Tag Archives: Hammer Films

Music Box Celebrates Horror in October!

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This year’s Music Box of Horrors, their annual 24-hour horror movie marathon, as we know sold-out in record time this year. Literally within minutes. Just crazy. But honestly, it shouldn’t be a surprise with what the Music Box has been programming, with plenty of stuff to keep us horror fiends excited all year long. They have announced a few more titles for this year’s marathon, which we have everything they have listed on their website below, or you can just click HERE to right to their page.

  • Amityville II: The Possession (1982) with Diane Franklin in person for a post-film Q&A
  • Attack the Block (2011)
  • Black Magic with Buddha (1983)
  • Danse Macabre (2011)
  • The German Chainsaw Massacre (1990)
  • The Haunted House (1921)
  • I Saw the Devil (2010)
  • The Leopard Man (1943) – Val Lewton!!!
  • Suspiria (1977) – Ultra-rare IB Tech 35mm print English-language, original UK release version

But it is the rest of October that is just jar-droppingly stunning with the number of amazing features, Q&As, and everything else they have listed. This isn’t the full list, but just a few titles that I think are pretty special or have a special guest attending! For the entire lineup, just click HERE.

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Hammer Unleashes Dracula Uncut

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We all knew it was coming, but I don’t think we had a clue to the massive extent this release would be giving us. And yes, it is going to cost you over $100. But for 7 discs (!!!) worth of material, including a 4K restored version that has footage believed to be missing since its original release??? Honestly, as exciting it is going to be to see the missing footage, the massive amount of extras on this set is just mind-boggling. I know it’s been posted several times on Facebook and other places, but I’m going to list them below because it takes a while to go through them! Not only do you get almost 15 hours of new and archival content, but there is also a 200-page book, a 60-page House of Hammer comic reprint, a double-sided poster, and 8 replica lobby cards.

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WBD Presents Christopher Lee

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The fine folks at We Belong Dead has their latest book out, this time celebrating the one and only Christopher Lee. It’s called Christopher Lee: Cinema’s Prince of Darkness. Whether you know him from Lord Summerisle, Saruman, Count Dooku, Duc de Richleau, Fu Manchu, or of course, as Count Dracula, the point is you know him. With a career that ran well over six decades, working in just about every genre out there, it is of course, his roles in the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy roles that he is known for. And the bigger roles later in his life, working with Peter Jackson, George Lucas, and Tim Burton, were all due to the fact that they all grew up watching his horror films! No matter what genre, he always had a screen presence that was unmistakable.

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Hammer Script Books

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Because Hammer Films isn’t satisfied enough with me spending all of my money on their incredible movie releases, so now they are putting out books of un-made movie scripts, in what looks like just gorgeous editions!!! They will be releasing an Official Script Collection, “exploring Hammer’s films through the original scripts, drafts and production documents that reveal what happened behind the scenes.”

The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula was a script written by Hammer producer / writer Anthony Hinds that never saw the light of day. I can’t say I’ve heard of that title before, but I know there were a couple of unmade scripts that were based in India, so maybe this is one of them. The book also contains the screenplay for Dracula: High Priest of Vampires, yet another unmade Dracula script. From the photos posted on Hammer Films’ website, this looks like quite the treat to those that not only collect Hammer Films memorabilia, but also for unproduced scripts.

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Movie Review: The House of Hammer: Volume 1

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For decades, Hammer fans would get excited when the famous studio would get a new owner and we’d hear promises of a return of the name of Hammer. And then we’d wait. And wait. And nothing. Then another new owner, and the same would follow. But ever since John Gore bought Hammer Films, those promises has not only happened but have gone way beyond any fans’ dream. It started with the glorious 4K restorations of not only some of their most famous classic titles, but even some more obscure and non-horror titles that started Hammer on their path years before the gothic revival they started in 1957. And they continued on.

Then they started to announce titles that were not from the Hammer catalog but other British titles, acquiring licenses from studios like Tyburn, AIP, United Artists, and others. They are giving these films the same treatment and restorations as their own titles, giving movie fans a chance to see them like never before. Not to mention the extras included in the releases.

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The Hammer Story: Revised and Expanded Edition

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Time to update the library! A new version of The Hammer Story is set to be published on September 15th, adding over 30 pagers of new material. It was originally published in 1997 and then revised in 2007. And now, almost two decades later, we’re getting a new edition with more content, updating the volume to add all that has been going on with Hammer Films, now that it really has risen from the grave and continues to bring the history of the famous “studio that dripped blood” back to life, to a whole new generation of film fans. While making us older fans giddy with excitement with all the new re-mastered and polished releases that have been coming out.

