3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get Your Overdose of Hammer Films with this Terrific Set!, April 25 2004
I just got this set and it's great. The video transfers are all vivid and beautiful, the colors pop, especially those all important blood reds. The mono soundtracks are surprisingly robust and clear. If you love Hammmer Films like I do then this set will probably make you drool.
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957): Terence Fisher is a master director and this, the first of Hammer's reinvention of classic gothic horror, proves why. Story, performances and, oh, those colors are stunning.
Horror of Dracula (1958): Perhaps Hammer's finest hour, this is the best Dracula film ever. Great cast, direction, photography, costumes, etc. And the music by Hammer veteran James Bernard is terrific--it really gets your blood pumping. Oh, and Lee and Cushing truly strike sparks.
The Mummy (1959): The third in Hammer's fantastic Lee/Cushing Gothic re-imaginings. Chris Lee is the best mummy. Like his interpretation of Dracula, Lee is dynamic and forceful--and he does this with absolutely no dialogue!
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968): The third in the Lee Dracula cycle. This one's exciting and fast-moving with some interesting visuals--the use of color filters on Dracula, Dracula's suspenseful removal of a stake from his chest, and some wonderfully eerie rooftop sets make this a winner.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969): The fifth in the Cushing Frankenstein cycle and my personal favorite. The doctor is truly a complex character in this one. At turns, charming, cunning, witty, brilliant and evil. Cushing is amazing in the role and proves why he was such a great actor. Exciting and absorbing from start to finish.
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970): This DVD presents for the first time the full 95 minute cut in America. All previous releases were 91 minutes. This version is rated R and has bits of nudity and bloody violence reinstated. Chris Lee is as commanding as ever as Dracula but, to be truthful, he's not in this very much--in fact, it's really more of an extended cameo. Still, the film has much to recommend it. The cast is one of the best in the entire Hammer catalogue, especially Geoffrey Keen as the hypocritical Hargood and Ralph Bates as the sinister Courtley and, in a small role, Russell Hunter as a flamboyant Bordello owner. The production is quite beautiful and it's the first and only Hammer Dracula that's set in Victorian London. And the story is actually clever and interesting. The time just flies by.
Extras are slim, just some cool trailers, but the movies are the thing and they're great.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three of the Best, Jan 14 2003
This review is from: Hammer Horror Collection (Curse of Frankenstein / Horror of Dracula / The Mummy [1959]) (DVD)
These are the films that took the three classic movie monsters brought them into the world of color. They each spawned several sequels of various quality ( the Hammer Mummy films coming off worst)but they all changed the way that we view horror today. Made on the high end of a low budget the films look great.The acting is wonderful, Cushing's Frankenstien is masterful portrait of evil and Christopher Lee's Dracula rightly made him famous the world over. It should also be remembered that as tame as they seem by todays standards there was a great out cries about the horror and shock content of the films upon their first release. The films while not nearly as terrifying as they once were are still really good thrillers. The discs themselves are quite good, although sorely lacking in extra material. Why no effort was made to put something together by Warner is beyond me, especially since Christopher Lee has been doing commentaries for the other Dracula films over at Anchor Bay.But that's a minor sticking point since the films themselves are what matter and in this case the transfers are wonderful.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Three movies that are so incredibly bad., Dec 24 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Hammer Horror Collection (Curse of Frankenstein / Horror of Dracula / The Mummy [1959]) (DVD)
The one thing that all three of these movies have in commen is that they were the first of what seemed like endless sequals where the same story was recycled over and over again. Hammer made their movies quickly and cheaply, thus they use the same sets over and over again. There were never more then 10 to 20 people making the movie from behind the camera, the creature make-up always looked fake, and the production values were not much better then what Roger Corman or Irwin Allen did in their movies, or what Kevin Smith uses now in his movies. End result, Low Budget Movies will always be very bad film making.
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