Hammer Horror Collection (1957-1959)
WB DVD (region 4)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
d. Terence Fisher; pr. Anthony Hinds, Max Rosenberg; scr. Jimmy Sangster; novel. Mary Shelley; ph. Jack Asher; m. James Bernard; ed. James Needs; cast. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart (82 mins)
The Horror of Dracula (1958)
d. Terence Fisher; pr. Anthony Hinds; scr. Jimmy Sangster; novel. Bram Stoker; ph. Jack Asher; m. James Bernard; ed. James Needs, Bill Lenny; cast. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, John Van Eyssen (82 mins)
The Mummy (1959)
d. Terence Fisher; pr. Michael Carreras; scr. Jimmy Sangster; ph. Jack Asher; m. Franz Reizenstein; ed. James Needs, Alfred Cox; cast. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Yvette Furneaux, Eddie Byrne (88 mins)
Hammer Studios had been an English exploitation production house since the 1930s. In the mid-1940s they began consolidating a reputation as genre practitioners and by the early 1950s had attracted steady directors, including an unheralded Terence Fisher. Fisher proved so adept that when in the latter part of the decade Hammer decided to remake the Universal horror movies popular over twenty years ago but with a somewhat revisionist approach Fisher was entrusted to make the first, The Curse of Frankenstein. This proved so successful at the box-office that Fisher followed it with The Horror of Dracula and The Mummy; the trilogy emerging as one of the most effective and influential of horror movie cycles. They virtually defined a visual style, cemented a studio’s place in history, revealed a major directorial talent, launched several successful acting careers and even re-invigorated a stagnating British film industry even if established UK critics did not initially respond favorably to these admittedly lurid works. Indeed, many condemned them as sensationalism, representative only of the worst impulses in British cinema. Of course that is no longer the viewpoint and this Collector’s Edition DVD Box Set enables these remarkable films to be seen and appreciated as they belong: together. read more