This version has gone from the past editions with 192 pages to 224 pages, delving into Hammer’s restoration programs, which includes the remastering of the studios classics films, as well as some other British titles, in the gorgeous looking 4K prints.

Released by Titan Books and priced at only $39.95 for this new hardcover edition, I would say without seeing it, that it is probably going to worth getting it, even if own the previous edition, even if this amazing new cover with both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing on it. Written by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes, these guys definitely know their Hammer history. And if by chance you never owned one of the previous editions, then now is the perfect chance to correct that error!

If you’re not sure if you own a previous edition, below are the last two covers.

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Horror of Dracula in 4K and UNCUT!

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We kind of figured that a 4K release of Hammer’s Horror of Dracula (1958) would be coming out at some point, after the huge release of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), not to mention several other titles. But what most fans didn’t expect was that it would contain footage never seen before, thought to lost for over six decades! I know when the Blu-ray came out a few years ago, which had a few seconds of long thought lost footage, of the Count’s demise, everyone was pretty excited about that. Those were some extra seconds, but now they are talking about 3 minutes of footage that is being restored into the film.

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Little Shoppe of Horrors – End of an Era

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The first issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors I purchased was # 8, which had originally come out in May of 1984. It was probably closer to the mid ’80’s to late ’90s when I picked it up. The main reason was because I was starting to go nuts over Hammer Films and The Vampire Lovers was one of my favorites, and issue # 8 was all about the Karnstein trilogy, so of course I had to get it. And from that issue on, I started to get the latest copy of Little Shoppe of Horrors every time one came out. It really was a Hammer Films fan’s dream come true, because it was so damn informative about not only the films, but those that were involved in making them.

And now, after over 5 decades and 53 issues, it is finally coming to an end. Issue # 53 will be released next month and has a cover story of the making of The Abominable Snowman (1957) by Bruce G. Hallenbeck, as well as an interview with Clive Dawson on the un-filmed Snowman, and an interview with star Forrest Tucker by David Aquino & George Stover. There is also a feature on the making of The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) by John Hamilton, an article by Stephen R. Bissette on John Gillin’s The Gamma People (1956), as well as other amazing pieces such as interviews with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Anthony Hinds.

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Hammer Unleashes X

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Two years before The Blob emerged from a meteor that landed in Pennsylvania and started devouring very old teenagers, over in Scottland, a very similar creature started attacking the locals. Except this one didn’t come from outer space, from within the bowels of the earth. In X – The Unknown (1956), during some mine detection training with the army, the radioactive material used drew the attention of some creature that breaks loose onto the surface, leaving a couple of soldiers with severe radiation burns. Except with no witnesses, and the creature going back down underground, nobody can figure out what could have caused the burns on the men. That’s when you call in the scientist, Dr. Royston, played by American star Dean Jagger, which was a common thing to do for British pictures to help with foreign distribution. You also have Michael Ripper as one of the sergeants in the military.

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House that Hammer Built

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Back in the late 90s, there was a magazine put out by Wayne Kinsey called The House That Hammer Built, with each issue devoted to all things Hammer Films. Because these were put out in England, they were not the cheapest or easiest to find. But now that Kinsey is one of the guys behind Peveril Publishing, starting in 2022, he has been taking all the info from those magazines, plus plenty more gathered in the years since then, and is putting them out in a series of books, appropriately titled The House That Hammer Built. Peveril has already published the first 3 volumes, covering the studio’s work from 1934 to 1958, but have now released the cover of Volume 4, which will cover from 1959 to 1962, and will be released hopefully this year.

I know I’ve posted before about these, and yes, they are not cheap, especially if you’re in the US, shipping from the UK is not cheap. But each volume is incredible, filled with some amazing photos, both black and white and in blazing color, and filled with so much information about the famous Studio that Dripped Blood, that if you are a serious fan of movie reference books, this on-going set are a must. Even if you don’t get the Scrapbooks they put out, I would consider this series as essential. Thankfully, all volumes are still currently available, but I wouldn’t hold out if you have any inclination of getting them. Each one has a run of only 750 copies, so that is not a lot. You can get all the information by heading over to Peveril’s site HERE.

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