60 years of Hammer Horror

 

I missed an important anniversary yesterday -- it was on that date, May 2nd, 60 years ago, that The Curse of Frankenstein was released by Hammer Film Productions. Although the studio had been around in one form or another since the 1930s, it was the release of Curse in 1957 that ushered in the age of Hammer Horror and made the studio's name known worldwide.

The British Film Institute posted a short photographic retrospective for the occasion, highlighting one Hammer film for each year during its prime.

Three film articles

For the last blog post of the year I wanted to highlight three web posts that I have read recently on the history and current state of two distinct branches of home video releases: Hammer Horror films and Shaw Brothers kung-fu films.

DVD Savant’s Guide to the New Wave of Classic Hammer Blu-rays -- Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant, hosted an guest article in October by an anonymous film industry transfer expert and Hammer fan about Region B (UK,  Europe, Australia) Blu-ray releases and how they compare to each other and US discs. Many of these titles are not yet available on Blu-ray in the US.

How The North American Release of the Shaw Brothers Movies Was Botched -- An in-depth article from January 2015 detailing the history of how the Shaw Brothers kung-fu films were released in the US, from the first theatrical release in 1973, the bootleg VHS copies in the 80s, the Celestial Pictures DVDs of recent years, to the current TV broadcasts on the El Rey Network.

I'm not sure of the identity of this anonymous author. While this person does seem to know insider information about the home video industry and appears to match what I have read elsewhere, sources are not cited, and Celestial Pictures has said the article contains "a ton of inaccuracies." I might also quibble with the author's opinion of certain films and their importance to collectors, but that could be a matter of my own incomplete knowledge.

Diggin' Kung Fu with Johnnyray Gasca -- This interview from 2013 details the other side of the previous article and as a counterpoint, being a first-person account of 42nd Street grindhouse movie theaters and the origin of SB Video, which supplied the VHS boots found in stores all over New York City and elsewhere in the 1980s, contributing to the legendary status of Shaw Brothers films in the US. A fascinating look at an otherwise hidden world.

October means Halloween

It's already October. September just disappeared. One day you're coming back from Gen Con, the next day the leaves start turning and Fall's chill is in the air.

My attention has been on research and writing on a gaming project that I'm pretty excited about. More details soon, I just need to get it wrangled and done before the deadline at the end of this month.

Secret Santicore is on track again this year with only a slight delay. The call for volunteers will go out soon, then for requests shortly after.

Today is the US street date for Warner's first set of four Hammer Horror blu-rays, and their 30s/40s/50s monster film collection is available on the 27th. Each title is also sold separately. It's my understanding that each has received restoration and new masters, for an improvement over the DVDs. I plan to get the Hammer singles over time, with Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed on the way as I type this. Not so sure about The Mummy yet -- I might go with the UK edition.

I am utterly stunned by the number of deep catalog and cult film releases on blu-ray this year. Kino, Twilight Time, Warner Archive, Shout Factory, and others have all been busy. I've had trouble keeping track. A roundup highlighting this work would make a great end-of-the-year series of posts.

My Gen Con 2014 loot

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Gen Con Program Guide (filled with articles, maps, mini-modules, etc.) from Goodman Games
• Caroline Munro, First Lady of Fantasy and Peter Cushing, The Gentle Man of Horror and His 91 Films, both from McFarland Publishing (35% off two or more books on Sunday!)
• Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad zines #1 and 2, and Wayne Snyder's Dark Ruins art-zines #1 and 2
• From Chimera Hobby Shop's "Buy One, Get Three Free" deal: Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor, Fantastic Treasures (still in shrink-wrap), The Valdorian Age sword-and-sorcery sourcebook for Hero System, and Planet Stories' The Outlaws of Mars by Otis Kline.
• Shadowrun 5e quick-start booklet from Free RPG Day (Battletech on the flip-side)
• 13th Age module "Make Your Own Luck" from Free RPG Day (for running Timewatch for Pelgrane Press)
• Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters by various authors for Engine Publishing

Not pictured: Pelgrane Press t-shirt, Gen Con 2014 die from Crystal Caste, and Friday's blue d6 from Scotty's Brewhouse.


Now to carve out time to read all these books...

Happy Birthday, Peter Cushing

Today marks the 101st anniversary of Peter Cushing's birth. In his honor, enjoy this short film of Sir Peter painting model soldiers and using H.G. Wells' Little Wars wargaming rules.

