NEWS: INDICATOR PREPARES FIRST EVER RELEASE ON BLU RAY OF AN AMICUS FILMS CLASSIC!

NEWS: No fixed details yet, but #INDICATOR are currently working on what will be the very first release of Amicus films, 'I MONSTER' (1971) starring #ChristopherLee, #PeterCushing and Mike Raven. This is one that has been a very long time coming and most welcome.
 

PART ONE of the behind the scenes PCASUK RARE STILLS Gallery, is RIGHT HERE! 

PART TWO IS RIGHT HERE!

ABOVE: The USA cinema trailer for Amicus films, 'I, MONSTER' starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. A film with a production story, that sometimes is even more dramatic than the film!

THERE ARE NO details on extras, region or stats, but I LOVE that case and poster image design 😊😉

INDICATOR ANNOUNCE HAMMER FILMS VOLUME FOUR : FACES OF EVIL BLU RAY BOX SET

NEWS: INDICATOR have announced Hammer Volume Four Face Of Fear Box set featuring THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL, TASTE OF FEAR, THE DAMNED. Release date: 18 November 2019
Limited Blu-ray Edition (UK premieres on Blu-ray) 

FOUR CLASSIC HAMMER FILM CHILLERS presented on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK. Accompanied by a wealth of new and archival extras – including exclusive new documentaries, audio commentaries, alternative versions, new and archival cast and crew interviews, a series of appreciations of their female stars, analyses of their composers’ scores, and extensive booklets – this stunning limited edition box set is strictly 26,000 numbered units
All extras subject to change

REGION FREE

INDICATOR LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

New 4K restoration : Original mono audio
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by celebrated horror and fantasy authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (2019)
A Frankenstein for the 20th Century (2019): video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin
Hammer's Women – Eunice Gayson (2019): profile of the Hammer star by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson
David Huckvale on Leonard Salzedo (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde
Super 8 version: original cut-down home cinema presentation
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by filmmaker Joe Dante
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with new essays by Marcus Hearn and Kieran Foster, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews, and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by film historians Josephine Botting and Jonathan Rigby (2019)
Interview with Paul Massie (1967): rare archival audio interview with the film’s star
Hammer's Women – Dawn Addams (2019): British cinema expert Laura Mayne explores the life and career of the UK-born star
David Huckvale on Monty Norman (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by Josh Olson
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with a new essay by Kat Ellinger, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

TASTE OF FEAR

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
Alternative presentation with US Scream of Fear title sequence
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary with Kevin Lyons, editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television (2019)
The BFI Interview with Jimmy Sangster (2008): archival audio recording of the celebrated filmmaker and screenwriter in conversation with Marcus Hearn at London’s National Film Theatre
The BEHP Video interview with Jimmy Sangster (2008): archival video recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring Sangster in conversation with Jonathan Rigby
The BEHP Interview with Douglas Slocombe – Part Two (1988): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the renowned cinematographer in conversation with Sidney Cole
Fear Makers (2019): interviews with camera operator Desmond Davis, assistant editor John Crome and clapper loader Ray Andrew
Hammer's Women – Ann Todd (2019): Melanie Williams, author of Female Stars of British Cinema profiles the English star and producer
David Huckvale on Clifton Parker (2019): new appreciation of the renowned composer
Super 8 version of Scream of Fear: original cut-down home cinema presentation
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by Sam Hamm
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with an essay by Marcus Hearn, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

THE DAMNED

New 2K restoration
Original mono audio
Two presentations of the film: The Damned, the original UK theatrical release version; and These Are the Damned, the complete and uncut restoration which first premiered in 2007
New and exclusive documentary about the film, produced by Hammer expert Marcus Hearn (2019)
Audio commentary by film historians Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger (2019)
Beneath the Surface (2019): new interview with filmmaker Gavrik Losey, son of director Joseph Losey
Interview with actor Shirley Anne Field (2019)
Interview with screenwriter Evan Jones (2010)
Children of 'The Damned' (2019): new interviews with actors Kit Williams, David Palmer and Christopher Witty
Hammer's Women – Viveca Lindfors (2019): profile of the renowned actor by critic and film historian Lindsay Hallam
David Huckvale on James Bernard (2019): new appreciation of the celebrated composer
Beyond Black Leather (2019): appreciation by film expert I Q Hunter
No Future (2019): analysis by author and film historian Neil Sinyard
Original theatrical trailer
Trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation by filmmaker Joe Dante
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition box set exclusive booklet with a new essay by Richard Combs, archival interview materials, historical articles, contemporary reviews and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray

Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units
All extras subject to change
REGION FREE

PREORDER CLICK HERE! 

THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA : WARNER BROTHERS BLU RAY : REVIEWED SCREEN CAPTURED GIFS AND GALLERY

SPOILERS ALERT! IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING, MOST YOU WHO HAVE come here to read this review will know that 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' was the last film in the Hammer Dracula series, to star Christopher Lee as The Count, and also the final time that Peter Cushing would star as Lee's Van Helsing. . .  but I'll say it anyway, because that detail helped to shift and style the film, a film that at first, looks NOTHING like a Hammer Dracula movie!

SUCH WAS THE DISTRIBUTORS unease at what they took to be a miss matched plot, featuring a James Bond type villain vampire, and not knowing how on earth to market it, 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' sat for five years gathering dust in the Warner Vault after production wrapped in 1973, until SIX years later when ex Amicus Films partner, Max Rosenberg picked it up with his bargain basement company, Dynamite Films to then, crop, chop and re-edit the film and before kicking it out in the US, to see if it had any more takers, than the UK limited release had failed to attract . . .

IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING, MOST YOU WHO HAVE come here to read this review will know that 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' was the last film in the Hammer Dracula series, to star Christopher Lee as The Count, and also the final time that Peter Cushing would star as Lee's Van Helsing. . .  but I'll say it anyway, because that detail helped to shift and style the film, a film that at first, looks NOTHING like a Hammer Dracula movie! Such was the distributors unease at what they took to be a miss matched plot, featuring a James Bond type villain vampire, and not knowing how on earth to market it, 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' sat for five years gathering dust in the Warner Vault after production wrapped in 1973, until SIX years later when ex Amicus Films partner, Max Rosenberg picked it up with his bargain basement company, Dynamite Films to then, crop, chop and re-edit the film and before kicking it out in the US, to see if it had any more takers, than the UK limited release had failed to attract . . .

ROSENBERG'S also recrafted the title, 'COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE', offers all you need to know about, why Amicus films always had such naff titles when they hit UK cinemas. It's true, SATANIC RITES, is nowhere in the same realm as Cushing and Lee's first Hammer DRACULA outing in 1958. But back in the days of 1958, Hammer were not only treading on new ground, they were also actually creating some very new earth, ALONG with those steps! Back then, critics blew their gaskets and censors were forever poised with their red pens!  What The Satanic Rites of Dracula gives us is, had it been succesful, a NEW direction and and style, just like back in 1958! 😉

'SATANIC' THOUGH IT HAD STEAM, arrived late at the platform, and after Lee had played the Count in FIVE other Hammer visits to Castle Dracula, wearing out the terrified villagers and squeezing the last drop of any originalty from his many buxom wench-like drought stricken vampires victims. The 'SATANIC' concept was new, refreshing and quite savvy. But it would take decades, before an audience would finally see the point, of more than Dracula's fangs. The truth is the 'Hammer Dracula Truck' had long run out of fuel and backers, the Gothic scene was thought of, as past it and well worn, long beyond the point of predictable. Hammer films were looking for a new direction, a post- Gothic box, in which to repackage and wrap Lee's Dracula. A Dracula which was still bankable and box office, if only they could get Lee to agree to return and also create a 'new scene'.

IT WAS 'THE SCENE', in the truest post psychedelic sense, that provided the new direction and path. For traditionalists, this caused a problem, in two ways. One, the film that had first stepped into this new setting for the Hammer Dracula return . . . after the hit and miss garish and gory 1970 'SCARS OF DRACULA'. .  was DRACULA AD 1972. Based in London, with a gang of hip and trendy 'youngsters' it was dressed in flared pants, flower power vests, platform shoes and had a soul and funky 'Shaft-like' score. And two, all these rebooted qualities even in 72, were slightly out of date and late, by the time Hammer brought their new and relevant setting to the big screen. It's never a good idea to bring in 'men in suits' and already in their late 50's to create a trend or fashion, their idea of youth / gang langauge and lingo for 'the kids'. Their spin and take, has usually already been long taken away and past it.

AND SO, it was declared, even though the NEXT film, would be in some sense a sequel to DRACULA AD 1972, it would drop most of the fashion statements, and focus the concept not on long hair, hot pants and 'time', but craftily pick up a genre, that had been picking up BIG box office returns and small screen profits and followers for the last few years. The world of Spies, Intrigue, Bankers, Science and the James Bond Villain! The script writer, in my personal opinion got it spot on, not just with SATANIC RITES but DRACULA AD 1972 also. Hammer had run out of DRACULA puff, both 'SCARS' and 'TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA' suffer from Christopher Lee's reluctance to appear in the films, reducing his screen time, affecting the story, side tracking into support casts love stories and 'dirty mac brigade' titillation . ..  more importantly, everything produced after the 1968 DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS, failed to provide DRACULA with a worthy and competent advisory. Van Helsing Hammer's box office vampire slayer, was AWOL! It was only when Cushing returned, and the story was given some historical character back bone detail, that Dracula truly engages in, that we are to some respect, back in the frame of anything resembling what we love about that 1958 classic. Danger. Emotion. Conflict and Reason. 

