Brian Clemens Movies

At the end of Highlander, Juan Ramirez (Sean Connery) died and Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) was rendered mortal. "Highlander 2: The Quickening begins in 1999 when Connor solves the problem of an ever-depleting ozone layer on the earth by devising a giant shield around the entire planet. The earth is saved, except for the fact that it is now a continual 99 degrees, and the earth is plunged into 24 hours of darkness. 40 years later, Connor is an elderly man with liver spots, heading out for the opera. Then there is a flashback of Connor recalling his halcyon days on the planet Zeist hundreds of years earlier. Back on Zeist, Connor and Ramirez led a futile coup against the ruling dictator, Katana (Michael Ironside), that caused them to be banished to Earth. Back in the future, Katana sends a pair of wacky goons to kill Connor. When Connor lops off their heads, he is now young again...and immortal. Just the right time to meet the attractive scientist Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen), who has discovered that the shield around the earth is no longer needed since the ozone layer has repaired itself. But, unfortunately, the shield is in the clutches of an evil cartel who wants to control the earth's resources. Connor and Louise team up to battle the cartel while Katana sends out more emissaries to get Connor. Ramirez, although supposedly dead, also makes an appearance in the 21st century -- garbed in full Scottish regalia. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This Disney Studios attempt at entering the horror genre is a British production based on the chilling novel by Florence Engel Randall. An American family, headed by composer Paul Curtis (David McCallum) and his wife Helen (Carroll Baker), is renting an old mansion in England. The mansion's owner is Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis), who lives in a small guest house on the property. The mansion is surrounded by dense, forbidding woods. The Curtis children, Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson) and Ellie (Kyle Richards), explore the forest. Mrs. Aylwood is continually searching the woods for her daughter -- whom she lost there 30 years ago. Over time, the children come to be haunted by the spirit of the daughter, Karen (Katherine Levy). The film was originally released in 1980 with an ending that included a huge alien from another planet. The studio pulled back the film after test audiences laughed at the special effects, and re-released the movie in 1982 with a new ending that circumvented the alien. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Larry Doomer (Martin Shaw), ex-fiancee of New Avenger Purdey (Joanna Lumley), is determined to get even for the death of his father. To this end, Doomer has targetted an Arab diplomat for assassination. Unfortunately, Doomer's misguided missile will not only wipe out the diplomat, but all of the Parliament as well. Guest stars Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins) were later reteamed on the popular British action-adventure series The Professionals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title character in this episode is Purdey (Joanna Lumley), who has been abducted by the Other Side. In order to save Purdey's life, Steed (Patrick MacNee) must agree to hand over top-secret allied defense plans. Unaware that Purdey is in danger, Gambit (Gareth Hunt) reluctantly sets about to "terminate" Steed as a traitor and a murderer. Simon Oates, here cast as Spellman, also played John Steed in a British stage adaptation of The Avengers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second of four New Avengers episodes filmed in Canada, a rogue KGB agent has trained a band of mercenary criminals to destroy a top-secret security installation, thereby hurtling the Canadian Intelligence system back to the 1950s. Worse still, the bad guys are all-powerful and virtually invulnerable. Steed (Patrick MacNee, Gambit (Gareth Hunt) and Purdey (Joanna Lumley) must find a way to stop these modern-day gladiators, who have already left behind a trail of murdered secret agents. This episode was briefly banned from British TV due to "excessive violence." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of The New Avengers begins with another revenge-motivated episode. Ten years ago, John Steed (Patrick MacNee) was forced to shoot down his old friend and fellow agent Mark (Clive Revill), who had defected to the East. Since that time, Mark has been slowly dying from his wound, as the bullet works its way towards his heart. But before he cashes it in, Mark intends to wreak vengeance by destroying everyone and everything that Steed holds near and dear--and, of course, Purdey (Joanna Lumley) falls into this category. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The New Avengers investigate when a high-ranking military officer (Michael Barrington) disappears. Our heroes come across a band of mercenaries led by rogue colonel "Mad Jack" Miller (John Castle), who intends to launch an invasion of the Middle East and thus trigger World War 3. Ah, but Miller has reckoned without the resourceful Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), who when the need arises can become a "one-man army." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously seen on two episodes of the original Avengers, those malevolent metallic menaces, the Cybernauts, are at large again. This time, the man behind the Cybernaut invasion is Kane (Robert Lang), a crippled and disfigured double agent who has a score to settle with John Steed (Patrick MacNee). Part of the scheme involves the "rebirth" of the supposedly dead Kane with a new Cybernautic body--and the superpowers that go with it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The touch of Midas (Gilles Millinaire) is hardly golden in this episode. It seems that the young called Midas is a carrier of every known disease, and can kill with the slightest contact of his fingertips ("They died of everything!" is the diagnosis whenever one of his victims is found). Enticed with a huge prize of gold, Midas agrees to wreak havoc on England in general and the Avengers in particular on behalf of a sinister foreign diplomat. The pot is sweetened when Purdey (Joanne Lumley) is kidnapped and offered up as Mida's companion for the evening--an experience which of course will have fatal consequences for our heroine. Raiders of the Lost Ark bad guy Ronald Lacey guest stars as Hong Kong Harry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In exchange for providing valuable information to the government, a convict is set free. But no sooner has the prisoner set foot on the "outside" than he is mowed down by enemy gunfire. The New Avengers try to find out what he was going to tell, and why he was killed--with a tattered paperback copy of a Western novel as their only clue. Ingredients essential to the outcome of this story are a marathon cross-country chase and a deadly game of cards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A late entry from the foundering Hammer Studios, this intriguing and highly original twist on the vampire motif -- featuring for once a hero more charismatic than the vampires with which he does battle -- was the first in a planned series of Kronos films, but poor planning on behalf of its overseas distributors killed the franchise's great potential in the American market. Kronos (Horst Janson) -- a kind of swashbuckling Sherlock Holmes of the occult sciences -- and his hunchbacked companion Professor Grost (John Cater), arrive in the village of Durward where the local young wenches are being victimized by a family of vampires that drain youth, not blood, from their victims, turning them into withered old hags. Kronos' mystical intuition and powers of deduction lead him to the elderly Lady Durward (Wanda Ventham) and her pompous children Paul (Shane Briant) and Sara (Lois Daine), and he soon squares off against his vampiric foes with a lethal sword (fashioned from a sacred cross) and a bag of occult tricks (including an interesting use of dead frogs). Well-photographed and cleverly directed by Brian Clemens (Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde), this is one of Hammer's few attempts to broaden its audience in the 1970's -- a trend which reached its zenith of zaniness with everybody kung fu fighting in the Hammer/Shaw Brothers collaboration Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV film, the rich Dina Hunter (Barbara Eden) believes that someone is out to kill her in order to steal her jewels. However, as she attempts to get help, Dina's fears are laughed off as being paranoid and unfounded. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Overture was the pilot episode for the Anglo-American TV series The Persuaders. Tony Curtis and Roger Moore star as American Danny Wilde and Britisher Lord Brett Sinclair. Danny's a self-made millionaire; Lord Brett's vast wealth is inherited. Both share common interests: a taste for adventure, and a fondness for beautiful women. While attending a party, they are tricked into becoming espionage agents by retired Judge Fulton (Laurence Naismith). Once they've had their "shakedown" adventure, they're off to the Mediterranean for another escapade. The Persuaders was first telecast in the US from September 18, 1971 to June 14, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide