Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The craggy cliffs at seaside in the Cornwall section of England seem to lend themselves to stories of mystery and adventure. So much good literature seems to be set there, ditto films. This one from Hammer films is no classic, but reasonably frightening.The brother of Ray Barrett who lived in a small Cornish village is struck down with a mysterious maladies which go in the books as heart attacks. The place is so small it has no regular doctor so the regional coroner just takes it verbatim.Barrett and wife Jennifer Daniel come to stay at the late brother's house and they're not greeted with open arms by the villagers. Least of all Noel Willman who is a doctor, but not of medicine, theology rather. Willman has a frisky young daughter played by Jacqueline Pearce and a man of the east played by Marne Maitland, a mysterious fellow known only as the Malay.Think of a reptilian version of a werewolf picture and you've got what's going on in The Reptile. The plot and script are a bit fuzzy, but the usual Hammer fright fest is present here.And without either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee.

It is a huge shame that – and this may be considered a spoilers – the make-up for the titular creature is so tatty and unconvincing, because just about everything else about this film is excellent.Charming couple Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) and Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) arrive at a remote and unfriendly Cornish village to read the will of Harry's recently deceased brother. They have been left only 'the cottage', a place that the locals spare no time in assuring him is not a place they want to live. Assuring landlord Michael Ripper even says 'they don't like strangers round these parts', as Harry succeeds in emptying his pub on more than one occasion.The Spaldings are excellently played, and for a 'second-tier' Hammer film, they are aided by an exceptional cast. Mighty veterans John Laurie, George Woodbridge, Charles Lloyd Pack, Marne Maitland and a superbly sinister Noel Willman prop up every densely atmospheric scene. Future 'Blake's 7' phenomenon Jacqueline Pearce is exceptional as fragile, frightened Anne Franklin, displaying the same compelling talents as she does in 'Plague of the Zombies', which Director John Gilling filmed back-to-back with this, using many of the same sets, and locations.The Cornish coasts have always been used to great effect in surprisingly few horrors, but they once again prove a perfect fit.

Following a relative's death, a man and his wife head off to the remote village to inherit a new house unknowing of the bizarre experiments a neighbor conducted that has unleashed a terrifying monster, forcing them to kill the creature before more are harmed.This turned out to be an utterly disappointing effort overall. Among the main problem here is the rather wretched and atrocious pacing featured since the film is just an utter bore as nothing really happens at all. While this one manages to get a lot out of the straightforward and consistent story, for the most part it's just basically a repetition of one of three different scenes and it really drags the film out to a lurching halt not only with the lack of action but also the general continuation of these same specific scenes and set-ups recurring throughout the film. We either have the villagers giving them the cold shoulder, the local doctor getting upset at them for no reason or everyone is sitting around talking about the death of the first person, and none of it really comes off in any way enjoyable. The villagers' hostility towards the new couple arriving into town reeks of nothing more than cliché now and manages to feel totally unwarranted with the continued usage of the tactic being so completely expected as well as feeling so unnecessary to the events that it feels like excess padding when they continually get run out of town. The party scenes with the doctor at his house are quite dull and really don't serve any kind of solid purpose other than to bring about the storyline ruse about their past endeavors traveling the world yet go on for so long that his company seems hardly that interesting in the case where it's presented here, and there's so long into the film before they even decide to investigate the first murder that it seems like an afterthought despite being the main clue that zeros them in on what's going on. That overwhelming sense of boredom afflicts the film to the point where it's monster attacks don't even start until the fifty- five minute mark, the creature isn't revealed until ten minutes into the finale, and we break up the action to get the full back-story revealed to us before it starts up the action again which makes all of this really troubling. Along with the somewhat cheesy-looking creature effects that aren't imposing at all, these here hold this one back. There's still some rather fun parts here, most of which coming from the fact that the Gothic flavors are still in full effect and it really works those to full effect with the small- town village on the outskirts of town which manages to generate that famous Hammer atmosphere so often utilized in their films, most notably in a graveyard excavation sequence in the pouring rain. Coupled with the engrossing storyline where brings out some rather novel ideas with the concept of the creature's cult origins and overall backstory that's on display here. Also, as expected in this kind of the film it manages to get some good action towards the end where it gets the prototypical burning-down-the-house finale which starts off in the basement pit before making it's way through the rest of the house giving this a great finish, but it's just so deathly dull you'll fall asleep before it gets to the good stuff.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

... to have a thankless child! This is a marvellous companion to the other excellent Hammer film made previously, Plague Of The Zombies - both had good daft stories, used the same sets, and also stalwart Michael Ripper was in both.A man meets a horrible frothing death in an insular Cornish village, his brother (Ray Barratt) finds he's inherited his cottage that needs no locks and decides to move in with his wife, much to everyone's consternation. The village apparently has no police or a doctor - except an unfriendly doctor of theology (Noel Willman) with a rather weird daughter, but pub landlord Ripper seems to more than adequately cover for everyone. Is it the Black Death that's stalking the land or is there a weirder or a more prosaic explanation? If you know your Hammer you should know the answer, but the story is expertly and atmospherically delivered, and on the usual studio shoestring budget. Therefore that means the special effects aren't so special, but in those circumstances totally forgivable. Favourite bits: the way Barratt kept unintentionally emptying the pub; the pleasant but maybe too short after dinner sitar solo; Willman's frantic explanation to the wife – and he thought he sounded so plausible to her!I enjoyed it when I was a kid and still do, it's very easy for me to settle comfortably into and receive the familiar mild frisson - admittedly not most people's idea of the requirements for a decent horror movie! It's one of my favourite Hammer films with no gore, garish colour or torn bodices but plenty of atmosphere and plot.