Just saw “The Woman in Black” with my teenage daughter. We both enjoyed it, and I noticed it was produced by Hammer, like many horror films years ago. Can anyone recommend any films similar to TWiB, or good Hammer films?
It failed in the box office but I’ve always been a fan of Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter.
They’re really science fiction, rather than horror, but the first three of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass films are top-notch, if low budget.
The Quatermass Xperiment (The Creeping Unknown in the US)
Quatermass 2 (Enemy from Space in the US
Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth in the US)
The first two were made in the 1950s in black and white and star Brian Donlevy as Quatermass. He looks and sounds more like an American gangster than a British Professor of Rocketry. But the third was made in the 1960s in color and has Edward Keir as Quatermass, and he looks and sounds right for the part. Also with Julian Glover (Commander of the At-At in Empire Strikes back, and the heavy in the Bond flick For Your Eyes Only and in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now Maester Pycelle on Game of Thrones) as the heavy-handed British Army Officer.
The original adaptation of Susan Hill’s story, The Woman in Black, is available on YouTube. It was produced in 1989 and doesn’t have nearly the special effects of the 2012 version, but it’s terrifically atmospheric and definitely worth watching. Interesting note: the actor who plays Daniel Radcliffe’s father in the Harry Potter films also played Daniel Radcliffe’s character (they have different last names for some reason, but they’re the same character) in the 1989 version. Also, if you’re both really into the story, the book itself is outstanding.
As far as recent Hammer Films productions, I can also recommend Let Me In. It’s not quite as good as Let the Right One In, which is the Swedish adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel, but it’s still quite good. In fact, I’d recommend watching the Swedish version first (it’s subtitled) and then the American version a few months later. Be aware that some of the themes in both versions (and made much more explicit in the book) are very adult (so depending on your daughter’s age, they may go right over her head or they may need some explaining).
I’ll second the Quatermass series, especially Quatermass and the Pit.
If you’re looking more for horror, I found Twins of Evil pretty enjoyable, along with Curse of the Werewolf and The Gorgon. Peter Cushing plays a pretty amazing Frankenstein in several of their films, and of course Christopher Lee is one of the best Draculas since Lugosi!
FYI: The 1951 Down Place podcast has been covering the Hammer Films Library since Sept 2011 – mostly horror, but also their sci fi, noir, and thriller films. The three hosts focus on one film per episode, providing production info, a plot summary and review. Plus, they’re pretty entertaining in and of themselves.
In the thread about movies you saw as a child but couldn’t remember the name, I was going nuts trying to think of the name of a movie I saw when I was about 8 or 9.
It turns out it was “Straight On Til Morning”. That movie as haunted me for 4 decades. Anybody ever seen it? I’m not sure it qualifies as horror, more of a thriller maybe.
The best are the classics: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), and The Mummy (1959).
I have only seen a few of the sequels: Dracula, Prince of Darkness; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave; Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell. Those three I liked. I haven’t seen the others. The Frankenstein series generally got better reviews than the Dracula series.
Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter is strange, but not bad.
The Two Faces of Doctor Jekyll is an interesting variation on the story. It is probably the only version where the actor wears more makeup as Dr. Jekyll than as Mr. Hyde. (As Jekyll, he has dark hair and a beard. Hyde is blonde and clean-shaven.)
The Gorgon is not Great Art, but it is entertaining.
Hammer’s version of She is one of the better adaptations of H. Rider Haggard’s novel.
Here’s a blog post I wrote about Hammer Horror a while back.
I have to say Black Sabbath Boris Karloff, nono monsters but creepy as hell. and without it what would Ozzy and company be called?
wait wait wait what was the other one with no monsters? was that night of the demon?
Ditto Straight On Til Morning and Curse of the Werewolf
Also:
Keep in mind that I could watch Hammer films until the cows come home. Some of these are better than others; the aforementioned Straight On Till Morning and Curse of The Werewolf, along with The Gorgon, Never Take Sweets From A Stranger and Demon of the Mind are my favorites.
