FEAR IN THE NIGHT and HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN On Blu

   You can fill in a couple more holes in your Region "A" Hammer Blu collection as Shout Factory have announced the release of two later period efforts from the British horror studio. 

   FEAR IN THE NIGHT from 1972 is one of Hammer's better later period films and one it best of the "psychological" thrillers that the studio dabbled in. Starring Peter Cushing, Joan Collins and Judy Geeson, it was directed by Hammer screenwriter/producer Jimmy Sangster.

   1970's HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN came at a time when the studios Gothic horrors were floundering a bit and was an attempt to kick-start the Frankenstein franchise with a younger cast along with Ralph Bates replacing Cushing as the Doctor. A sometimes-uneven mix of dark comedy, blood and heaving bosoms, it showed Bates as a wholly unsympathetic character whose actually more evil & murderous then his creation. 

    Not as dismal as most reviews suggest, it's fun late-night horror when watched in the right frame of mind and helped by forgetting Hammer's previous Frankenstein films. Not mention you have Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson as the requisite "Hammer Glamour". David Prowse (STAR WARS) plays the monster and would again play that role in the far superior FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL in 1974. 

   No firm street dates or extras have been announced.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE 1971

     On July 30th Shout Factory will release Hammer's LUST FOR A VAMPIRE on Blu. Directed by Jimmy Sangster it's the middle film in that studios "Karnstein Trilogy" preceded by 1970's THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and followed by TWINS OF EVIL later in 1971.  Widely considered the be the lesser of the three films it follows Hammers then formula of mixing Gothic horror along with healthy dollops of bare breasts and blood. 

    The "Hammer Glamour" marketing campaign this time around focused on Danish born Yutte Stensgaard who appears here as Mircalla/Carmilla Karnstein who infiltrates a girl's school. This was somewhat of a troubled production with Sangster replacing Terence Fisher as director along with Peter Cushing bowing out of the male lead to care for wife and being replaced with Ralph Bates (who refereed to LUST FOR A VAMPIRE as "the worst film ever made"). Ingrid Pitt was originally slated to reprise her role from THE VAMPIRE LOVERS turned down the film. 

    Despite its dodgy reputation (including a winch the inducing pop vocal song "Strange Love" & Yutte's cross-eyed love-making) it still has a quite a bit to recommend in it. Ralph Bates was one of Hammer's better late period actors and Yutte's blood soaked bare bosom resurrection sequence is defiantly an eye-opener (stills of which were the highlight of several horror movie books back in the day). Plus, there's Hammers usual excellent Gothic set design & costumes and a cast that also includes Suzanna Leigh (THE LOST CONTINENT), Pippa Steel (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) and Judy Matheson (TWINS OF EVIL).  

    This release will nicely fill out the trilogy on Blu and adds to Shout's ongoing Hammer releases which have been coming fast and furious lately. No extras have been announced yet.  

A Coffin Full Of Hammer Is On The Way !

    This October & Nov. Studio Canal unleashes a torrent of Hammer Films on Blu-Ray. After several years of silence were getting seven (!!) new titles which include three of their more interesting psychological thrillers from 1972 with DEMONS OF THE MIND, FEAR IN THE NIGHT and STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING along with a couple of their iffy later Gothics with 1970's SCARS OF DRACULA and HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (which originally shared a double bill) and classic Hammer's swan song TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER from 1976. The luridly fascinating DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE from 1971 is coming at a later date.

    The seventh tile is 1971's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB. Hammer always struggled a bit with their mummy films after the masterful THE MUMMY (1959) and after two previous films (CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB & THE MUMMY'S SHROUD) they ended their association with the Egyptian walking dead with this film. A truly cursed production as star Peter Cushing had to leave after a few days shooting because of wife's illness and director Seth Holt's tragic death a week before the film was to wrap, it always been rather unfairly maligned. 

     I've always been fond of it however as it contains a typical wonderful performance by Andrew Keir (filling in for Cushing), an interesting take on the mummy mythos's (based upon THE JEWEL OF THE SEVENTH STAR by Bram Stoker) and best of all Valerie Leon makes for one heck of a mummy. 

