Any fans of British Horror 1950's - 1970's

Has anyone else noticed that in the opening credits, there's a long black bar blacking some of them out?. I only noticed this for the first time when the BBC started showing films in their original widescreen ratio.

 

I saw this once in a late night BBC1 showing over ten years ago. It know it was released on DVD a few years back, but was cut quite heavily; is your DVD version the full one, D?.

 

Have the Hammer box set (oop?) as well as selected titles such as Cures of Frankenstein. Just saw Frankesnstein Created Woman on TCM the other week. The Creeping Flesh is ona cable channel now so I can watch it on demand this weekend!

 

I got the 2 disc edition released by Odeon

 

Is that a UK release?.

 

The thing with the films from this period, and I'm a big fan, but every one of them are flawed. There is not a perfect film among them. There is always moments in the films where you wonder what the hell they were thinking. Of course they are exploitation B movies made quickly by mercenary producers who's only concern was making money. Having read a number of books (Hammer films: the bray studio years and the Elstree years in particular) I do think the british film censors did a lot of damage to these film even before they started shooting. Hammer would submit a script and the BBFC would go through every page and return it with notes saying "you can't do this" "you can't show this" "you can't say this" ect..... It severely neutered the films in my opinion. Although the limitations obviously help create the style.

 

quote="vinylman, post: 9551230, member: 12009"]Is that a UK release?.[/quote]

I think so. I got it secondhand from amazon.co.uk. for about €18 all in. There's some still there, price has gone up a bit.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Asphyx-...TF8&qid=1382536079&sr=8-1&keywords=the+asphyx

There is also a single disc edition just released.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Asphyx-...TF8&qid=1382536285&sr=8-5&keywords=the+asphyx

 

The Hammer version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" was pretty close. The best Sherlock Holmes film that I've seen.

 

This movie looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray. It was lensed by David Lean's personal cinematographer and the original film elements were remarkably preserved in beautiful condition.

 

I remember seeing this on Elvira in the '80s. She had a line - "He got his ass-phyxed but good", that I still remember

 

Quartermass and the Pit is awesome. The best of the U.K.: Village of the Damned.

 

Forgot to add these to my list:

Dracula AD1972
X the unknown
Devils of darkness
Curse of the crimson altar (X, Devils & curse are on the DVR)
The Nanny
The vengeance of she
The Skull (AVI)
The torture garden (AVI)
The oblong box
Scream and scream again

 

"Ohhh --wouldn't I? Ohhh- wouldn't I?!"
Great stuff.

There was also Hilary Dwyer -"Conqueror Worm" & others.

 

There's also a US Blu-ray release of THE ASPHYX that features the full uncut edition of the film, along with (I think) the US edit.

 

Didn't he also star in ghostbusters?

 

Wait, I had it wrong about "Ghostbusters"...

 

I've just mentioned this on the other Horror Movie thread. Good to see it comments on horror on British TV too:

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/gothic-cinema.html

 

I love the old Hammer movies. In the mid 70s they shown every Friday night at about 10h30 at night, a weekly treat. The Christopher Lee Dracula's were my favourites. Haven't seen them for decades.
However tonight, Polanski's "Dance Of The Vampires" will be on so I'm looking forward to it.

 

Interesting link.
No idea that there was a film based on of MR James's "Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You my lad..."-possibly my favourite story of his. Naxos does a decent audio reading of that, but it's the closest I've come to a movie version.
http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/0015.htm

 

There are two short BBC films. One's reasonably fatihful but the later one, with John Hurt, isn't - but steals some of the best ideas from the first one!

 

Two of my favorites, both I saw in the theater.

House That Dripped Blood
Torture Garden

 

Over the years I've been working on collecting Anchor Bay's entire series of "Hammer Collection" DVDs... most of them are long OOP, though, so they're not easy to track down. Currently I've got 25 of the 31 titles in the series:

The Abominable Snowman
The Anniversary
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb
Demons of the Mind
The Devil Rides Out
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Fear in the Night
Hell is a City
Horror of Frankenstein
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Lust for a Vampire
The Mummy's Shroud
Plague of the Zombies
Quatermass 2
Quatermass and the Pit
The Reptile
The Satanic Rites of Dracula
Scars of Dracula
Shatter
Straight On Till Morning
To the Devil a Daughter
The Vengeance of She
The Viking Queen
X the Unknown


So, the only 6 that I'm missing (and are therefore some of my "most-wanted" DVDs!) are:

Four Sided Triangle
Frankenstein Created Woman
The Lost Continent
Prehistoric Women
Rasputin the Mad Monk
The Witches

 

Yes!
Many of the initial Hammers, and the Frankenstein series for its focus on the Baron and his increasingly evil pursuits. The Dracula series becomes so devolved it is downright shameful. I agree that the Hammer Hound is wonderful, and Cushing's Holmes performance is the best I've ever seen.
The initial three monster punch Hammer brought of Curse of Frankenstein-Horror of Dracula-The Mummy easily rivals Universal, and in my mind are all masterpieces. HoD remains the best film about vampires to this day.
Hopefully Warner will issue Blu-rays in the near future that are correct transfers unlike all the terribly produced discs that are appearing in Europe.

Recently saw Night of the Demon, a film that is so good it even outshines the director's own Cat People.
It is a treat to watch the original double bill of Don't Look Now and The Wicker Man back to back. All the cuts of TWM are still perplexing though. The new BD restoration is somewhat promising.
Then there are the Vincent Price classics made in the UK, among them Masque of the Red Death, Tomb of Ligeia, Witchfinder General, Abominable Dr. Phibes and of course the ultimate Price extravaganza: Theater of Blood.

 

I got a great deal on the Hammer box. Second hand for €9 , $12.42 approx.

 

Here's a link to a horror/sci fi forum that has a section devoted to all things Hammer. It will take you a day or
two to read all of the threads..........

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/forums/76/Hammer-Horror/Hammer-Horror#.Um2MqkDh6i0