Spectre 1977 Full Movie
Casio Bauman
Spectre is a 1977 British made-for-television horror film produced by Gene Roddenberry. It was co-written by Roddenberry and Samuel A. Peeples, and directed by Clive Donner.[1] It was one of several unsuccessful pilots created by Roddenberry, and one of several pilots in the 1970s in the occult detective subgenre. The pilot follows the adventures of William Sebastian (Robert Culp), a former criminologist and occult expert, and his colleague, Dr. "Ham" Hamilton (Gig Young), a physician and forensic pathologist, as they visit the United Kingdom to investigate a case involving the aristocratic Cyon family.[2] The cast includes John Hurt, James Villiers, Gordon Jackson, Ann Bell, and Majel Barrett.[3]
William Sebastian is a former criminologist who now studies the occult to explain the problem of human evil. He has been cursed on one of his adventures by the demon Asmodeus, leaving him in constant need of medical attention. He summons an old colleague, Dr. "Ham" Hamilton to his home to help him with a case involving the Cyon family. Dr. Hamilton does not believe in the occult and thinks that Sebastian and his housekeeper Lilith are playing tricks on him when he witnesses unusual events.
As the pair are getting reacquainted, a woman claiming to be Anitra Cyon unexpectedly visits and tells Sebastian that his services are no longer required. Sebastian recognizes that this person is not Anitra Cyon, but rather a succubus sent to stop Sebastian from investigating the family. He defeats her using the Apocryphal Book of Tobit. He and Ham depart to the airport where they are flown by Mitri Cyon to London. While over the Atlantic the engines of the plane fail, something that Sebastian claims is the result of supernatural intervention.
Thanks to Mitri's expertise, they land safely in England. Sebastian asks the Cyon chauffeur to stop off at the home of Dr. Qualus, a long-time associate who has been researching the Cyon family. Qualus' house is on fire. Ham and Sebastian find Qualus' body lying partially inside a pentagram, the body fatally mauled. The police arrive, and Inspector Cabell (an old acquaintance from their criminology days) escorts them to Cyon Manor. When they reach the Manor, they are greeted first by Sir Geoffrey Cyon, Anitra and Mitri's older brother and head of the family. He is aware that Sebastian and Ham are there to investigate him and wants his sister convinced that nothing is wrong. The real Anitra reiterates her reason for consulting Sebastian: due to an unknown influence, Geoffrey's behaviour has changed dramatically and he has turned Cyon Manor into a den of iniquity. Geoffrey dismisses her concerns. The following day Mitri is attacked by dogs, badly injuring him. Sebastian and Ham suspect Geoffrey is behind the attack. That night, the duo investigate the grounds of the Manor and discover ruins which lead to a hidden underground temple devoted to Asmodeus. They suspect that the real Geoffrey is dead and that Asmodeus has assumed his form.
The next day the pair prepare to do battle with Asmodeus and his cult. Further investigation of the hidden temple reveals that it is Mitri who is dead and whose form Asmodeus has assumed. Geoffrey is a pawn who was used to increase the cult and who will be forced to sacrifice Anitra to Asmodeus. Asmodeus removes the curse on Sebastian and invites him to join him, but Sebastian rejects the offer and battles Asmodeus. The temple and the Cyon house are destroyed but Sebastian, Hamilton and Anitra Cyon escape.
Back home, Sebastian receives a painting from Anitra Cyon similar to one he had admired. In the final moment of the film, Sebastian sees the symbol of Asmodeus (a stylised letter "A") in the painting. The conflict with Asmodeus is only beginning.
Spectre was intended as the pilot for a television series, but was rejected. The relationship between Sebastian and "Ham" is deliberately reminiscent of that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, although there are also some aspects that recall the relationship between Roddenberry's own Spock and Leonard McCoy. Roddenberry previously revisited this relationship in an earlier failed pilot, The Questor Tapes.
Spectre was one of a number of unsuccessful television pilots in the 1970s in the occult detective subgenre. After its rejection by American television, an extended version of Spectre was released in the UK as a theatrical film with additional footage that includes nudity.[4] The version currently in television syndication is a heavily edited version of the UK theatrical release, which retains some of the less explicit nudity in the Black Mass finale.[5]
William Sebastian (Robert Culp) is a former criminologist who worked in partnership with Amos "Ham" Hamilton for eight years. He is a brilliant detective with incredible intuitive skills and a belief that there are things beyond science that are real. He came to believe that some unseen forces were causing a number of significant crimes, particularly after studying Charles Manson, Richard Speck, the Boston Strangler, and the Tokyo Bluebeard. After his split with Ham five years ago he immersed himself in the Occult, and has an extensive collection of occult artifacts. Recently Sebastian undertook an occult experiment which has damaged his heart.
