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Well-liked Producer of 1950’s-`80’s Science Fiction and Horror films passes away.

Issac Asimov’s future Earth murder mystery to be adapted.

Jimmy Sangster, one of the major creative shapers of Hammer Studios’ horror output and the 1950’s-60’s British horror boom, passed away August 19th.

Master of Menace Vincent Price as the abominable villain in DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN.
To celebrate the lasting legacy of  Vincent Price in his centennial year, here is a collection of  fond memories and  a few letters  from a selection of his many friends and co-workers.

CHRISTOPHER LEE

L to R: Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Peter [...]

Ultra-Lounge Podcast, that is. Join Cinefantastique correspondents Dan Persons, Lawrence French and Steve Biodrowski as they embark on the debut episode of this new podcast, spun off from the Cinefantastique Round Table Podcast. This week’s prime topic is the Most Epic Failures in the History of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction Films. We’re not talking about box office failure; we mean the best laid plans of mice and men that go horribly awry on screen. Was stopping the train really such a good idea in TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (ask the passengers – if you can find any alive!)? Was opening the Ark of the Covenant really such a good idea in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (ask the Nazis!)? And was creating an artificial being really such a good idea in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and its sequels (ask the Baron!).

UK film director best known to genre fans for his Horror and Science Fiction films for Hammer Studios passes.

Cinefantastique celebrates the horror stars’ birthdays with retrospective interviews regarding their work together on HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS, THE OBLONG BOX, and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN.

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 [...]

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 [...]

This is Hammer Films’ first sequel to their 1958 classic, HORROR OF DRACULA. Made at the height of the studio’s success, THE 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 [...]

This is the last Hammer horror film to feature the studio’s essential triumvirate of director Terence Fisher and stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Made when the studio was looking for new ideas, but before it had begun its later decline, THE GORGON is an interesting addition to the company’s pantheon of classic monster movies [...]

This is the mad scientist’s experiment that resurrected the Gothic tradition in cinema and created the second great wave of monsters movies. (In the 1930s and ’40s, Universal had given us black-and-white horrors like DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN.) The first of many reinventions of classic movie monsters by Britain`s Hammer Films, CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN established new [...]

This 1974 effort is Vincent Price’s last starring role in a horror film and the last film he made for American International Pictures, the company responsible for the vast majority of his later big screen appearances. Appropriately enough, it feels a bit like a requiem, with Price playing an aging horror star, Paul Toombs, who attempts [...]