Hammer classics coming to Blu
Good news for fans of classic British horror:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16629619
There's a few on my shopping list.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16629619
There's a few on my shopping list.
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Comments
New features sounds promising and the fact that there will be deleted scenes and they are still searching for archive material means us horror fans are in for a treat!
There's 30+ on mine.
He is very disparaging about his Hammer career, and can get rather snooty about it.
Though he did commentaries on some of the Anchor Bay DVDs.
Hammer don't own and never owned the rights to any of their films.
They were a studio for hire and made movies for all the Hollywood companies at one point.
Studio Canal have , over the years taken over several libraries of movies including ones that used to belong to Thorn EMI aswell as the films made for Warner/Seven Arts in the 60's.
As they now own the libraries of several companies this is why they own more Hammer product than anyone else.
Universal seem uninterested in releasing their Hammer films in the UK . They licenced some to dvd with one (Paranoiac) also out on Bluray.
In the US they have a superb 8 movie boxset including some real classics that have never been out on dvd in the UK.
A Limited Edition Steelbook of Curse of the Werewolf is out in the UK next month.
Sony are slowly releasing the Columbia product that was licenced to DDHE in a deal that fell through when DD's parent company went bust.
In the US Sony have released 3 superb boxsets covering 14 Hammer classics.
Paramount own the rights to some mediocre titles like The Man Who Could Cheat Death and even in the US they licenced it to Legend Films who thankfully released it on Bluray.
The Rank movies Countess Dracula , Hands of the Ripper , Vampire Circus and Twins of Evil are owned by ITV via Carltons purchase of the Rank library in the 90's.
Licenced to Synapse in the US all 4 are coming to Bluray with Vampire Circus already out and its out in Germany too but nothing to make it appear that they have any interest in UK releases .
That certainly does not come across in the commentaries he did for Dracula Prince of Darkness , The Devil Rides Out and others
Its just that i seen interviews with Jimmy Sangster, Freddiie Francis, and Roy Baker who have all alluded to Lee's attitude to Hammer.
I daresay that Lee was once dismissive of his Hammer work . Like the Carry On films , Hammer product did not really hold any prestige with anyone within the industry and would not have been seen as good film work but in the last 15-20 years Hammer product , as with Carry On films have been looked at in a new light where anyone involved with them would now be proud of the work .
I would think that much of Lees horror work was done to pay the bills at the time and he would have thought no more about it but he now realises that his Hammer work is recognised as a triumph that gives him respect across the generations and from both the public and those within the industry.
When they were made words like "revolting" were typical of critical reviews for movies that are now considered legendary classics