Hammer Horror Blu-ray Releases

[Shillingbury Tales]

I wonder why Network have not released Vampire Circus - the last of the 4 ITV Hammer films. Synapse released it in 2010.

The Synapse discs are region A so if you're not multi region go for it although for just a fiver they are hard to resist anyway.
As I enjoy documentaries on the Hammer films the huge one on the Synapse Twins of Evil made that an essential purchase.

In case it's not been mentioned it appears Network will finally get round to releasing the ITC Hammer House of Horror tv series on Bluray later this year. Great news

[oddbox83]

Another UK label currently has it, they did a DVD but that's it.

[Shillingbury Tales]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Another UK label currently has it, they did a DVD but that's it.

According to Amazon the dvd came out in 2011 so with Network seeming to have first refusal on ITV content well before that you have to wonder what happened.
It also seems that dvd and Bluray rights may be separate but it does look like Network might have to wait for the SM rights to expire.

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by Shillingbury Tales

I wonder why Network have not released Vampire Circus - the last of the 4 ITV Hammer films. Synapse released it in 2010.

The Synapse discs are region A so if you're not multi region go for it although for just a fiver they are hard to resist anyway.
As I enjoy documentaries on the Hammer films the huge one on the Synapse Twins of Evil made that an essential purchase.

In case it's not been mentioned it appears Network will finally get round to releasing the ITC Hammer House of Horror tv series on Bluray later this year. Great news

If someone does upgrade the blu of Vampire Circus they need to restore the missing audio thats evident in the Synapse release.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

If someone does upgrade the blu of Vampire Circus they need to restore the missing audio thats evident in the Synapse release.

They also need to work on the picture quality - Synapse's Region A-locked Blu-ray release is a very disappointing transfer, despite being taken from the UK theatrical version rather than the censored US release. While the daytime scenes are largely fine, the picture quality is excessively dark in the night scenes, losing a lot of detail, whether it be a panther all but lost in the shadows of his cage or the bats flying off into the night in the final shot rendered all but invisible even if you boost the brightness on your TV set. It's doubly frustrating because the standard definition clips included in the documentary on the disc have none of these grading problems, which weren't anywhere near as pronounced on Carlton's UK DVD.

[RICKBONDOO7]

I just got Scream of Fear on ebay last week. It's region free, and It looks Good ! I wish they would release the EMI Hammer Films. :confused ?? : (

[Shillingbury Tales]

Originally Posted by RICKBONDOO7

I just got Scream of Fear on ebay last week. It's region free, and It looks Good ! I wish they would release the EMI Hammer Films. :confused ?? : (

The EMI Hammer films are owned by Studio Canal who seemed to take criticism of some of their earlier Hammer Blurays to heart so stopped releasing them in the UK.
IIRC there are one or two titles that should come from SC in the UK but they are available in other countries. The Nanny for one although the basic disc and very average presentation makes it one for Hammer completists only who can't wait for a hopefully improved version at some point

[BarnDoor]

Might be presumptuous, but it looks like a couple more are on the way from StudioCanal: Blood from the Mummy's Tomb and Demons of the Mind. Only the Demons of the Mind page is working right now, but both are being shown in new restorations at Frightfest:

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2017film...-the-mind.html

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Might be presumptuous, but it looks like a couple more are on the way from StudioCanal: Blood from the Mummy's Tomb and Demons of the Mind. Only the Demons of the Mind page is working right now, but both are being shown in new restorations at Frightfest:

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2017film...-the-mind.html

Interesting , especially as SC left the range for dead quite a while ago.

[oddbox83]

One Million Years BC was released under the same branding from SC fairly recently.

[Si Parallel Universe]

One release in the last 8-9 months

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

One Million Years BC was released under the same branding from SC fairly recently.

Though I think they regard that more as a Harryhausen-Raquel Welch film than a Hammer one.

[the blob]

Maybe SC have had a change of heart now there have been a lot of other Hammer releases. I'm guessing their initial decision was down to sales but perhaps they feel the market potential market might have grown.

