DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '13 I => Topic started by: Patti Feinberg on April 26, 2013, 05:58:30 PM
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I had ordered and have received a 4-pack of Hammer's Dracula movies (starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing).
I finished watching "The Horror of Dracula"; I don't believe I've ever seen it!!
(You knew what was around each corner though....)
Patti
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I hated these movies when I was a kid & teen - I wouldn't even bother to watch them on TV for free - never mind paying to see them in the theater. I don't really know why - maybe I had some kind of loyalty to the universal films - but giving it some thought, I bet the fact that they were in color probably bothered me subconsciously. Even funnier - I enjoyed the black and white stills from these films in the FM magazines. Yeah, maybe it was the color aspect. The Hammer films don't have that glamourous spooky elegance their American counterparts have. Too modern perhaps. I don't particularly enjoy British films as an art form either. I've recently watched a few (Hammer horror films) here and there and my opinion hasn't changed much, if at all.
Are you enjoying them, Patti?
Sorry to digress, but I do enjoy some of the early 60's British slice-of-life/social commentary films. And the mysteries are usually above tolerable. Yet, one of my favorite films of all-time is London Kills Me - go figure
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Haven't seen those in years. As I remember, those films are gorgeous to look at--great costumes, wonderful locations, top notch cinemaphotography. But I also remember them as being extremely talky. Somebody once said that all you really need to do is watch the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. What happens in between is largely filler (extra murders).
I do admit to an affection for the Karnstein trilogy. The second film, Lust For a Vampire, is one of my guiltiest pleasures. It's extremely silly but far more entertaining than it has any right to be. It's a career high point of sorts for the lovely and talented Yutte Stensgaard, who is stunning to look at it but dramatically challenged. Hammer apparently hired her for the lead without seeing if she could act or speak unaccented English. No to both, I'm afraid. So you have a Swedish actress playing a Romanian vampire, dubbed with a British accent.
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they are good movies. I like Taste the Blood of Dracula the best, i think, followed by Dracula, Prince of Darkness. Hm. Maybe I should just get my hammer collection together and watch them.
But wait, the Karnstein Trilogy, what are the other two...is one Twins of Evil? Ingrid Pitt was in these as well, no??
by the bye, Patti, I have other Hammer films you might enjoy that aren't of the Dracula story. Some are just psychological thrillers and other various horror movies (Oliver Reed in a werewolf movie comes to mind, and if you thought DS werewolf was cheesy, wait til you see this one....LOL)
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The Hammer films had a huge impact upon the art direction of DS, particularly after the series went to color, so it seems odd to me to find fans of the series who don't like the Hammer product. Hammer's Horror of Dracula in 1958 was the first vampire film to show a vampire baring his fangs (first seen in a shock close-up of Christopher Lee that is one of the most iconic moments in the history of horror cinema). Hammer also devised a style of Gothic horror drenched in lurid color that had a definite influence on certain sequences on DS.
One of my personal favorite Hammers if "The Gorgon" from 1964 with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Barbara Shelley. It's just so atmospheric and beautifully shot, with some really unforgettable images. A lot of fans diss the actual Gorgon FX but I think they're missing the point. The story is supposed to be about mythic poetry, not literalism. But I'll spare you all that particular rant. I do find myself thinking about how interesting it might have been had DS done a gorgon story. One was actually done for the Innovation comics inspired by the 1990/91 NBC series.
G.
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For decades, I've thought that the British just didn't know how to do a horror film. I like or sometimes even prefer UK films and TV, but Hammer has left me cold. Now, I sort of think I'm probably wrong about that. I am coming to appreciate a lot of films and books which I was too young for before. Hammer films seemed too blunt, crass, and manipulative. The color may have something to do with it, but it was more a matter of gore, blood dripping from vampires' mouths, that kind of thing. The first DS movie seemed like part of the same trend, so I didn't see it back then.
Recently, I saw two Dr. Phibes films for the first time. The sequel suffered from typical sequelitis but had ridiculousness going for it... the original film, though, seemed like a much cooler, improved Phantom of the Opera. I now regret all my film-going decisions, growing up. Someone ought to have whacked some sense into me, and loosened me up. I'd be a much less repressed human being now.
I still have yet to go through a Hammer phase. I hope to.
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Someone ought to have whacked some sense into me, and loosened me up.
If only Julia had slapped you!
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The Karnstein trilogy consists of The Vampire Lovers, Lust For A Vampire and Twins of Evil. Ingrid Pitt appears in the first film and gives a multi-layered performance. It's a shame that she never got to work in the DS universe.
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Thanks Unc. I have all three then.
