For One Week Only

This archive of film trade ads came from our old London office on Upper Cheyne Row and is without a doubt a handsome collection. Film is covered extensively in the Adsausage archives, and while I’ve been known to pontificate on the works of Éric Rohmer, François Truffaut, and Emeric Pressburger, this salacious selection focuses on a genre with titillating titles such as Dr. Frankenstein on Campus and The Big Snatch.

However, that's somewhat of a broad term as you'll comfortably peruse horror, drive-in, and sexploitation. I was unable to come up with a suitable name for this collection, so I went with 'For One Week Only' — pilfered from the 1983 book on exploitation films by Richard Meyers.

That book would sit comfortably alongside Danny Peary's Cult Movies and Michael Weldon's Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film (both seminal works on the genre).

Interestingly while digging through the London archives, I located the British movie poster for 'Evil Horror of Satan's Castle'. The long-lost movie has an interesting history.

Filming began during a crisp November of 1972 on location at Shenley Hall, Hertfordshire, and around St Michael's Mount Castle in Cornwall.

Sadly, the long-forgotten film was fraught with complications from the start. Stories arose around numerous cast changes, a spiraling budget, frigid weather conditions, and distribution problems that caused filming to grind to a halt after a few weeks.

But with renewed financing from Roger Delfont (acting as a silent backer), production continued, albeit with some cast changes. According to production notes, filming was completed in June of 1973 and submitted to the BBFC in August.

A rough cut was shown to a select few people at the home of one of the producers and by all accounts favorably received. But for various reasons the film was eventually pulled, due partly to the excessive nudity, drug use, and lurid violence, resulting in further editing and delays.

The film reels were lost or destroyed and the only imagery that appears to have survived is the crudely anticipated mockup shown above.