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH 1959 On Blu

   This lesser known Hammer production is the recent recipient of a new Blu-ray release courtesy of Kino Lorber. Previously available from Legend Films in a double feature Blu where it was paired with Freddie Francis's superb THE SKULL (another new Kino release), it's a bit of a strange misfire from the famous British horror studio. Not a bad film in the broadest sense, it just seems to be lacking is some respects as if all the participants both in front and behind the camera brought only their "B" game to the proceedings.

   Like most Hammer productions it's interminably set bound, but missing the usual opulent set production that helped elevate their other films in spite of the somewhat meager budgets. Lacking any sort of sympathetic character it's oddly rather flat and lifeless and is hampered by a talky middle portion that slows the plot down.

   With all that being said, it is a Terence Fisher Hammer Gothic with Christopher Lee and Hazel Court making it a worthy viewing experience with some excellent lighting effects (the green tinged lighting in certain sequences bring to mind Mario Bava's later work) and gruesome dead skin make-up effects, but there's a certain aura of "what if" hanging over the project - especially in the case of the lead.  

     Citing exhaustion Peter Cushing had dropped out of the film shortly before shooting was to commence and in his place the studio brought in German character actor Anton Diffring (CIRCUS OF HORRORS). An excellent actor with a cold aristocratic presence who specialized in evilly icy villains and Nazis, here he plays Dr. Georges Bonnet who is able to prolong his life indefinably (now at 104) by means of gland transplant taken from a living female "donor" every 10 years and by periodic sips from a green elixir he keeps hidden in a safe.

     Living in Paris, he's also a talented sculptor and has reconnected with previous lover Janine Du Bois (the luminous Hazel Court from THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) after unveiling an older sculpture of her which puts him into conflict with her current suitor Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee). Coming up on the due date for his new operation Bonnet awaits the arrival of his longtime surgeon & friend Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN). However upon arriving Weiss confesses that he's to old and infirm to conduct the surgery which necessitates Bonnett looking for a new surgeon in the form of Christopher Lee's character and perhaps having his past history of a trail of murdered women uncovered.

      In the lead role Diffring brings the right amount of evilness boarding on madness to the role but lakes the pathos that perhaps Cushing would have brought to the character. There's a great deal talk about the ramifications of immortality and outliving your peers and although Diffring plays his role superbly he does can't bring a touch of humanity to it and although Lee and Court do their best (ably assisted by the wonderful Francis De Wolff as a police inspector) but their roles are both cold with Court in particular dealing with a what script has as shrill, bitchy type character, but what should be the sympathetic heroine. 

     Co-produced by Paramount it was based upon their 1945 film THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET (which in turn was based up on a play by Barre Lyndon) and the script by Jimmy Sangster could have used some more Hammer atmosphere about it which in turn may have inspired Terence Fisher a bit more. The 1975 TV film THE NIGHT STRANGLER uses some of the same plot points. 

     The new blu-ray by Kino is a fine looking presentation of the film with a 1.66 transfer and after the murky looking opening credits the disc has strong colors and sharp details through the remainder. It also includes a commentary by film historian Troy Howarth and interviews with Hammer scholars Kim Newman and Jonathan Rigby. 

     Hazel Court filmed a topless scene for the "continental" market which has yet to appear on home video (although stills have surfaced) and Diffring appeared in an unsold TV pilot titled TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1958 which was to be an ongoing series based upon the Frankenstein legends wan was to be co-produced by Hammer and Columbia Studios.

Happy Birthday Remembrance For Hazel Court

  

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      A very special birthday remembrance needs to go out today for actress Hazel Court. Most famous for her roles in 1950's and 60's British horror films, she seemed particularly well suited to Gothic period pieces such as Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) and THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) where she would always bring a touch of class (along with a heaving bosom) to her roles.

