The Reptile

Snakes alive! Hysteria hits a 19th-century Cornish village when murder victims turn up with fang marks on their necks in this splendidly spooky vintage Hammer horror. Could sultry Jacqueline Pearce be the victim of a Malayan curse doomed to writhe the night away? There's an endearingly 1950s-style monster, remarkably atmospheric art direction (the set at Hammer's Bray Studios was re-used for The Plague of the Zombies) and taut, stylish direction by John Gilling. This is one of the best examples of the economical approach Hammer took to horror while never sacrificing originality.