Hammer's Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) on Blu-ray

The next disc in Millennium Entertainment's series of collector's edition blu-rays of Hammer horror films will be released next Tuesday, Terence Fisher's Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), starring Peter Cushing and Susan Denberg.

The US/Region A disc features an audio commentary by actors Derek Fowlds and Robert Morris, joined by Hammer historian Jonathan Rigby, the original trailer, two "World of Hammer" episodes, a new documentary "Hammer Glamour", a stills gallery, and an unspecified number of collectors art cards.

This disc follows Dracula: Prince of Darkness last September, with no official word yet on the next Millennium blu-ray release.

Brief Gen Con Report

Now that I'm between semesters I can turn some attention back to games. It's been some time since Gen Con, so rather than going over the show in detail, I'll cut to the bullet points.

The photo above is all of the loot I picked up at the con -- 13th Age, Arkham Detective Tales, The Armitage Files, and Owl Hoot Trail (from the Pelgrane Press 4-for-3 sale), one of the Creature Card Decks from Inkwell Ideas, Gygax Magazine #2 from the OSR Productions booth, Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography from McFarland Publishing, and the Hellfrost Player's Guide from Triple Ace Games and Studio 2 Publishing.

I participated in the 2013 GM's Jam panel on Saturday morning with Zachary Houghton from RPG Blog II, Phil Vecchione from Gnome Stew, and Chris Sniezak from the Misdirected Mark podcast. Chris recorded the panel for the podcast. We had a great time talking with the audience about ways to improve campaigns, and I only lost my train of thought once. My friend Derek was in attendance and picked up the slack for me by telling a story about our Freeport campaign. I was honored to be a part of this event, and the panelists intend to do it again next year.

My friend Lowell was one of 16 finalists for the Tabletop Deathmatch boardgame design competition sponsored by Cards Against Humanity. He was in interviews, meetings and judging panels all weekend. All of this was filmed for a upcoming web video series -- I'll post a link when it begins.

I got a chance to play Night's Black Agents on Saturday afternoon, in a session with D. A good GM and a good group of players made this a fun session.

Mrs. Kaiju and I saw J., a friend and Indy local, for about 15 minutes on Friday, and played Zombicide and AD&D with the usual crew of  D., R. and J. It was fun to see them all.

We didn't arrive in town until Friday afternoon, and then didn't get to the con itself until around 4pm. We barely saw any of the Exhibit Hall until Saturday. By the time I made it to the Pelgrane booth, copies of Double Tap were sold out. This expansion for Night's Black Agents was at the top of my list to buy this year.

I didn't get to the Studio 2 booth until Sunday so I didn't know about their incredible Solomon Kane deal: all the print books for the line (including the rulebook) for $50. By Sunday I had used up most of my gaming loot funds.

Another disappointment: no booths for Media Blasters or Discotek Media, so no obscure kung-fu or monster movie DVDs this time.

We were on the move all weekend and still missed out on seeing people and events. Next year, I think we will look at arriving on Thursday to give us more time to see everything we want to see.

500th post!

Paramount DVDs from the Warner Archive

As part of Tuesday's wave of new DVD releases from Warner Archive, two out-of-print titles return to availability. One of Boris Karloff's last films (and director Peter Bogdanovich's first), Targets, and the last Hammer Frankenstein film, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, were previously available on DVD from Paramount. Rights for these and other movies licensed to Paramount have transfered over to Warner Brothers, and the first batch became available this week.

Although no new remastering was done on these transfers, the good news is that the original extra features from the Paramount DVDs are on these new Warner MOD discs. I missed both the first time around, so I'm very glad to see these films available again.

Tomorrow: my Gen Con 2013 report

Upcoming DVD/Blu-ray releases

Several long-awaited disc releases are near, and may be of interest to readers of this blog -- gamers, classic horror fans, and pulp fiction aficionados.

Next week sees the release of the next in Synapse Films' Hammer series, Hands of the Ripper. Restored for HD and presented uncut, the DVD/Blu-ray combo includes a featurette about the film, two "motion still galleries", the US television cut introduction, and an isolated music & sound effects track.

One week later, July 16th, finds two noteworthy discs, Black Sabbath and Solomon Kane. Kino brings us Mario Bava's original anthology of three horror tales -- one of which stars Boris Karloff -- on Blu-ray for the first time in the US. I'm a bit disappointed that the US release of the film isn't included.





The other important disc that week, Solomon Kane, is finally appearing on DVD and Blu-ray in the US after seeing discs and a theatrical release in Europe, although it has been on streaming services here. I've heard mixed reactions to this film. I know that I shouldn't expect Howard's version of Kane, so I am just expecting a good period adventure film.

