The Hammer Horror Series Collection...

[Psychocandy]

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I'm thinking about buying this box set (it's great value being one factor and my love of hammer horror movies being the other) but a lot of the comments over at Amazon suggest that there are numerous playback problems as a result of the dual layer/double sided DVD18 nature of the actual discs. Have any of my fellow schmoes purchased this set and could they confirm whether or not there's any weight to these accusations.

[spacemonkey]

I bought it and havent had any problems whatsoever with it. Ive seen all 8 films and they look great! Its two discs, two movies on each side.

Heres my mini reviews for all 8:

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Curse of the Werewolf - This one is about a young lady who is raped by a madman in a dungeon. Her offspring is Leon Carido. A youngman who has the unfortunate fate of being born on December the 25th! According to this movie whoever is born on that day has the curse to become a werewolf. Therefore Leon we see how Leon shows signs of being a werewolf right from his childhood. The film has some great eerie moments and a standout career making performance by a very very young Oliver Reed. Directed by the great Terence Fisher.

Brides of Dracula - This sequel to Horror of Dracula is actually a very good one. In this movie Count Dracula is dead, but his disciples live on! A Baroness keeps her son locked up in a isolated are of her castle. When a young lady by the name of Marianne has to stay the night at the Countesses castle she decides to wonder off into the prohibited part of the castle in spite of the Baronesses warning. She discovers the Baronesses son and decide to set him free...only she doesnt know she has just set loose a very dangerous and hungry vampire. Lots of atmosphere, cool sets and romanticsm make this one a keeper, even if we dont get Christopher Lee as the titular vampire, we still get Peter Cushing reprising his role as Dr. Van Helsing.

The Evil of Frankenstein - In this version Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) returns to his hometown expecting not to be recognized by anyone since its been so long since he last roamed the streets of this town. What he finds is that his castle has been robbed of every piece of furniture and that theres a carnival in town. It doesnt take long before the good doctor begins his experiments again. But he soon realizes that since the creature has been out of action for so long, it needs something to revive its dormant brain. Thats were Zoltan comes in. Hes a hypnotizer who manages to re awaken the creatures brain..unfortunately he makes the creature kill anyone who comes across his path. On this flick, the creature resembles the look of Universal films, and thats because Universal financed the flick and gave em permision to use the look. But that doesnt necesarily make it a good film. Unfortunately its one of the weekest in the series.

Nightmare - This story is about a young girl named Janet. Shes completely messed up in the head ever since she saw her own mother stab her father to death. Shes afraid she will end up as crazy as her mom. She starts to have horrible nightmares in wich her mother revisits her. She also begins to see a strange lady in a white gown...is she going insane? This flick was the big surprise of this dvd set! Loved every second of it! The look of this film is the real reason this film is so special, everything is dark and mysterious and it really helps highten this spooky flick! Highly recommend anyone out there who wants to have a spooky good time to check this one out as soon as possible! This along with Paranoiac were the real surprises for me from this hammer horror boxed set.

Night Creatures - This flick is not so much a horror story. Id say its more about these towns folk looking to scam the goverment by smuggling alcohol into their little town. Of course theres the legend of the Marsh Phantoms, skeletal looking creatures that ride the night scaring the towns people. Are the Phantoms real? Will the towns folk get caught smoggling alcohol? Not really a scary story, though the opening sequence of the flick is incredibly eerie.

Kiss of the Vampire - When a young couple runs out of gas in the middle of the woods they are forced to take refuge at a local Inn. Suddenly in the middle of the night they receive an invitation for Dinner at Count Ravnas castle. Of course they are delighted by his charms and are invited to return to a grand mascarade ball, unbeknownst to Gerald the husband, Count Ravnas intends to steal his wife from him and make them both join his weird vampire cult! The movies pacing is a bit slow, but once we get to the scenes that take place in the mascarade ball...well things pick up nicely. A movie that has a lot of unconventional takes on vampirism. No Lee and No Cushing. Sad and they are missed, but the film manages to be interesting on its own in spite of its slow pace.

Phantom of the Opera - In this version of the tale, the Phantom is sabotaging an Opera show, constantly destroying the sets and the music sheets...and killing a few of the cast members and of the crew. The Phantom is played by Herbert Lom and his make up isnt quite as memorable as Lon Chaneys in the Universal version. Still in spite of its changes in plot and its laggin pace in the beginning the film manages to be very entertaining.

Paranoiac - Freddy Francis also directed this great psychological thriller. Its about this girl whos not coping very well with the death of her parents in an accident and the suicide of her brother after he couldnt take their death. She thinks she is seeing her brother all the time, when everybody knows that he is dead. Then the shit really hits the fan when suicide boy shows up alive. Its got an excellent performance from Oliver Reed! Hes the selfish older brother, a drunk a playboy and a money grubbing bastard. Youll grow to hate him. The movie is wonderfully creepy and eerie, lots of dark hallways and shadowy rooms. I cannot recommend this flick enough. Along with Nightmare Freddy Francis suddenly turned into one of my favorite hammer directors.

[Psychocandy]

Cheers Spacemonkey. I did go ahead and order it and your response was pretty much the deciding factor. Looking forward to my Halloween horror movie marathon.

[Cushing]

This is a great box set at an unbelievable price .All of the films look better than they ever have , it's a Hammer fans dream .
I've watched all of them now and have'nt had a problem with any of the discs .
I can't recommend it highly enough

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by Cushing
This is a great box set at an unbelievable price .All of the films look better than they ever have , it's a Hammer fans dream .
I've watched all of them now and have'nt had a problem with any of the discs .
I can't recommend it highly enough

Yeah...you're right. It's an absolute belter of a collection. The price was what made me sit up and take notice. Then I started to get a bit suspicious. Surely the transfers must be bleeding awful? After checking out a few reviews though I discovered that the picture quality on most of the movies was remarkable. Then I wandered over to Amazon.com to check some of the comments from buyers. That was when I discovered that some people were having problems with playback of the movies. Thanks for putting my mind at rest. Can't wait for this to arrive.

[ERIN_LoJ]

Well, hell, DVDs are just determined to come out when I'm broke - convinced. I have such a back log of 'must haves' it's pathetic. I'm sure if I still made Christmas lists, people would run screaming in horror when I brought mine to them. One day this one will look great in my collection, one day...

[Ratlehed]

I agree that this is a good set of films for a good price. I only got to watch a few so far though.

Curse of the werewolf I thought was boring. It told a good story but not enough werewolf action.

I have seen Brides of Dracula before and after watching it again I still think its one of Hammers better vampire films. Peter Cushing is in top form one this one too.

Kiss of the vampire is an o.k. time waster. It has a neat ending.

Phantom of the Opera is going to be next on my list.

[spacemonkey]

Has anyone here seen the two lesser known films in this pack? Im talking about Paranoiac! and Nightmare both directed by Freddy Francis.

Wow these two movies really blew me away. Of course they were inspired by Hithcock and it shows, but so what, they were entertaining as hell. ANd Oliver Reed really shined on both of em.

Hey schmoes, check those two movies out Id like to know what you guys think.

[Cushing]

Both Paranoic & Nightmare are effective little thrillers and are well worth a look .My fave is Paranioc purely for Ollie

[Cap'n Kronos22]

The Hammer Horror Collection is a great value for any horror fan, especially Hammer horror fans. I've watched half of the movies and am happy with my purchase. No technical problems, great movies, and a few surprises. I never even heard of a few of the movies. My only question- When does another collection come out? I'm always looking to improve my Hammer DVD collection.