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Post by killercrab on Oct 19, 2007 21:26:24 GMT
THE HAMMER HORROR FILM OMNIBUS bk 1
THE GORGON / John Burke
It's amazing how dull an adaption of a fairly decent gothic film can actually be - this is pretty faithful - but the written version seems so *lacking* in Gorgon action in comparison. The film though doesn't have anymore scenes - but it seems that way.
Burke is a fine workman like scribe- but he's not given much to work with and tends to shore up the story with interminably long exchanges of dialogue between the *good Gorgon action* - to the point your eyes - if not glazed - start to require props. I liked how he tried to flesh out the mythological background to the threat and chose to use the correct name of MEDUSA for the monster instead of MAGEARA in the film. Mageara was actually one of THE FURIES - a very similar Greek mythological monster with hair made of snakes. I've no idea why Hammer changed her name in the film - it's not like she's copyrighted!
At 90 pages the adapted GORGON feels like 190 - it's faithful yet uninspired which worries me somewhat about the remaining stories in the omnibus . I'll be generous and score this 3/5 overall as it has a few moments but lacks real spark...
KC
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Post by franklinmarsh on Oct 22, 2007 13:44:31 GMT
THE HAMMER HORROR FILM OMNIBUS bk 1 to the point your eyes - if not glazed - start to require props. KC I really thought you were going to make a quip about being turned to stone Ade! Saw the recent Beeb screening and thought it great. The film didn't make any sense but who cares? |
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Post by killercrab on Oct 22, 2007 15:39:30 GMT
Saw the recent Beeb screening and thought it great. The film didn't make any sense but who cares? >>
Oh the film is great - I watched on a small portable in a caravan when it aired recently - watched THE DAMNED too - now there's a movie for ya! Of the two adaptions I've read , THE REPTILE was by far the best - should get back to reading another. I'm working my way through the Swamp Thing trade right now - reprinting the first ten issues of the comic - it's groovy stuff.Reminds me - must stick some posts on the comics/Tomb of dracula threads...
ade
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Post by Calenture on Oct 22, 2007 15:50:04 GMT
The film of The Gorgon had its critics, and I remember falling asleep watching it once. But like any film. I think it depends what mood you're in when you watch it. I've enjoyed watching it every time since. I think Burke's novels vary hugely. I enjoyed his The Man Who Finally Died recently. Reminds me - must stick some posts on the comics/Tomb of dracula threads... ade Ade, I'll be grabbing some of my own comics posts soon. I want to transfer a cross-section of different types each time - comics, film, stories, radio, blah blah, you know. I need to get a new scanner soon. Will be getting in touch with you. Gather you've heard from Steve. Rog |
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Post by killercrab on Oct 22, 2007 16:58:19 GMT
Ade, I'll be grabbing some of my own comics posts soon. I want to transfer a cross-section of different types each time - comics, film, stories, radio, blah blah, you know. I need to get a new scanner soon. Will be getting in touch with you. Gather you've heard from Steve. >.
Yep Rog - replied to him at the old place - not sure Steve has read my reply yet. You know my direct email anyway.
ade
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Post by Dr Terror on Oct 22, 2007 18:41:25 GMT
I was disappointed by The Gorgon (film), I thought of a better ending when I watched the recent telly showing.
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Post by pulphack on Oct 25, 2007 6:51:25 GMT
as a film, the gorgon is big on slow build atmospherics ut short on plot and characterisation.. i've always found you need to be in a patient mood to fit with it. and maybe that's why the novelisation is a bit thin - even burkey needed SOMETHING to work with. which makes you wonder who picked the movies to be included?
haven't had my copies for years, but straw poll time for those who have: would you say the books were weighted towards then-current hammer projects?
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Post by dem on Oct 25, 2007 7:45:03 GMT
Yes. The first book includes The Curse Of Frankenstein and Revenge Of Frankenstein from way back in 1957 and 1958, but the other six titles are all from the 1964-5 period as far as I can make out.
There are a number of other Hammer novelisations from the late fifties/ early sixties including Dean Owen's Brides Of Dracula (Monarch, 1960), Tom Owen's Circus Of Horrors (Panther, 1960), Stuart James' Jack The Ripper and The Stranglers Of Bombay (both Monarch, 1960), Jimmy Sangster's The Curse Of Frankenstein (Panther, 1958) .... and Roger Garis did a tie-in for Never Take Sweets From A Stranger as Never Take Candy From A Stranger (Dell, 1961).
