Phantom Of The Opera (1962)

It seems we always get a Phantom movie every 20 years, which is good news for me.

I think Hammer Studios did a fine job with this movie, most of the people who know of Hammer horror films think of this as a lesser film but it's quite good. The story starts off very well with lots of suspense as a new opera is making it's debut and subsequently being sabotaged, where we meet our main characters Harry and Christine as they try to piece together the mysterious disruptions at the opera. The Phantom is made into a more sympathetic character who was once a professor who sold his entire life's work to a real swine of a man named Ambrose D'Arcy, and I actually quite like the fact that the reasons as to why The Phantom attacks this man is kept a mystery till near the end. Herbert Lom makes for a great Phantom, he has the presence, the voice, a genuinely creepy design, and a genuine feel of insanity. Some people complain that in this version The Phantom doesn't love Christine but honestly I don't mind, until he hears her voice he doesn't want his symphony done so the man wants musical perfection and not love, which is no bad thing. You would think with so many iterations of this story it would pretty much be the same story everytime, but every version has a unique twist to it so it never feels boring. This movie may not be as well known as the Hammer Dracula or Frankenstein series, but it deserves some attention and love. It has a creepy, grim, almost gothic look, the actors are all awesome, this version actually has a genuine lovely romance between Harry and Christine which is rare cause either the romance is sickening or just kinda whatever, great costume design, and Lord Ambrose D'Arcy is the only Michael Gough role I know where he plays a villain and it is glorious. Maybe not a must see movie, but worth the time if you are interested. And tomorrow we cap off the week with a rather unexpected actor to play The Phantom, and no it's not friggin' Gerald Butler.

The Mummy (1959)

And here we are, at the end of another horror filled month of reviews. And how better to end where we began?

The Mummy, one of Hammer's finest movies combining the best elements from all previous Mummy movies before it, specifically the Universal Mummy movies into one excellent film. The plot is very similar to the Boris Karloff Mummy movie, explorers discover the tomb of an Egyptian princess Ananka which is percieved by protectors of the tomb as sacrilege so they ressurect her high priest Kharis played by Christopher Lee to seek vengeance on those who raided her resting place. Peter Cushing plays the son of one of the explorers, and must stop the ancient Mummy from spilling more blood. This movie, Curse Of Frankenstein, and Horror Of Dracula are the prime examples of Hammer horror and must be seen by any horror fan. The sets are excellent, the acting is fantastic and played by the best actors Britain had to offer, the story is timeless though set near the beginning of the 20th century, and I don't think I need to say this is the greatest Mummy movie ever made. Peter Cushing is a brilliant lead that plays the part with great conviction and style, while Christopher Lee though a mere pawn in the game has such emotion purely through his eyes and you feel immense sympathy for his character. The bits of action are quite good too, fully taking advantage of the set pieces and are there to progress the story but are great spectacle too. It even has a bit of romance in it, which is a common theme with the more classic monsters, the monster seeks a young woman to have and to hold till death do they part. Such emotion is severely lacking in modern horror movies today, you can feel a wide range of emotion other than just fear and shock, which is what sets classic horror so high in the eyes of this humble reviewer. The Mummy is a first rate thriller, deserving of every ounce of praise it gathered after the almost 60 years since it first hit theaters.

Thank you for joining me this month and I sincerely hope you find great enjoyment in these films, as I did. It's always such a joy to discuss horror movies this most wonderful time of the year. Oh, and.....Happy Halloween.

Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell

The monster from hell? Looks like hell!

