"Hammer Horror" Film Productions were the best! We longer have cheap B movies like this anymore and it is sad.

It also kept a great repertoire of classically trained British actors and actresses- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Basil Rathbone, Ingrid Pitt, Michael Gough, John Pertwee, Denholm Elliott, Andre Morell, and, of course Vincent Price.

What is your favorite Hammer Film Productions movie? Who is your favorite Hammer Horror actor/actress?

by Anonymous

reply 38

March 31, 2021 2:10 PM

Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. When I was a kid we had Friday Night Fright every Friday, of course. I lived for those movies. There would be an episode of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Alfred Hitchcock as well. The Witches with Joan Fontaine was one of my favorites.

by Anonymous

reply 1

March 29, 2021 6:54 PM

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter - a craptastic masterpiece!

by Anonymous

reply 2

March 29, 2021 6:57 PM

Horror of Dracula! Also, Horror of Frankenstein, with Christopher Lee as a truly hideous monster and Peter Cushing playing brilliantly against type as an absolutely asshole Dr. Frankenstein.

by Anonymous

reply 4

March 29, 2021 7:05 PM

The pedo horror flick NEVER TAKE CANDY/(SWEETS) FROM A STRANGER (60).

Felix Aylmer is the monster.

by Anonymous

reply 5

March 29, 2021 7:06 PM

The Nanny with Bette Davis. Rasputin the Mad Monk

by Anonymous

reply 6

March 29, 2021 7:07 PM

Sorry , Rasputin with Christopher Lee

by Anonymous

reply 7

March 29, 2021 7:08 PM

Christopher Lee was sexy. I always had a crush on him.

by Anonymous

reply 8

March 29, 2021 7:11 PM

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (61), with Oliver Reed (aged 23) perfect in the title role. One of the delights of this one is how laughably inauthentically "Spanish" the whole cast is. Hammer made use of a bunch of Spanish village sets that were vacant . . .

by Anonymous

reply 9

March 29, 2021 7:11 PM

Yes, THE NANNY was one of the very best movies Davis ever made. Seth Holt was a genius.

by Anonymous

reply 10

March 29, 2021 7:12 PM

Of course, you caawn't forget DIE! DIE! MY DARLING!, daahlings.

by Anonymous

reply 11

March 29, 2021 7:16 PM

"Vampire Circus" was a Hammer Classic

by Anonymous

reply 12

March 29, 2021 7:19 PM

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde!!!! Camp classic

by Anonymous

reply 13

March 29, 2021 7:24 PM

I just watched Plague of the Zombies

by Anonymous

reply 14

March 29, 2021 7:25 PM

I thought you meant Armie’s. Aren’t all of them horror?

by Anonymous

reply 15

March 29, 2021 7:27 PM

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (59). Intriguing gay German actor Anton Diffring subbed for Cushing. Christopher Lee and Hammer diva Hazel Court support. The British Board of Film Censors awarded it the tantalizing "X" Certificate!

by Anonymous

reply 16

March 29, 2021 7:33 PM

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were always worth watching and Hammer had so many great character actors supporting. The films ranged from great to crappy but were perfect for Saturday nights when I was in my early teens. When I had just moved to London a few years later I was walking along the Kings Road and noticed Christopher Lee ahead. It just confirmed I’d made the right choice.

However it was Quatermass and the Pit, seen at an American airbase near my home town, that had a profound effect. Yes, the bit where the blokes face is all peeled away was grim but it was Quatermass, or rather Andrew Kier, bearded, craggy, professorial made me realise I wasn’t like other boys. Probably because, on the big screen, I couldn’t not notice how he ‘dressed’ in his tweed trousers. Saw it a few months ago out of curiousity and, yes, it wasn’t my imagination. Set me up for older bears later in life. I’m thankful for it.

by Anonymous

reply 17

March 29, 2021 7:34 PM

A double feature of Vampire Circus and Countess Dracula when I was 9 scarred me for life. I had to have the hallway light on all the time during the night. One summer I even draped a hot blanket around my neck so my sister (who was obviously a vampire) couldnt bite me.

I rewatched the movies many years later. They are so hokey.

by Anonymous

reply 18

March 29, 2021 7:40 PM

I liked the Hammer version of The Phantom of the Opera

by Anonymous

reply 19

March 29, 2021 7:41 PM

The Brides of Dracula was my favorite. Incidentally, the lead actor, David Peel, who played the vampire, was openly gay. The inimitable Peter Cushing played Van Helsing.

Shortly after viewing this movie, (I was very young) a bat got in my bedroom, and I yelled bloody murder until my father came in. He thought I was over-reacting to the movie, because the bat had removed itself shortly before Dad arrived, Later that night it got into dad's room, so I was vindicated.

by Anonymous

reply 20

March 29, 2021 7:51 PM

No love for Amicus Productions, maker of such films as 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭 (1972) and 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐞! (1974)?

