Top Hammer films: all-time classics
The best Hammer films from the horror and sci-fi genres, according to theNeoplatonist's dubious personal sensibilities. In alphabetical order...
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- DirectorVal GuestStarsForrest TuckerPeter CushingMaureen ConnellA kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.Peter Cushing does his usual superb turn as a scientist seeking the Yeti, who in this version have eerie telepathic powers. Very spooky indeed, especially the climax.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingMartita HuntYvonne MonlaurVampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on a beautiful young schoolteacher.Cushing's definitive Van Helsing: a force for good amid decadent, suffocating supernatural corruption.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingHazel CourtRobert UrquhartWhile awaiting execution for murder, Baron Victor Frankenstein tells the story of a creature he built and brought to life - only for it to behave not as he intended.Gothic horror/sci-fi at its pinnacle. Lee and Cushing's first pairing, and a masterful one.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsClifford EvansOliver ReedYvonne RomainIn eighteenth-century Spain, an adopted boy becomes a werewolf and terrorizes the inhabitants of his town.Oliver Reed's first great outing: the man who hides a beast within, and (when transformed) the beast who hides a man. Lush settings.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsMacdonald CareyShirley Anne FieldViveca LindforsAn American tourist, a youth gang leader, and his troubled sister find themselves trapped in a top secret government facility experimenting on children.Bleak stuff where all the goodies... well, I'd better not go any futher, I suppose. Oliver Reed on fine form again as a bike-gang leader.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.Lee and Cushing's second classic outing. The best climax of any Hammer film, maybe of any horror film, especially now it's been fully restored.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsChristopher LeeBarbara ShelleyAndrew KeirTen years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.Fine sequel to "Dracula" in theNeoplatonist's questionable opinion. The whole lead-up to the Count's resurrection is wonderfully evil. Barbara Shelley makes a ghoulishly convincing vampiress.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsPeter CushingPeter WoodthorpeDuncan LamontUpon returning to his home village to continue his experimental research, the destitute Dr. Frankenstein revives his old creature, but a hypnotist wants the monster to control for himself.A complete reboot of the Frankenstein series, which explains the absence of continuity from the previous two outings. Some definite merits: Cushing's performance (of course), the mute orphan girl, Sandor Eles as the Baron's faithful and intelligent sidekick, the grand sets, the no-nonsense pace. Co-financed by Universal, which explains the Karloffian look of the Creature.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeYvonne FurneauxIn 1895, British archaeologists find and open the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka with nefarious consequences.In theNeoplatonist's mouldering opinion, the best of the Mummy versions. Lee and Cushing again, with a staggering performance by Lee as the fast-moving, tragic Mummy. An epic.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJack WarnerRichard WordsworthProfessor Bernard Quatermass' manned rocket ship returns to Earth, but two of the astronauts are missing and the survivor seems ill and unable to communicate.Hammer's first adaptation of the BBC tv Quatermass serials. Excellent all round, with brilliant performance by Richard Wordsworth as the infected astronaut.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJohn LongdenSidney JamesProfessor Quatermass, trying to gather support for his Lunar colonisation project, is intrigued by mysterious traces that have been showing up.Possibly the greatest of all alien/government conspiracy movies.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsJames DonaldAndrew KeirBarbara ShelleyA mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.Third and best of the adaptations of the BBC serials. Andrew Keir does a stunning Quatermass. The Martian spaceship, especially when it "comes alive", is the epitome of weirdness.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingFrancis MatthewsEunice GaysonHaving escaped execution and assumed an alias, Baron Frankenstein transplants his deformed underling's brain into a perfect body, but the result proves to be mortally perilous.Good imaginative sequel to "The Curse of Frankenstein".
- DirectorPeter SasdyStarsChristopher LeeGeoffrey KeenGwen WatfordAfter killing his disciple, three English gentlemen unwittingly resurrect Count Dracula, who seeks to avenge his servant by making the trio die by the hands of their own children.TheNeoplatonist is not so keen on the Dracula franchise after "Dracula Prince of Darkness", but this one has just about enough going for it to merit a place here.