The Monster Hunters by
Newgate Productions was indeed a pleasant surprise. In description, it seemed to share a similar
format to The Scarifyers, whose first
series at least was extremely enjoyable supernatural/mystery/historical fluff
from great vocal artists like the late Nicholas Courtney, Gabriel Woolf and
Terry Molloy. The Monster Hunters, perhaps, takes itself a bit less seriously and
therefore restricts itself to smaller scope, with unpredictably hilarious
results. I was listening to this on the
train on the way home and could not help smiling at perplexed strangers as the
play wound its way to an outrageous climax.
The prologue, where the evil vampire Count Orloff is
defeated in London by Ignatius Chesterfield in 1771, reminded me very much of
Doctor Von Goosewing trying to stake Count Duckula in the eponymous Cosgrove Hall kids’ cartoon. Much as that cartoon succeeds from an
onslaught of gaffes, quips, and harmless buffoonery, so to The Monster Hunters: The Discotheque of Nights creates involuntary
giggles a-plenty, courtesy of its disinterested mastermind (Sir Maxwell House[1]), its
protagonists Roy Steel (Matthew Woodcock), world’s second best game hunter, and
Prof. Lorrimer Chesterfield (Peter Davis), fulfilling the Professor
Dunning/Terry Molloy role (albeit a bit stupider!).
I should mention, of course, that one of the reasons The Monster Hunters succeeds so well is
because it is set in 1971 and revels in the camp that Life on Mars eschewed. A
brilliant soundtrack and Steel’s completely un-PC attitude work extremely well
(it’s hardly surprising that the writers also play the leads). Like the escapist fantasy of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, it glories in a depiction of a silly,
semi-fictional past that just happens to include vampires. I may not know any
of the 1970s films it’s based on, but that doesn’t hinder my enjoyment.
The Monster Hunters—at
least in the league of The Scarifyers and
perhaps outdoing it.
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