The Monster Club
Roy Ward Baker directed this 1981 title which has a lot of Amicus Productions trademarks, but isn’t actually one of the famed horror studio’s releases. (Fear not, we’ll get to Amicus on this list!) The frame story stars Vincent Price as a vampire—a set-up that would make me watch literally anything that came after—who dips his fangs into a horror author played by John Carradine, then cheerfully invites him into the titular nightclub for groovy music and spooky storytelling. The Monster Club features some unfamiliar ghouls (including a hybrid called a “Shadmock,” possessed of the world’s most dreadful whistle), but it has a blast going through their taxonomy, and features a stellar cast beyond its leads that includes Halloween’s Donald Pleasence and Doctor Who’s Lesley Dunlop.
