutes that A Clockwork Orange was an influence, and it is unclear whether he has ever seen Carnal Madness. However by adding (faked) animal cruelty and the flippant treatment of rape, Birkinshaw created what was described in Matthew Sweet's book "Shepperton Babylon" as the most tasteless movie in British cinema history.

Killer's Moon was shot off season at Armathwaite Hall in the Lake District. The eclectic cast includes Hilda Braid, David Jackson, comedian Chubby Oates, Jane Hayden and Hannah the three legged dog. Jane Hayden was the less famous sister of horror star Linda Hayden and was romantically linked with footballer Stan Bowles at the time. An affair that was later documented in their mutual friend Robin Askwith’s biography. Hannah the three legged dog in the film, was originally a pub dog who had lost a leg as the result of a shotgun wound sustained during an armed robbery. She was later awarded the doggy Victoria Cross award for bravery.

The film was released in the Autumn of 1978 with the Charlton Heston/James Coburn film The Last Hard Men as a support feature, Killer's Moon also played in some cinemas as a supporting feature to the 1977 William Devane film Rolling Thunder.

Revival

The film’s curious revival, if not exactly critical reappraisal, began in the late 1990s, when Killer’s Moon began to receive write-ups in magazines like "Flesh and Blood" and "Nekrofile: Cinema of the Extreme", which emphasized the films high sleaze content as well as its low-budget failings. In the latter, a one shot publication written by Alan Jones in 1997, Birkinshaw is memorably nicknamed “Alan Clumsyhands” as a play on Edward Scissorhands("Killers Moon is a treasure trove of trashy sexploitation...thats down there with Ed Wood. Except i dont think Tim Burton will be making a bio-pic about Alan Birkinshaw. 'Alan Clumsyhands' perhaps").

Killer's Moon received a rare UK cinema screening in 2001 as part of the 'Ten Years of Terror' one-day film convention held at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London. The convention was a tie-in event for the publication of the book "Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s", which reprinted the Flesh and Blood review (“a film that flouts good taste and decency with crude bravado, remaining perversely entertaining despite some atrocious acting and leaden direction”.)

Creeping Flesh, a book format look at horror and fantasy films published by Headpress in 2003 carried a lengthy article on the film (‘Hungry in a Dream’) followed by an interview with Alan Birkinshaw. Creeping Flesh was originally due to be entitled “Three Legged Dog” in honor of the “Hannah, the pooch in Killer’s Moon” but was later changed because it was felt to be too much of an obscure reference. A motif of a three-legged dog, however, appears at the beginning of each chapter.

In 2008, Salvation Films announced that they were releasing "Killer's Moon" on DVD on the 30th June. According to their publicity material “This lost gem is released here on DVD for first time and has been re-mastered from original materials. The film is presented with a plethora of extras including director/cast interviews and an audio commentary featuring director Alan Birkinshaw in conversation with Radio London DJ JoAnne Good, who played one of the menaced schoolgirls.” The film has been passed uncut by the BBFC for the DVD release [http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/EFF46A5804578CCD80257460004BD979?OpenDocument] .

Birkinshaw was interviewed about the DVD release on JoAnne Good’s BBC Radio Show (27th June) where he mentioned he was “in talks” to write and direct "Killers Moon 2".

Memorable quotes

"Look, you were only raped, as long as you don't tell anyone about it you'll be alright. You pretend it never happened, I'll pretend I never saw it and if we get out of this alive, well, maybe we'll both live to be wives and mothers"

"Father says that white slavery is a myth. The market's been flooded with too many enthusiastic amateurs."

"You mean this criminal lunatic is walking around believing he is in a dream? In my dreams, I murder freely, pillage, loot and rape!"

"I'm just an innocent bystander, trying not to be as scared as you."

"Blood on the moon, one mangled dog, one missing axe, and a girl who's just found a body at the wrong end of the axe. How's that for the great British outdoors?"

"Of course it's a dream! And stuffed full of jailbait!"

"Why can't I dream of steak and chips, why does it have to be bread and cheese?"

References

* Jones, Alan 1997 ‘'Nekrofile: Cinema of the Extreme" (Midnight Media Publishing)
* Fenton, Harvey 2001 "Ten Years Of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970's" (FAB Press, Guildford)
* Kerekes, David 2003 “Creeping Flesh Vol. 1: The Horror Fantasy Film Book” (Headpress)

External links

* [http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/killersmoon.shtml Review of the film from britishhorrorfilms.co.uk]
* [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/63137?view=synopsis# The BFI's page on "Killer's Moon"]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3gUELSAr5E UK Trailer]
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/punkrich/posters/killersmoon.jpgUK Cinema Poster]
* [http://www.armathwaite-hall.com/ Armathwaite Hall Website]
* [http://www.mondo-digital.com/killersmoon.html Mondo Digital DVD review]
* [http://10kbullets.com/reviews/k/killers-moon/ 10k Bullets DVD review]
* [http://lovelockandload.com/mainsite/Killer's%20Moon Lovelock and Load DVD review]