HAMMER FILMS: Two Double Features from Mill Creek! - September 6, 2016

[AgentOrange]

I bought this DVD set not long ago. So I guess you guys can thank me for the blu-ray upgrade.



Interestingly Revenge of Frankenstein was on Volume 2. I guess for this release they felt they needed to pair up Mummy's Tomb with Revenge of Frankenstein - a pairing of classic characters. A shame though if it means we don't get Scream of Fear, which is a far better films. Hopefully they squeeze out another double feature or two if possible. Perhaps Scream of Fear/The Snorkel.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Crimson King

Who now owns the rights to the Hammer's that Anchor Bay had ions ago?

They're in the Lionsgate black hole, so they're a lost cause in this country. You can import a bunch of them from UK/Germany/Australia though.

Revenge of Frankenstein and The Gorgon are the two pure horror highlights of that Sony catalog, so glad they went for those first. Dr Jekyll has some interesting bits but I mostly dislike it, and Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is quite bland, but oh well.

This takes care of the most "Hammer Horror" style flicks that Sony had. They had a ton of thrillers and a few adventure and one sci-fi, though. Here's hoping they do Scream of Fear and These Are the Damned (which Mill Creek inexplicably skipped on DVD despite releasing everything else on the set) at some point, at the very least...those two stomp all over Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and Two Faces of Dr Jekyll!

Here's the other Sony stuff that I'm aware of:

Scream of Fear
The Snorkel
Stop Me Before I Kill!
Cash on Demand
Never Take Candy from a Stranger
These are the Damned
Maniac
Devil-Ship Pirates
Pirates of Blood River
Stranglers of Bombay
Terror of the Tongs
Die Die My Darling
Creatures the World Forgot

Twilight Time evidently teased having some Hammer stuff, so I would assume they're in the chunk above. Here's hoping that they aim for the best (Scream of Fear, These are the Damned, Never Take Candy from a Stranger) instead of just the ones with the most Cushing/Lee (the pirate movies, which are alright, and Cash on Demand, which is great but rather stagey as it's a play adaptation). Scream of Fear does have Christopher Lee in it in a small role, so that's my hope!

[The Great Owl]

Awesome! Mill Creek is inexpensive, and they've churned out some quality releases lately.

[Rory]

Originally Posted by Rich1983

Warner has the better Hammer library. I don't understand why Universal does not finish their classic monsters on Blu-ray.

What's not to understand? They're working on it and it takes time and costs money. Eventually their entire library will come out in HD (even CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN), but on their time schedule, and perhaps not entirely on Blu-ray (i.e. streaming)

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by dsman71

these are from Sony approved NEW HD masters.. these should look fantastic

I would think so. Some of those Sony DVDs looked pretty spectacular. The Gorgon in particular. You might not know it from the Mill Creek DVDs since they crammed more flicks onto each disc, but they were solid masters.

[demonknight]

So for Frankenstein's, by the end of the year, we'll have seen releases of 2,3,4,&5. Still no sign of Curse though.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by demonknight

So for Frankenstein's, by the end of the year, we'll have seen releases of 2,3,4,&5. Still no sign of Curse though.

I'd say it's very probable we'll see Warner announce Curse before the end of the year since we've heard they're working on Vol 2. There's a UK blu-ray if they give up on it due to the bad elements, too.

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell has a pretty good blu-ray, too. The upcoming German release will be the best but the UK one is good too. It's paramount here so I don't expect to see it unless Olive puts out a stripped edition.

Horror of Frankenstein will likely never be released in this country because of Lionsgate, but fortunately it's terrible anyway

[dsman71]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I would think so. Some of those Sony DVDs looked pretty spectacular. The Gorgon in particular. You might not know it from the Mill Creek DVDs since they crammed more flicks onto each disc, but they were solid masters.

Dont let the name "Mill Creek" fool you, DVD releases from them are hit or miss depending on the source, but their blu rays are from Sony HD masters that Sony approved. In essence, Mill Creek is a distributor for them to some extent, but they do have bluray rights for the Hammer titles. But they couldnt release them without Sony. Sony has standards

[dsman71]

Originally Posted by demonknight

So for Frankenstein's, by the end of the year, we'll have seen releases of 2,3,4,&5. Still no sign of Curse though.

Curse is rumored to be part of Warners Volume II horror set, which should be announced sooner or later. Over a month ago, they said it was being planned.

[schlock]

Mill Creek is really stepping up to the plate recently. Beautiful covers, and two movies for less than half the price of one from Twilight Time. I know Mill Creek are bare-bones, but their price point can't be beat. I hope these sell like hotcakes and they continue with more Hammer releases.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by Pecker

Good to see Sony's Revenge of Frankenstein getting a release.

I'd like to collect all of the Hammer Frankenstein & Dracula films, and I feared this one might get missed - I think it's the last unreleased Frankenstein Hammer).

I believe the only ones still MIA are:

Scars Of Dracula (UK distributor - EMI)
Lust For A Vampire (UK distributor - EMI - Not Frankenstein/Dracula, but needed to complete the Karnstein trilogy)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (UK distributor - Warner - announced in Germany)
The Satanic Rites Of Dracula (UK distributor - Warner)
The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires (UK distributor - Warner)

Happy to be corrected on any of the above.

The Horror of Frankenstein is also still missing, I believe?

