Cinema Retro London correspondent Adrian Smith brings us the inside story of the recent reunion of Captain Kronos cast members.
The last
eighteen months has seen an impressive array of Hammer-related film events here
in the UK,
most organised by filmmaker and cult-film champion Don Fearney. Saturday, 29 March saw perhaps the most intriguing and popular event so far occur at the Cine
Lumiere in London.
Captain
Kronos: Vampire Hunter is a long forgotten film which was virtually ignored
at the time of its release, even by Hammer themselves. However it has developed
a strong following since becoming available on home video and DVD, and many see
it as one of the strongest entries in the latter end of the Hammer canon,
falling between weaker efforts such as Twins
of Evil and The Satanic Rites of Dracula.
The film
was created and directed by Brian Clemens, best known for his work on TVs The Avengers, and he had also recently
scripted Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde
for Hammer. He has sadly never been asked to direct a film since which is in no
way a reflection of his abilities!
For the
reunion Don Fearney managed to gather the surviving principle actors, including
a rare visit from the star Horst Janson, who is kept very busy on German
television. Fans were delighted to meet Janson along with Brian Clemens,
Caroline Munro, John Cater, William Hobbs, Lois Dane and Lisa Collings. The
queues for autographs lasted well over two hours and circled the lobby of the
Cine Lumiere. The film was screened to rapturous applause, along with Vampire Circus, another favourite with
fans, and Fearney’s new documentary on the Hammer vampire films.
After the
event, Cinema Retro was lucky enough to catch up with Janson, who is still
incredibly handsome after all these years! How did he feel about being at the
event?
“Well I haven’t
seen the film for a long time. It was great to see the film again on a big
screen. It is great especially to see Brian Clemens again, because he is not
the youngest any more! I enjoyed it very much to see all these people again and
to remember the work. We had great fun you know!â€
Having been
a very busy actor for many years now, Janson was unaware of how popular the
film had become. “It was never released in Germany, so the only thing I saw
was when I was dubbing it into German (for the DVD release). I had no idea how
popular it was over here in Britain.
We can only follow these things on the internet. I know how many people are on
my page and mention Captain Kronos!â€
(Read writer Willliam Gagliani's tribute to Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter in issue #9 of Cinema Retro)