Icons of Horror: Hammer Films – DVD Review

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 12, 2008, 14:28 GMT

Hammer horror fans will have plenty to crow about with the release of this fine set. The best one is about the lady with a head full of snakes who meets Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Disc One:The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960): Dr. Henry Jekyll (Paul Massie) is an older scientist married to a younger wife, Kitty (Dawn Addams). Dr. Jekyll is testing a drug that brings out the dark side of man. Unbeknownst to Jekyll, Kitty is having an affair with his friend Paul Allen (Christopher Lee), whom Jekyll covers his outstanding debts. Jekyll uses his formula on himself and transforms into the younger Edward Hyde. Hyde has no conscience and decides to take a violent revenge on both Kitty and Paul.

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964): Sir Giles Dalrymple (Jack Gwillim), John Bray (Ronald Howard), and the daughter of a slain Egyptologist Annette Dubois (Jeanne Roland) have uncovered the tomb of Ra-Antef.

The expedition has been funded by Alexander King (Fred Clark) to hopes to turn the treasures into a traveling show (ala P.T. Barnum). On the ship over to England, the group meets up with Adam Beauchamp (Terence Morgan) who offers his mansion as a base for the group as well as making moves on Annette. Soon the mummy (Dickie Owen) has arisen and is making sure that the defilers of his tomb are buried themselves.

Disc Two:The Gorgon (1964): When his son is accused of murder and commits suicide, Professor Heitz (Michael Goddliffe) travels to the village of Vandorf to clear his name. He discovers that the girl his son was supposed to murder has been turned to stone. His trip to the Castle Borski gives him an eyeful of her assailant.

As he turns to stone he writes a letter to his other son Paul (Richard Pasco) who also arrives at the village. He falls in love with the beautiful Carla (Barbara Shelley), the assistant of Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing).

Paul’s blustery friend Professor Meister (Christopher Lee) arrives and has to figure out the riddle of the Gorgon before Paul is also turned to stone.

Scream of Fear (1961): Penny (Susan Strasberg) is a wheelchair bound girl who is returning to the home of the father that she hasn’t seen in nine years. She’s greeted by her stepmother Jane (Ann Todd) and Bob (Ronald Lewis), the chauffer and taken to her father’s house. Her father is out of town, but later that night she sees his corpse in the pool house. She screams and passes out. When she awakens she’s under the care of Dr. Gerrard (Christopher Lee). She insists on being shown the pool house but there’s no sign of her father’s body. She thinks her stepmother might be of the wicked variety after all and she and Bob set out to find dear old dad’s corpse.

The Gorgon is the best of the lot on this set and that might be because of the team up of Hammer legends Lee and Cushing, though they get little screen time together. There’s some effective makeup when Heitz turns to stone – slowly knowing of his own mortality. Chilling stuff that was, however the Gorgon’s snake look a might too plastic. The film makes up for it in atmosphere.

The Jekyll film does a bit of a switch in that its Jekyll who gets made up and Hyde is the young devil. These prints of the films look great and that might be a small downfall for Massie’s Jekyll makeup as it’s easy to tell what is putty and what’s not.

He does things with his voice to differentiate the characters, but the problem is that it’s rather obvious that he’s doing it. Jekyll has a too low growl and Hyde sounds a bit fey. Scream of Fear has some turns we see coming and then one that I didn’t so I suppose that it was more effective than I at first thought. The Mummy’s Tomb is pretty much shot by some reliance on some low comedy and it looses any horror it might’ve generated since the mummy looks like its wearing depends. Any Hammer is welcome and these films look fantastic. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll and The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb are presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and are enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The Gorgon and Scream of Fear are presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) and are enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the trailers for all of the films.

Sadly, it appears the special features budget was spent on the Icons of Adventure Hammer set.

Even if the films may not have aged well in some cases, the prints used look fantastic. These films are sure to please any Hammer fans and are just the thing if you’re looking for a Halloween present. Icons of Horror: Hammer Films is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.