The Absolutely Diabolical Hammer Films Thread

[Bish]

Evilbones, I've merged your thread with this one.

[Evilbones]

Originally Posted by Bish

Evilbones, I've merged your thread with this one.

Sorry Bish i did do a search but came up with a few hundred and only looked till April, that will teach me.

[Alan George]

Great news about "Dracula", I was always impressed with the look of the Warner DVD, but they did get the aspect ratio wrong (we all make mistakes) I would think the BFI are doing it at 1:66.
The thing is, I go to the pictures now & see a film costing over $100,000000 & it doesn't look as good as (the very cheaply produced) "Dracula".
I hope the BFI get the Hammer bug & get stuck into "The Curse Of Frankenstein" I'm more impressed with it every tine I see it, & it did sort of kick the whole thing off.

[Al Garcia]

Originally Posted by MattP

Speaking of Hammer, does anyone here have the Region 1 Universal set with Brides of Dracula, Curse of the Werewolf, etc 8 movies squeezed onto 2 discs? I'd heard of problems with the discs pixellating and freezing but figured I was lucky when I watched most of the movies without any playing problems. However, this weekend I finally got around to Nightmare and, lo and behold, it's the one title on the set that won't play properly - the disc simply gets stuck about 10 mins into the movie and, after a couple of futile attempts to move on, just switches off..!

I'm quite miffed and not sure whether or not to order a replacement in case I experience the same problem (I don't know if Universal redid the set after all the complaints they must have received in the States - somehow I doubt it..).

I had similar problems. But because it's a fairly big collection of films that I watched over severla months, didn't realize it. But if you order a replacement, yeah it sounds like you'll probably have other films working and other's not. 1 guy on a different forum bought several copies, so he could have 'em all.

...Obviously far too much compressed, with the 2nd on each disc in most cases either not playing or starting 15 mins in. My PUSHER TRILOGY disc 2 is a bit like that...

None of the Freddie Francis thrillers worked properly, nor did EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN. But I'm still happy to have top transfers of BRIDES OF DRACULA, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF & KISS OF THE VAMPIRE.

[bibmcfeck]

Great news about Dracula. I hope Warner do use the restoration for a future DVD. An HD-DVD would be nice too

[John Hodson]

In anticipation no doubt, The Beaver has posted screencaps of the current R1 of Dracula, those aren't the worst examples of bad cropping; it's in dire need of reframing.

[John Hodson]

The Cannes showing of Dracula, as reported in the Indie:

...In one scene, a beautiful young woman is ravished to a bloodcurdling soundtrack of grunts and groans. In another, a stake is driven through the heart of a vampire in a crescendo of gore, guts and copious splatterings of luridly red blood. There are no polite cutaways and this is not for the faint-hearted. Welcome to Dracula: Uncut...

[bes]

That is a delightful description John.
I can't wait to see this, hopefully on the big screen.

[John Hodson]

Originally Posted by bes

That is a delightful description John.
I can't wait to see this, hopefully on the big screen.

Ditto, I can't get James Bernard's music out of my head; just sold my R2 Warners 'Hammer Collection' in anticipation of a new spruced up set hopefully among the Hallowe'en releases. Fingers crossed.

[bes]

Indeed, hopefully there will be a new dvd of Curse Of Frankenstein which restores the brief cuts, as at least one of them [the eyeball close up] exists in a print of the film which has been shown on the bbc and by the bfi.

[Nebiroth]

Originally Posted by bes

Indeed, hopefully there will be a new dvd of Curse Of Frankenstein which restores the brief cuts, as at least one of them [the eyeball close up] exists in a print of the film which has been shown on the bbc and by the bfi.

Errr...I thought the only Frankenstein that was cut was Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell...?

Of which, the Anolis edition restores most of the missing footage although they couldn't locate all of it.

[R-T-C]

Originally Posted by bes

Indeed, hopefully there will be a new dvd of Curse Of Frankenstein which restores the brief cuts, as at least one of them [the eyeball close up] exists in a print of the film which has been shown on the bbc and by the bfi.

