HEATHER SEARS CROONS HAMMER'S 'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3fVfFgB1lP_vkhA9gRpn-UpglfUwFoJEG3wPUd-Yh9JA-OBReObEK-6Ws4PDXi4mD0xXYmQ2i7HfFHyIGKp-aLB60VOlnBHIhGc7K6A6t5TQOn7KuqYnIU6QkN4KpOvI-PaD2Kc_1rkzs8M1IL5kO5qY3mSFFhLEi1QjU-xN2xHv3oWEqOG3YsaE0sOl8" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3fVfFgB1lP_vkhA9gRpn-UpglfUwFoJEG3wPUd-Yh9JA-OBReObEK-6Ws4PDXi4mD0xXYmQ2i7HfFHyIGKp-aLB60VOlnBHIhGc7K6A6t5TQOn7KuqYnIU6QkN4KpOvI-PaD2Kc_1rkzs8M1IL5kO5qY3mSFFhLEi1QjU-xN2xHv3oWEqOG3YsaE0sOl8=s1600"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Heather Sears in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Both Oliver Reed and Herbert Lom have played similar types of villains, with wide dead-eyes and a cold/calculating reserve, and not without exceeding passion... yet neither have all that much to do with their titular monster Hammer features, both directed by Hammer regular Terence Fisher... <br></p><p></p><p>In Reed's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, he shows up after forty-five minutes, with little to do with the most surrealistically nightmarish aspects leading up while in Lom's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, besides being fitfully hidden behind strategically-cut corners of the central opera house, he basically gives his own personal Igor all the rafter-crashing violence... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

hammer films, heather sears, herbert lom, horror, monster, music, sixties, terence fisher, thorley walters

HEATHER SEARS CROONS HAMMER'S 'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA'

Heather Sears in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 Both Oliver Reed and Herbert Lom have played similar types of villains, ...

CAROLE GRAY, EDWARD JUDD & PETER CUSHING 'ISLAND OF TERROR'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uUe9AI9XfzyEDX_gG2ajcd1KmfAhTPqFhWGKByuaVX9G3GJvWrmd5a9FeYMQURGXqs8t4Yl7k_n0vFhs_tnRjVsJj-1u4MMI1mTIt6MDyzJF6RGLiRML024OMQwUgvJ9WjaJm7IajIdSZTqaLq-v4Zj46zjHtCO_gKMbPQ4lsVe4NqdLYQzuZGtdZ6_U/s1250/Screen%20Shot%202025-11-06%20at%2011.10.55%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uUe9AI9XfzyEDX_gG2ajcd1KmfAhTPqFhWGKByuaVX9G3GJvWrmd5a9FeYMQURGXqs8t4Yl7k_n0vFhs_tnRjVsJj-1u4MMI1mTIt6MDyzJF6RGLiRML024OMQwUgvJ9WjaJm7IajIdSZTqaLq-v4Zj46zjHtCO_gKMbPQ4lsVe4NqdLYQzuZGtdZ6_U/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-11-06%20at%2011.10.55%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1966 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Two horror-genre leading men star in the scientific creature-feature ISLAND OF TERROR, which is normal for British b-movies to pair up equally-important male characters, and a gorgeous woman in-between...<br><br>Full-lipped bombshell <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/carole%20gray">Carole Gray's</a> the affable rich girl girlfriend of Edward Judd, the second bone-doctor sought out by the first of three medical experts in British character-actor (and future STAR WARS general) Eddie Byrne, who, after bluntly glib college professor Peter Cushing has no answers, they all seek Judd (for the solution) and Gray (for daddy's helicopter) to head-off for the titular Irish ISLAND...</p><p><span></span></p>

british, carole gray, creature, eddie byrne, edward judd, horror, james caffrey, niall macginnis, peter cushing, science-fiction, shay gorman, sixties, terence fisher

CAROLE GRAY, EDWARD JUDD & PETER CUSHING 'ISLAND OF TERROR'

Year: 1966 Rating: **** Two horror-genre leading men star in the scientific creature-feature ISLAND OF TERROR, which is normal for British b...

RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmko6Wix_HzMS8Atgk6U2frqkZ6RbG87g8rc-1kvaijBMlGSgkY2YIYPfnvGB9EWXGfSPi6x57U1elC4gprihy5TQNIXX2yPeNuVEJ2pNbvpXLXX8N532A5zUYToCrKWVPHvpUrQ_vCtv4DBUBb94YOsyj7eNghldsXAMM4UqRNQE5R69WXA3SkXxKgxRl/s2312/Screen%20Shot%202025-05-16%20at%204.55.03%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="2312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmko6Wix_HzMS8Atgk6U2frqkZ6RbG87g8rc-1kvaijBMlGSgkY2YIYPfnvGB9EWXGfSPi6x57U1elC4gprihy5TQNIXX2yPeNuVEJ2pNbvpXLXX8N532A5zUYToCrKWVPHvpUrQ_vCtv4DBUBb94YOsyj7eNghldsXAMM4UqRNQE5R69WXA3SkXxKgxRl/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-05-16%20at%204.55.03%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MASK OF DUST Year: 1954 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the greatest titles for a race car movie, Terence Fisher's pre-horror Hammer MASK OF DUST settled stateside for the blandly retooled RACE FOR LIFE, and yet, neither really fit the actual movie...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Starring American crime-genre actor Richard Conte, perhaps <i>Interior Conversations of Exterior Driving</i> would fare better to what's a stagey melodrama with real and/or rear-projected racing shots where Grand Prix drivers fight to survive...</p><p><span></span></p>

british, fifties, george coulouris, hammer films, james copeland, mari aldon, melodrama, race car, terence fisher

RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

Title: MASK OF DUST Year: 1954 Rating: ** One of the greatest titles for a race car movie, Terence Fisher's pre-horror Hammer MASK OF DU...