So the last of the Hammer Frankenstein movies, and to tell you the truth it does end very underwhelming but it's by no means bad. Frankenstein is now in an insane asylum continuing his experiments by putting the brain of a genius into quite possibly the worst designed Frankenstein monster in history, and that's including Frankenhooker, Blackenstein, and the monster from Evil Of Frankenstein. Dear sweet lord, it looks like an ape from a zoo. Like what the frak?? The monster is played by David Prowse who played the monster in another Hammer Frankenstein movie that did not star Peter Cushing so that's why we didn't talk about that, and to think not even 4 years after this movie came out both Peter Cushing and David Prowse were in control of the Death Star. And that's awesome! But anywho, for the last in a series it's by no means a masterpiece but I love the look and feel to it. The asylum is a dark, grim, and depressing setting for macabre experimentations, with the camera focusing on every gruesome detail, it's a slower paced movie, and Peter Cushing was very tired and frail, this being not very long after the death of his wife Helen but he continued on giving another very good performance though very routine for this role and honestly he was playing the role since 1957, this final movie came out in 1973, when you play the same role for almost 20 years you can bring a lot to it, but I have to agree it was a good thing Hammer ended the series with this. Watching all these Hammer Frankenstein movies, you can appreciate the new ground they broke with Curse Of Frankenstein ushering a new age of color horror movies, with it constantly pushing boundaries and giving the same stamp of quality every time. Whether it's Dracula, Frankenstein, or other Hammer films you always get an interesting chapter in horror history and can always enjoy them even after 60 years since its inception. It was a lot of fun and very interesting to watch all these movies, and really did remind me why I love Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing so much and adore them as actors and human beings. And I got to tell you, I was feeling real down in the dumps, just wanted to shut the lights off, close the door and lock it behind me, and just leave it all then I sat down and watched the Hammer Dracula movies and felt instantly better. So the next time you feel depressed, watch Christopher Lee bite the necks of luscious young women, and Peter Cushing create a monster. It'll make the day better.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Well that's an over the top title isn't it?

I don't know, I kinda feel split on this. It's a very good movie but it has some glaring problems, so we will have to deliberate on this. So Frankenstein has abandoned soul transfers and back to good ol' brain transplants, but he needs research from another doctor on how to preserve a brain for prolonged periods of time after his previous lab is discovered. What's interesting about these movies is that there's not really a monster in every installment, where Frankenstein creates a new monster every time, you can without a doubt do a character study and maybe even a character arc throughout these 6 movies which I find very fascinating. I actually prefer the idea of following the good doctor than his creations, cause that's what the novel was really about, it was about Victor and his changing character from beginning to end. Peter Cushing is at one of his highlights in this movie, always in control, having a brilliant scene where he puts four posh idiots in their place, and in some scenes you fully understand why Peter Cushing was called the gentleman of horror, he's very charming and kind even though you know the terrible things he has done in the past 5 movies. But....oh Jesus, there's no way I can get around this. So I'll just say it, there's a scene where Frankenstein rapes a young woman. Everybody, and I do mean everybody from the actors, to the director, to the writers were against it. It wasn't even in the damn script! But apparently the executive producer wanted it to sex up the movie. Sex it up??! It's not sexy or erotic, it's friggin' horrifying and terrible!! What in the name of all things good and holy was he thinking? Now I know this series took the character and made him more unsympathetic, not caring about killing people and feeling no remorse towards his work, but this took it way to far. Peter Cushing kept apologizing to Veronica Carlson because of the scene, and if I was there I honestly would have told the executive producer that shooting would cease and the movie would not be made until the idea for that scene was removed and would never be shot. And if that scene was not there, this would be one of the better movies in the series. And the fact that Frankenstein now needs help to properly preserve a brain after literally swapping souls in the last movie makes his intelligence seem inferior, and that hurts his character. That and the whole rape thing. Honestly, I can get over the lack of knowledge but I can't get over that scene. And the rest of the movie is well made! Sets are great, the music might be the best of the series, all the acting is really darn good, the story though extremely flawed is very well done, it just has some bad decisions in the terms of making the movie. The finale and leading scenes toward it is great, with a very good confrontation. I really, really want to love this movie, but Jesus. And I blame this on not one of the major forces of greatness in this movie, not the actors, or director, or writers. I almost wish Hammer would re-release this movie and omit the rape scene, then I could highly recommend it. I still do recommend it but it was very important to bring those issues up. If you can put up with it, you will find a very good movie.

One more. How does it all end? Well even I cannot say, but we certainly will talk about it tomorrow.

