This is a great film indeed. Reminded me of something like Cronenberg's Dead Ringers with Jeremy Irons as twins. There are a lot of films about The Krays, a subject that keeps coming back.
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This is a great film indeed. Reminded me of something like Cronenberg's Dead Ringers with Jeremy Irons as twins. There are a lot of films about The Krays, a subject that keeps coming back.
Yes. I watched another film just called The Krays which was also very well done.
Hot Summer Nights. Stars Timothee Chalamet as a 'teenager who gets in over his head dealing drugs with the neighborhood rebel while persuing his new partner's enigmatic sister'. Pretty much a by the numbers movie with no surprises. This is listed on IMBD as being released after Call Me By Your Name (in which Timothee showed the world that he was a force to be reckoned with) but he really isn't given a chance to shine in this movie. Even the director states in the 'Making of' featurette that he is amazed at how Timothee uses the smallest facial expressions to convey what he is feeling and yet there aren't many close-ups of his face. What? It's a welcome addition to my Chalamet collection though.
Watched Brides of Dracula (1960) for the first time in a long time. I found out it's also in a set from the same distributor with three other Hammer films and a documentary on bonus disc. Should have gotten that instead probably. Sometimes it's complex to find out about all the Hammer releases, because they're released in many different configurations.But Amazon charges a lot (13 euro) for returns, so I might as well keep it.
It looks beautiful on blu-ray though. It's quite grainy, which is sometimes a bit of a shame, because the grain shows up as black spots on some of the white faces of the vampires. But it's nothing you can do about, it's just the grain that's in the film it was shot on and especially on releases of older films it always quite shows up. But as a whole it's not too distracting, especially with colour films. And Hammer is known for its use of colour. There are always these parts in the background of the sets where there is a hue of a certain colour: there are blues, greens, reds, oranges and especially early on in this film a lot of purple - both in the lighting and the costumes in various shades and intensities. Today's films still do that, but they do it differently - it's more often used on an actor's face, and there is more justification for it in terms of factual light within the story, for example the light of a dashboard of a car, a flashing light on a police car or neon signs.
Since I saw most of the Hammer films on a black and white tv in my youth I always really appreciate to see them in colour.
What's nice about the Hammer films is that they take you to another time. A more innocent time in a way. The main characters are often quite nice and naive (why else would they go to Castle Dracula?). Brides of Dracula has a very sweet French schoolteacher in the lead, Marianne Danielle (played by French actress Yvonne Monlaur, who also turns up in Hammer's Terror of the Tongs). It's the kind of character who only wants to do good, like a fairytale princess, and is really shocked to find Baron Meinster (David Peel) held captive by a chain in his own castle by his own mother.
Apparently Christopher Lee was unavailable to return as Dracula in a sequel to the original 1958 hit (some sources say his agent tried to broker a salary for him that was too high), so the handsome David Peel was chosen, who makes for an excellent vampire. It also was a way to attract a younger audience.
So, in effect, it becomes a Van Helsing sequel rather than a Dracula one, with Peter Cushing returning as the vampire hunter and folklore specialist.
What you also notice about classic films like this, is that there is no sound design. In a modern film there is almost never a completely silent moment - there is always music, some sound effect or some sort of background humming noise, especially with horrorfilms that want to create as much tension as possible. In a film like this there can be minutes of silence of Peter Cushing just searching a castle. But it works so well when the action suddenly explodes, with the typical loud Hammer music that erupts when he's confronted with a vampire.
In terms of story these films don't do so much, it's mostly about the mood and the, at the time, shocking moments. It's like the idea to have blood and vampires on the screen in full colour was enough to satisfy the audience.
Since Hammer always used the same film crew, actors, sets and locations it feels like all these films take place in a shared universe. Usually the names of the towns are German sounding, although you never quite feel it's actually in Germany - it all feels too British.
One minor complaint is the time the films sometimes devote to some sort of comic relief that usually isn't very funny; maybe it was at the time as the public might have laughed at simpler things. I suppose the audiences were so shocked at the time, it was felt needed to have some laughs.
I had forgotten most about this film, including the climax which takes place in a mill. This is quite surprising as the mill climax is much more associated with Frankenstein because of the Universal film.
There are also some nice extras, including a photogallery with the many beautiful posterdesigns and a 30 minute documentary about the making which gives a good idea of the actual lay-out of the Bray studios (in Bray, Berkshire) and where each of the four stages were located and which stage was intended for which kind of scenes, as they all had particular sizes and characteristics.