On September 3rd, we find the US version of Dracula, Prince of Darkness. After an initial test of the Region 1 waters, Millennium Films and Hammer start to bring us US versions of restoration project discs already being released in the UK. This looks like a direct port of the Region B disc, and more information including extras and the final cover art may be found in the recent press release. I think the UK cover art is much better. The other important bit, buried in the middle of the press release, is "Millennium is also planning to release several other Hammer Films on Blu-ray later this year including Quartermass and the Pit, The Plague of the Zombies, and The Devil Rides Out."

Finally, a bit further out on October 21st, is The Vincent Price Collection on Blu-ray from Shout Factory. Titles include The Fall of House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of the Red Death, Witchfinder General, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes. All of these titles have been released previously by MGM on DVD under the Midnite Movies banner, and it is unclear right now what sort of remastering and clean-up the titles have been given in HD for Blu-ray. Presumably we will see more details as the date draws near. Despite owning the Midnite Movies releases of each film, I'm bound to pick this up because... it's Vincent Price. On Blu-ray. I'm glad to support the project if we get high quality transfers.

Some Notes for a Hammer Horror/Ravenloft/WFRP RPG campaign mashup

I had intended for this post to be part of the May RPG Blog Carnival, "Campaigns I'd Like to Run", but I did not get it wrapped up by the end of the month.

Transylvania, land of dark forests, dread mountains and black, unfathomed lakes, still the home of magic and devilry... Count Dracula, monarch of all vampires, is dead, but his disciples live on, to spread the cult and corrupt the world.

This campaign setting is a fantastic alternate-history horror mashup of the world as presented in Hammer Horror movies, Ravenloft, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The European landscape of this world has some of the fantastic elements found in alt-European settings such as Castle Falkenstein and Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death. Additional inspiration can be found in the Solomon Kane stories of Robert E. Howard, the Ravenloft art of Stephen Fabian, Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night, and GURPS Creatures of the Night.

What is the campaign about?

It is not heresy, and I will not recant!

The world is more that what it appears to be on the surface. Despite the perception that scientific study is bringing forward progress, folk legends and superstitions of the occult are true and very real. Werewolves roam the dark primeval forests, witches brew potions and place hexes on the unwary, ghosts roam the halls of power, sorcerers attempt to summon and bind demons, and vampires prey on the living. When confronted with this evidence, men and women of every station across Europe and around the world meet the challenge of holding back the forces of darkness in a secret war of wills and knowledge.

How does the game do this?

In much the same fashion as Call of Cthulhu, the player characters are ordinary people who find themselves investigating the malevolent machinations of vampire families, gorgons, witch cults, and other fantastic foes. Ingolstadt and Carlsbrück are likely central locations for the PCs to operate from.

I expect that most of what I would lift from the Ravenloft material would be locations and floor plans, general adventure seeds, inspiration for NPCs, and of course the art.

Most of my ideas for setting the tone of the campaign have been in deciding how to plan out the system and house rules.

* Lamentations of the Flame Princess for the base rules system (B/X D&D with some variations, and it already assumes an early modern historical setting).
* Careers from Small but Vicious Dog (B/X version of WFRP).
* Magic would be available as low-level cantrips and at higher levels, rituals. Some magic effects would be available through alchemical potions and devices for mad scientists.
* Either Jim's Death, Dismemberment and Dangerous Damage table or Kirin's Death and Dismemberment Table.
* Jack's Dark Secrets table from the first TotGaD compendium (for character backgrounds and future plot hooks).
* Aspects from FATE - These could be combined with the Dark Secrets to further add a cinematic quality to the characters. Also, more ways to complicate their lives.
* Firearms are tricky. I could cobble together something based on Renaissance d100, or use Dak's firearms rules. The updated printing of LotFP includes firearms rules, although I have not checked it.

Film Inspirations:

Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter
Brides of Dracula
Revenge of Frankenstein
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Plague of the Zombies
The Vampire Lovers
The Curse of the Werewolf
The Devil Rides Out
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Taste the Blood of Dracula
Frankenstein Created Woman
Witchfinder General
Blood on Satan's Claw
Horror Express

100 years of Peter Cushing

Today was the 100th anniversary of Peter Cushing's birthday. The video below is a clip that was added to the end of part 2 of Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror when it aired on BBC1.