LIZABETH SCOTT AND PAUL HENREID IN HAMMER'S 'STOLEN FACE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsujolPhpg8ZjniWjkhfmaYu1C8bciT0MQUqjeJD7jgsPEd3n0Ezert8DQ1Nur-cgD4Q7Sf_Di8coohaNtPE2hrDUubFHhyphenhyphenpLhcJQV6jNVtQQABg7V2YI9qO6j35oYsmd4lZLmtkIm7FvRfn621CT3vY-I1VVUR-GVLj7roOm4Jo18fnq_3dov6Sk3Fup/s1842/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-16%20at%204.23.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="1842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsujolPhpg8ZjniWjkhfmaYu1C8bciT0MQUqjeJD7jgsPEd3n0Ezert8DQ1Nur-cgD4Q7Sf_Di8coohaNtPE2hrDUubFHhyphenhyphenpLhcJQV6jNVtQQABg7V2YI9qO6j35oYsmd4lZLmtkIm7FvRfn621CT3vY-I1VVUR-GVLj7roOm4Jo18fnq_3dov6Sk3Fup/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-16%20at%204.23.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Stolen Face Year: 1952 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Passive CASABLANCA French actor Paul Henreid's cheated on again, here in Hammer's noirish-drama STOLEN FACE, describing how Henreid, a plastic surgeon, made a badly scarred female career-criminal look exactly like the beautiful (and surreptitiously engaged) sophisticated pianist he fell for during the first half, resembling more of a Douglas Sirk melodrama than the intended crime-thriller by Hammer's future stock auteur Terence Fisher...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Enter American import Lizabeth Scott, who turned to England what she couldn't find in America, having portrayed both good and bad girls in stateside noir films, and here she plays both... despite only the original classic pianist character baring her own famously sultry low voice, which would have fit better than dubbing the original pre-surgery Mary Mackenzie for consistency (which wouldn't matter given the initial far-fetched premise)...</p><p><span></span></p>

andre morell, fifties, hammer films, hammer noir, lizabeth scott, melodrama, paul henreid, romance, russel napier, terence fisher, thriller

LIZABETH SCOTT AND PAUL HENREID IN HAMMER'S 'STOLEN FACE'

Title: Stolen Face Year: 1952 Rating: *** Passive CASABLANCA French actor Paul Henreid's cheated on again, here in Hammer's noirish-...

TERENCE FISHER DIRECTS DIANA DORS IN HAMMER'S 'MAN BAIT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1SuOytRPDlSILJhEvueNk1-I93rnyL42ebSQ4ASQlvrKC6XcXmV3Q81zgnowN9D5CTfeD5wRolR4wlF2d2CfYVthOw8MEH3jSFHzFK0QG9pwSSkNuSWt2nHLH3y1XTiUaSmym2beSzkQJhTVEyD2aIyDeo_Y8U-LJqGmf7oS5nLn8pEBQhQyQdxX_9AGd/s2138/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-15%20at%209.21.32%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="2138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1SuOytRPDlSILJhEvueNk1-I93rnyL42ebSQ4ASQlvrKC6XcXmV3Q81zgnowN9D5CTfeD5wRolR4wlF2d2CfYVthOw8MEH3jSFHzFK0QG9pwSSkNuSWt2nHLH3y1XTiUaSmym2beSzkQJhTVEyD2aIyDeo_Y8U-LJqGmf7oS5nLn8pEBQhQyQdxX_9AGd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-15%20at%209.21.32%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MAN BAIT aka THE LAST PAGE Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Following <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/05/BadBlonde.html">BAD BLONDE</a>, here's another Hammer British Film Noir dealing with a blonde: in this case, beautiful Diana Dors, where any expression wields not only a full-lipped pout, but a seductively vicious pout as the story, centering on blackmail at a high-end English bookstore, slowly... through chatty exposition dialogue... unfolds...<br><br>Dors plays Ruby Bruce, whose stunning appearance alone turns men into jelly. Although her rich boss, with a lucrative insurance policy, is tougher than most pawns: So Ruby teams with ex-convict con man Jeffrey Hart to collect the money as the slow, meticulous nature in which the plot pans out is intriguing... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

blackmail, british film noir, diana dors, fifties, george brent, hammer films, hammer noir, marguerite chapman, meredith edwards, peter reynolds, terence fisher

TERENCE FISHER DIRECTS DIANA DORS IN HAMMER'S 'MAN BAIT'

Title: MAN BAIT aka THE LAST PAGE Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 Following BAD BLONDE , here's another Hammer British Film Noir dealing with ...