Or British Lion Film Corporation, which made 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐧 (1973)?

Or Tigon British Film Productions, which made 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐫 (1968), aka 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭?

(Check out 'Herne the Hunter' in the trailer - the guy wearing nothing but a leather apron and antlers!)

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 21

March 30, 2021 10:19 AM

Wow. Lot's of good replies. I always enjoyed Michael Gough. From Dracula to Berserk to every Tim Burton movie, he was always a great supporting character. Basil Rathbone I think just needed the money. lol

Famed Shakespearean actor Michael Hordern was in a few as well. There was one were he was a priest that I remember, very chilling. I want to say it was "Demons of the Mind' or maybe "Devils" with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. Hordern was great in it. Such an underrated actor. His Lear is up there with Scofield and Finney.

by Anonymous

reply 22

March 30, 2021 2:12 PM

I want to add that Christopher Lee's autobiography, Lord of Misrule, is a wonderful read, witty and informative.

by Anonymous

reply 23

March 30, 2021 2:21 PM

Found this documentary narrated by Charles Gray, another Hammer Horror actor.

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 24

March 30, 2021 3:36 PM

R21, I love Amicus films, too

by Anonymous

reply 25

March 30, 2021 4:58 PM

I’m pretty sure Vincent Price never worked in a Hammer Films production. He did work with Christopher Lee in The Oblong Box (AIP) and Scream And Scream Again (AIP / Amicus) but neither are Hammer Films.

by Anonymous

reply 26

March 30, 2021 5:49 PM

I adore Christopher Lee. He seems like a great guy. Both he and Cushing.

There was an interview with both of them in youtube regarding their time at Hammer films and it was so entertaining. I could listen to both of them talk for hours.

Apparently, they became close friends after working together on the film's and remained close until Cushing died.

by Anonymous

reply 27

March 30, 2021 6:45 PM

When I was a kid in the 70s these movies had such allure because they had blood and nudity. I revisited many of them maybe 10 years ago on dvd and found a lot of them to be pretty slow-moving and talky. I always loved the sets though.

by Anonymous

reply 28

March 30, 2021 6:53 PM

Many of the films directed by Terence Fisher are worth checking out.

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 29

March 30, 2021 7:03 PM

The very weirdest Hammer Film of them all: Joseph Losey's THE DAMNED (61). Oliver Reed as a violent Teddy Boy; Viveca Lindfors chewing the plaster sculpture as an "artist"; radioactive smarmy little Harrys and Hermiones in a bunker.

by Anonymous

reply 30

March 30, 2021 7:16 PM

Did anyone else have Denis Gifford's "History of Horror Movies" as a kid? It's what really got me hooked on all of these, the pictures were fantastic. It came out in '72.

by Anonymous

reply 31

March 30, 2021 7:44 PM

[quote]Seth Holt was a genius.

In addition to THE NANNY, another great Seth Holt Hammer film is SCREAM OF FEAR (aka TASTE OF FEAR), starring Susan Strasberg and Christopher Lee.

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 32

March 30, 2021 8:42 PM

Grandma took us to see Taste the Blood of Dracula when it came out. Trog was also on the bill. Loved it! We took the Cicero Avenue trolleybus to the Portage Park Theater. The driver must have been behind schedule as that was the fastest ride ever on a bus. A memorable night!

by Anonymous

reply 33

March 30, 2021 9:23 PM

[quote] Did anyone else have Denis Gifford's "History of Horror Movies" as a kid? It's what really got me hooked on all of these, the pictures were fantastic.

Yes! I had it.

by Anonymous

reply 34

March 30, 2021 9:26 PM

A shout out to Hammer’s American cousin American International Pictures and its Edgar Allen Poe films, especially Mask of the Red Death and my favorite, Tomb of Ligeia! “Man need not kneel before the angels, nor lie in death forever, save for the weakness of his feeble will.”

by Anonymous

reply 35

March 30, 2021 10:24 PM

When my brother and I were kids, WPIX in New York would play Hammer films as part of their Friday night Chiller series. They'd show many different horror films and Godzilla movies, but my brother and I particularly loved the Hammer films. We loved Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Curse of the Werewolf, the many vampire movies, etc. I still like watching them, but they do seem very dated and slow to a modern eye.

by Anonymous

reply 36

March 31, 2021 12:12 AM

And don’t be quick to write Hammer Films off as memories of yesterday. The financially successful films “The Quiet Ones” and “The Woman in Black” and the critically acclaimed “Let Me In”, amongst several others, have all been released within the last 10 years.

Don’t bury it yet. It’s alive!

by Anonymous

reply 37

March 31, 2021 8:40 AM

R37 But when you think of Hammer Horror, you think of 1960's low budget horror starring a cast of great British character actors that will entertain you for two hours.

by Anonymous

reply 38

March 31, 2021 2:10 PM