Hammer DVD and Blu-ray releases in April

After a long dry spell, April sees the release of several Hammer Horror classics on home video. Each one had been released previously but are now back again after being out-of-print.

The Hammer Horror 3 Feature Film Set from Millennium Films is out next Tuesday, April 2nd, a 2-DVD collection including Dracula, Prince of Darkness, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and Frankenstein Created Woman. These titles were previously released as part of Anchor Bay's Hammer Collection. No word on any extras for this set, although the press release mentions "new extras" and Blu-ray collector editions. This may be an initial release to test the market demand, as "a full release schedule is planned", and if so the under-$10 price at online retailers makes this an easy decision.


On the 30th, Shout Factory brings us The Vampire Lovers on Blu-ray. This first entry in the Karnstein Trilogy stars Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith and Peter Cushing. MGM released this film on a Midnite Movies double-feature DVD with Countess Dracula, which is also due on Blu-ray (at some unspecified point) from Synapse Films. The MGM disc extras carry over, along with some new interviews with Madeline Smith and Hammer film scholars.

More Hammer Horror on Blu-ray next week

I have been neglectful in posting details about upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases lately. Next week sees the release of the long-awaited final installment of Hammer's "Karnstein Trilogy", Twins of Evil, in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

Extras include a new feature-length documentary on the Karnstein Trilogy, a featurette on what appears to be Hammer historian Wayne Kinsey's prop collection, stills, a deleted scene, and an isolated music and effects track.

Vampire Circus, the first of Synapse Films' Hammer Blu-ray series, was released near the end of last year. Two more are expected in the near future: Hands of the Ripper and Countess Dracula.

Birthdays of horror legends

I have been so wrapped up in work and school lately, I completely forgot about the anniversaries of Peter Cushing's birthday (May 26th) and Vincent Price's birthday (May 27th), along with Christopher Lee's 90th birthday (May 27th). Mrs. Kaiju and I hold these gentlemen in very high regard as masters of the horror genre, with legacies that extend throughout film making, popular culture and gaming.

I have posted tributes to them here in the past on these occasions. The video below is a clip that was added to the end of part 2 of Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror when it aired on BBC1.

Hammer Horror and Godzilla DVD/Blu-ray News

I have been out of the loop and not keeping track of DVD news this month, and I am ashamed. Big thanks to Gareth Skarka for posting about the news related to Hammer horror films.

The studio has been working on restoring "more than 30 films", utilizing print sources in the UK and the US. Quatermass and the Pit has already been released on Blu in the UK, with Dracula, Prince of Darkness on the way next in March. They plan to announce a US/Region 1 distributor soon.

The restored version of Dracula (1958, Horror of Dracula in the US) is being screened in London in mid-February. The exciting news about it is that this restored edition uses the extra footage from the Japanese release, cut from UK and US prints. The footage was found at the The Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. At long last we get to see the full original film. More information about the ongoing restorations at the BBC and the official restoration blog.

The Criterion Collection's DVD/Blu-ray release of Gojira (1954)/Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) is on track for release this week. Toho Kingdom has an interview with Curtis Tsui, the producer responsible for this disc.

Godzilla getting "the Criterion treatment" has been a goal since the laserdisc days, so it's great to see that it's finally happening. It's quite possible that, as suggested in the interview, this may be the greatest amount of pre-sales for a title in Criterion history. Everything I hear about the print quality and restoration efforts suggests that it has been worth the wait.

More upcoming British horror films on DVD

Peter Sasdy was born in Budapest, but made his career as a film and TV director in England -- notably with three films for Hammer: Taste the Blood of Dracula, Hands of the Ripper, and Countess Dracula with Ingrid Pitt. After these, he hit his stride as a director of thrillers, including Nothing but the Night in 1973.

Going into the 1970s, it was clear that the glory days of Hammer were past, and several members of that community were looking for new opportunities. Christopher Lee formed his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, with producer Anthony Nelson-Keys, in the hopes of creating interesting science-fiction and horror films with intelligent scripts. Charlemagne's first -- and only -- film, Nothing but the Night, teams Lee with his long-time friend Peter Cushing and Diana Dors in a thriller about possessed children on a remote island. It's finally out on DVD next week from Scorpion Releasing. Extras include a trailer and liner notes by Cushing biographer Christopher Gullo.

Countess Dracula has previously been available on an MGM Midnite Movies double-feature disc with the other Ingrid Pitt vampire film, The Vampire Lovers. Synapse Films is currently in the middle of releasing several Hammer films as Blu-ray/DVD combo packs, and plans to offer Countess Dracula next year after finishing Twins of Evil and Hands of the Ripper.

