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What's your T0P 5 favorite Hammer horrors? This can include the Quartermass series too!

Mine-?
1. The VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970) The more I watch this, the more I think it's the signature Hammer film of they're later period. The photography, the surreal, slow motion feel to it, and, of course, Ingrid Pitt.
I love it.
2.  TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1969)
3. TWINS OF EVIL (1971) I'm on the early 70's Hammer kick lately....
4. VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)
5. The EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964)- I dunno why, becuase many of the Hammer FRANKENSTEIN movies are so much better made and thought out- but I like this one the best.

So what are your favorites? And why?

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In no particular order:

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT(aka Five Million Years To Earth)(1967)..one of the best UK sci-fi films ever.
EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN(1964)..the oddball in the Frankenstein series, yet, still the most fun with the hypnosis angle.
DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS(1966)..Barbara Shelley makes for a sexy vampiress and Christopher Lee is demonic here.
THE GORGON(1964)..Lee does a rare heroic turn here with Peter Cushing as the villain hiding the secret of Barbara Shelley.
BRIDES OF DRACULA(1960)..great follow up to Horror Of Dracula..Cushing was the best Van Helsing.
TWO FACES OF DR.JEKYLL(1960)..unusual turn on the Jekyll/Hyde tale with Paul Massie becoming handsome as Hyde.
THE MUMMY'S SHROUD(1967)..death curse follows the violators of an ancient tomb with a rather lively mummy.
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS(1970) Ingrid Pitt and Madeline Smith never looked better!
PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES(1966)..Hammer's only take on the zombie legend yet with some great eerie moments.
CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF(1961)..Roy Ashton's werewolf makeup on Oliver Reed is truly iconic with a great supporting cast.

Quatermass and the Pit - Got to be on any list of the best for me.
The Quiet Ones - A newer Hammer film but one I still enjoyed. Certainly found it better than Wake Wood.
Dracula - Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Need I say more?
Woman In Black - Another newer title that proves Hammer still have it.
The Gorgon - You could put pretty much any Hammer movie with bodices in here. They had a big effect on me as a boy, but I'll go with this one.

I seen one of the new Hammer films. It was called the RESIDENT. It even had Christopher Lee!
But It didn't feel like a Hammer film.
 Something is missing. Bray Studios? The old Gothic atmosphere?  Buxom vampires, maybe?
It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's going on a Top 10  list anytime soon.

Since not many of the original people involved are still around it is never quite going to feel the same. The gothic atmosphere most certainly isn't there, but would it still feel the same in a modern movie? They do need more buxom vampires and everyone having a cut glass english accent in the middle of Transylvania.

If I had to pick the next 5-

6.SCARS OF DRACULA (1970) Lee has more screen time and dialouge than all the previous Hammer sequels combined!
7. the QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1956)
8. FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1973) Again- I don't know why.
9. the MUMMY (1959) This movie is better than the Karloff version and all the Chaney Jr. Mummy's.
10. ONE MILLION YEARS BC (1966) Raquel Welch? Ray Harryhausen? Dinosaurs? Martine Bestwick?  Yes, Ma'am-eggs and spam!

I dunno. I think a Gothic horror film could be made today. Why not? I saw WINCHESTER the other day- that had a gothic flaver to it- and it was set in California in 1906!

I always wondered why this was Hammer's only Werewolf movie. I always felt let down by this one. Not enough werewolf.

Little known factoid: Bela Lugosi was  in Hammer's very first film- the PHANTOM SHIP (1939) aka the MYSTERY OF THE MARIE CELESTE.

Oh, they have done gothic horror. Watch The Woman In Black (it is a pretty good film I think). It just doesn't have the same atmosphere as the old classics though. Its just not quite the same one as before. Times change alas.

I'll have to check it out. It sounds interesting.
Of course it's not gonna feel like the old Hammer. Just like you can't go home again with the Universal monsters from the 1930's. Even Universal couldn't do it! Though SON OF DRACULA (1942) tried- But without Whale or Tod Browning....the Universal 1940's horror films were the equivelant of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 was to Tobe Hoopers 1974 film.
I reckon you can't go home again.  :bluesad:

Sad but true my friend.

Originally, it wasnt even slated to be a werewolf film; it was going to be a pseudo-historical film(like the later RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK) based on the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. The sets were built and it was a go until Hammer execs become worried that it would offend the Catholic church and chickened out. It became a werewolf film then and that's why it was set in Spain due to the Spanish village sets made for the aborted film.

