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Amazon.co.uk Review
Originally broadcast in 2001, Dr Terrible's House of Horrible is a six-part pastiche of 1970s Hammer Horror from Steve Coogan's Baby Cow production company. Each episode is topped and tailed by Coogan beneath a mass of prosthetics in a high-back leather chair as the avuncular, flatulent, faintly morally debauched Dr Terrible. "That was truly diabolical", he concludes of each show, a verdict with which one or two critics unkindly and unfairly concurred.
Coogan also stars in each as six different characters. In "And Now the Fearing...", for example. he plays rat-faced, unpleasant millionaire Denham Denham; in "Frenzy of Tongs"--a mickey-take of the Fu Manchu films--he's the insufferably suave Nathan Blaze, a Jason King-a-like; in "Scream, Satan Scream", meanwhile, he superimposes a parody of Peter Sellers over a lampoon of the Vincent Price film Witchfinder General.
Although most of these episodes are elaborate period pieces and genuine care has been made to render them as scary as possible, the real period detail has been in recreating the luridly quaint, over-acted, hammy feel of the 70s productions to which these episodes pay affectionate homage. Although hardly a perfect series, the camped-up daftness of the entire enterprise, a star-studded cast that includes Honor Blackman, John Thompson and Ronnie Ancona, some nice scripting and Coogan's versatility all make for a programme that's hard to dislike.
On the DVD Dr Terrible's House of Horrible is quite generous in its extras. These include "An Appointment with Terrible", a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show, much of which was shot in the studio hangars where the original Hammer horrors were made, dry audio commentary by cowriters Graham Duff and Henry Normal and director Matt Lipsey, and "Behind the Screams" a mock-70s film journal ("only 10p!") reflecting on the making of one of the episodes. --David Stubbs
DVD Description
Steve Coogan takes on a different guise in each of these self-contained chilling tales. From the grisly results of a ballroom dancer’s encounter with a giant pair of scissors, to the depths of vampiric lust and the misadventures of a 19th Century medical pioneer, each tale is introduced by the enigmatic Dr Terrible, and features well known performers from TV and cinema. Appointment with Dr Terrible is an opportunity to see Steve Coogan talking about his art.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible - Review!,
By Ben "fatherdougal89" (UK, Manchester) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doctor Terrible's House of Horrible [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
Where to start with this beautifully unique, dark, hammer horror spoof comedy starring the one and only Steve Coogan, in my opinion the ultimate king of comedy!Unlike Coogans' other work such as I'm Alan Patridge which is indeed a comedy classic this is completely different and fresh, unlike any comedy programme I've ever seen in my life. Each week Steve Coogan takes on a different guise as he presents six brilliant characters, each in a different spine chilling situation and in a different time zone. The first show is called 'AND NOW THE FEARING. . .' which sees three people trapped in a lift. The trio then share their vividest nightmares one which includes a fortune teller, a car crash and an oak table. Scary! Episode 2 is called 'FRENZY OF TONG' and see's Coogan as a camp version of Sherlock Holmers czlled Nathan Blaze. When a lady friend is kidnapped and dragged into the sewers, Blaze must overcome giant killer crabs and his arch enemy, a chinese monster, the king of the sewers. Doesn't sound very funny but believe me it is! The third show is called 'CURSE OF THE BLOOD OF THE LIZARD OF DOOM' That's a mouthfull and see's Coogan portraying a brilliant scientist who is desperately trying to find a cure for a nasty burn. But everything turns very nasty when is told he has to find a cure of he is fired. Things turn very nasty when he gets a new assistant and a horrifying lizard is on the loose. Show number four is called 'LESBIAN VAMPIREX LOVERS OF LUST' and is probably the most frightening. Coogan takes on a bold one armed hero called Captain Hans Broccan who is recently married. When they find their hotel is infested with cockroaches, they decide to stay at Castle Kroinsteen )a place of darkness - especially at night!!!) There things go from bad to worse, as the vampires there are creatures of the night and would like nothing more than to kill their guests and suck their blood too! The penultamate episode is titled, 'VOODOO FEET OF DEATH' and see's Steve Coogan as an award winning ballroom dancer but in a freak accident he loses his feet. Not to worry though, he has an operation and has new feet fitted but unknown to him these feet are killers and are bent of revenge, jealousy and murder! Finally, my personal favourite episode, 'SCREAM, SATAN, SCREAM' in the last episode of the brilliant series Steve Coogan plays a selfish witch locator named Captain Tobias Slater. As the story unfolds the crooked Captain must pursuade the village that the woman in question is a witch but the woman herself has other ideas. All in all, a superb series. The disc is packed with special features including a documentary, 'AN APPOINTMENT WITH DR. TERRIBLE' which goes behind the scenes and features rare interviews with Steve Coogan, the rest of the cast and the directors. Also there's an audio commentary on all six episodes by the directors and writers which is also very good indeed, there is also Dr. Terrible's Page A Day calendar and a feature titled 'Behind the Screams' In conclusion to this review, buy it if you are a fan of Steve Coogan, or if you like comedy with a slightly dark side. All in all I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Probably better on paper than in reality, but some gems,
By
This review is from: Doctor Terrible's House of Horrible [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
My title is a pretty good summary of how I feel here. There are a couple of the episodes which, now that I have seen them, I will probably not see again because they either parodied something I didn't not care about, or were not themselves particularly funny.I purchased this DVD because I remembered seeing, many years ago, the episode about Captain Slater, Witch Locator, and that I had enjoyed it immensely. Indeed, I enjoy it to this day, as well as the Lesbian Vampire episode and Nathan Blaze. I give this review four stars, because the quality of the episodes I enjoyed was sufficiently high that I feel it worth having bought the DVD for those alone, with the other episodes being a free bonus that I don't feel one way or the other about. Every single episode had its moments, some of them laugh-out-loud, and any fan of Coogan ought to check this out. As should any fan of cheesy horror flicks, or dark comedy.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Freeze with unease around the knees ...,
By Brian Flange "qflestrin" (Penge.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doctor Terrible's House of Horrible [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
... And let the clammy hand of television paw at you unrelentingly as Steve Coogan and friends essay six note-perfect send-ups of the great old (well, old anyway) days of British horror movies.Seems Steve Coogan and his fellow writers Graham Duff and Henry Normal must all have spent their formative years watching the best (and worst) of the Hammer and Amicus horror films of yesteryear, and all this studying has paid off. Each film spoof is fronted by Coogan under very heavy rubber disguise as the truly repulsive Dr. Terrible, and Coogan takes a leading role in each of the six introduced episodes. And while the individual stories can be a bit variable, they're all good and some of them are just superb. My personal favourite is the vampire story, whose name I'll omit for fear of offending sensitive Amazon readers, which gives splendid roles to Ronni Ancona and Ben Miller as a rather rum Carpathian Countess and her remarkably rum factotum. The vampire saga also allows Honor Blackman a unique opportunity to blast everyone else off the screen by playing what is basically a lady Van Helsing in a leather dress. Another belter is `Scream, Satan, Scream', which casts Coogan as a grotty-minded 17th-century witchfinder with a slight hint of the Peter Sellers. The extras are fine too - going quite a bit beyond the usual cast / crew self-congratulation - and often genuinely funny in their own right Anyway, give 'Doctor Terrible ...' a go if spot-on film parody flicks your switch.
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