THE SCRIPT WRITER for both films, AD and Satanic was Don Houghton. Don had written episodes of the BBC series DOCTOR WHO, ACE OF WANDS and 38 episodes of drama and doctor stories in tv's 'EMERGENCY WARD 10'. Though not really responsible for the flapping fashion, the 'cool man' dig it lingo, Don's feel for drama and tension is spot on and would serve him well just a few years later, in the very popular tv series, 'The Professionals'. Houghton's mixing of the Hammer Gothic DRACULA, with a wink to black magic and the historical baggage of the Van Helsing family, worked like a treat! For some, that is. As in 1972, there are still some traditionalist Hammer fans, that will not watch AD or Satanic Rites nor except the changes that Broughton brought to these productions. . .   Even though, there are many moments of high drama within the re-connection and appearance of Lee and Cushing, battling on the screen together again, that offer some great scenes and moments. Moments that had not been seen in previous Hammer Dracula movies, for quite sometime.

IF YOU HAVE SEEN any of the grotty, blurred and rip off VHS and DVD's of 'SATANIC RITES' over the past 30 odd years, you'll have an idea of what most of the story is about, even though watching the fuzzy film, was like it was being reflected on a Fun House Mirror! Needless to say, all that pirated, time wasting and expensive lack of visual quality, has now all gone! The TECHNICAL WONDER of the remastered film, has like the story, been pushed into a NEW AGE, and lovingly remastered onto BLU RAY! 😚😉

SO DOES THE WARNER BROTHERS BLU RAY get THE RITES... RIGHT? Firstly, the good news is, you can take all your previous DVD dodgy copies and put them to rest or in the trash. The Warner Brothers scare ANOTHER MAJOR HIT with their remastering. The colours are beautiful and quite vivid. Skin tones and texture are not waxy, but look real and features are sharp. The blacks are BLACK. There is great depth to interior shots and some of Director Alan Gibson's focus pulls, are a treat to watch. 

SEVERAL TIMES I saw things on screen, I had never seen before. The close up's on Cushing's face, are very clear, as with the details on Christopher Lee's facial reactions, they look surprisingly powerful and different, if you have become used to that blurred DVD version. During the DRACULA death scene, new ellements can now be seen and these too look amazingly clear and again contain touches, you would have not seen before. While watching all these new qualities, you'll be pleased to hear... just THAT! The quality of the audio is excellent. I have watched this blu ray, exactly as I watch all my movies, wearing headphones. I don't want to missed anything! Presented as it was, back in 1973, the soundtrack in mono with a musical score, that has never sounded better. I could not hear any distortions, even when the Valerie Van Ost vampire screamed or the motor cycles or thunder rumbled!

WARNER BROTHERS yet again, score maxium points, continuing their very high standard of remastering excellence, first started with their outstanding Hammer Horror Collection Volume One release box set. Any Hammer, Cushing, Lee, Dracula fan or collector, who has suffered years of the dire poorness of previous releases of this film, would be truly missing out on what is now, the best gob-smacking experence of the film, at last available to watch, enhanced and worth every penny or cent! HIGHLY recommended! 

 

 A FULL REVIEW, GALLERY AND SCREEN CAPTURES from WARNER BROTHERS remastered blu ray of DRACULA AD 1972, coming VERY soon . . 

 

REVIEW: DRACULA IS ALIVE RESSURECTED AND NEVER LOOKED BETTER ON WARNER BROTHERS REMASTERED BLU RAY!

PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE FANS, PCAS followers and all in the US Hammer film fans, have waited a LONG time for the PRINCE of DARKNESS and his number one enemy, to finally cross the Atlantic and set foot, on their home cinema screens! On the 18th of December 2018, Hammer films numero uno Dracula classic, will finally hit the streets . . just like when the vampire king landed on the shores of Whitby, England back in the late 19th century, and frightened EVERYONE to death!

THERE IS EVERY POSSIBILITY, with Warner Brother's REMASTERED BLU RAY release of the BFI restored print, that with Christopher Lee amazing performance and stunning quality of this print, he WILL do it, yet again, for there is  MUCH to be quite shocked and surprised by in this fabulous Warner Brothers Archive release. In the past, just like the Stoker novel of 1897, there have been several nightmares and tense moments concerning the release of the film on blu ray. In 2012, the first blu ray release of the film in the UK, devided fans and techie types, with a print that was remastered, but for some looked like it had been shot with director Terence Fisher holding a BLUE GEL lighting filter in front of expert camera operator's Jack Asher's lens! For a studio that celebrated the rich and throbbing reds and colours of it's gothic sets, furnishings, fangs and well, blood lusting the chilly blue tone resulted in a very cool reception on its release.