But why no more werewolf movies?
Amicus made the BEAST MUST DIE in 1974, and Tyburn made LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF in 1975)- both with Peter Cushing!
LEGEND was even written by the the writer for CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF- Anthony Hinds!

hhmm..i'm gonna need to think on this to pick my top five....and i obviously need to look  up the new hammer stuff, since i didn't know it existed! i  am woefully ignorant of the movie news the last few years, life gets in the way.

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that Werewolf's simply aren't as sexy as Vampires and Hammer figured out early that sex sells.

Quatermass and the pit.
The quatermass experiment.
Island terror.
Burning island of the damned.
One of their mummy movies with Lee and cushng.

That would be the MUMMY (1959) .

You mean ISLAND OF TERROR (1966) with Peter Cushing? That wasn't a Hammer film. It was made by Island Films.


If your talking about ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED (1971)- also not a Hammer film. By Planet Film Productions.

What's the opinion on Countess Dracula? I've only seen parts of it in a fan made music video for Ghost.

My opinion? I've seen it. I liked it. Probably the most distinctive thing about it, is how distinctively Hammer it is; for, as soon as you start to watch it, you know you are watching a Hammer horror.
Based loosely, very loosely, on the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory de Esced, whose life, if not her death (after being found guilty of numerous crimes, she was apparently walled up in one suite of rooms in her castle, till the day she died) still generates controversy, as to what she may or may not have done, 400 years later. Her accomplices in all she did or did not do, not being so lucky, as not being of the nobility, as she was, but simple commoners were executed.

Mummies and Dr.Frankenstein aren't exactly pretty, but lotsa those films came out. Even a zombie, a reptile woman, 3 dinosaur movies, and some psycho thrillers- but one werewolf. It always seemed strange to me. Never figured it out.

Sorry but due to a lifetime of conditioning starting in early childhood I can only see any horror movie with cushing and\or Lee in it as a Hammer movie...  :wink:

You must excuse me for filling in the blanks. I know a lot about old horror movies. 

"It's my job, it's what I do."  :smile:

If I had to pick 5 more- (and I have to because I just typed I was going to  :buggedout:)

11. VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972) It's got vampires, it's got a circus, it's got a naked vampire tiger girl.
12. FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969) The most realistic of the Dr. Frankenstein series. The monster was so pathetic-I don't mean like Robot Monster, I mean pathetic like a dog with the mange. You fell sorry for him.
13. the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
14. HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) My second favorite Dracula after Lugosi is Christopher Lee. He made the role his own. And with the Bela Lugosi Dracula already an icon when he made this-that's a tough act to follow.
15. COUNTESS DRACULA (1971) 2 words- Ingrid Pitt.

I made this gif of the Tiger Girl from VAMPIRE CIRCUS-

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The Devil Rides Out
Plague of The Zombies
Quatermass and The Pit
Demons of the Mind
Dracula (1958)

Also the Hammer House of Horror TV series which introduced me to Hammer in the first place  :smile:

So no love for "the devil's bride"? Or was that not a hammer flick either?

I believe that was the other title for The Devil Rides Out.

I like that one. Yes- that one's a Hammer. A very good film!

The only way I could do this, was to come up with 5 vampire films and 5 non-vampire films. And then I had 2 films to the last list to get lists I could live with. So here goes . . .

Vampire
1. Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter.
It was suppose to be a series of films with Kronos hunting down various type of vampires, but it ne'er got pass the 1st one.
2. Countess Dracula
3. Horror of Dracula
The 1st in a string of vampire films starring Dracula. And, actually, one of the best (IMHO) depictions of Dracula among films.
4. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Here comes Chinese Vampire. Hopping down the Vampire Trail. Hippity Hoppity. See him on his way. One of the few films to feature the Chinese Hopping Vampire. My one disappointment is that Chris Lee is not in it.
5. Vampire Circus
One of the most underrated films, vampire or not, from Hammer. It certainly was underrated, when it was 1st released to theaters.

non-Vampire
1. The Abominable Snowman
Not only the only Abominable Snowman made by Hammer, but one of the best (IMHO) of that type by anybody to date. Though, I keep hearing the rumor that Hollywood wants to do another Abominable Snowman.
2. The Curse of the Werewolf
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Probably the 2nd best (IMHO) film version of the story. Only behind Basil's and Bruce's version.
4. The Gorgon
And for once Chris gets to play the hero.
5. The Plague of the Zombies
The only zombie film made by Hammer at that date and a good companion piece to our next film.
5.  The Reptile
The film that inspired much of Ken Russell's Lair of the White Worm.
5. She
Years later, I am still impressed by how impressed I was by it, when I saw it on TV. Oddly, the only actor that left me unimpressed was Chris Lee, who I forgot was in the film, till I saw it again later.

