This is one thing I did not expect to happen but am thrilled at the aspects of it. Okay, maybe my wallet isn’t, but that’s a problem for Future-Jon to worry about! The new Hammer Films company, under the leadership of John Gore, has been making a lot of fans of the studio very happy with their amazing releases of some of their classic titles, such as the first two Quatermass movies, Captain Kronos, as well as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). But now, not only are they going to continue to do that, but they are also going to be putting out other British horror titles from different studios under the banner Hammer Presents.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Misc. Ramblings
Abbott & Costello Meet the All the Monsters?
Growing up watching old movies on Saturday afternoon on my small 13″ TV in my room are some of the best of my childhood memories. And combining monsters with my favorite pair of comedy actors, Abbott & Costello, well, that just made it even better.
Some time ago, Kino Lober posted a photo of a box et they’d be releasing, with 6 different features with Abbott & Costello where they sort of cross over in the horror genre. They were: Hold That Ghost (1941), Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff (1949), Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), and Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy (1955), all in 4K presentations. In fact, to the right is the graphic they released.
Continue readingJohn Gore Studios Acquire Tyburn
After hearing many, many times that someone had acquired the Hammer Studios name and was going to bring it back from the dead, it was so nice to finally see it happen, when John Gore finally started to do it. More than just ideas and plans, since Gore has taken the reigns, we’ve seen some amazing restorations of some of Hammer’s classic titles, as well as some of their lesser-known ones. Looking at John Gore Studios website and their mission statement, it really does sound like they are doing great things there and for the right reasons. As posted on their site, not only do they “believe in the power of compelling storytelling to ignite imagination and celebrate the enduring legacy of British film, television, and theatre”, but that they have a mission to “the acquisition, restoration, and distribution of historic film catalogues, ensuring these cultural touchstones remain vibrant and accessible.” Not only through acquiring the film rights, but also by using Silver Salt Restorations, another company owned by Gore, they can make them look as even better than when they first premiered. Just love to see that they understand and agree with the cultural relevance of these film titles, specifically the ones in the horror genre!
Continue readingBeing Thankful
Every year, people are usually asked, or post something about what we’re thankful for. It usually ranges in being thankful for their family, a good job, being healthy, or a variety of subjects of that nature. A lot of those things are stuff we tend to take for granted every other day of the year. But when you really look, I’m sure you’ll find a little more light than dark in one’s life. Even for us evil horror fanatics!
Continue readingKeep the Passion Burning…
…and the Mind on Fire!
One of my favorite things about the conventions that I attend every year is the conversations. Not only am I having the opportunity to talk about the genre I love so much, but it is those conversations that can spark new thoughts, new ideas, or new ways to think about a film that I never had before. Often, it has made me want to bust a movie out and rewatch because of a simple discussion with someone.
The same goes for the variety of riches that we have with DVD and Blu-ray releases of films, usually filled with commentaries, interviews, or features about the making of the film, or maybe those behind the films. The intake of information we receive, some of it we might have known, or maybe knew but had forgotten, or simply had no clue about, it aways gets those gears moving.
Continue readingA COLOSSAL CD Release
For fans of sci-fi/horror films of the ’50s and Bert I. Gordon, Dragon’s Domain Records has recently announced their latest release, The Albert Glasser Collection, Volume 5: Science Fiction Atomic Mutation II. This features the scores for The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and its sequel, War of the Colossal Beast (1958). Both scores were mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland, and it contains a booklet with liner notes by film music journalist and author Randall D. Larson.
Glasser did a lot of work with Mr. B.I.G., including Attack of the Puppet People and The Spider, as well as working with other films like Monster From Green Hell.
For more information, head over to Screen Archives Entertainment by clicking HERE.
Jaws 50th Anniversary Soundtrack
If you are so inclined, Intrada have recently released a 3-CD release of John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. I had immediately ordered the 2-CD set when it came out in 2015, which had some extra tracks on it that had never been released before. For this, you do get some more extras never released but it seems the main point is that it has been remastered once again, with a much better sound to it.
According to Intrada’s website:
Back in 2015 when Intrada first released the complete score, Universal made a fresh transfer of the three-track masters at a standard resolution of 44k/24-bit. For this release, Universal created a new high-resolution transfer at 192k/24-bit that provided levels of detail previously unheard. The most striking improvement, however, comes from the MCA album program. Back in 2015 no one could locate the elements for the original soundtrack recording beyond the CD digital master made in 1992. In the intervening years, UMe located the 2-inch, 16-track multichannel master tapes for the album recording. They transferred these in high-resolution as well and they proved to be in excellent condition. GRAMMY-nominated soundtrack producer Mike Matessino cleaned up and fully remixed these transfers, allowing this classic recording to sound more alive than it ever has before—and that’s not hyperbole. Even more remarkable was the discovery of never-before-heard material on master tapes that hadn’t been played for half a century.
Continue readingCurse of Frankenstein on 4K
This is something Hammer fans have been waiting a long, long time since the new owners of the studio started releasing some amazing 4K editions. They have finally has announced the next title getting their all-star treatment is none other than The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), the film that really put them in the big league. While they started to get attention with their two Quatermass films, once Curse hit the theaters, including the US, it just exploded. And now, the wait is over. Sort of.
Continue readingNo Internet = It Sucks!
Sorry for no new Mystery Photo this week, but we got hit with a big storm this last Saturday that knocked out our power for about 8 hours. When it came back on, no internet. Of course, it took 3 days for them to come out and fix it. So, in the meantime, while I could get to my email from my phone, couldn’t do much else. But hopefully we’ll be back to our regular rantings and ramblings from this point on!
Thanks for your understanding!
Dan Curtis Lives!
I would like to hope that Dan Curtis was very aware of the impact he had on young fans of the horror genre. From when he took a chance on a failing daytime soap opera, adding a vampire to see what happened, he never looked back. As a kid growing up in the late ’60s & early ’70s, I was flooded by countless characters, monsters, and other ghastly sites, all thanks to Mr. Curtis. While there as not been a constant stream of his work being released on varying formats over the decades, from VHS, to DVD, and now Blu-Ray, there still have been some that we have yet to see. But thanks to Kino Lober, now only do we get two of the three of his retelling of three classic monsters on Blu-Ray the first time, we also get four films he made for the Late-Night Mysteries series, which all aired in 1974. And if you order them now, they are damn near half price! Both are priced at $39.95 (which is a great deal already with what you’re getting), but now you can get each of them for $26.57! Just head over to Kino Lober by clicking HERE.