IT CAN'T BE DENIED that Warner Brothers Archive releases, have hit many major BULLS EYE not just in the last two months, where they have utterly spoiled us with the fantastic remasters of two later Hammer Cushing and Lee films on blu ray,  DRACULA AD 1972 and THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULAbut also their HAMMER HORROR CLASSICS VOLUME ONE, presented us with new remastered versions of 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave', 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'  AND 'Taste The Blood Of Dracula'! No other version of previous releases of these titles can compete with the visual and sound quality of the Warners blu ray releases!

AS TIME DREW CLOSER, after the announcement from Warner of the planned 1958 DRACULA release, just like the tension of the final ten minutes of the film, we ALL waited to find out if THIS release was going to be yet another Warner triumph with gold stars, or if it was going to shock for ALL the wrong reasons, with the horrible news that the blue tint, had risen yet again and returned to haunt the passionate lovers of this film. It was great relief, on pressing the play button on my blu ray player, that I saw an old friend, but looking MORE than healthy! For those of us, who have watched and wore out our VHS and DVD recordings of the film over the years, we KNOW and are very familiar with its tone, contrast, rich, rich colours and that powerful score and accompanying owl screeching and vampire hisses. Here at last, all those things are back, but now cystral clear, remastered and never looked better.

TERENCE FISHER'S 1958 Dracula / Horror of Dracula US Blu-ray arrival on the red carpet is a stunning  “brand-new presentation, sourced from the British Film Institute/Hammer Film restoration master”. Dracula's  'Blur Period' is over.  Through out,  images are strong with good detail and defined and correct  colouring. Everthing, as you would expect looks balanced and bold when they should do! Like many of you, this film is like an old friend to me. I know it well and what I was seeing and hearing was quite an experince. Familiar, but now better and a HUGE departure from previous releases. THIS is how it was meant to be! Because of the clarity, the depth of the sets like Dracula's first arrival on meeting Harker and the fisty-cuff with Lee and Valerie Gaunt, you get the shadows and creepy light and SIZE of Dracula's den. At last, Bernard Robinson's dedicated set design can be seen in all it's beauty. Flagstone floors, drapes, banners, curtains and even the subtle gold detail on the floor space area, when the Count meets his end, is luscious, clear and quite regal. 

IT IS ONE OF THE MANY things you notice from the first scene where Harker stands outside Castle Dracula and certainly when he steps inside, there are SO MANY colours and some are, for me, seen for the first time! I am please to say, that it also sounds as good as it looks. Dialogue isn't lost in what is sometimes a quite dramatic score, every word can be heard and is crisp. Sound effects to seem to have a new life. The horses during the chase, have a lovely thundering base, Cushing's feet on the wooden and hollow tablle top... and hey, those curtains, come down with quite a crash and Dracula's body THUDS when he hits the floor. You'll be please to hear, that for once... The Count's footsteps are wonderfully absent! As, they should be!   

THERE IS MUCH to be VERY happy about concerning this NEW remastering. I think for once too, fans and admirers of this much loved Cushing and Lee classic Hammer film, will appreciate that the task of remastering has been carried out properly, with an eye for detail with a quality that respects the standards, skills, dedication and artistry, of a cinematic production crew and studio, once long gone, but now . . celebrated and still with us! Consider that past ressurections of the DRACULA are now staked, dead and dust. THIS Dracula, has RISEN and has never looked better. He TRULY IS a terrifying lover who DIED and and yet LIVES!

ON TUESDAY WE POSTED what is our LAST competition for this year, has at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE AND what a PRIZE there is to WIN! 😲 With many thanks to our sponsors at Warner Brothers..we have a PAIR of their latest Peter Cushing Hammer film release... their REMASTERED blu ray of the restored BFI print of Hammer films 1958 DRACULA! All you have to do is guess the answer to our VISUAL competition.
 

AS USUAL I have to ask that you DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWER ON THE PAGE... send it to us using the SEND MESSAGE button UNDER THE COMPETITION BANNER 😉 Any answers or entries posted on the COMMENTS thread will be deleted and not counted as an entry. The competition CLOSES on Wednesday 19th December 2018. So get your ENTRY in now...and maybe you would like to give us a LIKE too? I'd be most grateful 😉Have fun and GOOD LUCK! - Marcu

JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK to the WARNER BROTHERS SHOP site, where you can also purchase your copy of this release!