CHRISTOPHER LEE STOKING HAMMER'S 'THE DEVIL RIDES OUT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezbGgOAq2Z1a1EecqiOOsCMCyxXARxFhGG8_euxEFJ7rulauI6nEY9YGVP243X_cuN_4JYFrTcPIKNZ3iLDB7GKM0VGCbPEAwJoiHWDbyD49-zcXsic-BIJAWjV3HmaPsfZ6UTg5h0SeF42_PJywaCRNm-GJ98N7rILeaXT_2niq7Tcp9iB2UquGCt-g4/s1734/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-11%20at%201.00.35%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="1734" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezbGgOAq2Z1a1EecqiOOsCMCyxXARxFhGG8_euxEFJ7rulauI6nEY9YGVP243X_cuN_4JYFrTcPIKNZ3iLDB7GKM0VGCbPEAwJoiHWDbyD49-zcXsic-BIJAWjV3HmaPsfZ6UTg5h0SeF42_PJywaCRNm-GJ98N7rILeaXT_2niq7Tcp9iB2UquGCt-g4/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-11%20at%201.00.35%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christopher Lee & Nike Arrighi in The Devil Rides Out/The Devil's Bride Year: 1968 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In two of Hammer legend Christopher Lee's favorite Hammer movies, he's a regular fella, not a monster or killer... although in the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/07/2F.html">THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL</a> he's a double-crossing scoundrel, having sex with his titular best friend's wife and suffering constant gambling debts that he talks the initially vulnerable cuckold into paying... <br><br>Yet in THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, with the same director in Hammer staple Terence Fisher, he's actually the hero... and it was Lee's own persistence to bring author Dennis Wheatley's occult novel to the big screen...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

charles gray, christopher lee, hammer films, horror, nike arrighi, occult, sixties, terence fisher

CHRISTOPHER LEE STOKING HAMMER'S 'THE DEVIL RIDES OUT'

Christopher Lee & Nike Arrighi in The Devil Rides Out/The Devil's Bride Year: 1968 Rating: ** In two of Hammer legend Christopher Le...

CHRISTOPHER LEE WITH PETER CUSHING IN 'HORROR OF DRACULA'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisSHSEEWAKGX89FRujgO2Bsg_p6jHmqdlJ3jY2ki8UUDL7dGY71phNbkrlCZRh13DH9iUwnAToArYPOg827ONDgSCJRe_YjItL3XeaCtvKNFjiI-enBQi5LphTiW7cWBK8GJPFRQdQqWKJVJ2MmyPRknmRr1h1FW0Ia6vBgXGmVH_B66cbV6KcoKptepp6/s1946/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-09%20at%2012.38.57%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="1946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisSHSEEWAKGX89FRujgO2Bsg_p6jHmqdlJ3jY2ki8UUDL7dGY71phNbkrlCZRh13DH9iUwnAToArYPOg827ONDgSCJRe_YjItL3XeaCtvKNFjiI-enBQi5LphTiW7cWBK8GJPFRQdQqWKJVJ2MmyPRknmRr1h1FW0Ia6vBgXGmVH_B66cbV6KcoKptepp6/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-09%20at%2012.38.57%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Valerie Gaunt facing Christopher Lee's poster image for HORROR OF DRACULA/DRACULA Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>While Hammer's groundbreaking horror-remake <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/01/cushingcurse.html">THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN</a> proved that Frankenstein was a man and not the monster, their follow-up HORROR OF DRACULA was to also show the monstrous Dracula as a man...<br><br>And quite dashing and attractive he is... especially when Christopher Lee first shows himself, along with a barrage of sinister music, to solicitor Jonathan Harker, exactly what he's supposed to be... a gentleman wealthy enough to need someone to look over his books, getting his business in order...</p><p><span></span></p>

carol marsh, christopher lee, dracula, hammer films, horror, janina faye, john van eyssen, melissa stribling, michael gough, peter cushing, terence fisher, valerie gaunt

CHRISTOPHER LEE WITH PETER CUSHING IN 'HORROR OF DRACULA'

Valerie Gaunt facing Christopher Lee's poster image for HORROR OF DRACULA/DRACULA Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2 While Hammer's groundbre...

PETER CUSHING CREATES HAMMER'S 'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZbtuqhdjT3ERevHxGNLuDwUCrhMM0pcV5ec6c-VVkOcl_gPRjEQLR8BRiwJX32gEyHqTBoFHz3qVTY-wPohU4n_jWammKgnbu_FToK1MjCY1BJ6sBTxxITExQimyxSQ4LDRwMjv6tp0ZD1jQNrz8BkJT-wuXJ9VQeJY7Quzm3T9hpBe49ofP6AV6oxOhN/s1262/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-08%20at%201.03.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZbtuqhdjT3ERevHxGNLuDwUCrhMM0pcV5ec6c-VVkOcl_gPRjEQLR8BRiwJX32gEyHqTBoFHz3qVTY-wPohU4n_jWammKgnbu_FToK1MjCY1BJ6sBTxxITExQimyxSQ4LDRwMjv6tp0ZD1jQNrz8BkJT-wuXJ9VQeJY7Quzm3T9hpBe49ofP6AV6oxOhN/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-08%20at%201.03.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN Year: 1957 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What Hammer did for FRANKENSTEIN is made people know that, unlike what it seems having grown up with James Whale's otherwise brilliant Universal double-feature, is that that's not the name of the monster, whose name is basically, The Monster, but here he's constantly established as the Victorian-era scientist himself...<br><br>As classy and sophisticated phenom turned idealistic heir, with a castle all to himself, Victor Frankenstein begins as a frustrated teenager, and there's never been such aesthetically perfect casting from child to man...</p><p><span></span></p>

christopher lee, fifties, frankenstein, hammer films, hazel court, horror, peter cushing, robert urquhart, science-fiction, terence fisher, valerie gaunt

