Hammer Films: The Ultimate Collection

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The general consensus is that this is the jewel in Hammer’s crown. Its influence was felt in genre films for decades, and it cemented all the elements of Hammer’s identity — writer, stars, director — making them the horror kings of the fifties and beyond. The film is so respected that the British Film Institute undertook a restoration, with Warners’ limited participation. Shortly after the restoration was completed, exciting news came that the legendary missing shots from the end disintegration of Dracula had been in found in a print stored in a Japanese archive. The print also had a more explicit vampiric seduction of Mina. The Hammer company leapt at the chance to obtain and restore this material… no small feat, considering it was in absolutely horrendous condition and would require expensive digital fixes. Hammer’s disc uses the BFI’s finished restoration as the source for their Blu-ray. Since it did not include the newly-found footage, the company inserted it in a separate, second version of the film on the three-disc set. The BEHP Interview with Peter Graham Scott (2004, 201 mins): career-spanning filmed interview, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring Graham Scott in conversation with Darrol Blake and John Sealey The last I read in their blog is the 4k scan of Curse of Frankenstein has been completed and is being examined. NEW Satanic Decadence & The Legacy of Sheridan Le Fanu in Hammer’s Twins of Evil – A Visual Essay by Kat Ellinger (2021) What it does mean is we'll probably have to wait for titles like Vengeance of She and Viking Queen to be done before we may see something like Kiss of the Vampire. Sadly, Kiss just got a new release in the UK but DVD only.

The Mossman Legacy (2014, 7 mins): Kinsey discusses the contributions of transport historian and collector George Mossman to Hammer productions Scream Factory has released so many Hammer Horror movies in recent years that we have a whole column dedicated to them – Paul Farrell’s endlessly informative and insightful series Hammer Factory– and they’ve just announced a brand new upcoming release today.Based on Andrew Bowser’s viral character of the same name , Onyx tells the story of an amateur occultist who learns that sometimes when you raise HELL… you get a little burned . Any release of Hammer House of Horror is worth owning, and the addition of the audio commentaries on this set gives it the clear edge over the others. However, if you have the Synapse Films DVD release, you may want to hold onto it for the introductions. Otherwise, this is a fine release of the show in high definition, and it comes recommended for fans new and old. sigh*** One of the most controversial disc releases from the Hammer company. While their intentions were good, they don’t seem to have understood what their customers wanted, or would accept. No one would argue that the effects in this film were adequate, but the company made the decision to ‘correct’ them with new digitally created replacements. Modifying the content of a film in this way is a big no-no in both the restoration field and among film fans, UNLESS you offer the revisions as a choice via a second version alongside the original. Oddly, for a company that supplied superfluous full frame variants as extras on both The Curse of Frankenstein and The Mummy, they did not supply the unaltered version of this film on the Blu-ray. They also didn’t announce what they had done until the news leaked on the Internet, further infuriating fans. Are the new effects an improvement? Technically speaking, of course they are. That doesn’t negate the fact that the original version should have also been included. It would have made an interesting comparison as well. Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows revives four consummate Hammer classics from the early sixties, exemplifying some of Hammer Films' best work in the horror and thriller genres. Edgar Allan Poe looms large in The Shadow of the Cat, a macabre ‘old dark house’ tale of feline revenge, starring André Morell ( Cash on Demand) and Barbara Shelley ( The Camp on Blood Island); Peter Cushing ( The Gorgon, Corruption) and Oliver Reed ( The Scarlet Blade) star in Captain Clegg, which sees Hammer fuse horror and adventure in an eighteenth-century-set tale of smugglers and marsh phantoms; Herbert Lom ( Mysterious Island) stars as The Phantom of the Opera in Hammer’s acclaimed production of Gaston Leroux’s Gothic classic, whilst Freddie Francis ( Torture Garden) directs Nightmare, a spooky psychological thriller in the Les Diaboliques vein, which benefits from full-blooded central performances by Moira Redmond ( Jigsaw) and Jennie Linden ( A Severed Head).

Hammer House of Horror: The Complete Series on Region Free Blu-ray is a three-disc set, with each disc sitting in separate clear amaray cases. Each case contains an insert featuring artwork that’s a collage of artworks pertaining to each episode. Everything is housed in a sturdy slipcase. The following episodes and extras are included on each disc: DISC ONE (PARTS I-V) Of course, Studio Canal doesn't own the rights to every Hammer film. Companies such as Paramount, Warner Bros. and Universal also own the rights to certain Hammer titles. Commentary with filmmaker/film historian Constantine Nasr and author/film historian Steve Haberman. Hammer's second addition to its 21st-century canon is certainly an adult thriller, but one of a different shade than Let Me In, the film that resurrected the studio. The Resident finds Hilary Swank as a recently divorced doctor moving into her dream loft in Brooklyn only to discover that her landlord ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has a bit of an obsession with her. Hammer veteran Christopher Lee appears briefly as Morgan's father. Commentary with “The Monster Party” podcast featuring James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, Larry Strothe, and Matt Weinhold.Peter Cushing: Perspectives (2021, 29 mins): documentary looking at the life and work of Peter Cushing, featuring contributions from actors Derek Fowlds, Judy Matheson and Madeline Smith