Incense For The Damned is a poor, hastily-made and incredibly muddled British horror film that has acquired a small cult following. I am certainly not among this group of foolhardy fans - indeed, if I had things my way, this awful little film would be quietly disposed of in some dusty vault, and brought out only for die-hard fans of the stars so that they may tick it off their list. Even the film's director - Robert Hartford-Davis - was so disappointed with the movie that he refused to put his name on the credits, using instead the pseudonym Michael Burrowes. When the man who MADE it can't bear to be associated with the film, you know that it must be pretty bad!
Oxford student Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower) is on a working holiday in Greece when he mysteriously disappears. Richard's friends back in Oxford are concerned for him, so they set out to Greece to find him. Tony (Alexander Davion), Bob (Johnny Sekka) and Richard's girlfriend Penelope (Madeleine Hinde), soon discover that their lost pal seems to have headed off to the tiny, isolated island of Hydra in the Aegean Sea. Upon arriving at Hydra, they stumble across some kind of vampire sect led by the deadly Chriseis (Imogen Hasall). It seems that Chriseis and her minions are murderers who drink the blood of their innocent victims, and that Richard may have been drugged or brainwashed into joining their pagan acts. The friends pursue Chriseis to her death and rescue the bewildered Richard, returning him to Oxford. But all is not well back in the UK, as Richard does not seem to have recovered from his ordeal - in fact, it is obvious to us (though not, it seems, the other characters) that Richard himself is now a vampire.
What drew me to the film was the fact that it "stars" Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee and Edward Woodward. I consider these three actors to be among the finest talents Britain has produced (they certainly have each made telling contributions within the horror genre, if nothing else). It is with huge disappointment, therefore, that I must report they all have absurdly brief cameo roles that could easily have been cut from the film without making a hoot of difference. to the overall story. Talk about false advertising!! But that's not all that is wrong with Incense For The Damned. It suffers even further as a result of silly psychedelic sex-and-drug-abuse sequences, a confused script, ultra-low production values, and choppy editing. At least the Greek scenes highlight some pleasant locations - competently shot by Desmond Dickinson - but on virtually every other level Incense For The Damned is a damned mess! The film was completed in 1970, shelved until 1976, and all but forgotten soon after its belated release. Things like that happen to movies for a reason - and if you watch Incense For The Damned it won't take you long to figure out why it has faded into obscurity.
Oxford student Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower) is on a working holiday in Greece when he mysteriously disappears. Richard's friends back in Oxford are concerned for him, so they set out to Greece to find him. Tony (Alexander Davion), Bob (Johnny Sekka) and Richard's girlfriend Penelope (Madeleine Hinde), soon discover that their lost pal seems to have headed off to the tiny, isolated island of Hydra in the Aegean Sea. Upon arriving at Hydra, they stumble across some kind of vampire sect led by the deadly Chriseis (Imogen Hasall). It seems that Chriseis and her minions are murderers who drink the blood of their innocent victims, and that Richard may have been drugged or brainwashed into joining their pagan acts. The friends pursue Chriseis to her death and rescue the bewildered Richard, returning him to Oxford. But all is not well back in the UK, as Richard does not seem to have recovered from his ordeal - in fact, it is obvious to us (though not, it seems, the other characters) that Richard himself is now a vampire.
What drew me to the film was the fact that it "stars" Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee and Edward Woodward. I consider these three actors to be among the finest talents Britain has produced (they certainly have each made telling contributions within the horror genre, if nothing else). It is with huge disappointment, therefore, that I must report they all have absurdly brief cameo roles that could easily have been cut from the film without making a hoot of difference. to the overall story. Talk about false advertising!! But that's not all that is wrong with Incense For The Damned. It suffers even further as a result of silly psychedelic sex-and-drug-abuse sequences, a confused script, ultra-low production values, and choppy editing. At least the Greek scenes highlight some pleasant locations - competently shot by Desmond Dickinson - but on virtually every other level Incense For The Damned is a damned mess! The film was completed in 1970, shelved until 1976, and all but forgotten soon after its belated release. Things like that happen to movies for a reason - and if you watch Incense For The Damned it won't take you long to figure out why it has faded into obscurity.