The fear will fully energize the molecular structure of your blood! –Count Dracula You would have expected that Universal would have released a movie called Dracula vs Frankenstein, since they paired the famous monsters on more than one occasion. They didn’t. As though to establish some cosmic balance for the oversight, the early 1970s saw […]
In this Spanish/German/Italian film, a detective’s investigation turns up a plot by aliens to revive and duplicate earth’s most famous monsters in order to conquer the planet. Originally released as Los Monstruos del Terror and under various titles in translation, it eventually came to be another Dracula vs Frankenstein, perhaps in order to cash in […]
The third (as of this writing) Dracula vs Frankenstein fell to Spain, and cult/exploitation director Jesús Franco. Shot around the same time as Adamson’s film, this one is also a loose sequel to Franco’s Dracula, Christopher Lee’s non-Hammer excursion as the vampire lord. Although released before the others, it didn’t receive the title until later […]
This week, our annual Hammer horror film review skips forward a bit in the chronology, with our first review of one of the Hammer Frankenstein films – but not the first of the Hammer Frankenstein films.
Hammer Studios had dabbled in fear before, but their first colour monster movie, made in 1957, inaugurated the age of Hammer Horror. From the late 50s to the early 70s they revisited the territory carved out by Universal Studios, adding lavish colors, blood, gore, and sex in increasing amounts, linking the old, elegant horror classics […]
“There is an old neglected graveyard about three miles from here.” Hammer’s second colour horror entry features Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing again, in a film crafted by the same writer and director as The Curse of Frankenstein. This adaptation of Stoker’s novel emphasizes its sexual themes and forever changed the nature of onscreen vamps.
One more comedic entry, before we go back to the traditional Halloween fare.
With Van Helsing out this Spring Universal Studios has released a box set celebrating their groundbreaking monster movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. My overview of the series (currently being updated as I get the chance to watch these films again) may be found here, and my Bureau review of Frankenstein may be read here. Meanwhile, […]
With Van Helsing set for release May 7, Universal Studios has released a box set celebrating their groundbreaking monster movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. My overview of the series may be found here. Meanwhile, I’ve just finished the Frankenstein DVDs.