Hammer Films!!!!

[Scooty]

Ok,
Im figuring my british, European and maybe just maybe my Aussie friends will know where I am coming from on this subject..BUT!! Is there anyone else out there that is a big fan of the Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee 50's 60's and even 70's Hammer Frankenstein and Dracula films???? I am an avid fan of these Euro classic horror movies and am wondering if there is anybody else out there that even understands what I am talking about?? These films are so very Gothic and so European but they entertain me in all of there cheese and glory..the only reason i posted this ..and its gonna sound crazy..BUT I got so excited cause 3 more of the classic Hammer films are being released on DVD in the US in April..Taste The Blood Of Dracula, Dracula Has risen From The Grave and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed ..April 27th...am I nuts?? Am I alone?? thoughts??.....Love this stuff.and I'm a YESFAN..LOL....

[BrianD]

I can't say that these films are to my taste but the 'Hammer House of Horror' had a certain style that was maintained for years.

[Simon B]

Bride of Dracula!!

As a youngster this as close as I ever got to a 'certain kind of lady' if you know where I'm coming from???

TM :grim:

[Soundchaser148]

[QUOTE=scootyes89]Ok,
Im figuring my british, European and maybe just maybe my Aussie friends will know where I am coming from on this subject..BUT!! Is there anyone else out there that is a big fan of the Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee 50's 60's and even 70's Hammer Frankenstein and Dracula films????

Hey, Scott: what a great thread! I'm the British guy who now resides in Oz who you know through the trading side of the site. Funny you should mention the wonderful hammer movies because I had a chat with my younger brother not long ago where we were going down memory lane. As soon as we started talking about Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee there was no stopping us! As far as I am concerned they are two legends of horror films. Another actor I rank alongside them is the incomparable Vincent Price who did some excellent horror films as well. I don't know if you ever heard about the Hammer House of Horror tv series which ran on UK tv back around the seventies/early eighties time. These were hour long programmes which had the ghastly habit of having evil endings! If memory serves me correctly this was a prerequisite of these programmes: they had to end with evil triumphing over good. What a warped view these programme makers had (God bless them! LOL). I remember one in particular where the main character looked to have saved the day and you thought everything would be okay when someone comes up behind her and chops off her head! Lovely stuff!! I write horror novels as well so these horror films and tv series are a godsend to me!

Cheers
Mark

[Martin Riley]

What a coincidence!!

Just last night we were sat at home discussing the ‘old days’. When I was in my teens Friday night TV viewing always ended with old US Universal horrors or British Hammer.

This led us onto looking to see if we could get any on VHS or DVD and sure enough I just checked Amazon before I logged on here and there is a good selection of Hammer stuff available.

Lust for a Vampire was on TV last night as well, about 3.30 in the morning.Class.

[Silent_wings]

Scott

I always knew I liked you.
I love old horror films and I love Christopher Lee
I about died and went to heaven when I found out he would be in the Lord Of The Rings.
Hammer films Rock!

[Bo Locks]

'certain kind of lady'

erm... I just bought the erm... SHE DVD for erm... just the same reason.

(My girlfriend loves Hammer too!)

[Scooty]

This is so cool. I started this thread late last night...and woke up this morning asking myself," What was I thinkin'?" But to my surprise other people love this genre too...far out!
Mark, I have heard so much about the House Of Hammer TV show..There's a box set here available of it on DVD..I should venture to guess I would enjoy that immensley!
Martin, I agree..there is a certain "class" to the Hammer horror films...(Peter Cushing could take any role in any cheesebomb horror flick and give it class..what was that??) All Lee had to do was put the cape on and not say a word in the Dracula series..so good. i think its the gothic fogladen nature of these films that work.
Kathy...HAHA...damn, that's funny...so when's the divorce???? ( J/K Patrick) :)....Christopher Lee is awesome...so perfect for LOTR and Dooku in Star Wars EpII, kinda brings it all full circle cause Peter Cushing was in the original....

Maybe I should have a Hammer party closer to Halloween...hmmmmmmm.. :grim:

[Silent_wings]

A Horror Movie Sleep Over Party
WAY COOL!

[Purple Wolfhound]

I can't say as I am a big Hammer films buff, but I did see many of them on the boob in my youth. Campy and scary at the same time - lots of fun! Hmmm, I do seem to recall The Pit And The Pendulum - with Vincent Price and Barbara Steele - wasn't that a Hammer film? Oh man, that ending where she ends up in the iron maiden, what a shocker!