Magnus. Shame on you. You didn't see Dr. Phibes while growing up.....? But all jokes aside, the original is the best of course, the second being a repeat of the same story more or less. But, now Magnus, did you see the Count Yorga films? (please say yes, please please please say yes...) they were good, Robert Quarry made his mark with these two films. There were actually plans to make a film where Dr. Phibes and Count Yorga actually meet. And there was a plan for a third Dr. Phibes film. Robert Quarry also made an unrelated vampire film called Deathmaster, where in he plays a Mansonesque vampire.
And, then there's Blacula films....
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Wow!!!
...and I was worried no one was going to reply [easter_huh]
I've seen Dr. Phibes (a looooonggg time ago, and I believe it's been mentioned on this board).
YORGA
I had never heard of the Karnstein trilogy; sounds interesting....
Lolol on the Ingrid Pitt mention....
Patti
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I enjoy the Hammer films - not anywhere near as much as the Universal Monster films, but I find most of the earlier ones entertaining. I could do without the racier ones. I usually watch either Horror of Dracula or Dracula: Prince of Darkness every October. And now I add the modern Hammer spook-show Woman in Black to the mix. But my favorites are definitely the American originals.
As for Dr. Phibes, I love it. It's my favorite Vincent Prince movie.
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WL-- Sorry man, no Yorga have my eyeballs witnessed. You begin to see my repression as a child, which may have been partly self-inflicted.... Then again, it means off in the world somewhere, these movies are waiting for me still. It's like opening a time capsule, when I get to see a little more of it, good thing too, since I hate new stuff.
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In the second Yorga film, the count is shown watched a Spanish version of The Vampire Lovers!
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It's possible to find the Yorga films on-line; I know I watched both of them that way. It might've been youtube, but I don't recall if that was the venue.
Gerard
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The first Yorga film is done in a very rough-and-ready way--it almost looks like a student film. Robert Quarry as Count Yorga has moments that I personally find very reminiscent of Barnabas, and there's even a scene where the two vampire hunters visit the Count in his elegant drawing room that make me think of the original 1967 DS. Some of the "actresses" in the film came from the soft-core porn industry but they are effectively used in the film's often bare-bones approach to horror. There's one scene involving a female victim of the Count's and a kitty that I personally find really disgusting, stomach-churningly so, but it does hearken back to the Renfield sections of the original Dracula novel.
I still haven't seen the second Yorga film, but I have been told that it had a bigger budget and a glossier look. I have seen a clip with this eerie scene of Robert Quarry sort of floating down a hallway with fangs bared. I think this is also the one in which Ketty Wells, the legendary Sixties vocalist (who recorded the hit "Love letters") has a minor role--I hadn't known she was an actress.
For afficionados of Seventies camp and kitsch, Deathmaster is worth checking out. It may also be on Youtube. Quarry had to wear a big old hippie-wig in it and was made up to look like Charles Manson. He runs a hippie vampire cult and everybody runs around in an old Victorian house in Malibu, or someplace. I have vague memories of trying to watch it on the CBS Late Movies back in the mid 70s and just finding it all too ridiculous. Now it might be a bit of fun. I wonder if Tim Burton is a fan of Deathmaster since the hippie stuff in Depp Shadows seems partly to allude to this.
G.
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Steve, I didn't remember the title of, "Deathmaster", but, now that you describe it, I've definitely seen it.
It was far-effing out.... [easter_rolleyes]
Patti
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Original Yorga was supposed to be a soft core porn film. But then through changes, etc, it became a mainstream horror movie.
Blacula -- no comments on these films? William Marshall was excellent in these films and actually their saving grace. The Count actually has a great story and a real reason to be pissed off after being stuck in his coffin for many years. It is actually more tragic than Barnabas's story.
These are what vampires were supposed to be. by the 70's these movies had reached their peak as horror movies then the comic books versions and, yes, politically correct vampires came into being. Barnabas was a vampire with a soul, but piss this man off and he became the monster that he really was.
Hammer films used the blood and sex in a well balanced way that you did have some good stories and they didn't apologize for the schlockiness of them. It was entertainment and that was all it was.
One of the best Vincent Price ever did for Hammer (let's put Phibes aside, as the success and cult following was a fluke, I believe) was a sort of Agatha Christie meets Hammer Films in Theatre of Blood. Magnus, if you like Vincent Price, it is worth it to check this film out. Also within this kind of genre is Madhouse and Scream, and Scream Again...(okay, who remembrs the radio commercial for Scream.and Scream Again??) I admit that I haven't seen Scream and Scream Again.
