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Don't Open Till Christmas

Year:

1984

Duration:

86 min

Genres:

Horror | Mystery

IMDB rate:

3.8

Director:

Edmund Purdom

Details

Country: UK

Release Date: 1984-12-21

Filming Locations: Café Royal - 68 Regent Street, Piccadilly, London, England, UK

Cast

Actor

Character

Belinda Mayne

Edmund Purdom

Inspector Ian Harris

Alan Lake

Giles Harrison

Mark Jones

Detective Sergeant Powell

Gerry Sundquist

Cliff Boyd

Kelly Baker

'Experience' Girl

Kevin Lloyd

Gerry

Wendy Danvers

Housekeeper

Nicholas Donnelly

Doctor Bridle (scenes deleted)

Pat Astley

Sharon

Laurence Harrington

Kate's Father (as Lawrence Harrington)

Ken Halliwell

Restaurant Commissionaire

Ray Marioni

Maitre d'hotel

Wilfred Corlett

'Experience' Santa Claus

Ricky Kennedy

Theatre Santa Claus

Sid Wragg

Dungeon Santa Claus

Max Roman

Store Santa Claus

George Pierce

Market Santa Claus

Ashley Dransfield

Drunken Santa Claus

Derek Ford

Circus Santa Claus

Adrian Black

Circus Santa

John Aston

Santa Claus in Car

Maria Eldridge

Girl in Car

Des Dolan

Detective Constable

Derek Hunt

Police Constable

Paula Meadows

Dungeon Secretary

Caroline Munro

Herself

Dick Randall

Party Guest (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

Was released after the death of one of the main actors Alan Lake.

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The film took almost two years to complete after original director Edmund Purdom quit the job and Derek Ford took over but was fired after two days. The distributors then hired Ray Selfe to complete the direction and Alan Birkinshaw to rewrite parts of the script, including the original ending and the London Dungeon sequence, and much of the footage was completely re-filmed.

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Although the character of Dr Bridle (played by Nicholas Donnelly) is referred to in the script he has never appeared in any print of the movie. Due to the films many production difficulties his scenes were probably filmed but deleted.

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Goofs

The title card reads "DONT OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS", missing the apostrophe in "don't".

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When the inspector visits Kate's apartment to discuss the attack on Sharon, Kate asks what happened, but her mouth does not move.

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Faq

What are the differences between the British BBFC 18 Version and the Original Version?

This rather mediaocre slasher was released heavily cut on VHS in Great Britain. The DVD published by Film 2000 is also supposed to contain some minor cuts. This means that there is no completely uncut version available in the UK so far. A total of 2 minutes and 22,5 seconds are missing in 10 scenes and a detailed comparison with pictures can be found here.

Is this available on DVD?

No major distributor has released it, but one or two small companies have. This film may be in the public domain, which would mean that any distributor could legally sell copies without paying royalties. Beware. Some small distributors market copies of public domain films with poor picture and sound. Others are more reputable and deliver good transfers of the best available prints. Shop around.You can begin your search here at Amazon.com. Sadly, yes it is. Pure crap.

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