Out-of-print DVDs through the Warner Archive

One of the new releases from the Warner Archive made-on-demand DVD program last week was the Hammer "space western", Moon Zero Two. In addition to having another Hammer film available, this is also significant because it had been previously released on DVD several years ago, on a Warner Sci-Fi Double Feature disc along with the Hammer prehistoric epic When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. This DVD went out-of-print quickly, presumably because of an incorrect rating.

The set of new releases for this week include several more Warner Brothers titles that had been previously released on DVD, including more from the Warner Sci-Fi collection. A few weeks back Akira Kurosawa's Dreams went up on the Archive.

It appears that WB is moving toward using the Archive as a way to re-release catalog DVD titles that have gone out-of-print. With any luck, that means we'll see Dinosaurs... on disc again. It's too bad that they aren't being given a regular DVD release, but the made-on-demand discs are so much better than not being available at all.

Jimmy Sangster, RIP

Producer, screenwriter and director Jimmy Sangster passed away on Friday. He was 83. His scripts for both Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (Horror of Dracula in the U.S.) were absolutely essential for the rise of the Hammer Horror aesthetic.

This almost wasn't the case. In Sangster's version of the story, he was approached to write the script for Curse after suggesting several ideas for the studio, even though he wasn't going to be paid for it beyond his role as production manager. After the success of Curse he wrote the script for Dracula, The Mummy, and several other early horror classics for Hammer. In the Seventies, he wrote Hammer's remake of Curse starring Ralph Bates, The Horror of Frankenstein, but only on the condition that he could direct. His main interest was always with psychological and crime thrillers; he also produced most of those scripts including two films with Bette Davis, and directed Fear in the Night with Joan Collins.

He later wrote for U.S. television, including The Night Stalker, Ghost Story, The Six Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman.

Sangster was one of the last major creative crewmembers from the "golden age" of Hammer Horror. Most recently, director Roy Ward Baker passed away last year.

Read horror media expert Kim Newman's excellent obit for Sangster here.

Cult Classic of the Week: The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

Hammer Film Productions was formed in 1934, but by the end of the Thirties it was primarily a distributor of films produced elsewhere. After World War II in-house film production resumed, mostly consisting of crime and mystery films. In the mid-1950s Hammer would rise to prominence with two film adaptations of the television series Quatermass and the first of their horror films, The Curse of Frankenstein. These proved so popular that Hammer continued with a series of films using the same characters--Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein--including The Revenge of Frankenstein in 1958 and The Evil of Frankenstein in 1964.

Baron Frankenstein continues his grisly experiments until the local clergyman discovers his "blasphemy". Fleeing with his assistant Hans, the Baron decides to return to his home in Karlstaad, thinking that the residents will have forgotten him after a ten-year absence. They make their way back to his abandoned and looted chateau using the local carnival festival as cover. With the assistance of a deaf and mute beggar girl, they find Frankenstein's original creature frozen in a mountaintop glacier. The Baron enlists a carnival hypnotist to get though to his creation's damaged mind. The hypnotist, however, has other plans for the monster...

Along with the later film Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Evil... is usually set apart from the other movies in the Hammer Frankenstein series. Horror... is a remake of Curse of... with a dark comedic bent. Evil... started out as an unproduced script from the TV series Tales of Frankenstein. The plot device of a hypnotist who can get through to the creature's damaged brain carried over from that script.

Because of the distribution deal with Universal Pictures, the production had more money to work with in its budget. This arrangement also allowed Hammer to use Universal's intellectual property, whereas in the previous films they were prevented from doing so for copyright reasons. The creature makeup in Evil... was the most similar in the series to Jack Pierce's famous makeup design for Boris Karloff. The machinery in Baron Frankenstein's lab is modeled after Kenneth Strickfaden's electrical set pieces. The monster is found frozen in ice, as seen in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The backlot set of the village is like the German village set from the Universal backlot. In look and feeling, the film itself was much more like one of the Universal Frankenstein films.

This similarity to the Universal monster films became a sticking point among fans at the time of its release. Hammer had charted their own new course with the previous films, and this return to a more standard style of storytelling appeared to be a step backward. Another point of contention was its place in the timeline. Evil... has a flashback sequence to a different set of events that were not in the first two movies. The creature wasn't shot and chased into the mountains in the first film; there's no mention of the Baron's escape from the guillotine or his "escape" from the authorities at the end of the second film. Frankenstein's personality is also different in Evil... In the first two films, he is cold, calculating, and clever enough to evade his pursuers, including the police and the medical association. In this film, the Baron is less in control of situations.  He flaunts his superiority over the villagers and can't control his temper in a local inn, leading to his arrest. He also trusts a sideshow hypnotist with his greatest creation. For reasons such as these, many fans see this as a stand-alone film apart from the normal series.