PETER CUSHING CREATES HAMMER'S 'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

Title: THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN Year: 1957 Rating: **** What Hammer did for FRANKENSTEIN is made people know that, unlike what it seems hav...

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6K30jalFBBX6nNXMrmxGhQVvwso3dWNVvu3G0Ch4iBOlSRbap2-a1jxgtWIXhk26XzmUXTMs13UwpjV8zAxelbIzRhDvp5Q-JOc188ws4t_6hfPOHkYiCSblURPyijQ7VYdwfJV4YlUHps7GxlOwtCqAQiEdTw5n2DfYoL2iGthTII9ghNeKQAAyR4sEd/s2034/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-07%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1388" data-original-width="2034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6K30jalFBBX6nNXMrmxGhQVvwso3dWNVvu3G0Ch4iBOlSRbap2-a1jxgtWIXhk26XzmUXTMs13UwpjV8zAxelbIzRhDvp5Q-JOc188ws4t_6hfPOHkYiCSblURPyijQ7VYdwfJV4YlUHps7GxlOwtCqAQiEdTw5n2DfYoL2iGthTII9ghNeKQAAyR4sEd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-07%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED Year: 1969 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Penultimate FRANKENSTEIN film for Hammer's most prolific director Terence Fisher, who made <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/01/cushingcurse.html">THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN</a> that got the ball rolling a year before their more famous, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/01/horrordrac.html">HORROR OF DRACULA</a>, which he also directed and where Peter Cushing plays intense good guy Van Helsing...<br><br>As Baron Frankenstein, he began a kind of misunderstood idealist more than the mad, mad scientist he'd turn into... but the title of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/01/FMBD.html">FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED</a> suits a film in which... for Peter Cushing and blonde <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/01/hipsterdrac.html">DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAV</a>E bombshell Veronica Carlson... was a catastrophe because of one quick scene...</p><p><span></span></p>

frankenstein, freddie jones, hammer films, peter cushing, simon ward, sixties, terence fisher, veronica carlson

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED'

Title: FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED Year: 1969 Rating: ** Penultimate FRANKENSTEIN film for Hammer's most prolific director Terence Fi...

PAUL MASSIE STARS IN HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrVM3zCL0yz3147XJ2Tba39xLldCZqngkahVA9wKJ4TWEE3TZNXsxV6Oj_u4Li7ffOGH07ZhvMvDqRvuAl3COHngINEFXS3EhxJbOsGmTmxpAv5pYWqIFt1DjYqlX5sA9bRsQD7Y-r6myXL_-Io4nY2c5Vzg6T87yea5v2Oll2ucC0bP1KNNOByfmGJIs/s1448/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%208.11.09%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrVM3zCL0yz3147XJ2Tba39xLldCZqngkahVA9wKJ4TWEE3TZNXsxV6Oj_u4Li7ffOGH07ZhvMvDqRvuAl3COHngINEFXS3EhxJbOsGmTmxpAv5pYWqIFt1DjYqlX5sA9bRsQD7Y-r6myXL_-Io4nY2c5Vzg6T87yea5v2Oll2ucC0bP1KNNOByfmGJIs/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-20%20at%208.11.09%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paul Massie in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800's in his stuffy demeanor until turning into a bohemian wild man frequenting swinging nightclubs and nightlife, providing future real life party animal Oliver Reed a bit part opposite <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/jungle.html">Joy Webster</a>... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And in the legendary double lead is Paul Massie, not a bad actor but is hardly interesting enough to carry an entire picture like, say, Peter Cushing or, in this particular case, Christopher Lee as a leech rather than neck-sucker... His gambling scoundrel character Paul Allen takes advantage of old friend Jekyll by spending his money and romancing his wife... </p><p><span></span></p>

christopher lee, dawn addams, exploitation, hammer films, janina faye, joy webster, oliver reed, paul massie, pauline shepherd, sixties, terence fisher, thriller

PAUL MASSIE STARS IN HAMMER'S 'THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL'

Paul Massie in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 The titular scientist in Hammer's usual Victorian era fits the 1800...