It looks beautiful on blu-ray though. It's quite grainy, which is sometimes a bit of a shame, because the grain shows up as black spots on some of the white faces of the vampires. But it's nothing you can do about, it's just the grain that's in the film it was shot on and especially on releases of older films it always quite shows up. But as a whole it's not too distracting, especially with colour films. And Hammer is known for its use of colour. There are always these parts in the background of the sets where there is a hue of a certain colour: there are blues, greens, reds, oranges and especially early on in this film a lot of purple - both in the lighting and the costumes in various shades and intensities. Today's films still do that, but they do it differently - it's more often used on an actor's face, and there is more justification for it in terms of factual light within the story, for example the light of a dashboard of a car, a flashing light on a police car or neon signs.
Since I saw most of the Hammer films on a black and white tv in my youth I always really appreciate to see them in colour.
What's nice about the Hammer films is that they take you to another time. A more innocent time in a way. The main characters are often quite nice and naive (why else would they go to Castle Dracula?). Brides of Dracula has a very sweet French schoolteacher in the lead, Marianne Danielle (played by French actress Yvonne Monlaur, who also turns up in Hammer's Terror of the Tongs). It's the kind of character who only wants to do good, like a fairytale princess, and is really shocked to find Baron Meinster (David Peel) held captive by a chain in his own castle by his own mother.
Apparently Christopher Lee was unavailable to return as Dracula in a sequel to the original 1958 hit (some sources say his agent tried to broker a salary for him that was too high), so the handsome David Peel was chosen, who makes for an excellent vampire. It also was a way to attract a younger audience.
So, in effect, it becomes a Van Helsing sequel rather than a Dracula one, with Peter Cushing returning as the vampire hunter and folklore specialist.
What you also notice about classic films like this, is that there is no sound design. In a modern film there is almost never a completely silent moment - there is always music, some sound effect or some sort of background humming noise, especially with horrorfilms that want to create as much tension as possible. In a film like this there can be minutes of silence of Peter Cushing just searching a castle. But it works so well when the action suddenly explodes, with the typical loud Hammer music that erupts when he's confronted with a vampire.
In terms of story these films don't do so much, it's mostly about the mood and the, at the time, shocking moments. It's like the idea to have blood and vampires on the screen in full colour was enough to satisfy the audience.
Since Hammer always used the same film crew, actors, sets and locations it feels like all these films take place in a shared universe. Usually the names of the towns are German sounding, although you never quite feel it's actually in Germany - it all feels too British.
One minor complaint is the time the films sometimes devote to some sort of comic relief that usually isn't very funny; maybe it was at the time as the public might have laughed at simpler things. I suppose the audiences were so shocked at the time, it was felt needed to have some laughs.
I had forgotten most about this film, including the climax which takes place in a mill. This is quite surprising as the mill climax is much more associated with Frankenstein because of the Universal film.
There are also some nice extras, including a photogallery with the many beautiful posterdesigns and a 30 minute documentary about the making which gives a good idea of the actual lay-out of the Bray studios (in Bray, Berkshire) and where each of the four stages were located and which stage was intended for which kind of scenes, as they all had particular sizes and characteristics.
Identity Thief starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. I liked this one. There are a few LOL moments and lots of chuckles.
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
I would like to see this - the character who plays Adolf was also in a movie called What We Do in the Shadows"; I just ordered the book this movie is based on from my local library [Caging Skies by Christine Leunens]
Yes neesy, his name is Taika Waititi, he directed What We Do In The Shadows and he directed Jojo Rabbit as well, I think you'll like the movie.I would like to see this - the character who plays Adolf was also in a movie called What We Do in the Shadows"; I just ordered the book this movie is based on from my local library [Caging Skies by Christine Leunens]
Have you ever seen "Lawless" with Tom Hardy and Shia Lebeouf, DJ? It's just about my favorite Tom Hardy movie. It's a really good movie about moonshiners in West Virginia. My family was in the same "business" during prohibition, both sides of my family apparently...lol
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
I wonder what Andy would think of it - I thought "What We Do in the Shadows" was very funny but he just didn't get it.
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
I love old Hammer Horror films
They have the feel of fairytales. It doesn't feel like they're taking place in the normal world, but rather in their own universe, just like fairytales. I always love the day-for-night shots in the forests - it gives the forests this kind of surreal twilight look.
Well that’s a good way to startThe Thing
Midnight screening on 35mm. Gorgeous archive print from Universal.
Show was just about old out! And about half the audience hadn't seen it before
I love this movie more than I can say. You do know, they're werewolves, not swearwolves.
No. I'll have to find it. Tom is just a damn good actor.
Yep and he's a bad ass in Lawless. His accent is awesome. Isn't he from England? You wouldn't know it in that movie, he sounds like a pissed off hillbilly from start to finish.
It's on Netflix currently.
I'll try to catch it this weekend. And yes, he is from England.
Oh, my hillbilly roots are deep. NorthCarolina, Tennesse, Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas. In doing ancestry, I found an article on an ancestor running from the revenue men. May he and his still rest in peace(s).