TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hammer Horror: DVD Review

Hammer Films dominated the Gothic horror genre from the late 1950s to the 1970s, producing such horror classics as The Mummy, The Curse of the Werewolf, The Plague of the Zombies and The Devil Rides Out. The British company made its name worldwide with lurid monster movies starring household names such as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed, with occasional appearances from major Hollywood stars, such as Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead.

Released in 2010, the DVD TCM Greatest Films Collection: Hammer Horror puts together four of the studio's greatest films in a two-disc collection, making a perfect introductory package for the Hammer novice.

The set retails at a very reasonable recommended price of $27.98, but you can buy it through sites such as Amazon at discount price.

The Curse of Frankenstein was the first color adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, the first Hammer horror film -- although the studio had been making non-horror films since 1935 -- and the first to team up the fairly well-known Peter Cushing and little-known Christopher Lee, as Baron Frankenstein and the Creature, respectively. The gore and sex, though tame by today's standards, provoked uproar among censors and critics, but audiences loved it.

Arguably Hammer Films' first true masterpiece, The Horror of Dracula  once again brought Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together, this time as vampire hunter Van Helsing and the titular Count. The dark, cobwebbed ruins of Universal's 1931 film gave way to Hammer's almost exotic palace, and Lee played Dracula as a charming host who turns terrifyingly feral in an instant, rather than Lugosi's outright-ghoulish monster.

Hammer had already resurrected Christopher Lee's Count Dracula once, in 1966's Dracula, Prince of Darkness, and had even managed a Dracula film without a Dracula -- the lavish 1960 The Brides of Dracula. This third film in the series looks fabulous, thanks to director Freddie Francis, best-known for his Oscar-winning cinematography. His use of coloured filters gives the movie a fantastically surreal atmosphere.

Where the Universal Frankenstein series had the Monster as the recurring main character, Hammer Films made Peter Cushing's Baron Frankenstein its main villain. Here he returns for the fifth time in what may well be the best of the series. It has all the expected horror elements, but also boasts a supremely sharp and witty script and a monster, played by Freddie Jones, who evokes the pathos associated with Boris Karloff's portrayal. Starlet Veronica Carlson, who had also appeared in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, plays the Baron's reluctant assistant.

Dictionary of Hammer Horror - An A-Z guide to the famous horror studio
Hammer Horror FAQ - Some more info about the studio that dripped blood
Top 10 Hammer Horror Films on DVD
Hammer Films: Icons of Suspense Collection: DVD Review
Vampire Circus: DVD & Blu-ray Combo Review
Hammer Films - The official site of Hammer Films today