HAMMER'S VICTORIAN HORROR 'THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-j7OKftPmdn4CV2OvYtY0iQZZATcHPtP2ZSe-QJRneKHI6HhbA638MSqZtX7LcoYo_lTPCgtOp38HluHTiLaJ_xrmRA0xxnEjAEd2n6jN1qP4z8FLhOHgLzPEhiM3B_6XwHetWDTfSutHToc7iuV3ZHG5uuzEo5ZEbynBdxeHHlDNsgU86tAsZ0x6g/s2250/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1057" data-original-width="2250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-j7OKftPmdn4CV2OvYtY0iQZZATcHPtP2ZSe-QJRneKHI6HhbA638MSqZtX7LcoYo_lTPCgtOp38HluHTiLaJ_xrmRA0xxnEjAEd2n6jN1qP4z8FLhOHgLzPEhiM3B_6XwHetWDTfSutHToc7iuV3ZHG5uuzEo5ZEbynBdxeHHlDNsgU86tAsZ0x6g/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Oliver Reed in THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF Year: 1961 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A man gets bitten by a wolf and slowly turns into one… Which probably sounds extremely familiar but the British-run Hammer Films will have nothing to do with anything <i>that</i> simple, basic or cliche…</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The setup, before we even meet Oliver Reed’s Leon, is eerie and creative, introducing the story set during the colorfully antique 1800’s where a beggar's thrown out of a tavern, and then ventures naively into the last place he’s wanted: a lush castle where an aged King has married his beautiful young bride (a nefarious, later grotesque Anthony Dawson to insanely gorgeous blonde Josephine Llewellyn)… <br> </p>

anthony dawson, british, hammer films, horror, joy webster, oliver reed, richard wordsworth, terence fisher, victorian, werewolf, yvonne romain

HAMMER'S VICTORIAN HORROR 'THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF'

Oliver Reed in THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF Year: 1961 Rating: **** A man gets bitten by a wolf and slowly turns into one… Which probably sou...

HOWARD DUFF IGNITES HAMMER'S SCI-FI MYSTERY 'SPACEWAYS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OXCzVjxidku9aNRghU587-I0uAe9eTYHY8bwdQ6MVtwFVHlEhcatmY2OLTbz6bd327IcLZSOE15kwsyaVVj6VaCiWGV5pEKHfKgyrZx673PnEywNY-ar1xU5T8h7W0-DlDMmdNA8ClY_UmwS6qKFV4RpWsxC-lfbgM09hoBE1M38UKPCT_sW7HbH6VNS/s1720/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-05%20at%2010.14.44%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OXCzVjxidku9aNRghU587-I0uAe9eTYHY8bwdQ6MVtwFVHlEhcatmY2OLTbz6bd327IcLZSOE15kwsyaVVj6VaCiWGV5pEKHfKgyrZx673PnEywNY-ar1xU5T8h7W0-DlDMmdNA8ClY_UmwS6qKFV4RpWsxC-lfbgM09hoBE1M38UKPCT_sW7HbH6VNS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-01-05%20at%2010.14.44%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SPACEWAYS Year: 1953 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before their famous Victorian horror flicks, Hammer Films did either film noir crime or science fiction, making SPACEWAYS a cross between both but mostly mystery as two people vanish inside a headquarters along with a rocket that blasted into space to become a satellite... and it's imported American actor Howard Duff, friends and partners with a pretty scientist prettier than the wife who'd gone missing with a womanizing doctor she'd been cheating with...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Both stories pan out practically side by side... a shame because the sci-fi rocket aspect... especially during the early 1950's... feels straight from one of those space magazines from that era... having more potential than whoever might've killed two unlikable characters and possibly sent them into outer space on that rocket... a lesson for Hammer to stick with one genre or the other: in five years hitting the bigger leagues with good sci-fi including the QUATERMASS while horror classics DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN (by <i>this</i> film's director, Terence Fisher) weren't far behind.</p><span></span>

british, hammer films, howard duff, mystery, science-fiction, terence fisher

HOWARD DUFF IGNITES HAMMER'S SCI-FI MYSTERY 'SPACEWAYS'

Title: SPACEWAYS Year: 1953 Rating: ** Before their famous Victorian horror flicks, Hammer Films did either film noir crime or science ficti...

CUSHING/HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZaIwktp4V6_U70Kq9eZCll9bU72wG1WnoFY8e_z9frbE50obd1WAIyMyb2jSUcrNxpfYj9gGLubK4Q4jWGlU-ihfaOj5Aggx5pxdsi7uZGra7m-_n4EzAunExG_tZyQVH9dBC3n0nIw0QhiMzQm4uwIWC31a4J9fSY2-a7akaS3dce2b4D5TiXAnOACk/s2202/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-16%20at%202.04.13%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="2202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZaIwktp4V6_U70Kq9eZCll9bU72wG1WnoFY8e_z9frbE50obd1WAIyMyb2jSUcrNxpfYj9gGLubK4Q4jWGlU-ihfaOj5Aggx5pxdsi7uZGra7m-_n4EzAunExG_tZyQVH9dBC3n0nIw0QhiMzQm4uwIWC31a4J9fSY2-a7akaS3dce2b4D5TiXAnOACk/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-16%20at%202.04.13%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before STAR WARS, Peter Cushing and David Prowse, Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, appeared in Hammer's final FRANKENSTEIN titled AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL, with Prowse the monster and we know — directed by veteran Terence Fisher — who Cushing plays...</p><p></p><p>Although he's Dr. Victor, working in a prison-like insane asylum with his new assistant, pretty boy Shane Briant, technically the second assistant to Hammer ingenue Madeline Smith, more gorgeous than ever and, being mute, acting perfectly without words while The Monster, resembling Al Capone trapped in a bad Neanderthal costume, is far too brooding and reluctant to be the movie's worthwhile creature unlike Briant's fitfully game cohort... </p><p><span></span></p>

creature, david prowse, exploitation, frankenstein, hammer films, horror, madeline smith, mental ward, peter cushing, prison, seventies, shane briant, terence fisher, thriller

CUSHING/HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

Title: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL Year: 1974 Rating: **** Before STAR WARS, Peter Cushing and David Prowse, Grand Moff Tarkin an...

