Oakley Court, Windsor | The house that screamed and screamed again

It’s been home to Peter Cushing’s Baron in The Curse of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff’s secretive horticulturist in Die Monster Die, and Lon Chaney’s Satanist in Witchcraft. It’s witnessed Frankie Howerd being stalked by an axe-wielding Ray Milland in The House in Nightmare Park, caused Stephanie Beacham to have nightmares in And Now the Screaming Starts, and seen Donald Pleasance conducting strange experiments on Doctor Who’s Tom Baker in The Mutations. It’s also housed lesbian bloodsuckers (Vampyres), evil gardeners (The Night Digger) and all manner of Riff Raff from 1975’s Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Welcome to Oakley Court. Situated on the River Thames in Windsor, Berkshire, London, this Victorian Gothic mansion was built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall Say, and changed hands a few times until 1919, when it was purchased by Ernest Olivier (who lived in the house until his death in 1965). When Bray Studios (which was used by Hammer Films) moved next door in 1955, Oakley Court became a most convenient setting for a host of films over the next two decades. Today, Oakley Court is a popular hotel hosting year-round events, and doesn’t shy away from its horror heritage. Here’s a list of the films that have been made there. How many do you remember?

FILMS SHOT AT OAKLEY COURT
Man in Black (1949)
The Lady Craved Excitement (1950)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) REVIEWED HERE – THE BLU-RAY
Dracula (1958) REVIEWED HERE – THE BLU-RAY
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Siege of the Saxons (1963)
The Old Dark House (1963)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Nightmare (1964)
Witchcraft (1964)
The Scarlet Blade (1964) REVIEWED HERE
Die Monster Die (1965)
The Reptile (1966) REVIEWED HERE
The Plague of the Zombies (1966) REVIEWED HERE
The Projected Man (1966)
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly (1970)
Au Pair Girls (1972)
And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973)
The House in Nightmare Park (1973) REVIEWED HERE
The Mutations (1974)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1974 TV Movie) REVIEWED HERE
Vampyres (1974)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Murder by Death (1976)
Murder by Decree (1979)
The Wildcats of St. Trinian’s (1980)

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