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| Hammer Studios | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 17 2007, 02:20 PM (389 Views) | |
| Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | Aug 17 2007, 02:20 PM Post #1 |
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If you're a fan of Hammer Studios, you need to own Wayne Kinsey's books, Hammer Films: The Bray Studios Years and Hammer Films: The Elstree Studios Years. Together they form the essential reference on the short-lived British studio that produced some of the greatest horror films of the 60's and 70's. Kinsey was the editor of the authorized fan magazine, The House That Hammer Built, so he spent years directly interviewing the surviving actors and crew. While doing research for the books, he was also allowed exclusive access to previously unpublished censor reports and behind-the-scenes photos. The two books combined provide 800 pages of information and photos that you won't find anyplace else. I was under the impression that the first volume, The Bray Studios Years, was out of print, because I had tried ordering it from several online dealers that were unable to get the title. However, Amazon's sellers just delivered a new copy to my doorstep today. Snatch up these books while you can! Here are links to the titles on Amazon:The Bray Studios Years; The Elstree Studios Years |
| IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF! is a movie recommendation site, focusing on forgotten classics, lesser-known gems, and oddball discoveries. https://www.bottomshelfmovies.com | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Aug 18 2007, 06:41 PM Post #2 |
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Iggy, I'm not a fan of Hammer, as ya'll know, but I AM a fan of behinds-the-scene stuff and "essential" books so I've ordered one. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Aug 24 2007, 09:42 AM Post #3 |
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And it arrived the other day. You're right! While I still don't think many Hammer horror films are very good, the book is a great resource on them. Lotsa pages, teeny-weeny print -- there's a LOT of information here. As a kid, I enjoyed seeing the Hammers in theatres, because they were big and colorful. They were our "A" horror movies (but then, so were Godzilla movies and AIP Poe films). I remember seeing (this was mid-to-late 1960s) Curse of the Werewolf, The Mummy (my favorite), a couple of the Dracula pictures, Rasputin the Mad Monk(!), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Evil of Frankenstein, Plague of the Zombies... By about 1967, though, the new Hammer films were all pretty terrible. In the 1970s, Hammers were on TV all the time. I show them on FNF from time to time, and the general reaction is not good, with a few exceptions. By the way, when we saw Rasputin, we got fake beards upon entering the theatre(!) and when we saw one of the Dracula pictures, we got vampire fangs. Once again, besides The Mummy I love Curse of the Werewolf and The Brides of Dracula. I find the Frankenstein series to be uniformly distasteful and disappointing with the exception of Evil of Frankenstein, the one Hammer fans don't seem to like, only enjoy the Christopher Lee Dracula pictures for the large-chested women in nighties flitting around through them, and think Mr. Lee himself is a wooden and uninteresting actor. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | Aug 24 2007, 02:06 PM Post #4 |
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I'm really enjoying discovering the Hammer films. Part of the enjoyment is likely due to unfamiliarity. Growing up, my local stations owned the Universal and AIP packages, so I became very familiar with the Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney, and Price films. Most of the Hammers I'm viewing for the first time on DVD. I agree with Gravy's disparaging view of Christopher Lee's acting ability. However, I find Peter Cushing (the true leading man of Hammer Studios) to be an extremely talented and interesting actor. No matter how ridiculous the role he was asked to play, he always managed to make the character believable and truthful. For me, Cushing owns the roles of Dr. Frankenstein and Van Helsing. While not all Hammer films are gems, there are many that I find enormously fun and a few that I think should be considered classics. In the classic column, I'd put... THE HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958) THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967) THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968) FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969) In the fun column, I'd put... THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955) QUATERMASS 2 (1957) CAPTAIN CLEGG (aka NIGHT CREATURES, 1962) FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967) DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971) CAPTAIN KRONOS VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974) FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974) I very nearly put CAPTAIN KRONOS in the classic column. It's probably stretching things a bit far to consider it a classic, but I love it as much as the films that I listed as classics. Since it was written and directed by Brian Clemens of THE AVENGERS, CAPTAIN KRONOS has much of the same campy feel as the popular television series. |
| IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF! is a movie recommendation site, focusing on forgotten classics, lesser-known gems, and oddball discoveries. https://www.bottomshelfmovies.com | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Aug 26 2007, 07:17 PM Post #5 |
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I'm enjoying the heck out of the book. I have learned: (1) The Hammer films were made on very low budgets. No, lower. No, lower. You're getting closer, but no, still lower. They only looked lavish. (2) The British censors had a field day with their horror films: "disgusting", "sewage", "for the feeble minded" were some of the comments. (3) The book barely mentions most of the Hammer output of the '40s and '50s save for the sci-fi films, then devotes numerous pages to Curse of Frankenstein, which is what I s'pose most people who pick up this book appreciate. (4) Speaking of #1 above, when they read the original script for Frankenstein, the Hammer folks' comment to the director was, "We'll be able to HEAR the villagers, but not SEE them." Why hire extras? They cost money. (5) Man, did Hammer do back-flips and contortions to ensure that Universal didn't sue them over Curse of Frankenstein. (6) I've wondered why Hammer made Spaceways, a low-budget (make that no-budget) sci-fi film with no special effects. The reason? They distributed Lippert pictures in England, and Rocketship XM had made a lot of money. Hence Hammer's desire to make their own space picture. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Aug 27 2007, 03:00 PM Post #6 |
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I'm reading about (Horror of) Dracula today, and I can't help but wonder how much better this film would've been had Peter Cushing played the titular Count. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| andarius | Sep 5 2007, 02:02 AM Post #7 |
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I don't think that would have worked so well - Ingrid Pitt said that Lee's screen time in Horror of Dracula was only six minutes but created a huge impact, as we know. |
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| Inspector Carr | Sep 5 2007, 04:02 PM Post #8 |
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Just Curious, did they build their own sets or use leftovers from other studios and productions (ala Roger Corman for example)? |
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| Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | Sep 26 2007, 02:01 PM Post #9 |
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It sounds like Hammer may be rising from the grave. The following was posted today on Ain't It Cool News: "Hey Harry, I am (with all due modesty) a leading authority on Hammer Horror, and wanted to let you know that the first Hammer Film Production since 1979's THE LADY VANISHES is now shooting in London. It's called BEYOND THE RAVE and is a vampire story set in London's rave underground. It stars Sadie Frost, Lucy from BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA and features Ingrid Pitt in a cameo role as a character's mother. This is big news for us Hammer fans. Just call me... Hammerhead" |
| IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF! is a movie recommendation site, focusing on forgotten classics, lesser-known gems, and oddball discoveries. https://www.bottomshelfmovies.com | |
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