Hammer Films - U.S. Buyer's Guide

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HAMMER FILMS: A US Completist's Guide

I went through an intense Hammer phase about a year ago and tried buying all of their movies that were even slightly horror-related, and thought I'd impart my (limited) wisdom. Hammer produced a gigantic number of films, and is widely thought of purely for their horror films, especially the ones with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. However, they dabbled in nearly every genre. I'll simply include the more "horror" films in the first post, while the second post will include fantasy, action movies, war movies, etc for those who are interested in going deeper into the catalog. It was too hard to decide which sci-fi films and thrillers were "horrific" enough so I just left some of them in this list according to my own opinion; the likes of Paranoiac and Quatermass & the Pit are pretty deeply creepy IMO, and Captain Clegg/Night Creatures certainly isn't a horror film but was marketed as one so hey, I threw it in.

I listed what's been released in the US first, with the import options afterwards. I tried to make notes if there's a very significant difference in quality between versions (ex, many extras, aspect ratios). The general rule of thumb is that for multi-region releases, Shout Factory>German>UK>Australia. There are a couple exceptions, with the biggest one being Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, where the Shout Factory version is vastly inferior to all other releases - these are noted below. The other US releases are all over the map, with the Synapse versions arguably being the best of those films, but the Millennium/Elite versions arguably being the WORST of those films! Details like HD Audio or better compression or whatnot can be checked elsewhere, the zetaminor link is a good place for the older releases.

Films released or announced for release on Blu-Ray in the US are underlined. I will edit this post regularly to make it more nice over time, so any updates/corrections are welcome!! I will also try and link to all the blu-rays, so let me know if any are missing.

Here is a useful link:

https://www.zetaminor.com/roobarb/sh...d-known-issues

This is an EXCELLENT rundown of the differences between available blu-rays, and has links to discussions about the individual releases. If you only care about blu-rays and are region free, check that topic.

THE LIST:

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) 4K Blu-ray: UK (upcoming); Blu-Ray: Kino, German/Australian Blu-Ray
X: The Unknown (1956) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, Upscaled version available on Australian Quatermass Xperiment Blu-ray as an extra, UK DVD
The Abominable Snowman (1957) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory (full length, but Shout rejected some HD footage in favor of extra poor SD inserts surrounding some of the reinstated footage), Japanese Blu-Ray (edited and several minutes shorter, but fully HD)
Quatermass II: Enemy from Space (1957) 4K: UK (Pending), Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, Upscaled version available on Australian Quatermass Xperiment Blu-ray as an extra
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Blu-Ray: Warner Archive, UK Blu-Ray (Warner has a newer, better transfer and more extras)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) Blu-Ray: Mill Creek, UK-Blu-Ray has a new scan and extras
Horror of Dracula (1958) Blu-ray: Warner Bros., UK/German Blu-Rays have Japanese footage reinstated and extras, US version's transfer is less blue than the newer UK transfer, German Blu-Ray has a split-second more Japanese footage and also includes both the US and UK transfers, with less black crush than the US disc.
The Mummy (1959) Blu-Ray: Warner (UK Blu-Ray has a lot of extras lacking from the US release)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) 4k: Vinegar Syndrome (announced), Blu-ray: Legend Films (OOP), Kino Blu-ray and UK Blu-Ray with superior PQ/AQ
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) Bluray: Twilight Time, UK Blu-Ray (UK has more extras)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) Blu-Ray: Mill Creek, UK-Blu-Ray has a new scan and extras
The Brides of Dracula (1960) Blu-Ray: Shout, Universal (wrong aspect ratio, duller color), UK/Australian Blu-Ray (wrong aspect ratio, duller color), French/German Blu-Ray (correct aspect ratio, duller color), Shout is the best for extras and PQ
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) Blu-Ray: Universal (wrong aspect ratio, no extras), Shout Factory, UK Blu-Ray (wrong aspect Ratio), French/German/Australian Blu-Ray (correct aspect ratio) - (Shout has most extras and correct AR)
Shadow of the Cat (1961)Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK Blu-ray (both blu-rays are in expensive 4-film sets, Indicator has more extras)
Scream of Fear (1961) Blu-Ray: Mill Creek, Australian Blu-Ray, UK-Blu-Ray has a new scan and extras
The Phantom of the Opera (1962) Blu-Ray: Shout, Universal, French/German/2 UK Blu-Rays (US/French/Indicator UK have better transfer than Final Cut UK, Indicator has most extras, Shout, Indicator have right AR/best transfer)
Night Creatures/Captain Clegg (1962) Blu-Ray: Universal (barebones, wrong AR), Shout Factory, French Blu-ray (wrong AR), 2 UK Blu-Rays (Indicator UK has more extras and correct AR, Final Cut has wrong AR), German Blu-Ray (has most extras and also has correct Aspect Ratio). Shout Factory release is the only one with a new transfer and thus is the best.
Kiss of the Vampire (1963) Blu-Ray: Shout, Universal, UK Blu-Ray (Shout has best transfer, most extras)
Paranoiac (1963) Blu-Ray: Shout, Universal, UK Blu-Ray (Shout has newer transfer, most extras, but is slightly horizontally stretched)
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964) Blu-Ray: Mill Creek, UK Blu-Ray (UK has extras, better PQ)
The Gorgon (1964) Blu-Ray: Mill Creek, Australian Blu-Ray, UK Blu-Ray (UK has extras, better encoding)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) Blu-Ray: Shout, Universal, German Blu-Ray (Shout has most extras and different transfer showing more picture)
Nightmare (1964) Blu-Ray: Universal, Shout, 2 UK Blu-rays (Shout is only edition with a new transfer)
The Witches (1966) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian Blu-Rays (Shout has most extras)
Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory; UK/Australian/German Blu-Rays (UK, US, Aus have defective audio, German is only fixed release)
The Reptile (1966) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian/German Blu-Rays (Shout has most extras)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, Millennium; UK/German/Australian Blu-Rays higher quality than Millennium, Shout Factory has a second transfer included and more extras, German Anolis has a tweaked version of the older transfer that looks slightly better than the other releases, as well as the rougher alternate Shout transfer.
The Plague of the Zombies (1966) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian/German Blu-Rays (Shout has most extras)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian/German Blu-Rays (Shout has most extras)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, Millennium (OOP), UK/German/Australian Blu-Rays: Shout/German have a newer, much higher quality transfer and more extras - German Anolis has most extras.
The Mummy's Shroud (1967) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian/German Blu-Rays
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) Blu-Ray: Warner, German Blu-Ray
The Devil Rides Out (1968) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian Blu-Rays (Shout has original effects and more extras; other releases have some re-done special effects)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) Blu-Ray: Warner
Scars of Dracula (1970) 4K Blu-ray: Kino (upcoming), Blu-Ray: Shout, UK DVD, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) Blu-Ray: Shout, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
The Vampire Lovers (1970) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory (2 releases - second has more features and a new transfer but has a censored shot of nudity), Australian/UK/German Blu-Ray, (German integrates the 1 second of decapitation footage and is thus only fully uncut version)
Crescendo (1970) DVD: Warner Archive
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Blu-Ray: Warner, German Blu-Ray
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
Hands of the Ripper (1971) Blu-Ray: Synapse, French/German/UK Blu-Ray (Synapse has more muted color-timing)
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
Twins of Evil (1971) Blu-Ray: Synapse, French/German/UK Blu-Ray (Synapse has more muted color-timing)
Countess Dracula (1971) Blu-Ray: Synapse, French/German/UK Blu-Ray (Synapse has more muted color-timing)
Lust for a Vampire (1971) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory
Vampire Circus (1972) Blu-ray: Synapse, French/German Blu-Ray (Synapse has more muted color-timing)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) Blu-Ray: Warner Bros, German Blu-Ray
Straight On Till Morning (1972) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
Fear in the Night (1972)Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/German Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)
Demons of the Mind (1972) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/German Blu-Ray
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) Blu-Ray: Warner Bros, Snappy Video (OOP - yanked)
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974) UK 4K pending. Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, Australian Blu-Ray, German Blu-Ray (German has best transfer/most extras, Shout has older, inferior transfer to the other two)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK/Australian/German Blu-Ray (German has best transfer/most extras, Australian is interlaced) - NOTE: Shout version is heavily censored and has an inferior transfer to European releases
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory
To the Devil a Daughter (1976) Blu-Ray: Shout Factory, UK Blu-Ray (Shout has extras)

LINKS TO ALL US/UK/AU/GER/FRE HAMMER BLU-RAYS:

US Releases:















(OOP)


See the more comprehensive list of films post below for the complete list including all the fantasy/sci-fi/action/thrillers missing here.