     My personal favorite Hazel role is Juliana in Roger Corman's MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964). Playing the wife to to Vincent Price's Prince Prospero), she wonderfully projects an air of sexual evilness that comes to the fore in a satanic ritual that one of the highlights of the A.I.P. "Poe" series.  

     After meeting actor Don Taylor (BATTLEGROUND) on an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS in 1961 they were married and she retired from acting in 1964. Moving to California she later appeared in a couple of TV shows in the 70's and had a small role in OMEN III in 1981. Hazel passed away in 2008 and will always be a vital (and very lovely) icon from the golden age of British horror.  

Roger, Hazel and Jane Asher on the set of MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. On Blu-Ray

     

     Watching Hammer's 1,000,000 YEARS BC for the first as a child (for me at least) was one of those movie touchstone events that forever turned me into a movie geek. I saw it at the drive-in with my father probably in 1967 on a forgotten double bill that of which I most likely fell asleep during the second feature. Watching it on the big screen (and even later on TV) was an awe inspiring spectacle as the film had a truly epic majestic look to it, as if we were watching the Lawrence of Arabia of prehistoric caveman/dinosaur movies.
     Billed as Hammers "100th Production" (it wasn't) and fueled by the double shot of Raquel Welch in her fur bikini and Ray Harryhausen's stop motion prehistoric beasts, it arrived on a wave of publicity in 1966 and was both Hammer's most expensive (£422,000) and the highest grossing production as it raked up $8,000,000 in the U.S. alone. Directed by Don Chaffey (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS), it was shot on location in the Canary Islands (with interior stuff at Elstree) and has a wide open spacious look to it unlike the set bound Gothic horrors that Hammer was known for. Producer (and writer) Michael Carreras smartly hired both a director and cinematographer (Wilke Cooper) who had both worked with Harryhausen before.

      Anybody whose reading this is hopefully familiar with the basic plot as Tumak (John Richardson BLACK SUNDAY) is banished from his violent tribe of "rock people" and upon wondering through a barren landscape comes across Luna (Raquel Welch FANTASTIC VOYAGE) along with her proto-hippie "shell people" who show him a gentler way of life. Welch who was under contract to Fox at the time was about to loaned out to MGM for the role of Domino in THUNDERBALL when Fox changed their mind, casting her in FANTASTIC VOYAGE and then setting her off to London for a role and look that would pass into mid 60's cultural history. How many adolescent boys ordered that poster out of Famous Monsters and had it hanging in their bedroom ?
     Originally clocking in at 100 minutes Fox cut it down to 91 minute for U.S. release losing some blood, violence, hints of cannibalism along with a bit of wild cave woman dancing by Martine Beswick (most likely it was also probably cut a bit for better double feature compatibility). In a really bizarre move Fox edited some of Harryhausen's stop-motion animation work including bits of the Allosaurus attack which is one of his greatest creations.

     Often unfairly labeled and mocked (sure its popcorn, but its GREAT popcorn),it was obviously taken seriously by all involved and watching the film today its pretty amazing how dark and grim it is through the first sequence with Tumak's rock people and how other worldly the film looks in terms of scenery. Shot entirely without dialogue (just some grunts & a few verbal commands from the shell folk), it's  Mario Nascimbene's (he's credited with "music and special music sound effects") score that carries the film's audio side which combines sound effects, wind and sometimes even the mixing of two different pieces of soundtrack music along with choral passages to create a score that alternates between disjointed primitive soundscapes along with sweeping grandeur.
    Kino Lorber's spectacular new blu ray shares the same 4k restoration that Studio Canel released last year of the longer British cut while adding a second disc with the same restoration of the 91 minute U.S. version.  Extras include interviews with Martine and Raquel (who at 75 looks like she could still climb into that fur bikini with no problem), a vintage interview with Ray Harryhausen, still gallery & trailers and a full length fact packed commentary by Tim Lucas on the long cut.

  

All above screen Caps Are From The Kino Lorber Blu-Ray

No better way to watch a Hammer dbl. feature then if your "scientifically cool" !