[CinemaScope]

Well if they play in region B I'm buying them. Dr Jekyll is the only one I'm not that keen on. Are these new HD masters? I only ask because I have the Sony DVDs (except Frankenstein) & on the box it states, mastered in HD, & those DVDs do look great. The Gorgon & The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb were released as a double-bill in the UK, I remember going to see them (I was only 13, but quite tall, so passed for 16, which I had to be to see an X rated film).

I hope we also get, The Pirates of Blood River & The Terror of the Tongs (Lee's dry run for Dr Fu Manchu), two big favourites.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

The Horror of Frankenstein is also still missing, I believe?

That one shouldn't be counted, IMO!

Originally Posted by Pecker

Good to see Sony's Revenge of Frankenstein getting a release.

I'd like to collect all of the Hammer Frankenstein & Dracula films, and I feared this one might get missed - I think it's the last unreleased Frankenstein Hammer).

I believe the only ones still MIA are:

Scars Of Dracula (UK distributor - EMI)
Lust For A Vampire (UK distributor - EMI - Not Frankenstein/Dracula, but needed to complete the Karnstein trilogy)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (UK distributor - Warner - announced in Germany)
The Satanic Rites Of Dracula (UK distributor - Warner)
The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires (UK distributor - Warner)

Happy to be corrected on any of the above.

I don't really know how Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires worked. In this country, it was released on a triple feature put out by Millennium/Elite along with Frankenstein Created Woman and Dracula Prince of Darkness. I don't know how/where they got the rights from. They put out the other two on blu-ray and apparently the master for 7 Golden Vampires was in terrible shape so they didn't do it immediately, and then the company kinda rolled over and died, so who knows where the rights went.

I have no idea who has it in the UK, but the other two are Studiocanal. If you're right about Warner, you might be SOL unless somehow they got the rights back in this country as well.

Scars of Dracula/Lust for a Vampire are also studiocanal so you can only hope that they put them out in the UK or Anolis puts them out in Germany. If Studiocanal ever goes back to releasing hammer flicks I'd guess Scars would be one of the first in line, but from what I heard, they sold like crap so they aren't too eager about it. Final Cut keeps plugging away, but they don't have rights to the studiocanal flicks. Anolis said something about getting rights to Studiocanal catalog, but so far they've exclusively re-released other movies, so it could be a long time before they make it to Scars of Dracula, let alone Lust for a Vampire.

[ouchmyfacehurts]

Originally Posted by Rich1983

Warner has the better Hammer library. I don't understand why Universal does not finish their classic monsters on Blu-ray.

...you might want to head on over to amazon france...

[MattmanAlpha]

Originally Posted by Crimson King

Who now owns the rights to the Hammer's that Anchor Bay had ions ago?

In addition to the LionsGate titles, Millenium has part of them, two of which they released to BD before scrapping whatever plans they had for the rest.

All of those earlier AB titles, including "Quatermass and the Pit" should be in their hands if the few DVD/BD releases they made are any indication.

[Jobla]

When I was a kid circa 1961, I saw TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL under the American title HOUSE OF FRIGHT. I believe that a suggestive snake dance sequence didn't appear in that edit.

[MifuneFan]

Not Hammer-related, but I wonder if they might release Mothra and/or The Giant Claw too?

[Partyslammer]

Originally Posted by Jobla

When I was a kid circa 1961, I saw TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL under the American title HOUSE OF FRIGHT. I believe that a suggestive snake dance sequence didn't appear in that edit.

The US release "House of Fright" is edited/cut by about 10 minutes off it's original run time to present a much tamer, and near incoherent version then the UK TFODJ. Much of the salty language is changed (*****> witch, etc). The Sony "Icons Of Horror" dvd release of TFODJ is indeed the uncut UK theatrical version including the previously edited quick shot of Jekyll's almost orgasmic expression as the dancer takes the snake's head in her mouth in an obvious reference to oral sex. That bit was originally cut at the last minute from the finished version at the insistence of the UK censor just prior to the film's release in the UK.

IMO, Two Faces Of Dr Jekyll is an interesting misfire from Hammer. It's not really horrific and there's really no redeemable characters. The story kind of plods along following the tawdry events of the leads to a downer, moribund conclusion. That said, there are elements that make this film worth a look - the story is an offbeat take on the mythos, the vibrant, colorful photography and lighting (by Jack Asher) is among the best of any Hammer film, especially in the nightclub scenes. Christopher Lee plays a splendid cad and Oliver Reed stands out in his very first bit part as a pimp.

The Icons DVD featured a beautiful looking print and I look forward to an even better presentation on the Blu-ray release.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Who grumbled that??? What a bizarre and specific accusation. I can't imagine you saw more than one forum person saying that. Either they were some kind of Hammer expert that knows more than any basic sources out there, they were ONLY talking about Dr Jekyll and they were unaware of the DVD, or they were just an idiot.

The only one I'm aware of that ever had a cut version was Dr Jekyll, and that one's DVD was uncut, so...I see no reason to think this one would be cut. It would have to be an entirely different transfer than the DVD (it had a different title, etc).

I took it as his own personal grumbles.

[evilive]

I never got around to picking up the Hammer Icons of Horror set, so this is a definite must buy. The inclusion of Revenge of Frankenstein makes it even better. Gonna have to start saving up my money for these releases now!