Dr. Amos "Ham" Hamilton (Gig Young) is a medical doctor who worked as staff physician and forensic pathologist at Fairview General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, but thirteen years ago he started a partnership with William Sebastian as criminal investigators. He was the more down-to-earth member of the partnership and after eight years Ham became tired of working with Sebastian and returned to Fairview. Recently his alcoholism and womanizing has interfered with his work.
Spectre was a TV movie that aired for the first time back in May of 1977. I was eight then, and not into horror movies, monster movies, yes, but nothing that was overly frightening or gory, and I vividly remember the TV commercial for it scared the shit out of me, which is why I never watched it.
This is a movie that, on occasion, makes me feel old. I generally get that way re-visiting films that were made in my lifetime. When I first saw it (minus Gig Young) all the actors were still alive. Here I am in my early 50s, doing movie reviews now, and a majority of the cast is dead. As of this review Ann Bell is the only surviving actor from the main cast. Of the supporting cast, the young girls who played the maids are probably the only actors still living, aged now as they are. Even the director and producer are dead.
A Gene Roddenberry authored pilot-turned-TV movie. Culp and Young are criminologists who become demon hunters. The set-up is great fun and we jump from intrigue to intrigue so quickly that I thought I might fall completely in love with this one. But things slow down once we arrive at the Cyon mansion, where the pair of investigators must determine which of three wealthy siblings is actually just a husk housing a sexually rapacious demon lord. John Hurt is on hand to provide some fun, and Jenny Runacre appears in a tiny thankless role as a chauffeur. She's so instantly recognizable and iconic, I would have liked much more of her. The climax is satisfyingly perverse and echos Devil Rides Out, The Witches (1966) and the rest of that ilk. As a whole it's a joy even though it loses momentum along the way.
Back in the Sixties and Seventies, I was a stone-cold Star Trek fanatic, so whenever Gene Roddenberry put out a new television pilot, it went right to the top of my pre-digital streaming watchlist (i.e. yellow highlighted entry in TV Guide). By 1977, Roddenberry had already put out The Questor Tapes and three iterations of Genesis II that were never picked up by NBC, so in '77, he decided to ditch Sci-Fi and try riffing on the occult, hence Spectre was born (and please don't conflate this with the Daniel Craig extended episode of The Venture Brothers).
Making allowances for this being a somewhat sluggish and padded-for-time 70s TV movie (written by Gene Roddenberry!), this is pretty awesome. The great Robert Culp stars as William Sebastian, Holmesian paranormal investigator who has dare I say it a somewhat Spock/Bones dynamic with his alcoholic Dr. Watson figure played by Gig Young. In a just world this would have gone to series and we'd have a big screen franchise based on it by now.
This is another pilot from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Written by Roddenberry and Trek writer Samuel A. Peeples (Where No Man Has Gone Before and the Animated Series' Beyond the Farthest Star). Robert Culp and Gig Young star as an occultist and a doctor respectively. Majel Barrett (the original number one and Nurse Chapel) is William Sebastian's (Culp) secretary who is possibly psychic. They are hired to see what is going on in the Cyon family (John Hurt, Gordon Jackson, Ann Bell). Off to England they go and investigations reveal someone is knee deep in the worship of Asmodeus. There is a lot of exposition but the last 20 minutes is a wonderful clash between out protagonists and the full cult of Asmodeus.
Long before it was Daniel Craig's weakest mission, it was a borderline incomprehensible, extremely dull, and cheap TV movie horror. From the creator of Star Trek. Sorry, Gene, but maybe you can't boldly go somewhere, sometimes. Although tweaked heavily, this could have been a much better ep of the original series.
Dug John Hurt's hair-do though. Looking like a member of The Beatles. As well as the groovy music that sounded like the tunes you'd hear in a porno back in the day. Surprised to see some boobage at the end. This wasn't from cable. Was it meant to go theatrical, before being dumped on the (sorry) boob tube?
A Gene Roddenberry penned occult TV show pilot that falls somewhere between Star Trek and The Outer Limits and almost ends up a prototype X-Files with a redirected focus on the supernatural rather than the paranormal. This was bonkers enough with Robert Culp killing succubi by shoving holy books onto their breasts and satanic Gorns that I'm a little disappointed it wasn't picked up for a series. The relationship between Sebastian and Dr. Hamilton recalls future TV pairings of the rationalist and the believer, and carries with it the familiar charm of the 60's Enterprise trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy that I'd love to have seen the continuing adventures of - especially if they doubled down on that delicious 70's weirdness.
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