EIGHT PUBLICITY PHOTOGRAPHS: 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

OCTOBER RELEASE FOR HAMMER FILMS 'MONSTER FROM HELL' BLU RAY

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell AND Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter make their first Blu-ray appearance this October with an initial release in Australia. A UK/US release will follow shortly. More details to follow soon!

BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE SCREENS FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL MAY 29TH 2013

When Dr Simon Helder is committed to an asylum after being caught experimenting on stolen cadavers, he finds himself in the company of fellow re-animator Baron Frankenstein, who is physician there. The two join forces to continue their research but Helder gradually realises that a fine line separates the inmates from those apparently in charge. This was Terence Fisher’s last film and the final instalment in Hammer’s exploration of the Frankenstein story. Here, Peter Cushing’s Baron reaches his most degenerate, his gaunt yet distinguished appearance giving little inkling of the menace just beneath the surface. 

"To mark the centenary of Cushing’s birth, we are showing Hammer’s new high-definition restoration of his final portrayal of the character that brought him international fame: Baron Frankenstein. We are delighted to welcome Madeline Smith, the film’s co-star, and Joyce Broughton, Cushing’s secretary for 35 years and actor Dave Prowse and host Jonathan Rigby for an extended introduction.. They will also  be promoting the centenary edition of Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, for which Joyce has written the foreword."

FOR TIMES AND MORE DETAILS CLICK HERE

PETER CUSHING AND DAWN ADDAMS: ON SET HAMMER 'VAMPIRE LOVERS'

CAST:

Ingrid Pitt (Carmilla Karnstein/Marcilla), Madeleine Smith (Emma Morton), Harvey Hall (Renton), Kate O’Mara (Mademoiselle Perrodot), Peter Cushing (General Spielsdorf), Pippa Steele (Laura Spielsdorf), George Cole (Roger Morton), Jon Finch (Carl Ebhardt), Douglas Wilmer (Baron Joachim von Hartog), Ferdy Mayne (Doctor)

PRODUCTION:

Director – Roy Ward Baker, Screenplay – Harry Fox, Tudor Gates & Michael Style, Based on the Short Story Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Producers – Harry Fine & Michael Style, Photography – Moray Grant, Music – Harry Robinson, Music Supervisor – Philip Martell, Makeup – Tom Smith, Art Direction – Scott MacGregor. Production Company – Hammer/AIP.

QUICK SYNOPSIS:

A countess and her daughter Marcilla attend a ball held by General Spielsdorf. When the countess is called away by the death of a friend, the General chivalrously agrees to allow Marcilla to stay. Soon after, the General’s daughter Laura starts waking at night, claiming a big cat is in her room. She grows weak and dies in a matter of days from vampire bites at her neck. Marcilla vanishes and is next encountered by wealthy Britisher Roger Morton with a crashed carriage in the woods, now calling herself Carmilla. Carmilla quickly moves in on and seduces Morton’s innocent teenage daughter Emma and her language tutor.

NEWS: BFI CELEBRATES PETER CUSHING CENTENARY WITH A MONSTER FROM HELL!

When Dr Simon Helder is committed to an asylum after being caught experimenting on stolen cadavers, he finds himself in the company of fellow re-animator Baron Frankenstein, who is physician there. The two join forces to continue their research but Helder gradually realises that a fine line separates the inmates from those apparently in charge. This was Terence Fisher’s last film and the final instalment in Hammer’s exploration of the Frankenstein story. 

Here, Peter Cushing’s Baron reaches his most degenerate, his gaunt yet distinguished appearance giving little inkling of the menace just beneath the surface. To mark the centenary of Cushing’s birth, we are showing Hammer’s new high-definition restoration of his final portrayal of the character that brought him international fame: Baron Frankenstein. We are delighted to welcome Madeline Smith, the film’s co-star, and Joyce Broughton, Cushing’s secretary for 35 years, to introduce the screening. They will be promoting the centenary edition of Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, for which Joyce has written the foreword. Event: May 29, 2013 6:30 PM Tickets on sale:09-04-2013 11:30 AM 

The BFI is creating a monster this year. GOTHIC is a celebration of the dark heart of film, with a major season at BFI Southbank and across the UK from October to January 2014. To find out more, visit bfi.org.uk/gothic

 

NEWS: WHAT'S UP NEXT FOR HAMMER FILMS / PETER CUSHING BLU RAYS?

