The History Of Hammer Horror , Sky Arts

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Knockers everywhere although the first half is a bit technical

I used to love Friday night double horror bill on BBC 2

[Alan Lung]

Knockers everywhere although the first half is a bit technical

I used to love Friday night double horror bill on BBC 2

I remember The House That Dripped Blood. Scary as fùck. Starred a very young Nicky Wire.

[The Lone Gunman]

I remember The House That Dripped Blood.

An Amicus movie, not a Hammer film.

[Enoch Mort]

Knockers everywhere although the first half is a bit technical

I used to love Friday night double horror bill on BBC 2

I was watching a 1970s edition of Call My Bluff on BBC4 last week and one of the guests was Madeleine Smith. It brought back very vivid memories of her and Ingrid Pitt

[MacAdder]

I was watching a 1970s edition of Call My Bluff on BBC4 last week and one of the guests was Madeleine Smith. It brought back very vivid memories of her and Ingrid Pitt

Ingrid Pitt now you're talking.
The earlier films with Peter Cushing and often Christopher Lee as Dracula were frightening.
I remember they got a bit silly then, perhaps it was because I was getting older?
Was it Dracula AD 1972? More like a comedy.

[BLUETIT]

Wasn’t Hammer, but Fenella Fielding, in Carry on Screaming, WHAT a pair

[The Lone Gunman]

Ingrid Pitt now you're talking.

It's interesting that Ingrid Pitt is often viewed as one of the ultimate Hammer Horror scream queens when in fact she only appeared in two Hammer films - the Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula. She was also in the Amicus movie The House That Dripped Blood and had a small role in British Lion's classic the Wicker Man, but in reality her horror career was pretty brief.

[Enoch Mort]

Ingrid Pitt now you're talking.
The earlier films with Peter Cushing and often Christopher Lee as Dracula were frightening.
I remember they got a bit silly then, perhaps it was because I was getting older?
Was it Dracula AD 1972? More like a comedy.

Now you’ve stirred more memories. A US west coast band called Stoneground made an appearance in the film Dracula AD 1972 who I saw at Cardiff Uinversity in the Students Union in Dumfries Place. They were a good turn.

[JumpersforGoalposts]

Ingrid Pitt now you're talking.
The earlier films with Peter Cushing and often Christopher Lee as Dracula were frightening.
I remember they got a bit silly then, perhaps it was because I was getting older?
Was it Dracula AD 1972? More like a comedy.

I watched Dracula AD1972 (again) recently having thought I'd picked up a bargain at CEx. It is very silly and the soundtrack absolutely laughably inappropriate for a horror film.

[The Lone Gunman]

I watched Dracula AD1972 (again) recently having thought I'd picked up a bargain at CEx. It is very silly and the soundtrack absolutely laughably inappropriate for a horror film.

Kinda good fun, though. Ridiculously silly, but reasonably entertaining. I picked up a mint condition BluRay copy in a local charity shop for 50p earlier this year. I've got loads of Hammer films and have watched most of those I haven't got, but I'd never seen this nonsense before.

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Caroline Munro - well worth 50p in my opinion.

[The Lone Gunman]

On the subject of Hammer films, is anyone else a fan of their Sixties psychological thrillers? I only discovered these a few years ago thanks to one of my favourite BluRay labels Indicator and there are some surprisingly good movies among them. Examples: Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960, brilliant film for its time), the Full Treatment (1960), Taste of Fear (1961), Paranoiac (1963, a young Oliver Reed at his manic best), Maniac (1963), Nightmare (1964) and Fanatic (1965, featuring a very young Donald Sutherland).

[Dorcus]

On the subject of Hammer films, is anyone else a fan of their Sixties psychological thrillers? I only discovered these a few years ago thanks to one of my favourite BluRay labels Indicator and there are some surprisingly good movies among them. Examples: Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960, brilliant film for its time), the Full Treatment (1960), Taste of Fear (1961), Paranoiac (1963, a young Oliver Reed at his manic best), Maniac (1963), Nightmare (1964) and Fanatic (1965, featuring a very young Donald Sutherland).

