Reviews of movies by the Hammer Film production company.
Thursday, March 6th 2008
Grade: C+
Synopsis: In 18th century England, a band of troops intent on investigating reports of smuggling arrives in a small coastal town led by the local vicar (Peter Cushing) only to discover that nothing is what it seems.
Captain Clegg (Night Creatures in the USA) is a well-done historical mystery from the Hammer Film production company.
Granted, the script by Hammer producer Anthony Hinds (credited to his pseudonym John Elder) operates on a plot that would be right at home in an episode of Scooby-Doo, but it also crafts a very entertaining anti-hero in Peter Cushing’s Reverend Doctor Blyss. Rather than paint the characters in black and white, Hinds uses shades of gray, and the film is better for it. MORE »
Posted at 3:11 PM in Movie Reviews, Hammer Film and Peter Cushing.
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Thursday, February 21st 2008
Grade: C+
Synopsis: Haunted by visions of her deranged mother, a young girl (Jennie Linden) slips slowly into madness.
Nightmare is worth watching. This may not be apparent from the film’s opening which, despite the great crisp black and white photography, quickly devolves into an exercise in patience with Jennie Linden.
Linden, who replaced Julie Christie at the last minute, is over the top from the very beginning, and her incessant screaming becomes something of an endurance test. Director Freddie Francis is clearly better suited directing the camera then the performers, as he’s unable or unwilling to reign Linden in, a mistake that nearly ruins the film. MORE »
Posted at 4:23 PM in Movie Reviews and Hammer Film.
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Wednesday, January 23rd 2008
Grade: C
Synopsis: After running out of petrol, a young couple on their honeymoon falls prey to a vampire cult.
The Kiss of the Vampire starts out with a funeral sequence dripping vintage Hammer atmosphere. As Clifford Evan’s character, Professor Zimmer, approaches the grave, the townspeople are visibly afraid and whisper amongst themselves that he’s probably drunk. Zimmer casts a haunted gaze down at the coffin and reaches, wordlessly, for the gravedigger’s spade, which he then hurls down into the coffin. A scream rings out as the camera cuts to the coffin spurting blood where the spade pierced the wood and the vampire corpse within. Cut to opening titles. MORE »
Posted at 2:07 PM in Movie Reviews, Hammer Film and Vampire Movies.
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Monday, October 29th 2007
Grade: D
Synopsis: An ancient mummy stalks the men who violated its tomb.
The Mummy’s Shroud needs more mummy and less shroud.
The script is similar to the disappointing The Curse of the Werewolf, also written by Hammer Film producer Anthony Hinds; both include lengthy and unnecessary prologues (The Mummy’s Shroud is narrated by an uncredited Peter Cushing), and both take ages to get the titular character on screen. Granted, The Mummy’s Shroud isn’t quite the disappointment that The Curse of the Werewolf was, but that’s only because it has less potential to start with.
The cast is serviceable, with the always solid André Morell and Elizabeth Sellars as the only standouts in parts that are criminally underwritten. MORE »
Posted at 4:48 PM in Movie Reviews, Hammer Film and Peter Cushing.
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Friday, September 21st 2007
Grade: B+
Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) investigates the family curse surrounding a nobleman (Christopher Lee).
The Hound of the Baskervilles was Hammer’s take on Sherlock Holmes. Taking the same director and stars from their previous successes Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein, the film was intended as the first in a series of Sherlock Holmes pictures, and while the series never materialized, The Hound of the Baskervilles is still quite good.
Peter Cushing and André Morell are great as Holmes and Watson. While purists could argue that Cushing was too short for the role, his sharp, piercing performance more than makes up for it. Christopher Lee complements him nicely and does a great job of keeping things moving when Cushing is off-screen. MORE »
Posted at 6:34 PM in Movie Reviews, Christopher Lee, Hammer Film, Peter Cushing and Terence Fisher.
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