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by the blob

Maybe SC have had a change of heart now there have been a lot of other Hammer releases. I'm guessing their initial decision was down to sales but perhaps they feel the market potential market might have grown.

It was down to disagreements between them and the Hammer licencers and because of reaction to fans pointing out imperfections with the disc contents as much as anything else.

It just got all kinds of ugly at one point

[Shillingbury Tales]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

It was down to disagreements between them and the Hammer licencers and because of reaction to fans pointing out imperfections with the disc contents as much as anything else.

It just got all kinds of ugly at one point

I don't think there was any disagreement between the people who now call themselves Hammer and Studio Canal.
The problems arose because SC don't really know a damn thing about the product they inherited when buying out Thorn EMI so on occasion as with The Avengers dvd and Bluray releases they let the fans take over.
Professional fans who have knowledge in the industry I might add.

But Hammer made some bad decisions and apart from the ongoing disagreements about ratios the biggest error I think was The Devil Rides Out where they had new CGI effects created which would have been a nice bonus but then decided not to include the original ones.

Dracula Prince of Darkness was an early release and had synch issues which resulted in replacements but there is still a fade to black at the end of the opening titles missing, there were complaints about sections of other releases aswell as the audio quality and it did seem as if every release was pulled apart and it also seemed as if SC went off and sulked by stopping further releases but went on with releases in other countries.

I've not heard they had disagreements with Hammer but SC are a funny bunch.
I know one of the guys who worked on The Avengers Blurays and he nearly has a stroke if you start talking about Studio Canal

[CountYorgaRules]

Originally Posted by the blob

Maybe SC have had a change of heart now there have been a lot of other Hammer releases. I'm guessing their initial decision was down to sales but perhaps they feel the market potential market might have grown.

The online campaign to get Studio Canal to release their EMI Hammers on Blu-ray must have helped a bit, with dozens and dozens of requests for the titles on their vintage classics page that I saw. This image for the Demons of the Mind restored screening sure looks like a SC Blu-ray cover.

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2017film...-the-mind.html

[Shillingbury Tales]

Originally Posted by CountYorgaRules

The online campaign to get Studio Canal to release their EMI Hammers on Blu-ray must have helped a bit, with dozens and dozens of requests for the titles on their vintage classics page that I saw. This image for the Demons of the Mind restored screening sure looks like a SC Blu-ray cover.

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2017film...-the-mind.html

SC prices are usually way over the top so they should start thinking about doing double bills with some of their lesser titles

[the blob]

i didn't hear of any disagreement between Hammer and SC, just the very public fallout between Hammer and consumers. I'm sure there was probably something behind the scenes but I can't imagine a company the size of Studio Canal letting something like that influence their decision unless there was also a business reasoning. They had released all their A-list Hammer titles and the latter releases also stayed at a high retail price for a long time. I remember waiting ages for The Witches to drop. The Studio Canal Collection was also pretty unceremoniously dropped around then for bare bones re-issues of some of the titles.

SC's approach to catalogue titles in general has been ever-improving over the last couple of years and that decision was in 2013, when their approach to the BD market wasn't much more than a slow drip.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Though I think they regard that more as a Harryhausen-Raquel Welch film than a Hammer one.

The SC release was in the same cover design as the horrors so I think they are using the Hammer hook in general not just for the horrors. This is no different to their previous approach, their 21 film DVD box was peppered with titles such as that.

They didn't restore it themselves though. They used the Fox restoration I believe and just slapped it into a 1.66:1 variant ratio. Maybe sales were good enough for them to reconsider, who knows. If they do nice new scans and don't tinker I'll be delighted.

They are also licensing the restorations to Shock, Annolis etc. Which is extra income they wouldn't get for standard def masters.

[BarnDoor]

The page for Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is now working:

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2017films/mummystomb.html

Again, the poster looks very much like art for a prospective Blu-ray release.