Peace,

Phil

[Scooty]

Phil, I love those too..all of the Poe movies Vincent Price made are classic...yes very campy, but creepy too. The company that made those was Hammer's biggest competitior at the time AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL...basically the same..low budget, brittish gothic horror films...I remeber reading recently thatAmerican International always tried to get Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to be in their films but they were contracted to Hammer for years....ok..that's sick..why do i know that..LOL

[Soundchaser148]

[QUOTE=scootyes89]....Christopher Lee is awesome...so perfect for LOTR and Dooku in Star Wars EpII, kinda brings it all full circle cause Peter Cushing was in the original....

Yes, Scott. And I read once in an interview with Christopher Lee (just after Peter Cushing died) that they were very close friends, too. I always thought Vincent Price was underrated as an actor. One of the films I have of him is a horror movie where he has an evil spirit inside a good man. He moves frequently from being really nice and attentive to his wife to treating her with abominable cruelty. It's a veritable masterclass at work! I love that. Especially when he changes into the evil persona in a twinkling of an eye (what does that say about me, though?! LOL).

Mark

[Scooty]

[QUOTE=scootyes89]....Christopher Lee is awesome...so perfect for LOTR and Dooku in Star Wars EpII, kinda brings it all full circle cause Peter Cushing was in the original....

Yes, Scott. And I read once in an interview with Christopher Lee (just after Peter Cushing died) that they were very close friends, too. I always thought Vincent Price was underrated as an actor. One of the films I have of him is a horror movie where he has an evil spirit inside a good man. He moves frequently from being really nice and attentive to his wife to treating her with abominable cruelty. It's a veritable masterclass at work! I love that. Especially when he changes into the evil persona in a twinkling of an eye (what does that say about me, though?! LOL).

Mark

Vincent Price was awesome!! So underated..all of the Edgar Allan Poe movies , directed by non other than Roger Coreman are fantastic. I own 2 Price films..Scream and Scream again...which is ..well...awful....totally incomprehensible (peter cushing and Christopher lee make cameos) but it doesnt help..but the great thing is it was a 2fer..the other film is THE OBLONG BOX...yet another Poe adaptation..with Christopher Lee as well..the back of the box..(dvd box) has a great tagline for it.."Some things are better left buried."..LOL...

I have a wonderful interview with Christopher Lee on the DVD Hound of the Baskervilles (also Hammer) and he can't say enough about his relationship with Peter Cushing....they were wonderful friends...and he tells some awesome stories about their heyday..one quote I love...
" If we were out on the town together, as it were, people would literally run in terror from us...just from their memories of the films, very silly indeed, but also quite a legacy."

[Simon B]

erm... I just bought the erm... SHE DVD for erm... just the same reason.

(My girlfriend loves Hammer too!)

Bo

SHeeee, Ohhhh - She who must be obeyed - Mmmm - need the 'cold' shower now!

Total

[Scooty]

OK..seeing as this thread has legs(which I realy didn't expect)..may i reccomend some essential Hammer Films..and anyone else can pipe in here:

Horror of Dracula
Curse Of Frankenstein
Hound Of The Baskervilles
The Mummy
Vampire Lovers
Revenge of Frankenstein
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (besides cheeseball title its gooooood)....
anyone else have suggestions please say so..:)

[Martin Riley]

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave
Dracula Prince of Darkness
Taste the Blood of Dracula

Personally I prefer Evil of Frankenstein to Revenge....but it takes all sorts - anyway, the improbably named Kiwi Kingston played the Monster, smart name.


Twins of Evil

And off the horror beat I love Hammer's take on the Quatermass movies - all of 'em

[Purple Wolfhound]

And off the horror beat I love Hammer's take on the Quatermass movies - all of 'em

Agreed, Martin - I think they're great, too! Especially the first one, The Quatermass Xperiment (aka The Creeping Unknown).

Well Scott, I went to the official Hammer Films website ( http://www.hammerfilms.com/ ) for a memory jog and the following movies that were listed immediately brought back memories of terror-filled Saturday afternoons, my face plastered to the tube:

The Damned
The Gorgon
One Million Years B.C.
The Phantom Of The Opera
The Witches
X The Unknown

Peace,

Phil

[Scooty]

Ha ha!! Yes..The Gorgon!!..not yet on DVD for some reason..but hey are puting a lot of 'em out...Its funny I just got back from Walgreen's (drug store) and they had a rack of DVD's for 3.99...and low and behold was a Hammer film..."Satanic Rites of Dracula" the last one in the series to feature both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee...Its pretty creepy..I already own it..and then I bought "Horror Express" for 3.99 with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and non other than telly Savalas!!! I don't think its Hammer..but its got my two guys init and for 4 bucks..what the hell...