PETER CUSHING / HAMMER FILMS BLU RAY NEWS: Hammer historian Marcus Hearn has been instrumental in the release of the new blu-ray edition of the company’s definitive 1958 version of Dracula. So, which title will be released next? : " The next one we’ll see is Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, so we’re jumping forward to 1972! This was another film which I believe has only ever been seen in its home entertainment versions in a censored form, so we have been able to find extra material for that, which by this era – 1972 – was actually quite gory. We’re going to premiere the restoration of that in May at the NFT to mark the Peter Cushing centenary, and launch Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, which I published. We’re hoping The Mummy will come later this year, which is obviously the third of the foundation of gothic Hammer horror, and the hunt is on for the missing footage of that."

More Here:  CLICK HERE

HAMMER'S MONSTER FROM HELL: SHANE BRIANT AND PETER CUSHING: CENSORED US SHOT

Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein and Shane Briant as Simon Helder in Hammer Films last outing in the Frankenstein saga 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' (1973) Directed by Terence Fisher. This scene was absent from the US release along with a close up of the death of John Stratton the asylum director. Both scenes will be included in Hammer Films Blu Ray release this year. The cast also included ex BBC Dr Who Patrick Troughton, Vampire Lover, Madeline Smith and Bernard Lee from the James Bond movies.

SHANE BRIANT AND PETER CUSHING FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL: HAMMER FILMS PRODUCTIONS (1973)

INGRID PITT AND PETER CUSHING AT 1975 NEW YORK CONVENTION : PHOTOGRAPH.

FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL: PETER CUSHING EYE BALL SHOT

PETER CUSHING HALLOWEEN TREAT : HAMMER FILMS POSTS UP FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL HD ON YOUTUBE

 

The LOVELY people at HAMMER FILMS have given us all a great HALLOWEEN TREAT! Just click on this ink and you can watch Peter Cushing and Shane Briant in 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL for free! Thank you, Hammer and a Happy Halloween!

The film is available to watch UNTIL 6am GMT 1st Nov 2012!

  Click Here: http://bit.ly/RuG1ER

PETER CUHING : SHANE BRIANT : MADELINE SMITH: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL : HAMMER FILMS

 

FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL Hammer Films (1972/1974) Peter Cushing, Shane Briant and Madeline Smith. SMITH: 'I look at that film now and wonder who the girl is. With her very dark hair, a bit podgy in the fizzog, nothing like me at all.

 

I remember that Peter was lovely to work with, but I was still rather nervous because he was such a big star. He got on well with Shane, who was as ferocious in his way about what he did as Peter was. It was terrible to see what grief had done to Peter. He was so painfully thin, and it was if the light had gone out of his eyes. He paid no heed to the hoot-and hollerers, and just got quietly on with the business of making our little film'

PETER CUSHING CLASSIC MOMENT: 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' HAMMER FILM PRODUCTION (1970)

Another PETER CUSHING CLASSIC MOMENT 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' with INGRID PITT!

TERENCE FISHER: VINTAGE INTERVIEW EARLY 70'S: 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

An interesting little interview and piece of promotion that appeared in a 'NEW REVEILLE' magazine in the UK, back in November 1973. I've taken the text and added our own images. Take note of the quote from Terence Fisher about the 'new techniques' they would be using in Dave Prowse's make up...hmmm.

PETER CUSHING: 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' MGM MIDNITE MOVIES DVD / LOBBY STILLS

"Think me not cruel because I obey the irresistible law of my strength and weakness; if your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours. In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die – die, sweetly die – into mine. I cannot help it." Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla (1872)

By the early 1970s, England's Hammer Films needed to rejuvenate their gothic horror cycle and were ready to supplement their successful Christopher Lee Draculas with a new series of vampire stories. Outside producers Harry Fine and Michael Style brought Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu's novelette Carmilla to Hammer's attention, and the rather erotic subject matter made a perfect vehicle for Polish-born beauty Ingrid Pitt, who was being molded as their latest femme fatale. THE VAMPIRE LOVERS was a big success, and shortly thereafter, Pitt was offered the even more challenging role of COUNTESS DRACULA.

In THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, Pitt plays Carmilla (also using the name Mircalla and Marcilla), a centuries-old vampire who has retained her youth and beauty. Governed by Countess Karnstein (Dawn Addams) and a mysterious Dracula-like fellow known as the Man in Black (John Forbes-Robertson), Carmilla becomes a houseguest of General Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and his young niece, Laura (Pippa Steele). Laura grows increasingly ill and eventually dies, while a local doctor (Ferdy Mayne) discovers bite marks on her bosom. Carmilla then seems to vanish into thin air.

Next stop for Carmilla is the home of Mr. Morton (George Cole), and his innocent daughter Emma (Madeline Smith). Carmilla becomes obsessed with Emma, wanting her to love only her, and when Mr. Morton leaves town for a while, the seductive vampiress turns the whole house upside down. Not only does Emma fall victim to Carmilla's prolonged bloodletting and seduction, but so does the governess (Kate O'Mara) and the butler (Harvey Hall). When Mr. Morton returns, he is convinced that the ailing Emma is suffering from vampirism, but General Spielsdorf has coincidentally brought back Barton Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), who had hunted down the bloodthirsty Karnsteins years ago. With the help of young heroic Carl Ebhardt (Jon Finch), the men set out to uncover Carmilla's crypt and destroy her once and for all.

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS carried Hammer into the 70s with a gothic, poetic masterpiece of erotic horror and doomed love. The stunning Ingrid Pitt is one of the screen's finest vamps, and her portrayal of Carmilla is sympathetic and passionate, while cold and calculated at the same time. Her strong performance is supported by a wonderful cast and the atmospheric direction by veteran Roy Ward Baker, delivering his first full-fledged horror film. Peter Cushing's role is small but momentous, as his familiar vampire-slaying antics play a key role here. Cushing's involvement was reportedly demanded by American International Pictures (AIP) who co-produced the film, and released it in the U.S. with an "R" rating, and it's one of the first, if not the first, horror film to land such a label. Two sequels were produced (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, TWINS OF EVIL), and although Pitt did not return in either one, she did come back as COUNTESS DRACULA for Hammer.

MGM's new DVD transfer of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS comes off as a great success. For once, the title is shown in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio (with anamorphic enhancement), finally giving the film the composition it clearly lacked in past video transfers. The picture is virtually flawless, as the pristine source material manifests rich, distinct colors, strong clarity and nice detail. Darker scenes are never too dark and always clear, while day-for-night shots look like nighttime without having their images obscured. The mono sound is clean, with dialog, music and sound effects all emerging clearly. This DVD of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS also restores an often censored frontal shot of a fully nude Ingrid Pitt getting out of a tub, and this is the first time this has been witnessed on home video. MGM's DVD also restores several graphic and essential decapitations and stakings that were cut from the U.S. theatrical print, which ran only 89 minutes. The DVD presents the film at its full 91 minutes.

With the excellent transfer at hand, MGM has also opted to give us a commentary with director Baker, star Pitt and writer Tudor Gates. Moderated by Jonathan Sothcott, this is a wonderful treat for Hammerheads and horror historians alike. Although Pitt was very ill when the commentary was recorded, she is still very passionate about her role and what this film meant to her career, while the ever-spry Baker and Gates provide a lot of info on Hammer head Jimmy Carreas, the producers of the film, as well as sequence which was eliminated against their wishes. Sothcott keeps things interesting by asking about specific cast members and other topics concerning the film. Features for the VAMPIRE LOVERS are rounded out by the original AIP theatrical trailer, as well as passages from Carmilla (12 minutes) read by Ingrid Pitt herself, accompanied by a video montage of rare color photos from the film. A great idea, and nicely executed.

MGM is the first studio outside Anchor Bay to release Hammer films with audio commentaries, so this disc marks a landmark release of sorts. A lot of care an preparation obviously when into restoring the films and producing the extras, so kudos to MGM for giving us one of their best horror DVD releases yet.

review: GEORGE R. REIS.

You can read more of George's reviews here: CLICK HERE

Images: MARCUS BROOKS