You might also want to check out:
Tigon Films: Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan’s Claw
and
Amicus Films: (they’re noted for their anthology films) The House That Dripped Blood, Tales From the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, From Beyond The Grave, and Now The Screaming Starts
Happy watching!
UT~
Hammer co-produced with ITC 13 TV episodes called Hammer House Of Horror in 1980. They are surprisingly gory for TV of the era (and a bit cheesy, but it *is *Hammer)
I have loved Hammer movies all my life, I think they are all really really entertaining and full of atmosphere (though that may be nostalgia talking.)
Die! Die! My Darling (also known as Fanatic) stars Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, and a glimpse of Donald Sutherland, it’s really good and suspenseful. I had read the book and saw the movie some time later, thinking “this looks awfully familiar…hey, wait a minute!”
Thanks for the suggestions-I’ll search some of these films out.
And Gordon Urquhart-my daughter and I watched “Let The Right One In” last year; i had already seen it, so knew it was OK for her. She loved it. Don’t know ifbwe’ll see the American version for a bit, but I’ll see if she’s interested.
Great blog post, lissener-a real education.
And Untouched Takeaway-super helpful of you to include links; thanks!
It’s the greatest identical twin vampire film of all time!
Just to note that you should make sure your teenage daughter is good with heaving bosoms, covered and otherwise. The very pretty Collinson twins were Playboy models and bit part brit-sexploitation regulars and weren’t shy about disrobing. Twins of Evil falls into the very slightly seedier side of Hammer along with The Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire, but it is still a fun film and Peter Cushing is always worth watching.
It’s not Hammer, but something in much the same style is The Witchfinder General/The Conqueror Worm, with a rather less hammy than usual Vincent Price playing witchfinder, torturer and general all around nasty person Matthew Hopkins.
I do have to disagree with two on this list. The Gorgon is a pointless rambling film that features a single Gorgon (who looks like a normal woman most of the time – who is it?) unaccountably set in an eastern European/German Ruritanian town (and with the name of a Fury) turning a couple of folks into unconvincing stone. There’s not much plot, an it’s hard to follow, or get emotionally involved in. She’s a pretty unconvincing Gorgon, too. Seven Faces of Dr. Lao did a better job with 1960s technology and effects.
Horror of Dracula was called Dracula in England, and it’s basically a retelling of Bram Stoker’s story, but stripped to the bone. Harker doesn’t need a ship to get to Castle Dracula – he can drive there.
My Hammer favorites-
Curse of Frankenstein starring Cushing & Lee
Horror of Dracula starring Lee & Cushing
Brides of Dracula starring Cushing & David Peel as Baron Meinster, a vampire disciple of Count D
Frankenstein Created Woman - Cushing
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave - Lee
Dracula A.D. 1972 - Lee & Cushing
The Satanic Rites of Dracula - Lee & Cushing
SHE - Ursula Andress
Curse of the Werewolf - Oliver Reed
Phantom of the Opera - Herbert Lom
The Vampire Lovers (Le Fanu’s Carmilla) starring Ingrid Pitt & Cushing
Countess Dracula (a fictionalized account of Elizabeth Bathory) - Pitt
I haven’t seen many but I’d like to second The Devil Rides Out.
Another vote for The Devil Rides Out, also known as The Devil’s Bride. Christopher Lee plays the good guy! (Charles Gray is the villain.)
It looks like all my favorite ones have already been mentioned, including the Amicuses and Tigons.
Not quite a horror film, but back in the 1950s, Hammer did a spooked-up version of Hound of the Baskervilles. It has its flaws–for example, they changed who the murderer is–but it has the added attractions of Peter Cushing playing Sherlock Holmes and Christopher Lee (as Sir Henry Baskerville), taking an attractive young woman into his arms and–just this once–not sinking his fangs into her neck.