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYR1xHp68i6ctCDNpunvTmctaHOg4c8zWkiOMAJTn2yZTUnqQKNCu_YQS_kmeseQEItmLn-n3RVw94R9oVbHygcoKEYN29Tu7vEmg5omXkEw0n9R3gCc4pe2xqzY6rz-JcKrIsBDazYnZYa7eduEf3tegekADSWPcmYTQadh-OxeFV-k7liE1TlFQ2MlP/s1350/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%205.51.23%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1350" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYR1xHp68i6ctCDNpunvTmctaHOg4c8zWkiOMAJTn2yZTUnqQKNCu_YQS_kmeseQEItmLn-n3RVw94R9oVbHygcoKEYN29Tu7vEmg5omXkEw0n9R3gCc4pe2xqzY6rz-JcKrIsBDazYnZYa7eduEf3tegekADSWPcmYTQadh-OxeFV-k7liE1TlFQ2MlP/w400-h355/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%205.51.23%20PM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hound of the Baskervilles Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Perfect that Hammer, after Terence Fisher's Dracula and Frankenstein, would chose Sherlock Holmes THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES story being basically about a werewolf... so to speak... deliberately killing Moor-ruling Baskerville family members that Christopher Lee plays the surviving heir of... cursed not only with a heart condition and the fact the legendary howler might get him next, there's a tarantula in his shoe and he's constantly in danger, especially the closer he gets to ingenue Marla Landi... </p><p></p><p>In the lead, Cushing plays Holmes as slightly effeminate, intentionally snooty and fitfully snoopy, but awkwardly vanishes from the story during the first act, leaving André Morell's faithful Dr. Watson and an aloof Lee to converse in scenes that fail to build enough culprits for a genuine mystery yarn...</p><p>Meanwhile, an escaped convict roaming the Moors comes to as little as that ferocious hellhound, making this, for Hammer and Conan Arthur Doyle fans, a collective disappointment plot-wise. And yet it visually sustains Hammer's vivid Victorian aesthetic and the locations make you really feel<i> there</i>. But ironically, while the DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN films seem like reading a book on screen, BASKERVILLES, the most famously adapted from source literature, lacks that page-turning cadence. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQ3DvYou42U_almtGkkHma3pW7sNRFGZx5kX4jQwGt2Jo0pW3xrbRKknddYp5hqQt1fH7cQFYlj9JuLr5e8Rq4fh8NPOzd0Ocyjm2P-PJqUhl1q01eZtktRLYxJSgStrtXPplICgtZV4KDB3D26lTxhrQrn6qqAHnQfzn70pf26Xx-hmbJeSACDMklhwT/s1588/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.01%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQ3DvYou42U_almtGkkHma3pW7sNRFGZx5kX4jQwGt2Jo0pW3xrbRKknddYp5hqQt1fH7cQFYlj9JuLr5e8Rq4fh8NPOzd0Ocyjm2P-PJqUhl1q01eZtktRLYxJSgStrtXPplICgtZV4KDB3D26lTxhrQrn6qqAHnQfzn70pf26Xx-hmbJeSACDMklhwT/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.01%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Cushing in THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES</u></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxvriutn-Im-RM18L0UPEozfAMWi8BXZfhl61SUX3DWXTFgpF6AyNRiOa-vrDhblB6mXUlQOl-G-dURCL21bXjwXJ6W2pOATq1kQ3r1d8YoFUi7CjY60p1EclvNVSzGtPChNr45RkepJLo3afzo__SGkB22vpzlaj2kPNsy-gU-SgVPy5joMjGme2iudr/s1626/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.14%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxvriutn-Im-RM18L0UPEozfAMWi8BXZfhl61SUX3DWXTFgpF6AyNRiOa-vrDhblB6mXUlQOl-G-dURCL21bXjwXJ6W2pOATq1kQ3r1d8YoFUi7CjY60p1EclvNVSzGtPChNr45RkepJLo3afzo__SGkB22vpzlaj2kPNsy-gU-SgVPy5joMjGme2iudr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.14%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Cushing in THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES</u></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYhhXbwIFV4rwbeuILnXFMd-eNOq2GqCuNwA_6-9MRtU2As7h4NAOnf0Bk7G8i7LLMPoHjdek-jIcynRlYmJDA8F-nSv6N-L7cMHx3-xRyZObaH5V3B1PwLeDI1FFPd3gSLAznhBdBJ5Dg_FbAK-SDUuug6jLTb4N6_Wzzxz0_P6xcc_Vnlu_sbvOIijV/s1610/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.47%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYhhXbwIFV4rwbeuILnXFMd-eNOq2GqCuNwA_6-9MRtU2As7h4NAOnf0Bk7G8i7LLMPoHjdek-jIcynRlYmJDA8F-nSv6N-L7cMHx3-xRyZObaH5V3B1PwLeDI1FFPd3gSLAznhBdBJ5Dg_FbAK-SDUuug6jLTb4N6_Wzzxz0_P6xcc_Vnlu_sbvOIijV/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-31%20at%208.48.47%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Cushing in THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES with Nigel Stock<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsS5WX3JHT636lyZ1zKoUjb5duyDZWqdUMR7EdfrITcxa-ZrLYPE7bIwdbrbWVcr4RpCZy3kOYvmFg7PzK89yL77DgwIn553uDNaNT1y8eTFzScQAqaxPW5NZp6NRTHEgbSCoGfEkNq3l/s2048/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-13%252Bat%252B11.43.56%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsS5WX3JHT636lyZ1zKoUjb5duyDZWqdUMR7EdfrITcxa-ZrLYPE7bIwdbrbWVcr4RpCZy3kOYvmFg7PzK89yL77DgwIn553uDNaNT1y8eTFzScQAqaxPW5NZp6NRTHEgbSCoGfEkNq3l/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-13%252Bat%252B11.43.56%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Cushing and André Morell as Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