Also out of the Hammer realm are other movies that stand out in the Horror genre such as The House that Dripped Blood, Tales of the Crypt and Asylum, Willard. I am sure their are others that don't come to mind for me at the moment. When you look at movies like these and ones mentioned through out the thread its a wonder how horror movies today are being made. They have over the years dropped the ball on what horror truly was/is and seem to want to compliment everyone with gallons of blood for satisfaction. One movie of today that comes to mind as an excellent horror movie is What Lies Beneath -- a well balanced ghost story that doesn't disappoint and also The Woman in Black, that is a true homage to great horror, but somehow dropped the ball. As far as vampire movies -- can't think of one that is truly a vampire movie in essence -- the last one that comes to mind is Interview with the Vampire. There are some cheeky and campy ones and i won't even count Twilight movies.
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Willie Loomis, I have never seen either of the Blacula films. I wonder if I'm confused and Ketty Lester (I think I wrote Wells by mistake in the previous post) actually appeared in one of these. William Marshall was such a great actor and I am surprised in retrospect that he committed to these, but perhaps they're better than I have presumed sight unseen.
I love the vampire segment in "House that dripped blood." It's such a cool pastiche on the conventions of the genre and the pairing of Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt makes it such fun.
In terms of more recent films, there are tons I haven't seen--the Blade films come to mind, and so does a John Carpenter film that was supposed to be gore soaked. I am emphatically not a gorehound so when I hear something is generous in that department, I stay away. One 1990s film that I did see in the genre was the Coppola version of Dracula which relied heavily upon the Dan Curtis adaptation of the Barnabas and Josette narrative onto the Dracula material. I did think that was beautifully filmed, with a great performance by Gary Oldman, but the FX just seemed excessive to me--the relentless showboating of FX made it hard for me to take seriously as a story. Another one I have wanted to see is titled, I think, Shadow of the Vampire, and is set around the filming of Nosferatu, apparently heavily fictionalized. I read a great novel with this topic some years back.
Best, G.
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WL-- Thanks, but by a fluke (and thanks to someone here a few years ago) I do have Theatre of Blood (after having seen it edited on Elvira), and it's good. I'll watch Diana Rigg in anything. After having seen Phibes now, it strikes me that people wanted more Phibes films, but V Price didn't want to make another film where he can't speak normally and had to put on a lot of makeup, so this film happened. It really is Phibes without Phibes. Just a guess.
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Theater of Blood is another favorite of mine.
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Blacula...hmmm...I remember when it was on one night, my mom came home and was disgusted by the title. I had already seen this movie, so I didn't mind turning the channel.
"What Lies Beneath" is a fantastic movie, which I own.
Not remembering House that Dripped Blood....or Theatre of Blood, but, I probably did.
I never realized the Coppola version of Dracula relied on DS...I don't believe I've seen it since having (re)-watched DS.
Patti
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Theatre of Blood is great fun, with Vinnie the P chewing all available scenery. And, like Magnus, I will watch Diana Rigg in anything.
The vampire segment in The House That Dripped Blood is equally fun. I think that they wanted Christopher Lee segment, instead of the one with Chloe Franks.
I have a special affection for the vampire restaurant segment in The Vault of Horror, with Anna and Daniel Massey as sister and brother. It manages to capture the feel of EC comics quite well. And, yes, the fresh is so much better than the frozen concentrate.
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There is another four-degrees-of-separation between Hammer Films and DS. The revitalized studio, in 2010, released the critically-acclaimed Let Me In, starring Chloe Moretz as the lonely, isolated vampire child who is befriended by an equally lonely, bullied human child.
Gerard
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Theatre of Blood is great fun
Indeed it is. Definitely one of my favorites.
And, like Magnus, I will watch Diana Rigg in anything.
Same here. I was thrilled when she joined the cast of Game of Thrones.
The revitalized studio, in 2010, released the critically-acclaimed Let Me In, starring Chloe Moretz as the lonely, isolated vampire child who is befriended by an equally lonely, bullied human child.
Another excellent film. And Chloe is outstanding in it. I highly recommend it.
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Last night, I popped in "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave".
(NO PETER CUSHING...waaah!!)
I'm not sure where it's supposed to take place; I kept rewinding when the Monsignor said the town/area, but I couldn't make it out.
Overall, very flimsy film.
Drac has risen; how/who put him in the quasi-grave?
Too rushed.
Only part worth seeing was the 'Roger Daltry-looking lead man' [easter_shocked].
Patti
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Also, in what manner was Dracula buried? Glass coffin, or ice?
