Hammer Horror Series (Brides of Dracula / Curse of the Werewolf / Phantom of the Opera (1962) / Paranoiac / Kiss of the Vampire / Nightmare / Night Creatures / Evil of Frankenstein)

As far as b-grade horror films go, these are excellent films, as one might expect from the famous Hammer studios. Several of the films have a young, gorgeous Oliver Reed, as well as Peter Cushing and the improbably beautiful Yvonne Romain.

I'll explain the films in brief: Brides of Dracula is the usual Hammer material the passes on cable, viz. a young lady is the target of a follower of Dracula and Peter Cushing comes to the rescue.

Curse of the Werewolf I found to be a surprisingly original film. Oliver Reed is the werewolf, but you only see him about thirty minutes into the film. We start with the story of his conception instead, a sort of history of cruelty to culminates in werewolf's violence.

Paranoiac and Nightmare are psychological thrillers that are very engrossing, much superior to modern horror. However, don't expect much intellectual content, despite the intelligent scripts.

Night Creatures is about soldiers seeking a notorious pirate. There are some interesting characters in this film that make it interesting.

The other two are fairly self-explanatory. In short, the films in this set are much better than average b-grade horror films, intelligently written and directed in an inobtrusive style, and very well-acted by Cushing, Reed, et al.; but these are, of course, not cinematic masterpieces.

As for the DVDs themselves, there are no special features, just the lovely box they come in. I found the picture and sound to be excellent. However, I have found the DVDs in this set to sometimes skip and freeze on my overly-sensitive DVD player.

For Your Information - Universal has done a terrible disservice by presenting these classic horror films on double sided DVDs. These discs are pretty much guaranteed to skip, freeze and just not play on any player. You may find some movies play better then others but be warned, if you watch these films more then once they are more likely to became more damaged with every viewing. The person who invented double sided discs should be hung in a public square full of people who have been ripped off by this obvious bad idea.

If you don't believe me just take a look at some of the reviews on [...]. I've yet to meet anyone who has this set and all the films play perfectly.

Universal you should be ashamed. Double sided DVDs is just a plain bad idea.

You must own this one. it is a collection of classics. Not a single bad movie in this one. They may not scare you, but these are so slick and classy that they make this collection a bargain. Nice story lines and well-acted. Hammer films at theio best.

To be watch on a cold autumn night.....