Warner Home Video has a nasty Halloween treat for all: the release of the Horror Classics Vol. 1 boxed Blu-ray set. The titles are smartly bound in a hardcover book format, complete with some cool graphics. Each of the films contains the original theatrical trailer as well. Here is the official press release:
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will scare the heck out
of fans when Taste the Blood of Dracula; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave,
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed; and The Mummy are released October 6 in the new
Blu-ray Horror Classics Vol. 1 Collection, just in time for Halloween
celebrations. All films in the collection are newly re-mastered in 1080p HD and
packaged in elegant rigid pocketbook style ($54.96 SRP).
The quartet of classic horror films, featuring cinema
monsters Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy, represent classic examples from
Hammer Film Productions. Founded in 1934, the British company became best known
for a series of gothic horror films and a leader among English filmmakers that
dominated the international horror film market from the mid-1950s through the
early 1970s.
ABOUT THE FILMS
THE MUMMY (1959) In this vivid Technicolor®
reincarnation of The Mummy, screen horror icon Christopher Lee wraps on the
moldy gauze bandages and emerges as the tormented Kharis, an avenger stalking
the hills and bogs of Victorian England to track down archaeologist John
Banning (Peter Cushing) and other desecrators of his beloved Princess Ananka’s
Egyptian tomb. “Lee looks tremendous, smashing his way through doorways and
erupting from green, dreamlike quagmires in really awe-inspiring fashionâ€
(David Pirie, Time Out Film Guide). Awe-inspiring, too, was the box-office
success of this third Hammer reinvigoration – after The Curse of Frankenstein
and Horror of Dracula – of a classic screen monster.
DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968) In his third
incarnation as Bram Stoker’s infamous vampire, horror great and 55-year movie
veteran Christopher Lee goes fang to cross with the forces of good in this
atmospheric Hammer Studios film directed with stylish menace by two-time
Academy Award ® -winning cinematographer Freddie Francis.
FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED! (1969) Baron
Frankenstein’s (Peter Cushing) experiment went wrong, dead wrong. Thus, another
victim lies in a makeshift grave. Suddenly, a water main bursts, forcing the
dead man’s arm to the surface. Next, the torrent heaves the body upward.
Frankenstein’s panicked accomplice tries to conceal the body… but corpses can
be so unwieldy. This creepy scene is a
highlight of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, horror great Peter Cushing’s fifth
Hammer Studios Frankenstein saga. Other cast members of note include
film-debuting Simon Ward (Young Winston) and Freddie Jones (The Elephant Man)
as the scientist’s pitiable new creation.
TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970) Taste the Blood of Dracula, the fourth film
in Hammer Studios’ cycle of’ hemogobbling’ Victorianera horror, is a showcase
of why Hammer became the name in Gothic terror. The solid cast and rich
production design raise goosebumps of real-life fear and otherworld dread. And
Christopher Lee dons his red-lined cape again to become Evil Incarnate. He’s
Count Dracula, a being neither dead nor alive...but his movies are livelier
than ever.
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