When (I almost just posted Barnabas!) Dracula gets the local vicar in his thrall, Drac has Vicar dump some poor dead woman out of her coffin for his own use! (That was pretty nasty.) There was a placard on the coffin that read 1880-1905, so, I believe Drac has risen in the 20th century.
Patti
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Hi Patti, I re-watched this movie a few months ago, and I think it's meant to be sometime in the 19th century. I think the coffin that was robbed actually had dates from the 17th-18th centuries on it. The movie is meant to be a direct sequel and continuation of Dracula, Prince of Darkness (really a much better movie IMO), at the end of which [spoiler]Dracula, who is supposed to have a traditional aversion to running water, is trapped under ice in the moat outside his own castle.[/spoiler]
There are a number of "rules" given about vampirism in this one that don't apply in the other ones--the most egregious is the notion that somebody has to say prayers when a vampire is destroyed, or else it doesn't work. Huh?
Best, G.
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There are a number of "rules" given about vampirism in this one that don't apply in the other ones--the most egregious is the notion that somebody has to say prayers when a vampire is destroyed, or else it doesn't work. Huh?
Yeah, I meant to mention this oddity too. I've never heard that one before!!
Patti
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I now wonder if that's what I saw at the end of the UK TV Dracula with Louis Jordan, prayers to make it work.
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Hammer was also offered, and accepted, the screenplay for the film adaptation of the vampire apocalypse movie The Last Man on Earth, pretty much faithfully adapted from Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. Matheson wrote the screenplays for Dan Curtis' The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, his first major works after DS. The British board of censors considered the screenplay too violent and would not allow Hammer to produce it. The screenplay then went to an Italian production company, starring Vincent Price. It is now a cult classic. Despite the low budget, it is well known for being an eerie, atmospheric film. You can watch the entire film on youtube. Because of the limited budget, it was done in black-and-white and Italian towns were remotely "disguised" as Los Angeles. Italian actors and actresses stumbled through English or were otherwise dubbed. Hammer, if the then prudish British censors would've permitted the movie to be produced, obviously would've thrown every pound into it, making it in color with actual location shots and elaborate sets. But it's amazing what the cash-strapped Italians did with the screenplay. The scene where Vincent Price's character's wife returns from the dead as a vampire and attempts to attack him is blood-curdling. The scene where he has to watch the body of his seven-year-old daughter dumped into a burning pit of infected, dead humans before she "reverts" is mind-boggling. The scene where he finds a frightened, injured dog that shows up at his doorstep, where he thinks he's finally found another living thing to spend his life with, only to find it infected and he has to euthanize it is heart-breaking.
Again, another vampire movie/Dark Shadows connection.
Gerard
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Patti,
There's a recent biography on the great Peter Cushing, entitled, "Peter Cushing: A Life in Film," by David Miller.
The author writes extensively about Mr. Cushing's days at the Hammer Studio with his friend and colleague, Sir Christopher Lee (whose own autobiography is entitled, "Tall, Dark and Gruesome"!).
The book is great fun for any fans of Mr. Cushing, a wonderful actor and a fine gentleman.
Bob
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Do you know, I meant to mention "I Am Legend" and "Last Man on Earth" on a different topic?
These/this movie(s) are phenomenal!!
Barnabas could not have survived alone. He is too 'needy'.
(Gonna duck now!!!)
Patti
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I have some nostalgia for the Hammer films since they were the produced when I was growing up - or at least some of them aired on TV in the early to mid '70s. I have a four pack of the Hammer "Dracula" movies too, probably the same set you mentioned. I know that one of the Christopher Lee "Dracula" movies that I really wanted is missing from that set, though.
They certainly aren't very faithful to Bram Stoker's novel, but then there aren't many faithful movie interpretations of that novel - the least faithful being, in my opinion, "Bram Stoker's Dracula." That one raises my ire more than anything since it leads the unsuspecting to think they are watching a faithful version of the novel. It may not be as bad as its "sequel," "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." I couldn't stomach either movie and haven't seen either one in its entirety and have no interest to do so.
But to get back to the Hammer films. Christopher Lee remains my favorite "Dracula." But Mr. Lee's best performance as "Dracula" is the Jess Franco version, which gave him much more to work with and allowed him to portray the character from the novel as written. The Hammer films probably are pretty bad but a guilty pleasure.
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Whatever merit the Hammer films have is due to.Christopher Lee. My favorite Dracula. movie was one that I saw on PBS some years ago with Louis Jordan as Dracula.
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The Hammer films probably are pretty bad but a guilty pleasure.
OH YEAH!!
Patti
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I just watched "Dracula 1974".
Oyevah....
This actually had much more of Peter Cushing than Christopher Lee.
I do not believe I've ever seen it.
Patti