Hammer Horror Novelisations

[ripper]

I have read a few of the Hammers: Countess Dracula, Hands of the Ripper and X the Unknown. I still have Twins of Evil and Revenge of Frankenstein to start. Kiss of the Vampire is one of my favourite Hammer vampire films--very stylish and with a great ending despite the dodgy rubber bats, so I hope it gets a decent novelisation.

[killercrab]

Is Kiss of the Vampire getting novelised? It's one of my top favourites too from the late Don Sharp.

KC

[ripper]

Hi KC, I was reading sabenaravna's post from March and he mentioned Kiss of the Vampire along with a few others. Re-reading it, he possibly meant it as a list of novelisations he'd like to see, only Vampire Circus is on the list and that was novelised by Mark Morris, so I originally read it as a list of upcoming novelisations...probably my error :-(. Kiss of the Vampire really ought to be novelised, though not straying too far away from the basic story, but upping the s*x and gore. The film was full of s*xual tension, though little was actually shown due to it being made in 1962. I am sure it would have been far more explicit if it had been made post Vampire Lovers. And it has one of the very best pre-title sequences of a Hammer or any other horror film.

[dem bones]

All grist to the mill;

John Burke - Moon Zero Two (Pan, 1969)

Blurb;
Lunar City, May 2020

There are many ways of dying on the Moon and Bill Kemp knows them all. Tough, independent and broke he lives dangerously by flying a ten-year-old space ferry across its vast silences.

Suddenly, a whirlwind of adventure brings new perils— blasting through space at 18000 mph; landing on an asteroid of solid sapphire; escaping from jail; navigating a Moonbug across fearsome craters; cheating death below the ground and above infinity — as Bill seeks revenge for two lovely girls, the living and the dead ...

A scene from the new Hammer Films production Moon Zero Two for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, starring James Olson and Catherine von Schell. Produced by Michael Cameras and directed by Roy Ward Baker, the film is for release by Warner-Paths Distributors Ltd.


Susan Hill - The Woman In Black (Vintage, 2012)

Blurb
'AN EXCELLENT GHOST STORY ... MAGNIFICENTLY EERIE...COMPULSIVE READING' - EVENING STANDARD

Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows.
The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until Arthur glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the Locals to speak of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.

'A RATTLING GOOD YARN, THE SORT THAT CHILLS THE MIND AS WELL AS THE SPINE' - GUARDIAN

Comments, moaning, JoJo's minority opinion & Co: Woman In Black

[sabenaravna]

Indeed, wonderful Kiss of the Vampire was never novelized.
The Gorgon managed to create some of the film's wonderful atmosphere, ditto to Curse of the Mummy's Tomb. Hands of the Ripper was terrible disappointment. What! No Hammer's wonderful Edwardian/Victorian London? Twins of evil was much more enjoyable. I have never read any book by Mr Hutson but knowing his reputation I was... wary.

[cromagnonman]

Seems like an opportune moment to post this, if for no other reason than that its not here and should be. Not a novelisation obviously but surely one of Hammer's greatest ever stills:



And it begs the question of just why Hammer never made more use of the magisterial and magnificent Mr Gray who was just made for them, wasn't he?

"I wont be back but something will". Delicious.

[andydecker]

Jan 6, 2020 18:42:59 GMT cromagnonman said:

Seems like an opportune moment to post this, if for no other reason than that its not here and should be. Not a novelisation obviously but surely one of Hammer's greatest ever stills:



And it begs the question of just why Hammer never made more use of the magisterial and magnificent Mr Gray who was just made for them, wasn't he?

"I wont be back but something will". Delicious.

I don't know if it beats Ingrid Pitt chasing Madeline Smith around a bath tub (which unfortunatly never made a cover), but Charles Gray sure is a great Mocata.

And Lee an even better Duke de Richleau.

[helrunar]

Wonderful cover! I think that's Niki Arrighi on the altar.

I enjoy the film of Devil Rides Out but I start laughing with the dramatic discovery of "the black cock, or is it cockerel" early on and seldom stop laughing afterwards. 

My favorite character is Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies' cigar-smoking Satanic lesbian countess, and my favorite scene may be when she nearly runs over the idiotic hero and heroine in her smart Mercedes--I cheer for her every time.

Sorry, I may have been born EEE-ville.

cheers, Steve

[helrunar]

Also, great cover of the Moon Zero Two tie-in book.

The only facet of the new Dracula miniseries, or is it miseries, that made me smile was a still of Catherine aka "Catherina von" Schell having dinner with the Bang Count in one of the episodes. Lovely to see she is still working. I think she played a Countess or Baroness or something.

H.