Tag Archives: Hammer Horror

Hammer Horror Soundtrack Fans?

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Hammer Horror - Classic Themes 1958-1974

Silva Screen is releasing a greatest hits so to speak of some Hammer Horror themes that helped make these films so memorable. While all of these have been released before in two different collections, entitled The Hammer Film Music Collections, Vol. 1 & 2, those might be a little tough to come across these days, or at least without paying a pretty pound. But these new release, called Hammer Horror – Classic Themes (1958-1974), is a collection of themes from 18 of their titles, such as Captain Kronos to Countess Dracula to The Devil Rides Out. Below is the complete listing of the themes and their composers. The CD is only $15.95. You can pre-order your copy HERE.

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Hammer Frankenstein Book

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Hammer Frankenstein ScrapbookI must have missed when they mentioned this on their Facebook page, but Peveril Publishing is putting the finishing touches on their latest book, The Hammer Frankenstein Scrapbook. Just like their previous Dracula edition, it will cover all of the Frankenstein pictures that Hammer did from The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 to Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974 and all the gooey bits in between!

Like all of the titles coming from Peveril, this book with be filled with wonderful images, both in color and black and white, and a ton of information about the films and the people behind him. These titles are a bit pricy, especially getting them shipped to here in the states, but they are more than worth every single penny. They are just beautiful editions and are a sound investment as well. They are hoping to have the book out by October or November of this year.

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Movie Review: Plague of the Zombies

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Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Directed by John Gilling
Starring Andre Morell, John Carson, Diane Clare, Alex Davion, Jacqueline Pearce, Michael Ripper

In a small Cornish village, strange happenings are a foot! Some sort of deadly disease is creeping through the town and the local doctor is clueless as to what is the cause. He sends a letter of distress to Sir James, his former teacher, for assistance in this grave matter. Cutting short his vacation, Sir James travels to the village with his daughter to see if he can be of any assistance, but has no idea the evil deeds he is about to uncover there.

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Horror History: Jimmy Sangster

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sangster1Jimmy Sangster
Born Dec. 2nd, 1927 – Died Aug. 19th, 2011

When discussing the Hammer family, Jimmy Sangster was there at the start of their rise, not to mention having a big part of it. He started with Hammer at the bottom, working his way up through the ranks, as second unit director, assistant director, production assistant, production manager, then finally into writer, producer and director. But while he may have held many different titles in the industry, it was as a writer where he made his real mark.

By the time that Hammer was going to do their version of Frankenstein, Sangster had worked on over 30 films as either Production Manager, or Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. He had written screenplays for one short film and one feature by then, both for Hammer. The short film was A Man on the Beach and the feature was X the Unknown (1956), sort of their version of The Blob (1958) even though that came out two years later! But he was given the task to write this new version of Shelley’s tale, but told to make sure he stays away from Universal’s version, in fear of getting sued for copyright infringement. He decided to focus more on the creator than the creation, which started Hammer toward their path to being know as The House of Horror!

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Valerie Gaunt: Rest in Peace

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valerie-gaunt-ripThis has been a rough year for horror fans, losing so many people that have given us so much pleasure over the years. And now, news of yet another one. Actress Valerie Gaunt passed away this last Tuesday the 27th. Now Gaunt only appeared in two films in her very short career, but those two made quite the impact in the horror world, not to mention the British film industry.

In 1957, she appeared as Justine, the maid (and more) to one Baron Frankenstein, played by the one and only Peter Cushing. She made the mistake of forcing the Baron’s hand by telling him that she was pregnant, which might be an issue with his fiancée. This leads him to introduce her to his creation. Let’s say that doesn’t end well for poor Justine. The film of course is Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein.

The following year, she returned to Hammer to appear in Horror of Dracula, playing Christopher Lee’s vampire slave. She very well might be the very first vampire to show her fangs….in color. But we’re not here to debate that.

So while Gaunt only appeared in these two films, they’re kind of a big deal, so it would be very easy for us to always remember her performances, as either the conniving housemaid, or the luscious vampire woman.As horror fans, it is our job to remember these fine and talented actors who continue to give us pleasure.

Our thoughts go out to her friends and family in this sad time.

John Carson – Rest in Peace

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john-carson-ripHammer fans have lost another familiar face, that of actor John Carson. He may have only made three appearances in a Hammer Film, as well as one episode of their TV series, every time he came on the screen, he made his presence known. Of course, my personal favorite of Carson’s performances was as the evil squire, Clive Hamilton in John Gilling’s 1966 film The Plague of the Zombies, where he is slowly taking control over this small village. The evilness just oozes from him. With his James Mason-ish voice, his presence is always authoritative and imposing, as well as damn entertaining to watch.

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Hammer’s Dracula Scrapbook Available

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dracula-scrapbook-frontPeveril Publishing’s latest must-have edition, The Hammer Dracula Scrapbook, is now available for order. Keep in mind, there are only 600 copies of this available so if you have ANY desire to order this, you might want to do it now. Once their books go out-of-print, the prices just get ridiculous.

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Book Review: Hammer Glamour

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hammerglamourHammer Glamour
By Marcus Hearn
Published by Titan Books, 2009. 160 pages.

One of the things that Hammer was known for was the lovely ladies that filled their movies. This book is a celebration of those women. At first glance, you might be disappointed that this isn’t the cheesecake type of book that most would have thought (and probably hoped). Sure, there are plenty of photos throughout this tome, and a few of them a bit cheeky, but most of them are just studio glamour shots of the actresses. But it is an excellent mini-biography book of the many beautiful women that graced their films. We all know the names of Ingrid Pitt, Veronica Carlson, and Caroline Munro, but there are so many others like Diane Clare, all are given a little spotlight, giving us info about their careers and their lives.

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Book Review: The Hammer Vampire

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HammerVampireThe Hammer Vampire
By Bruce G. Hallenbeck
Published by Hemlock Books, 2010. 240 pages.

Now being pretty familiar with Hammer films already, I was wondering just what I was going to be able to learn that I didn’t know already. But this just goes to show you that when it comes to horror history, we are all students of the genre. I have been a fan of Hallenbeck’s work every since I discovered Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine quite a few years ago. I believe it was issue # 8 which came out in May of 1984. It had a shot from The Vampire Lovers on the cover and the main article was written by Hallenbeck. In fact, believe in most of the issues, the main article was written by him. There is a reason for that. Mr. Hallenbeck knows his Hammer. With each issue of the magazine, we learn more and more about the “studio that dripped blood” and the people that worked there. This book is no different.

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Book Review: The Art of Hammer

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artofhammerThe Art of Hammer: Posters from the Archives of Hammer Films
By Marcus Hearn
Published by Titan Books, 192 pages.

There was a time when movie posters were created not only before a single frame had been shot, but sometimes even before a script had been written. An artist was simply given a title and told to come up with a movie poster design for it. This was then used by the studio to try and sell the film before it was even started. Hammer Films did this, but they weren’t the first. But some of the artwork that came out for those movies is just stunning. Now, thanks to Hammer scholar Marcus Hearn, we all can enjoy these incredible pieces of art, but also keep these images alive and well for us collectors.

I know this as cliché as this sounds, this book really is a must. But not just for fans of Hammer Films, fans of movie posters in general, This coffee table size book is filled with beautiful images from Hammer movies from the ’50s to their end in the late ’70s. They display a mixture of close to 300 posters from around the world, from British quads, American 1-sheets, Spanish, Polish, and many others that will make any poster collector just drool. They are divided by decades, with a great index at the end in case you’re looking for a certain title. Each poster has the country from it is from listed, as well as the size of it.

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