Beasts In The Cellar

Tony Tenser has earned an unrivalled position as the godfather of low-budget British films. Amongst his many movies are the notorious ‘nudie’ Naked – As Nature Intended and Roman Polanski’s ground-breaking Repulsion. Most notably it was Tony Tenser whose entrepreneurial wit and creative spark fanned the flames of the entire Folk Horror genre with his seminal classics Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan’s Claw. Tenser worked with household names such as Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Raquel Welch and Norman Wisdom, and his early career highlights include using strippers to picket central London cinemas and converting a Soho basement into Britain’s most successful private cinema club. By the time he started producing films such as 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 and Hannie Caulder but his company, Tigon, is not only synonymous with the Folk Horror genre, but also with a great many other spectacular horror hits including The Sorcerers, Curse of the Crimson Altar, Frightmare and The Creeping Flesh. By drawing on exclusive interviews, original production files and private correspondence, John Hamilton pieces together the stories behind the movies that made Tenser the most admired and successful exploitation producer in British cinema. From battles with the censor to studio in-fighting, and from tantrums on set to post-production interference, the cut and thrust of British filmmaking on a budget is revived in glorious detail. ‘It may very well be that with ‘Beasts in the Cellar’ John Hamilton and FAB Press have produced the best ever single subject book in the field of British horror cinema.’ – MJ Simpson, SFX magazine.

Author Biography

Author and film critic John Hamilton has been writing about British cinema for nearly 30 years. His articles and interviews have appeared in magazines like Flesh & Blood, The Dark Side, Little Shoppe of Horrors and Cinema Retro, and cover subjects as diverse as Roman Polanski and Diana Dors, Alfred Hitchcock and Robin Askwith. Away from physical media, he has worked with the BBC, written and appeared in several documentaries and contributed commentaries to a number of Blu-ray releases. The original edition of Beasts in the Cellar, published in 2005, was the first of his eight books to date.