The Evil of Frankenstein is essential viewing for anyone watching the entire Hammer Frankenstein series. On its own, it's a good Frankenstein movie, harkening back to the classic Universal films. Peter Cushing is great as usual but limited by the material he's given. He still manages some standout scenes. As far as interesting movies that do something different, Curse of... and Revenge... are the better films. I watched this on DVD as part of Universal's terrific 8-movie, 2-disc set The Hammer Horror Series.

Upcoming DVD releases

I haven't been keeping up with DVD release news for about five weeks now, so -- wouldn't you know it? -- that's the time when there are some big announcements.

 

Hammer fans can now get the DVD of The Creatures the World Forgot from Sony's Screen Classics Manufactured-On-Demand series. The last of the three prehistoric epics from Hammer (including One Million Years B.C. and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth), Creatures... is notable for the near-total lack of dialogue. The story is told through the actions of the characters (no stop-motion dinosaurs, either). It was released on VHS years ago but has only been available recently as a download or streaming rental through Amazon Video on Demand.

 

The Warner Archive continues rolling out great films from the vault through their MOD program. One of the latest releases is the Rankin/Bass-produced film The Last Dinosaur, which has special effects by Tsuburaya Productions. From the IMDB:

Science has announced the discovery of a lost land hidden inside the warm pocket of a dormant volcano under the polar ice cap. Masten Thrust, a billionaire oil tycoon and big-game hunter, is recruited to lead a team there to study the last living dinosaurs. Upon arriving, Thrust and his team find that the hidden world is populated with both dinosaurs and prehistoric humans. While the humans give the explorers a fair bit of trouble, the real danger is the hungry tyrannosaur intent on making lunch out of the Great White Hunter and his crew.

This was originally planned as a theatrical release but was shown in the US as a TV-movie. I only remember vague mentions of this; I don't believe I ever saw it on TV.

Speaking of MOD discs, Sony has made an agreement with Warner Brothers to sell their Screen Classics on Demand from the Warner Archive web store. It makes sense -- Warner Archive has become the MOD powerhouse among the studios and (even better) Warner Archive has regular sales and coupon codes. MGM's own foray into the made-on-demand business had some false starts with Amazon, although it appears that MGM MOD discs are being made available now through Screen Archives Entertainment, the fine folks who bring us Film Score Monthly limited edition soundtrack CDs and other treasures.

Legend Films has released various movies from the Paramount back-catalog, and on May 3rd we get an excellent British horror treat: a Blu-ray double-feature of Hammer's The Man who Could Cheat Death and Amicus Productions' The Skull. Legend released these two on DVD previously. Severin Films has Amicus' The House That Dripped Blood in prep for eventual release.

 

Some of the out-of-print single-disc Midnite Movies from MGM appear to be back this month, albeit in a different form. Cover photos were spotted at DVDPlanet (and apparently available on Amazon). There are at least two four-movie sets. One has Morons From Outer Space/Alien From L.A./The Man From Planet X/The Angry Red Planet, the other includes The Land That Time Forgot/The People That Time Forgot/Panic In Year Zero/The Last Man On Earth (that's a steal at $10). Let's hope MGM/Fox re-packages some of the other OOP Midnite Movies titles. It appears that a few single-movie MM discs are on the way from their MOD program.

Public domain-content provider Film Chest has restored and released Roger Corman's 1963 film The Terror as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. The movie was made in a matter of days using the magnificent sets left over from Corman's Poe film The Raven, and extra time left on Boris Karloff's contract. It's impressive considering the circumstances of the shoot. I have a soft spot for The Terror, as I remember it being a staple of Saturday afternoons as a kid. If one of the Corman Poe films were being shown, it was likely to be The Terror -- probably due to its public-domain status. With this high-def release it gets the restoration it deserves.

 

Finally, there has been some buzz about an official DVD release of Godzilla vs. Megalon. As with The Terror, Megalon has been a mainstay of public-domain releases. Nearly every PD video company put out a cheap VHS tape during the '80s and '90s. So far it appears to be speculation. I'm sure there is more to the story, and like many others I hope we see an official release soon.