Though, as good or as not as any of these films were and the other Hammer Horrors, too. None did the business at the box office that On the Buses did. The film version of the '60's TV series. I have yet to see the film, but I certainly enjoyed the TV series.

It had james "the man with no xxxxing neck!" Grey in it.

I've saw loads of Hammer movies when I was in my early teens but I can't remember many of them specifically.

my favourite is DRACULA AD1972 - probably for all the wrong reasons!

don't mind TWINS OF EVIL either...

but I'd take Amicus over Hammer any day tbh.

I've seen a lot of Hammer stuff myself, but I'd have a hard time telling you which of the various movies was which sometimes. 

The style and actors they use do tend to blend together on ocassion and the titles don't always help. 

see, my fellow zombie, that's a big part of my problem too, is my love for amicus films.. i don't always identify them correctly as to which is which.

heh...well I love the portmanteau horror stuff most of all, which tended to mainly be Amicus.

 Amicus films tended to be set in 'present day' too (not so present any more), compared with Hammer's mainly olden days ones

portmanteau..that's synonymous for anthologies, yes? with a wrap around story? also my personal faves, i have a ton of them.  :cheers:

I can't help but echo many here when I say:

The Vampire Lovers (the freaking BEST female vampire movie ever with the insanely beautiful Madeline Smith)
Quatermass and the Pit (I saw the colour version called Five Million Years To Earth on tv in Australia as a kid, it stayed with me ever since)
Twins of Evil (close second to The Vampire Lovers)
Lust For A Vampire (where did Hammer get these gorgeous European actresses??)

Something nice about these movies was that there was a fair bit of actor crossover between film and TV, so actors and actresses in Hammer movies of the 60's and 70's were often seen in great tv shows like The Saint, The Persuaders, and Hammer House of Horror.  Not to mention grandtastic actors like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee being in such wonders as Star Wars et al.

yep, anthology ones (sounds less pretentious than 'portmanteau', lol). there's quite a few out there from the late 60s/early 70s. TALES FROM THE CRYPT, TORTURE GARDEN, VAULT OF HORROR and ASYLUM are some of my faves. I don't think Hammer did any but I may be wrong...

The greatest hammer film ever is The Toolbox Murders  :wink:

Groan.

 a few of my other faves are the house that dripped blood, tales that witness madness, monster club and tales from beyond. i should make a list of all of them somewhere, lol!

I always liked BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1971)
It's weird and sexy at the same time.

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I saw a post on a group I am a member of where they were commenting the Caroline Munro saying that she was a lovely person but couldn't act for toffee. Thought this was unfair as I remember when I was a kid practically being hypnotised by her talents when they were on screen.

Even if Caroline Munro couldn't act- it didn't matter. She has so much charisma. I watched all of STARCRASH- which is a horrible movie-but I watched it all because Caroline Munro is the star.
Anything she is in makes it worth watching.

I can confirm, that having met her in person a few years ago, Caroline Munro, is indeed a very lovely person. As for her acting, she has done a more than adequate job in most of her film appearances..the majority of Hammer girls were hired for their physical attributes, not their thespian skills in the first place.

I had no idea she was a thespain. Still I don't judge people based on their sexual orientation.

Personal favourites...

Quatermass and the Pit
The Mummy (1959)
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb
The Revenge of Frankenstein
The Reptile

Honorable Mentions:

The Brides of Dracula
The Vampire Lovers
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell
Frankenstein Created Woman
The Abominable Snowman

She did Hammer films, Sinbad, MANIAC with Joe Spinell (who was with her in STARCRASH), DRACULA AD 1972 with Chris Lee...!
She's an icon.

my favourite Caroline Munroe film is easily THE LAST HORROR FILM. Joe Spinell was in that too.

not seen that one yet. I even bought it for my brother for xmas last year, but didn't get a chance to watch it myself first... will have to borrow it off him  :smile:

I like this one a lot too. And I agree about Lee not being in it. But by this time he was tired of playing a vampire. He did it on screen more than any other actor.
. HORROR OF DRACULA (1958)
. UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE (1959)
. DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966)
. DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968)
. the MAGIC CHRISTIAN (1969)
.COUNT DRACULA (1970) for Jess Franco.
.TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970)
. SCARS OF DRACULA (1970)
. DRACULA AD 1972 (1972)
.The SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1973)
. DRACULA, FATHER AND SON (1976)

 :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle:

1 - "Quatermass And The Pit"
2 - "The Devil Rides Out"
3 - "Dracula Prince Of Darkness"
4 - "X The Unknown"
5 - "The Lost Continent"