andre morell, christopher lee, fifties, hammer films, horror, marla landi, mystery, peter cushing, sherlock holmes, suspense, terence fisher, thriller

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES'

Hound of the Baskervilles Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2 Perfect that Hammer, after Terence Fisher's Dracula and Frankenstein, would chose She...

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93wqH2KmdSl3nrG4B1Or7V9zZOj0Z_NxhnsrCJFEPGeZ5g6cA4yRJJ9jeMONFZ4HOomVSZ3rtlyTIM_EwG8m460zkhyphenhyphenYnENwgTiYI28_Tcl6_3oH3nUa5g6zhVp8QfbbAnyLace6Vbwyx/s757/the-revenge-of-frankenstein-australian-daybill-1969-original-film-poster-4304-p.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="757" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93wqH2KmdSl3nrG4B1Or7V9zZOj0Z_NxhnsrCJFEPGeZ5g6cA4yRJJ9jeMONFZ4HOomVSZ3rtlyTIM_EwG8m460zkhyphenhyphenYnENwgTiYI28_Tcl6_3oH3nUa5g6zhVp8QfbbAnyLace6Vbwyx/w400-h300/the-revenge-of-frankenstein-australian-daybill-1969-original-film-poster-4304-p.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Revenge of Frankenstein Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first and best sequel of the Hammer/Peter Cushing FRANKENSTEIN franchise is also the most faithful to Mary Shelley's novel as the monster isn't initially monstrous... but is simply a tall, vulnerable, formerly living male who speaks with intelligence, and for a reason... </p><p>Beginning with Peter Cushing's "Dr. Stein" working in a town where, despite avoiding a conceited doctors union, has the most patients and respect, and, hiding in plain sight his secret operations remain intact as this movie's "Igor" wants to rid his mangled body for a new one... </p><p></p><p>Added to the cast is a young distinguished doctor played by Francis Matthews as Hans, who figures out Stein's real identity, and is more of an equal than an enslaved assistant, ridding REVENGE of some timeworn horror clichés that, while lacking the colorfully Gothic vibe of other Hammer entries, only falters once the New Creature turns into the inevitable murderous beast in a contrived, rushed fashion... or several, actually. Meanwhile, the ingenue isn't altogether necessary: an unrequited romance sparked when she met the original mangled assistant turned reanimated man comes to nothing in a lackluster finale that still remains edgy, and does have Cushing getting more desperate, and with more to lose. He's often best that way. </p><p><span></span></p>

anna walmsley, creature, eunice gayson, fifties, franchise, francis matthews, frankenstein, hammer films, horror, monster, peter cushing, richard wordsworth, science-fiction, sequel, terence fisher

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

The Revenge of Frankenstein Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2 The first and best sequel of the Hammer/Peter Cushing FRANKENSTEIN franchise is also t...