Frankenstein Created Woman

This is certainly a better film than the last, but by how much?

Well in this installment Frankenstein has apparently evolved from transferring body parts now....are you ready for this? He's trying to transfer the soul. I am so not even kidding. His next experiment involves taking the soul from a person and placing it into another person. Let's just say it isn't what we would call a succesful experiment. Our story doesn't really focus on Frankenstein much but on a couple, Christina and Hans. The third damn Hans in this series, you know there are other German names guys geez. And they are actually a nice couple, but each have emotional baggage. Hans' father was executed right in front of him, so the townspeople think very little of him, and Christina is a closed in young girl with a disfigured face that Hans has a romantic relationship with. And the care and affection you feel between them makes future events more tragic. I'm not even sure if I can discuss the next events without giving away the whole movie, but I can say it ends on a very somber note and you feel that Frankenstein has learned a lesson and will not continue in this field. Coming off the last movie, which had so little going for it I could barely write anything, this movie does improve. I genuinely care about the characters, albeit with slight disbelief because of other events that occur but it never takes me out of the movie much. I do enjoy it, and apparently I'm not the only one. Martin Scorsese claimed this was one of his favorite films of all time. Well hell, now you gotta go see it! And one more note I have to add is, if you Google the title of this movie you will find tons and tons of promotional material with the female monster half naked alongside Peter Cushing. No scene in the movie shows the experiment performed on her, they just cut to her recovering in bed. Now I know this was the late 60s, you had to get something to make people want to see the movie, and in that time period where less people were uptight about the human anatomy it does kind of make sense why they chose that, and since not a lot of women went to horror movies compared to guys it makes even more sense. Now granted there have always been women who liked or loved horror movies even to this day, so take my word for it, if you want to make out with a young lady take her to see a horror movie. If Silence Of The Lambs can come out on Valentine's Day, why not?

Revenge Of Frankenstein

Second movie in, and still going strong.

So Revenge Of Frankenstein follows the events of the first, with the good doctor escaping the death sentence and continuing his experiments, only now everyone knows the legend of him so he also has to keep his identity and work more secret. Although the plot is basic, it keeps the pressure high and has some good twists in it, with Peter Cushing owning the whole movie. One element I must address is the laboratory sets are incredible, seeming homemade for that time period but fully functional, and even quite possibly better than the Karloff Frankenstein lab set in my opinion. There's so many good scenes in this movie! I especially like the opening scene that introduces us to Frankenstein perfectly, and it is great fun but the scene that steals the show is an interrogation scene where after a series of events, a group is formed and accuse Frankenstein of being, well...Frankenstein. But Peter Cushing is so cunning and in control of the situation, you take great delight in seeing him make everyone seem stupid. Obviously, Peter Cushing is what holds every single one of these movies together, no matter how ludicrous or silly the movie seems, his performance makes you believe it and even enjoy it. Hammer knew they had something good after the success of the first and second movie, so what happens next? Well, I'll tell you tomorrow. In the meantime, if you can get your hands on seeing this movie I do highly recommend it for it's first rate acting, set design, and continuing story of an infamous character.

The Curse Of Frankenstein

How do you remake one of the most classic and recognizable horror films ever made?

Curse Of Frankenstein was the first in a long run of Hammer movies centering around Dr. Frankenstein played to perfection by Peter Cushing that took the enormous responsibility of retelling the classic story of a scientist who tried to be God and create a man that was in truth a monster. This film should be applauded because, the movie was in the shadow of the Universal classic, and tried to do it's own thing and in my opinion, it did it in aces. This film is great, with the same production level of other Hammer films and alumni actors who still give in excellent performances. Peter Cushing is our star, and this series of movie explains why he wasn't in all but 3 of the Hammer Dracula movies, because he was too busy being the greatest Dr. Victor Frankenstein ever potrayed on screen, even today. You believe his obsession with his work, and can be genuinely horrified by his actions in this and future films. What's interesting is the movie is told through flashback, with Victor in a prison cell retelling the story we all know, and there's a reason why the story is told this way but it's not obvious until the end. This was also the first movie where Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee shared the same scenes in the same movie, and it's because of this movie that they are both the horror stars we know today, and the year after this movie came out in 1957, Horror Of Dracula was made, so really the most succesful and quite even arguably best remakes in film history all spanned from this movie. Not a lot of recognition and love is shown for Hammer horror films even today, unless you're knee deep in horror like myself, so I found it very important and fun to talk about these movies. This is a very important chapter in horror movie history that deserves more recognition and respect, so that's why I chose these series of movies for this year. And we're gonna take em' one by one until the end of the week. See you then!