Originally Posted by Nebiroth

Errr...I thought the only Frankenstein that was cut was Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell...?

Actually there are a couple of shots missing from the current WB disc of 'Curse'. The eyeball shot, that was censored in some territories, but has been shown on the BBC print:



There is also a shot when the severed head of the body used for the creature is lowered into the pit of acid by Victor (watch the scene and you can see the obviously added in reaction shot of Paul Krempe). However, this was cut by the BBFC before the film was ever screened and probably no longer exists.

The BBC print of the film also shows just how cropped the WB print is:




Cheers to Dan Gale for the BBC version images.

[Reedo]

Originally Posted by R-T-C

There goes my tea!

[John Hodson]

Interesting offer from Tomahawk Press:

Buy The Greasepaint and Gore Book and DVD together for only £19-99

'...When Roy Ashton succeeded Phil Leakey as Hammer's makeup supreme he was hailed as The King of Horror. In his tenure at Bray Roy helped Hammer consolidate their success as Horrormeisters creating the creatures the audiences love to see. When Roy passed away on January 10, 1995 he left behind an amazing collection of original sketches, paintings, test stills and tape recordings. This collection details his creation of the great Hammer monsters including: The Man Who Could Cheat Death,The Mummy, The Curse Of The Werewolf, Paranoiac, Evil Of Frankenstein, The Gorgon, Dracula Prince Of Darkness, Rasputin The Mad Monk, and She...'

2 Feature length documentaries on 1 DVD

Two superbly detailed documentaries about the masters of special effects make-up: 'Greasepaint & Gore: The Hammer Monsters of Phil Leakey' - 80 minutes - & - 'Greasepaint & Gore: The Hammer Monsters of Roy Ashton' - 72 minutes.


Never before seen interviews featuring:
Christopher Lee
Hazel Court
Barbara Shelley
Val Guest
Freddie Francis
Jimmy Sangster
Phil Leakey
Roy Ashton
Elizabeth Ashton
Eddie Powell

The 2 documentaries cover
the following films:
Stolen Face, The Quatermass Xperiment,
Quatermas 2, X the Unknown,
The Curse of Frankenstein,
Dracula, The Man who could Cheat Death,
The Mummy, the Curse of the Werewolf,
Evil of Frankenstein, The Gorgon,
Dracula - Prince of Darkness, and She

Extras:
Phil Leakey Behind the Scenes Picture Gallery
Roy Ashton Behind the Scenes Picture Gallery

[jackal]

Just noticed on IMDB's front page that Christopher Lee turns 85 today, and still going strong. Many happy returns to the old guy.

[bibmcfeck]

Originally Posted by jackal

Just noticed on IMDB's front page that Christopher Lee turns 85 today, and still going strong. Many happy returns to the old guy.

Many happy returns

[R-T-C]

I've just been watching Hammer's adventure film 'Devil-Ship Pirates' (1964) and I was wondering if anyone knew which film the naval battle footage behind the opening credits comes from?

Talking of the film, I wonder why there has been no DVD re-issue yet, either from Studio Canal via. Optimum, or on the DDHE slate (it was a Columbia co-production). It could really use an anamorphic print, and the WB DVD is hard to find now (it is reviewed on my site for anyone interested).

[John Hodson]

Some of you may know that there's trouble afoot at the BFI (Times look bleak for the BFI), but delving deeper into that story lead me here, and their piece entitled 'Dracula – The True Story' as you scroll down the page. Makes for an interesting read and certainly clears up a few issues on the restoration that I'd pondered on...

[tonytol]

interesting take on 'restoration'. I guess they need to spend their £16 millions somehow, so a nice trip to Cannes for everyone probably left only a few quid to add a bfi logo onto the studio restored movie. The BFI probably needs a thread all of its own, I think.

[Jeffrey K]

The question had occurred to me - why would the BFI spend its meager resources restoring a film that is the property of a large American corporation (which has its own restoration department)? Now we know.