Hammer on DVD/BD Thread

[Demoncrat]

well ive got no problem with The Lady Vanishes (Arthur Lowe shooting at the bosch, whats not to like?) but AAAAnyway

dug out me Plague of the Zombies. god i love this film. god i hate the cover....in fact i dont remember seeing any british releases WITH decent covers. enlighten me?

AAAnd i see that their Hound of the Baskervilles is on at 13.15 GMT, channel 4, so may give that one more go......

[Wes]

Originally Posted by oaxaca

Hmm I think people knock Hammer's 70s output too readily. The company still made incredibly entertaining films. The plots may have become hackneyed, a lack of originality rather than quality, and many films indulged in a bit of wanton nudity to attract the male viewer and upped the blood-letting a little. But despite all this, or because of it they were still entertaining films, often with good cinematography/direction and I think TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER was Hammer bowing out on a high note.

I totally agree...and nice to hear a good word about To the Devil A Daughter...

I watched The Reptile over the w/end and I loved it...one of Hammer's unsung masterpieces !

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by oaxaca

Hmm I think people knock Hammer's 70s output too readily. The company still made incredibly entertaining films. The plots may have become hackneyed, a lack of originality rather than quality, and many films indulged in a bit of wanton nudity to attract the male viewer and upped the blood-letting a little. But despite all this, or because of it they were still entertaining films, often with good cinematography/direction and I think TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER was Hammer bowing out on a high note.

I wrote this about To The Devil a Daughter in my review on the Gothic Thread.

"The ending is by far the worst thing about the film, in the way Widmark defeats Lee's diabolical sorcery - he throws a rock at him, thus banishing the Devil from the Earth. To make matters worse as Widmark picks the unconscious girl up from the alter, director Sykes decides to film this in negative dazzling colours. This terrible non-ending to Hammers final horror film could be looked on as a symbol of British Gothic horror fizzling out, not with a bang but with a whimper."

[the blob]

I think I'll always enjoy the later output just because of the memories of weekend late night double bills on BBC2. They just have to be taken at face value. Some are way more enjoyable than their slower moving classic era output.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I actually love em' all, from Curse of Frankenstein onwards, despite my quoted paragraph which was only part of the review.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Shaun Hutson has written a novelisation of Twins of Evil, published by Hammer Books.

The official synopsis -

A new novelisation of Twins Of Evil by Shaun Hutson. With a new foreword by John Hough.

Karnstein Castle stands like a bird of prey on the highest point of the hills that surround the village below. A huge monolithic reminder to all those who see it of the power of the family who have lived there for centuries.

By day the village of Karnstein is a peaceful place, but by night, an unimaginable evil roams free. Villagers are found dead, their throats ripped open and bodies drained of blood. Young girls disappear and are never seen again. Rumour has it that they are taken to the castle for the pleasure of Count Karnstein, the last surviving member of the family.

Into this strange place, come beautiful identical twins Maria and Frieda. While Maria lives a blameless life, Frieda is drawn to the castle and Count Karnstein. A man rarely seen in daylight, a man steeped in Satanic ritual and the blood of beautiful young girls.

Before long Frieda and Karnstein unleash a reign of bloody terror on the villagers, and no one, it seems, is strong enough to stop them.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike

Shaun Hutson has written a novelisation of Twins of Evil, published by Hammer Books.

The official synopsis -

A new novelisation of Twins Of Evil by Shaun Hutson. With a new foreword by John Hough.

Karnstein Castle stands like a bird of prey on the highest point of the hills that surround the village below. A huge monolithic reminder to all those who see it of the power of the family who have lived there for centuries.

By day the village of Karnstein is a peaceful place, but by night, an unimaginable evil roams free. Villagers are found dead, their throats ripped open and bodies drained of blood. Young girls disappear and are never seen again. Rumour has it that they are taken to the castle for the pleasure of Count Karnstein, the last surviving member of the family.

Into this strange place, come beautiful identical twins Maria and Frieda. While Maria lives a blameless life, Frieda is drawn to the castle and Count Karnstein. A man rarely seen in daylight, a man steeped in Satanic ritual and the blood of beautiful young girls.

Before long Frieda and Karnstein unleash a reign of bloody terror on the villagers, and no one, it seems, is strong enough to stop them.

I haven't read anything buy him in years, this might be the time to get reacquainted, more of a King fan really


Sometimes, dead is better

[R-T-C Tim]

Originally Posted by thehamish

dug out me Plague of the Zombies. god i love this film. god i hate the cover....in fact i dont remember seeing any british releases WITH decent covers. enlighten me?

A lot of Hammer releases back in the day were from Warner who seemed to have no on making good looking covers, I suppose they just expected most of those who brought the discs to already be Hammer fans.

Check out the difference between the Dracula: Prince of Darkness covers for the WB UK release and the German DVD:



But the most poorly treated was 'Devil-Ship Pirates' - a thrilling adventure film that gets a title with Andrew Keir in sepia close-up. It is almost like they wanted to avoid selling the film, compare this cover with the original theatrical poster:

.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by R-T-C Tim

A lot of Hammer releases back in the day were from Warner who seemed to have no on making good looking covers, I suppose they just expected most of those who brought the discs to already be Hammer fans.

Check out the difference between the Dracula: Prince of Darkness covers for the WB UK release and the German DVD:



But the most poorly treated was 'Devil-Ship Pirates' - a thrilling adventure film that gets a title with Andrew Keir in sepia close-up. It is almost like they wanted to avoid selling the film, compare this cover with the original theatrical poster:

.

hmm so much for pride in our national produce then, (great foreign covers though....)

[Mojo]

Why are we so crap at releasing Hammer on dvd here in the UK?