hammer films

**Don Boycik** · 10th November 2001, 10:38 PM

how about Tales from the Crypt? i am not sure if that is a hammer film or not but it's a good peter cushing movie even know he's not the star of it no
one really is. i liked Taste the blood of Dracula
an i think that's on dvd now. an Scars of dracula
is too. i saw them last night at the store. although i didn't see the second. of all the dracula movies i think i saw the first 4 or 5.
the rest i didnt' see cept for his last one The santanic rites of Dracula which was ok. even know
it was a stupid way to kill him.i'm glad it was the last one.

Lord Summerisle · 12th November 2001, 02:17 PM

Tales From the Crypt was made by Amicus, not Hammer.

**Frederick Bergstrom** · 12th November 2001, 05:08 PM

stimpy...are you positive it was taste the blood on dvd..Im pretty sure it isnt out on dvd neither is Dracula ad 72 and Risen from the grave. Warners own them and dont plan on releasing as of right now. They are waiting to see the response to the mummy that was just released.. IF these are on dvd please let me know as of right now i was unaware of them being avaiable..to the best of my knowledge Scars, Prince and Satanic rites are the only hammer draculas on dvd.

**Joe Skinnell** · 12th November 2001, 10:05 PM

Quote:

to the best of my knowledge Scars, Prince and Satanic rites are the only hammer draculas on dvd.

Your 100% correct. Dracula Prince of Darkness, Scars of Dracula & Satanic Rites of Dracula are the only ones currently released on DVD. Interestingly enough,Taste The Blood Of Dracula was the only Hammer Dracula Not to have a laserdisc release either. Dracula A.D, 72 was released on Japanese laser with a little extra footage as was Horror of Dracula & Dracula Has Risen From the Grave . In the US Horror of Dracula, Dracula Prince of Darkness {widescreen}, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave {widescreen} and The Satanic Rites of Dracula {widescreen} were all given the big disc treatment.:)

**Don Boycik** · 12th November 2001, 10:33 PM

well i wasn't sure on Tales from the crypt thanks for the correction. either way it should be on dvd. so should The horror of dracula but that's not suppose to come out till like either next year or 2003.
I would love to see all his
hammer movies on dvd how many did he do for them
anyone know? i know he did 22 with P.cushing but i am just wondering

Lord Summerisle · 13th November 2001, 12:17 PM

Hi Stimpy,

I stand to be corrected, but in my reckoning Lee made 21 films for Hammer. They are:

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Dracula/Horror of Dracula 1958)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
The Mummy (1959)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll/House of Fright (1959)
Taste of Fear/Scream of Fear (1961)
Terror of the Tongs (1961)
The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
The Gorgon (1964)
She (1965)
Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)
Rasputin

**Don Boycik** · 13th November 2001, 08:40 PM

U met C.lee Lord Summerisle cool,i would love to meet him as for your list i think u wrong on one year then again i might be The two faces of Dr.
Jekyll an Mr.hyde came out in 1961 less it was filmed in 1959 an u are going by that.also if this comes up 2 times it's because my computer froze an i am not sure if i sent it in already.i've seen about half of his hammer films. I wish they would release some of c.lee's movies he's done that are
not avaliable on video on dvd.also i think i read that in his bio i read it this past bio, but what does he think is his worst movie or his worst role? everyone knows what he thinks is his best
the wicker man.

**Frederick Bergstrom** · 13th November 2001, 11:40 PM

to go a step further on what lord summerisle had said about the emotional blackmail....a lot of these films were sold to american distributors with Christopher Lee already on board so his back was against the wall. He didnt want to do the sequels but he knew if he didnt the films wouldnt get the american distribution and if it came down to no Chris Lee no movie a lot of his commrades at Hammer would be out of work.He would tell them i dont want to do it and would be told you have to I already sold it to the U.S, with you as the star.Personally Im glad he did them they all hold a place in my heart. I know he would have been happy to have never played him again unless it was just as Stroker had written

Lord Summerisle · 14th November 2001, 02:56 AM

You're spot on there, Fred. Mr Lee certainly felt a great deal of loyalty to his friends at Hammer, many of whom relied on him as the one big house "star" (although of course they used actors of the calibre of Oliver Reed, Peter Cushing etc. a lot) to pull in the American market.

I agree that it's good he did make the later Dracula pics: even something as broadly silly and anachronistic as AD1972 is worth seeing because of Lee's (and Cushing's) presence in it. What is a shame is that he never got to play the "real" - as in Stoker's - Dracula. I remember that he was incredibly well informed about the book, and talked at length about all the differences between it and the films he, and indeed everybody else, made. Even Coppola's recent Bram Stoker's Dracula was nothing like the novel. Sadly now I don't think the novel will ever be filmed "straight". We have all grown accustomed to the "Hollywood/Hammer" version of Dracula, and would not accept the character as originally portrayed by Stoker: to take one small example, Stoker's Dracula wasn't "melted" by sunlight (although he couldn't change his shape or move about much during the day); I expect we have regular Hammer scriptwriter Jimmy Sangster to thank for that little piece of vampire mythology!

Gena · 14th November 2001, 03:06 AM

Hi Guys, I enjoyed reading your post, thanks for all the information. Yall are really up on hammer.
Gena

Lord Summerisle · 14th November 2001, 03:11 AM

You may be right, Stimpy. My source of data is the book "The House of Horror", the complete story of Hammer Films, and that lists Jekyll as being released in 1960.

However, the British and US release years were often different, so the movie may have come out in America the following year. If you check out the official Hammer web site - www.hammerfilms.com - the film is not listed as having been produced in either 60 or 61, so who knows?!

I'm very proud to have met Mr Lee, one of my all time heroes. You may be interested to know that before I was introduced to him his agent told me not to ask him about Hammer, as apparently he "doesn't like talking about the old Hammer days". Luckily for me he mentioned Hammer of his own accord almost immediately, then spent an hour reminiscing on the subject!!

dvxagent1 · 27th November 2001, 02:17 PM

i loved the hammer flims, they were very inventive, i loved all the locations, music, the gothic feel of them, the acting was always spot on., they stand the test of time and always will.

**Don Boycik** · 27th November 2001, 07:54 PM

hammer films in a way inspired horror film that come out today. notice after they shut down horror
films well most of them suxed well until scream
in (1996) now they are getting better plus hammer films is opening back up not sure if they did already but they said they were gnna.

RebeccaD · 27th November 2001, 08:23 PM

I grew up watching Hammer films. They were, to me, imaginative gothic tales with a decidedly artistic flair. I believe the bit of romanticism, which occasionally bordered on the sensuous side, was an attraction as well. But most of all, I was captured by the depiction of the sadness of evil. Did many of you find an affinity more towards the monsters than the heroes? I certainly did. Of course, one look at Christopher Lee and those smoldering brown eyes and I was hooked for life. Certainly, the endless stream of sequels weakened the overall picture, but Hammer films will always be cherished items in my home.