Solid Boxed Set of Hammer Horror Flicks a Must for Fans
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MAY
2
2008
Brides of Dracula
Curse of the Werewolf
Phantom of the Opera
Paranoiac
Kiss of the Vampire
Nightmare
Night Creatures
Evil of Frankenstein
This four-disc collection from Universal Home Video collects some solid, if lesser known, Hammer horror films from the early '60s. The selections on display here feature several good performances from Hammer stalwarts Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed, but surprisingly, not one includes the iconic presence of Christopher Lee. This is due to Hammer working with different distributors over the years, working with Warner Brothers when the studio had its first major international success with Horror of Frankenstein, The Curse of Dracula, and The Mummy, all featuring Lee and Cushing. Hammer made a new distribution deal with Universal International in 1960. During the time covered by that deal, the studio produced these fine technicolor creepshows.
Actually, a couple of the movies here were made in money-saving black & white. The better of the two is the Hitchcockian mish-mash Paranoiac from 1963: the young Oliver Reed plays a creepy rich kid who'll stop at nothing to protect his inheritance, including murder. It's all pretty silly, but Reed is great fun in the role, making the most of such lines as "I've been drinking...Now I'm going to drink some more." The other black & white offering, Nightmare, is a sub-Gaslight tale of a young heiress driven mad by the machinations of an evil solicitor. Hokey stuff, to be sure, but mildly diverting.
There are a couple of enjoyable entries in Hammer's vampire series, Brides of Dracula and Kiss of the Vampire. The latter title was an inspiration for Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers, and is the better (and creepier) of the two, involving a pair of newlyweds who fall prey to a family of bloodsuckers. Very atmospheric, the film makes the most of its meager budget, and features an ending that was borrowed from the original script of Brides of Dracula. That movie has its moments as well, telling the tale of a vampire running amok at a girls school.
Peter Cushing takes center stage as the title character in Evil of Frankenstein (though Christopher Lee's monster is sorely missed), and as the pirate Captain Clegg in Night Creatures. Perhaps the best-known titles in The Hammer Horror Series are the 1962 remake of The Phantom of the Opera starring Herbert Lom, and 1961's The Curse of the Werewolf with Oliver Reed as a young Spanish nobleman with a problem: he keeps turning into a wolf and disemboweling people.
All in all, a worthy addition to any DVD collection, offering eight Hammer Classics in one package. Some purchasers have complained that the double-sided discs tend to freeze up older DVD players, or skip horribly.
Available from Universal Home Video.
Last edited on May 02, 2008
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