I haven't come across those. Thanks for that, I'll give them a try. I love psychological thrillers. I'm straying off Hammer Horror here but for me one of the very best psychological thrillers was "The Innocents" from Henry James's "Turn of the Screw". Wonderfully scary and gothic. I'm still not sure if the governess was just going mad or whether she was confronted with pure evil.

[Dorcus]

Wasn’t Hammer, but Fenella Fielding, in Carry on Screaming, WHAT a pair

Hazel Court similarly was always busting out of her corsets. Ingrid Pitt was my favourite.

[The Lone Gunman]

I haven't come across those. Thanks for that, I'll give them a try. I love psychological thrillers. I'm straying off Hammer Horror here but for me one of the very best psychological thrillers was "The Innocents" from Henry James's "Turn of the Screw". Wonderfully scary and gothic. I'm still not sure if the governess was just going mad or whether she was confronted with pure evil.

The Innocents is a marvellous film. Speaking of which, I recently watched a truly bizarre 1971 prequel to the Innocents called the Nightcomers. It was directed by Michael Winner and stars Marlon Brando, Stephanie Beacham and Thora Hird. Far from a great film, very odd indeed. Brando's attempt at an Irish accent if laughable, but I only paid £4 for the BluRay and Stephanie Beacham parades around naked in it, so it had its plus points.

The Hammer films are a mixed bag but all sorts of interesting people turn up in them either at the beginning or the end of their careers and they're generally good fun. Never Take Sweets From A Stranger is a bit different in that deals with subject matter that was very rarely touched upon when it was filmed. I thought it was excellent considering it was shot in 1959.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Ingrid Pitt was stunning , amazing in Where Eagles Dare

Those early seventies horror films were great

Count Yorga was brilliant too

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Ingrid Pitt now you're talking.
The earlier films with Peter Cushing and often Christopher Lee as Dracula were frightening.
I remember they got a bit silly then, perhaps it was because I was getting older?
Was it Dracula AD 1972? More like a comedy.

Is that the one that starts with old drac on a spike from a horse carriage ?

[JumpersforGoalposts]

Is that the one that starts with old drac on a spike from a horse carriage ?

Yes.

[JumpersforGoalposts]

Kinda good fun, though. Ridiculously silly, but reasonably entertaining. I picked up a mint condition BluRay copy in a local charity shop for 50p earlier this year. I've got loads of Hammer films and have watched most of those I haven't got, but I'd never seen this nonsense before.

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Caroline Munro - well worth 50p in my opinion.

I agree although the soundtrack had stopped being amusing about half way through and was just plain irritating well before the end!

[Dorcus]

The Innocents is a marvellous film. Speaking of which, I recently watched a truly bizarre 1971 prequel to the Innocents called the Nightcomers. It was directed by Michael Winner and stars Marlon Brando, Stephanie Beacham and Thora Hird. Far from a great film, very odd indeed. Brando's attempt at an Irish accent if laughable, but I only paid £4 for the BluRay and Stephanie Beacham parades around naked in it, so it had its plus points.

The Hammer films are a mixed bag but all sorts of interesting people turn up in them either at the beginning or the end of their careers and they're generally good fun. Never Take Sweets From A Stranger is a bit different in that deals with subject matter that was very rarely touched upon when it was filmed. I thought it was excellent considering it was shot in 1959.

Another old cracker in my opinion was "The Haunting", early 60s. No need for any gory violence in these type of films to give you the shivers.

[Cyclops]

I saw Freddie Jones once at Southsea on a bench by the Square Tower near the Hot Walls.
Always wished I'd complimented him on that scene when after his work on the monster, he deftly sliced the top off two boiled eggs

[bobh]

Another old cracker in my opinion was "The Haunting", early 60s. No need for any gory violence in these type of films to give you the shivers.

NOW you're talking!!
Really scary, much better than the colour remake, despite Cath Z-J

[jeepster]

NOW you're talking!!
Really scary, much better than the colour remake, despite Cath Z-J

Yes played on your own fears

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Yes.

I thought that was quite gory for it's time

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The Legend Of Hell House

Amicus production again I think

Very Creepy

Dr Terrors House of Horrors

Theatre Of Blood

That was creepy too

[JumpersforGoalposts]

For those (like me) who missed this it is getting another airing on Sky arts tonight (Sunday) at 10:30.