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Post by pulphack on Oct 25, 2007 13:42:15 GMT
thanks dem. what strikes me as odd about that is that the single novel - uh - novelisations were obviously intended to have a short-shelf life and tie-in with release. but the omnibus editions... well, the first one seems to be intended to have a longer shelf-life, and yet the second is about current releases and more immediate. yet that was the one i remember getting reprinted...
so someone explain how publishers think, again?
carry that kind of thinking into horror generally, and we can see why it's so hard for writers to get consistent releases, and for the shelves to empty out of all but a few big names. westerns disappeared. sc-fi is in danger of going the same way (especially because of the tie-in industry being very strong in the genre), but it never happens to crime fiction, where some names - not necessarily huge sellers - can stay in print for years.
of course, crime is acceptable as a genre. it even has a few pretensions to 'serious' writing. not that i'm saying that helps, but...
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Post by noose on May 17, 2012 21:29:46 GMT
To liven up this thread a little, one I've been keeping back from you all... McGinn, the artist was paid the princely sum of £33 for this. Still don't know much about him, can any Vaulters help. The colours on this, in the flesh are staggering, really needs to be seen to be believed! |
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Post by johnmcginnart on Jun 13, 2012 18:26:54 GMT
Hello. My name is John McGinn and this is one of Peter McGinn's (my father) book illustrations. He is a master of his time and I owe everything I know to him. I can't wait to tell him about this. He will be so happy to know that his artwork is still appreciated! If interested, check out some of my work at johnmcginnart.com
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Post by noose on Jun 13, 2012 20:26:22 GMT
John, I can say, hand on heart that I love your father's work. Sent you an email through here and your facebook page.
Johnny Mains
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 14, 2012 12:57:35 GMT
John, I can say, hand on heart that I love your father's work. Sent you an email through here and your facebook page. Johnny Mains Absolutely iconic. |
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Post by dem on Feb 26, 2017 13:37:30 GMT
John Burke - The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus (Pan, 1966) The Gorgon: What is the terrible secret of the village of Vandorf, where a murderer's victims turn to stone?
The Curse Of Frankenstein: Baron Victor Frankenstein creates a grotesque monster - and is himself condemned to death for the creature's brutal killings ...
The Revenge Of Frankenstein: Escaping the guillotine, Baron Frankenstein repays the dwarf who aids him - giving him a new body! But his creation is a killer; worse - a cannibal ...
The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb: From the Egypt of 3000 B.C. to the London of 1912 comes the monster that would not die!The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb: 1900. An Anglo-Egyptian team headed by Sir Giles Darymple and comprised of Professor Pierre Dubois, his daughter Annette, and her fiancée John Bray, locate the treasure laden tomb of Ra Antef in the Valley of Kings. Celebrations are short lived. The Professor is set upon by three mean-spirited Bedouin while examining pottery shards. They sever his hand as he lies dying. Hamshi, the Egyptian Governments on site eyes and ears, takes this as a bad omen. "You cannot run away. There is no escape from the curse of the mummy's tomb. We are doomed to die for our acts of desecration." To pour oil on troubled water, brash American Alexander King, whose fortune funded the expedition, reneges on a deal with Cairo Museum. To blazes with their derisory £70,000 - he's going to send the mummy on a lucrative world tour, beginning with a residency in Hyde Park. Sir Giles is incandescent at such a suggestion. "This is unheard of. Relics of this importance and value cannot be treated as a sideshow. The lugubrious Hamshi protests that such an abomination would amount to sacrilege. "Nothing sacrilegious about making money" sneers King. Sir Giles tenders his resignation on the spot but urges prodigy Bray to throw in his lot with King if only to reign in the fool's tackiest excesses. Annette, understandably down in the dumps at her father's murder, just wants out of Egypt full stop. She feels spied upon at all times, like something is psychically stalking her. On the eve of their departure for England, a break in at the tomb. The night-watchman is murdered and a catalogue compiled by Bray stolen. The treasures are ignored. Ra Antef and the tomb furniture are safely loaded aboard ship. Sir Giles, a broken man, retires to his cabin with a stash of booze. The authorities blame him for King's deception and he will no longer be welcome in their beautiful country. Things can only get worse and do, etc. Only the timely Zorro-esque intervention of Adam Beauchamp, MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, saves him from the blade of a mad slasher who, foiled in his attack, leaps overboard. Beauchamp is insistent that, when they arrive in England, the team stay at his Regent's Park mansion for the exhibition's duration. Who is this dashed handsome, nosey parker do-gooder and why has he taken such a keen interest in their safety? He seems particularly taken with Annette. John is too caught up in his work to notice. More later if you're especially horrible ...
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Post by helrunar on Feb 26, 2017 19:03:38 GMT
If I offer up a salaciously detailed description of the seitan and veggie-burger goulash I just cooked up, festooned with bok choy and brown rice, will that be sufficiently horrible to goad ye on?
MOAR please!!!
cheers, H.
aka Terror of the Tempeh
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