Dracula Prince Of Darkness

I can't believe it took 8 years to get a sequel to the first Hammer Dracula movie. You think they would get right on that, but better late than never.

So how's the sequel? Ehhhh, not great. Not terrible but kinda boring. The plot follows a group of travellers that happen across Dracula's castle, what follows is an excellent ressurection scene that builds the tension wonderfully, and Christopher Lee is on the hunt again. It must be said that Christopher Lee from beginning to end is a mute monster, he hated the dialogue which is a shame because he really is a terrific Dracula. The best character in the movie is our replacement Van Helsing, Peter Cushing will be absent for most of the future sequels due to him being in the Hammer Frankenstein movies, and honestly he's awesome. A gun toting, wise, no nonsense, kickass cleric, now that's what you need in your party! The rest of the cast is the absolute worst most boring dredge you can possibly imagine, it's slabs of meat heading for the meat grinder, no character, no motivation, just boring. So yeah, not really a great or even really good sequel, but they pick up in the next installment. So until then dear friends...

Horror Of Dracula

Good God I forgot how great this movie is!

Yes, the film that made Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing the horror stars they are today, Horror Of Dracula was the first of a long running series of horror films produced by Hammer Studios in England. To my knowledge the first Dracula movie in color, and it is a sight to behold. While the plot is basic, just a retelling of the Bram Stoker novel, what the film excels in is rich visual appeal with lavish sets and costumes, great acting especially by Peter Cushing, and for a movie that's not even an hour and a half it moves at a great pace. In fact, this movie is one of those films where every scene is crucial, you cannot cut a thing out of this movie because it would hurt the film. Terence Fisher did a great job with this movie, it's gothic sets are incredible to look at, the music is used for dramatic effect which enhances the movie significantly, for a movie from 1959 it holds up because it's more or less a period piece around the late 1800s. I don't know, there's just so much good stuff in this movie. The only bad thing I can say about this movie is it takes place in Germany without a doubt but everyone, and I do mean everyone hails from Britain but honestly that's it. Christopher Lee is a fantastic Dracula and seriously has an imposing presence on the screen, Peter Cushing is by far the best Van Helsing ever potrayed on screen and plays it with sophistication and class, and it shows a lot more than in any vampire movie before. Since it was close to the 60s, censors were less uptight so now there was blood, cleavage, and two very graphic staking scenes. You know how I said before the music was used for dramatic effect? I can pinpoint the exact scene to back up my claim, it's where we see our first stake through the heart. The music builds with tension and horror as you see the open graves of Dracula and his bride, Jonathan Harker prepares to kill them and then the music goes deathly quiet. There's barely a sound, which builds the tension cause you know what he's about to do but it still is done, and it is not quick or quiet when he does so, the only sounds you hear are the hammer smashing the stake into a heart and screaming. It's very hard to watch because it's surprisingly realistic, it's not just one hit and they are dead, it takes multiple strikes and the blood is minimal but highly effective, and it happens not once but twice. For 1959 this was some serious hardcore stuff, and it still kinda is. There's no stunning visuals or ridiculous amounts of gore and blood, hell you barely even see the actual staking but the picture that your mind paints is much more effective than what the screen could ever show you. Horror Of Dracula is the best of the Hammer Dracula movies and should be seen by any horror fan, especially if you have great love and admiration for the classics like I do. Great film, great actors, and there is more to come in the days to follow.