DAVID PEEL & PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekv4M0-n8vPytQmvjJPESOGSb7FjJpDxSvE_MtlbztXyi1IyhETcarrtSGW9AUo2bjMVlY23lVjYSWaN-5Pn_57zEErGNXgrvWvw5cSa8gP_MkkxAeFcjBtHI4GAy9kehp6izo3Q8EmvQ/s400/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-03-07%25252Bat%25252B8.54.49%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="400" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekv4M0-n8vPytQmvjJPESOGSb7FjJpDxSvE_MtlbztXyi1IyhETcarrtSGW9AUo2bjMVlY23lVjYSWaN-5Pn_57zEErGNXgrvWvw5cSa8gP_MkkxAeFcjBtHI4GAy9kehp6izo3Q8EmvQ/w400-h323/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-03-07%25252Bat%25252B8.54.49%25252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brides of Dracula Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A pretty boy Hammer DRACULA works since David Peel has such little screen-time, and it's not that he's unsuited for the role. In fact, dealing with the titular BRIDES, which is really a singular character played by Yvonne Monlaur, a younger, more apparently-attractive neck-sucker fits...</p><p>Having been held captive by his mother in the family castle, Monlaur's Marianne, a teacher on her way to working at an all-girl's school, has only to look at this particularly vulnerable, chained-up Dracula to fall in love — hypnotic eyes aren't needed, at least not up front... </p><p>But the true lead is Hammer legend Peter Cushing in what's a separate case file for Van Helsing: During scenes without him, there's wasted potential in that girl's school replete with beautiful, virginal maidens: If only they'd ALL have been brides, Van Helsing's task would garner more urgency, which this second Hammer Dracula needed more of. Although, the two or three bitten babes do look terrific, and there's an attempted lesbian seduction till Cushing cuts in and saves the day... or rather, night. Damn him! The movie, though, under 90-minutes, is entertaining enough to fill the absence of Christopher Lee, who'd return a few years later — and let it be noted that some of those entries aren't as good as this one.</p><p><span></span></p>

body count, david peel, dracula, exploitation, franchise, hammer films, horror, peter cushing, sixties, terence fisher, thriller, vampire, yvonne monlaur

DAVID PEEL & PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA'

Brides of Dracula Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 A pretty boy Hammer DRACULA works since David Peel has such little screen-time, and it's not...

PETER CUSHING LIMPING THROUGH HAMMER'S 'THE MUMMY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbfIHaPggMIkqtQfibxk6x3pUWipAXQs6b1HbpR0idzxzpIIoTemUvIgDK-DTgMjMkz5h6qNuFxIm18FolcBo6iongoDQDTgg8Fu8Zw24oyXZw9l7rBBgDSwIySjq6CPSFgOLhvnEGvoc/s826/91dNMS3Xs%252BL._SL1500_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="826" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbfIHaPggMIkqtQfibxk6x3pUWipAXQs6b1HbpR0idzxzpIIoTemUvIgDK-DTgMjMkz5h6qNuFxIm18FolcBo6iongoDQDTgg8Fu8Zw24oyXZw9l7rBBgDSwIySjq6CPSFgOLhvnEGvoc/w400-h348/91dNMS3Xs%252BL._SL1500_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: The Mummy Year: 1961 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The greatest HAMMER director Terence Fisher's third of four Universal Classic Monster remakes, and unlike the darkly plush Victorian scenery of Frankenstein, The Werewolf and Dracula, the rudimentary Egyptian locale basically resembles a movie set. And yet the story's economically shot and easy to follow as Peter Cushing's archeologist father loses his sanity after unveiling an entombed princess, later experienced via flashbacks where even Christopher Lee's title character... her dedicated high priest Kharis... is, like that sunny locale, too exposed for the sake of Hammer's otherwise eerie, enigmatic style... </p><p></p><p>But when the characters return to England with rolling hillsides and in this case, boggy swamp marshes, it's all more natural, palpable, lived-in, and thus the revenge tale begins, providing Lee's MUMMY... like his Frankenstein's Monster and Dracula... a lean and energetic agility, deliberately contradicting Boris Karloff's lumbering powerhouse in Fisher's least inspired venture, hollow even during a narrated flashback told by a permanently limping Cushing to token constable Eddie Byrne. Meanwhile, the "present timeline" feels rushed after Lee's too easily awakened by an Egyptian zealot's chant: And our bandaged beast conveniently seeks/finds his victims like a traveling salesman covering familiar ground. Which isn't altogether unworthy since the body-count aspect pays off. Just realize THE MUMMY is Hammer's ready-made popcorn flick instead of their usual fine wine; which doesn't mean there's nothing vintage here: John Williams must have been influenced by the awestruck tomb-entering music for RAIDERS but, overall, compared to the more famous, fleshed-out Monster revamps, this one kinda sphinx. <br></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4offe82LvPzoCUQvW-32Yygse5IWw2dIuTvbFUnscepPNvvZ6Scs9kvuVj62O_-wEagvQxMns4XBRVOoAySBluy7y_qJntY7Dgt0cZ0yiBZKOLEMUVySwITvT8ixRP5-XpwwQn83DyC4o/s960/155582283_1189810608114780_4286442690254861351_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4offe82LvPzoCUQvW-32Yygse5IWw2dIuTvbFUnscepPNvvZ6Scs9kvuVj62O_-wEagvQxMns4XBRVOoAySBluy7y_qJntY7Dgt0cZ0yiBZKOLEMUVySwITvT8ixRP5-XpwwQn83DyC4o/s16000/155582283_1189810608114780_4286442690254861351_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hammer Films presents THE MUDDY from 1959 (got a big laugh on the Hammer group)</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span></span></p>

body count, christopher lee, creature, eddie byrne, fifties, hammer films, horror, monster, peter cushing, terence fisher, universal monster

PETER CUSHING LIMPING THROUGH HAMMER'S 'THE MUMMY'

Title: The Mummy Year: 1961 Rating: **1/2 The greatest HAMMER director Terence Fisher's third of four Universal Classic Monster remakes,...