Blokes

Not quite as lovely to look at as the birds, the blokes in horror films of the 50s, 60s, 70s, err.. 80s and 90s were a right rum bunch.

Just thinking of their bad hair, ugly faces and purple loon pants is enought to bring you out in a cold sweat. I know, I've sat through a lot of these films.

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Jack Watson Granite faced, parked-car-chasing Watson's instantly recognisable fizzog makes him a welcome addition to the Brit horror pantheon. As fisherman Hamp in Tower Of Evil he furtively looked to the left every time he was asked "what's going on?" and in Schizo he ended up quite literally carpeted. However, that's about it, really. Surprising when you think about it. He did appear briefly in The Gorgon and Peeping Tom, but perhaps his star moment was when he scared the crap out of everyone as the dimly-seen Sir Michael Sinclair in From Beyond The Grave. "Who?" you ask... well think about the segment with the blue room behind the door - and shudder.
Derek Fowldes Those of us who remember the horror of The Basil Brush Show (or who's elderly relatives forced them to watch the turgid Heartbeat on a Sunday night) might think that Bernard from Yes Minster deserves a place on this site by proxy, but he did make a couple of notable appearances during the early 70s. He was one of the sex-crazed wife-swapping archeologists in Tower Of Evil, and one of the sex-crazed disability-mocking toffs who came to a sticky end in Frankenstein Created Woman.
Thorley Walters Bumbling oaf Walters crops up in a number of Hammers, usually getting in the way of the always-cool-as-ice Peter Cushing. In Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Dracula - Prince Of Darkness the best words to sum his character up are "annoying" and "twat", but he redeems himself somewhat as the ill-fated burgermeister in the rather good Vampire Circus.
Patrick Magee No, not the bloke who played Steed in The Avengers, you fool. Criminally underrated, Patrick Magee is the wire-haired mental case with the strange voice who crops up as chillingly evil bloke #1 in all manner of Brit Horrors (and is usually a doctor of some kind). You can spot him in Masque Of The Red Death playing Prince Prospero's best mate, he's the blind guy leading the blind in Tales From The Crypt, and the doctor with the nasty practices in Demons Of The Mind. Not to mention the cannibalistic pub landlord in The Monster Club. But the highlight has to be his scene stealing turn as the psychotic priest in The Fiend.
Skip Martin There was a time when all you needed to make a horror film was a gallon of ketchup, some naked ladies and a dwarf. Step forward Skip Martin, whose place in the Brit horror hall of fame is assured thanks to his truly appalling acting in Horror Hospital (sheesh kebab, anyone?). No wonder he gets chucked down the stairs. He's also a horizontally-challenged bloke out for revenge in The Masque Of The Red Death.
Michael Gough Oily gimp Gough is still going strong, despite being roughly 160 years old. Now a member of Tim Burton's reperatory company, in the late 50s and 60s his appearance in any film meant only one thing - brrrr... total scumbag. Except the original Hammer Dracula, strangely (in that he plays Harker's useless brother-in-law). He's a totally nasty piece of work in Horrors Of The Black Museum and The Phantom Of The Opera. Then in the 70s he became a camp icon, livening up Horror Hospital and The Legend Of Hell House, two name but two.
Patrick Troughton Perrenial cross-patch Troughton may be better known as a certain time travelling scruffbag, but he's also a kind of second rate Michael Ripper, appearing in a number of Hammers and Hammer-alikes as a variety of coachmen, police inspectors and dirtbags - and usually quietly stealing any scene he crops up in. Keep an eye out for his classic WW1 pointy German hat wearing shenanigans in The Gorgon, his mardy stable hand in The Black Torment, his sadly short-lived rat catcher in Hammer's Phantom Of The Opera, and of course, "Kinky Klove" in the mainly dreadful Scars Of Dracula.
Robin Askwith Known to millions of dirty mac-wearing granddads and kitsch obsessed 30-somethings as "the bloke with the ladder and the red y-fronts who got in the way of a full eyeful of the Oxo woman's melons", Askwith is forever assured his place in the sun thanks to his truly unique performance in the wonderful Horror Hospital. Perfectly cast as a dim-witted clod who can't help but get into dodgy situations, pretty much the same character is apparent in other early 70s classics The Flesh And Blood Show and Tower Of Evil.
Oliver Reed Long before his hellraising, total-embarassment TV appearances, young Mr Reed was a Hammer starlet, lending his Robbie Williams-like good looks to cheesey old shockers like Curse Of The Werewolf. During the 60s he carved out a niche as a proto Gripper Stebson-like bully/ gang leader in dingey b&w shockers like These Are The Damned and Paranoiac.
Michael Ripper There are those that are born for greatness, and there are those who will only ever serve (behind bars). Ripper is one of the latter. He never starred in Hammer's films, but he's usually there - if there's a pub full of miserable locals to be had, he'll be serving the beer. Great landlord moments include The Plague Of The Zombies, The Reptile, Scars Of Dracula, etc etc. In fact, he's in so many Hammers that it would be easier to list the ones he's not in. Perhaps his most high profile role was the eventually-lobbed-out-of-a-window snivelling toady Longbarrow in The Mummy's Shroud.
Ralph Bates Known to a generation as hapless berk John in the sitcom Dear John, Bates was actually something of a forgotten star in the late 60s and early 70s. Seemingly groomed as a replacement for Peter Cushing by Hammer (something the studio later denied) he appeared as Victor Frankenstein in the awful Horror Of Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll in the wonderful Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde, Dracula acolute Lord Courtney in Taste The Blood Of Dracula, and an odd teacher in Fear In The Night. But it wasn't just Hammer films he graced (and you may notice a trend here), appearing in the awful Persecution, and the awful I Don't Want To Be Born.
Ray Brookes Brookes' chocolatey Mr Benn tones grace the wonderful House Of Whipcord and the not-quite-so wonderful Flesh And Blood Show, two films in which he plays almost the same character, wearing the same shirt (a natty black one with white polkadots) and the same puzzled expression. Seeing him spannering about in his mustard coloured Skoda in Whipcord, you have to wonder why he never got the call from the people who make James Bond: "Ray? We're in a bit of a spot. Lewis Collins isn't going to fit the bill when Roger leaves. Can you think of anyone?" Ba-dum-bish.
Ian Bannen Snivelling loser Bannen has his finest hour in From Beyond The Grave, the superlative Amicus anthology. In it he's a put-upon ex soldier who attempts to get some respect from his nagging wife (the awesome Diana Dors) by buying an old medal, hanging around with tramps and sleeping with an obvious nutter. We could all have told him that wouldn't work. He's another snivelling loser (ableit a violent one) in the George/Waterman shockfest Fright.
Dennis Waterman Whether admiring Susan George's "Bristols" in Fright or sniffing round chesty Jenny Hanley in Scars Of Dracula, our Terry (as he would become) had a brief fling as a horror leading man before his East End heavy-slapping activities in Minder. Fright is worth seeking out just to see the redoubtable East End hard man sporting a delightful Aarron sweater (and getting the shit kicked out of him by Ian Bannen).