IMO, Dick Barton Strikes Back is the best of the three. One of the fun things about them is you only need to change a few of the names and they are pretty much indistinguishable from James Bond.
Oh, hey, now I know how to bold italicize, I guess. Still learnin’ Discourse
I watched Strikes Back afterward, and agree, it was the highlight of the 3. I liked Sebastian Cabot as the baddie (but he was beardless, like him better with the beard. lol)
Yes, Oliver Reed has a tendency to overact.
Though that’s not always a bad thing. It can be, the baddie in Deathstalker was hilariously over the top, but on the other hand, actors like Charles Laughton made scenery-chewing an art form.
The other thing to remember is that Terence Fisher liked working in that Victorian style, the theatrical acting rather than naturalism. So yeah, that was Reed’s style, but it was also a leaning for the director.
Oliver Reed does do a good job of selling quiet menace at points in The Brood. Of course he also has moments of explosive reaction, too.
I don’t know why Warner released a bare bones BD for Dracula in 2018 (they gave Frankenstein the red-carpet treatment)? So, I finally ordered the 2013 region B release, which includes both the BFI and Hammer restorations, and a whole bunch of supplemental material.
Only thing - I ordered it ages ago, and never received shipping information or any notification for that matter, I figured the order would be cancelled and refunded and I forgot about it.
Then lo and behold it shows up, unannounced, out of the blue. Yay! Reading up on it, it’s still not perfect (some controversy about the colors, and a missing scene from the Japanese print that wasn’t included). But I took a peek at it and liked what I saw.
Can’t wait for my workday to be over, when I get home, I’m digging into this baby!
Two reviews…
Watched the Blu-ray release of The Vampire Lovers last night. Enjoyed it a lot, it’s visually sumptuous. Based on the classic Carmilla, it has a kind of Bridgerton vibe going with high society and swanky dress. Great cast too - George Cole, Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Kate O’Mara, and more. About the only dubious part is the repeated cutaways to a male vampire on horseback who really doesn’t add anything at all to the drama or narrative.
Another strongly recommended Hammer title.
Vampire Lovers Love.
Scream Factory has or is releasing a few more collector’s edition BDs in 2022
Enjoyed all 3 films - Nightmare and Paranoic were part of the post-Psycho phase for Hammer.
Trivia time: Nightmare was supposed to star Julie Christie, but she quit the production to do Billy Liar instead, which turned out to be a great supporting role for her, but man, she’d have been wonderful in Nightmare.
Night Creatures looks right up my alley, and is one I don’t believe I’ve seen before. Thanks!
I don’t normally double dip, but Scream’s re-do of the Vampire Lovers has receiving glowing reviews for the improved picture image and the brand-new extras. So, I picked it up.
https://shoutfactory.com/product/the-vampire-lovers-collector-s-edition?product_id=7729
Now I just have to find a new home for my old 2013 release. Anyone living in the States want it, totally free - let me know and I’ll mail it off, otherwise some lucky Goodwill customer will get it.
That’s a good one. Have you watched the new release yet? I may have to upgrade as well.
Not a lot, I watched the extras, and a little bit of the movie, and the quality is good, but I wanted to compare to see if I noticed it as a big upgrade… when my TV died.
And because I’m the lazy sort, I don’t really want to open it up and see if the capacitors have blown. It’s a cheaper fix if so, but I think I’ll use this an excuse to get a bigger screen.
Wow, how nice to have this larger TV… now I’m going to have to watch some of my visual faves again, just to drink them in anew.
I popped both the 2013 and 2021 discs into the player to compare, and the new V.L. is an upgrade. With Hammer you’re going to get some grain and such, but the picture is much crisper, colors pop. The old one is fine; I could have lived with it. But I’m glad I double dipped, for the new supplements and the film quality.
So, what TV did you get?
And I’m always happy to see a little grain; it’s a shame when they do a transfer and aggressively smear the grain away (see: the Star Trek IV BluRay, at least the original box set version) just so you don’t see it.
A cheap one
A Vizio
I guess my bigger (haha) question is how much did you go up in size? Christmas 2020 I got a 55" 4K TV to replace my aged 32" 1080p TV and it was a marked improvement. Kinda wish I had splurged and gone 65" though.
Oh a 43, I thought about a 55 but I’m only 4 feet from the screen in my cramped apt - not quite Moss and Roy in that scene in the IT Crowd, with knees pressed against the TV, but close enough that I thought 43 would be enough, and its much bigger than the old wee one I had.
I like it, I watched “Hiroshima Mon Amor”, and it was, wow, this is beautiful, I’m seeing things I never noticed before. Which I’m sure will make folks with really big screens laugh, but hey, it impressed me.
Although it was a very late Hammer film, I always liked Captain Cronos.