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86-year-old actor Charles “Bud” Tingwell died from cancer on May 15 in his native Australia. A successful character actor, Tingwell was most well known in his native country for the television series HOMICIDE, but fans of Hammer horror remember him for his role as the ill-fated elder brother in DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS (it is [...]

Yesterday, in a review of THE RAVEN (1935), I mentioned that, although the number of my DVD purchases is rapidly declining, thanks to the availability of movies through services like Netflix Instant Viewing and Amazon.com’s Video on Demand, I still appreciate the opportunity to own a boxful of favorite titles at a discount price, even [...]

Hollywood Reporter informs us that former horror star Christopher Lee has signed up to return to Hammer Films, the company that made him famous with classics like CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF DRACULA. Lee will co-star with Hilary Swank in a thriller titled INVASION OF PRIVACY (previously known as THE RESIDENT).
The new Hammer is [...]

Variety reports that Hilary Swank will star in THE RESIDENT, a thriller for Hammer Films, a new version of the company once known for such horror classics as CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF DRACULA. Hammer hopes to have a domestic distributor in place before production begins in May on the East Coast. Antti J. Jokinen [...]

This, the fourth Hammer horror film starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, is the last solid effort in the franchise. The film charts some interesting thematic territory and features a number of interesting ideas. Unfortunately, the script by John Elder (the pen name of Anthony Hinds) does not weave all of these ideas together into [...]

This is Hammer Films’ first sequel to 1958’s HORROR OF DRACULA to feature the return of Christopher Lee as the Count (who was notably absent from 1960’s BRIDES OF DRACULA). It is also the last Dracula film helmed by their top in-house director, Terence Fisher, who was the man behind the camera for most of [...]

This full-blooded vampire film (you should pardon the expression) reinvented the image of Count Dracula for a generation of filmgoers, eschewing cobwebby castles and black-and-white atmosphere in favor of a bold, colorful approach, filled with lovely cinematography and lavish sets that belie the modest budget. The screenplay by Jimmy Sangster jettisons the creepy clichés and [...]

THE DEVIL’S BRIDE (1968, known as The Devil Rides Out in its native England) is one of the last fine examples of the classic Hammer Horror style. Before closing up shop in the mid-1979s, the studio’s subsequent output would include some good, and even a few great, films, but the familiar motifs had been mostly [...]

Lon Chaney, Jr.’s Wolf Man may be cinema’s most famous lycanthrope, but there can be little doubt that this 1960 film from Hammer Productions is the best werewolf movie ever made. It features all of the studio’s classic virtues: beautiful sets, effective music, colorful photography, solid scripting, memorable performances, and a muscular directorial approach that [...]

This is Hammer Films’ first sequel to their 1958 classic, HORROR OF DRACULA. Made at the height of the studio’s success, BRIDES OF DRACULA features the familiar elements (beautiful color cinematography, lavish sets, solid writing, strong performances), making this a worthy heir to its predecessor. However, it is perhaps most notable for the obvious absence of [...]

Christopher Lee is featured in two of his Hammer Horror classics at SHOCK IT TO ME! San Francisco’s annual horror film festival, this Saturday afternoon, October 19, when a double-bill of Terence Fisher’s HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) and CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) will be presented at the historic (and haunted) Castro Theatre.
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It’s been a great month for Hammer fans.  Columbia just released the Icons of Adventure box set of four Hammer adventure films – Stranglers of Bombay, Pirates of Blood River, Terror of the Tongs and Devil Ship Pirates.  Despite the terrible cover art, this is an amazing package of never-before-on-DVD films. Now, our friends over [...]

Hammer Films, a name once synonymous with high-quality Gothic horror films (e.g., CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL), is back in business. Having recently completed BACK TO THE RAVE (a modern vampire story that made its debut on the Internet in anticipation of a DTV release), the company has three other titles [...]