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Post by Watching Hammer on May 31, 2010 11:19:37 GMT
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Post by Johnlprobert on May 31, 2010 13:51:38 GMT
Oh that's fun. I wouldn't disagree with any of those choices, and it's nice to see Paranoiac getting some recognition as I think the climax to that (with Oliver Reed playing the organ) is just wonderful and an inspiration for so many things including The League of Gentlemen
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Post by Watching Hammer on Jun 1, 2010 10:39:42 GMT
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Post by andydecker on Jun 2, 2010 11:32:00 GMT
Paranoiac is definetly underrated. Oliver Reed is a joy to watch here, the creepy incest-theme which they apparantly could smuggle past the censors, the horrific effective mask, all wonderful. I often wondered how a remake of this could be, but for once the restrictions Hammer and Sangster had to cope with made this a better movie, I think. Who cares that the rest of the plot doesn´t make a lot of sense 
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 2, 2010 11:48:18 GMT
Paranoiac is definetly underrated. Oliver Reed is a joy to watch here, the creepy incest-theme which they apparantly could smuggle past the censors, the horrific effective mask, all wonderful. I often wondered how a remake of this could be, but for once the restrictions Hammer and Sangster had to cope with made this a better movie, I think. Who cares that the rest of the plot doesn´t make a lot of sense Also, Freddie Francis (in I think his first full feature after bits of Day of the Triffids) does include a couple of quite creative set ups, including (I think!) the murder of a maid reflected in a pond |
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Post by monker on Jun 10, 2010 14:50:40 GMT
I must admit, I haven't seen all of the films listed but QatP is my favourite by quite a long margin. I do wish other companies at the time didn't live in Hammers shadow, most of my favourites British horror films of the period aren't even Hammer films.
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Post by lemming13 on Aug 3, 2010 15:55:48 GMT
So many of my favourites made it (especially QatP and The Mummy), but I'm saddened nobody ever thinks of Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter; it may have its flaws, but it was a really original piece for its day. I also enjoyed Hammer's remake of The Old Dark House (I liked the original, too) and Blood From the Mummy's Tomb.
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Post by David A. Riley on Aug 3, 2010 17:24:44 GMT
I could never take to Captain Kronos, I'm afraid. Perhaps it was Mr Woodentop who had the starring role as the Captain - or a rather lacklustre plot.
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb, on the other hand, was pretty damn good in my view, with some excellent cameos.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 3, 2010 21:29:18 GMT
I could never take to Captain Kronos, I'm afraid. Perhaps it was Mr Woodentop who had the starring role as the Captain - or a rather lacklustre plot. Blood From the Mummy's Tomb, on the other hand, was pretty damn good in my view, with some excellent cameos. Same here. I was disappointed with Captain Kronos. It just didn´t work. On the other hand, Blood from the Mummy´s Tomb ...  |
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Post by lemming13 on Aug 5, 2010 20:43:21 GMT
I'm still going to hold out for Captain Kronos. I'll concede that Horst Janson is as charismatic as a lolly stick in the lead role, and that is a big flaw, though possibly some of it was due to him not being a native English speaker. The sultry gypsy routine is also tired and hackneyed to the point of embarrassment, though I reckon the nude scene is done with real class. And the sequence involving the hired thugs set to kill Kronos is just plain bad. Ian Hendry clearly couldn't care less about the part, and the sidekicks were really poor. But there is a lot going for the film that often gets overlooked because of that. For starters, there are some first-rate performances among the supporting cast, especially John Cater as the hunchbacked academic, Grost, and John Carson as Dr Marcus. And there are some really original features. Vampires that can move by day, and drain youth instead of blood; vampire hunters who don't start with the premise of locating the coffin and driving home a stake, but have to not only identify the vampire, but also its species, and find out how to kill it; and the lovely little legend of passing vampires bringing dead toads to life. Kronos is an unusual hero in that he is thoroughly dislikeable, arrogant, smug and idle (though when Grost is abused by the thugs, Kronos does get to show a more pleasant side), and does not seem to make vampire hunting a noble quest but rather a profitable career. There are some nice pieces of misdirection in the plot, a rather good duel between the vampire duke and Kronos, and the scene in which Kronos and Grost attempt to kill Marcus after he has realised he is now a vampire and a killer, is in my opinion one of the best things Hammer ever filmed. It could have been even better if there had been any real chemistry between Janson and Carson to begin with. I reckon this is one that would stand a remake (but please Cthulhu by a British company and not Hollywood), with a decent lead and less gypsy.
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