Beasts In The Cellar

[rapidheart.com]

Hi Guys,

I just finished reading BEASTS IN THE CELLAR The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser by John Hamilton and FAB Press. I must say that it is the best book on a genre filmmaker I have ever read. Better than the Corman book and better than the Arkoff book. I highly recommend it! A little about Tony Tenser below....

Hailed as the 'Irving Thalberg of Exploitation,' Tony Tenser has an unrivalled position as the godfather of low budget British films. Amongst his many movies are the notorious 'nudie' Naked As Nature Intended, Roman Polanski's ground breaking Repulsion and Michael Reeves' classic Witchfinder General, as well as the outrageous sex/scifi/spy/spoof Zeta One. He made movies in every genre from childrens films to cannibalism, working with actors ranging from Christopher Lee and Vincent Price to Spike Milligan and Norman Wisdom.

Tenser's early career highlights include using strippers to picket cinemas and converting a Soho basement into Britain's first and most successful private cinema club. By the time he started producing films such as The Yellow Teddybears, The Black Torment and The Pleasure Girls, Tenser's name was a byword for colourful titles, controversial themes and outrageous publicity stunts. He would enjoy mainstream success with the likes of Cul de Sac, A Study in Terror and Hannie Caulder but his company, Tigon, will be always synonymous with horror epics like The Sorcerers, The Blood Beast Terror, Blood on Satan's Claw, and sexploitation gems such as Monique, the first British lesbian menage á trois.

Ambitious, ruthless and charismatic, Tenser was never less than colourful and by drawing on exclusive interviews, original production files and private correspondence, John Hamilton pieces together the stories behind the movies that made him the most admired and successful exploitation producer in British cinema. From battles with the censor to studio in-fighting, from tantrums on set to post-production interference, the cut and thrust of filmmaking on a budget is revived in glorious detail.

[zwoti]

tigon did release a few good films, the michael reeves films especially