Cool News
Along With Some New Hammer Films Comes...A Bunch Of Hammer Books!?!?
Merrick here...
Hammer Films, currently looking to return to motion picture production with projects like THE RESIDENT and LET ME IN (CLOVERFIELD director Matt Reeves' take on LET THE RIGHT ONE IN), is also moving towards publishing books based on its extensive array of properties.
They've allied with PFD (a lit agency in Britain) to make it happen. Per PFD CEO Caroline Michel...
Michel said the agency will look for partnerships with publishers in all territories to "bring new life to the brand with exciting contemporary writers," the way it has done with the James Bond franchise, by tapping scribes such as Sebastian Faulks and Charlie Higson to write books based on the secret agent for different audiences.
[EDIT]
Hammer, which was behind literary based horror pics like "Dracula" and "The Curse of Frankenstein" in the 1950s, currently has 15 pics in development and is wrapping up "The Resident" as its first major release since the 1980s. Thriller, that was helmed by musicvid director Antti Jokinen, stars Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee, who played Dracula in several Hammer releases.
...indicated Variety HERE.
For a complete list of Hammer titles which could (presumably) be fodder for bookification, GO HERE! CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER, WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH, QUATERMASS, MOON ZERO TWO. So much more. So much fun...
[EDIT]
Hammer, which was behind literary based horror pics like "Dracula" and "The Curse of Frankenstein" in the 1950s, currently has 15 pics in development and is wrapping up "The Resident" as its first major release since the 1980s. Thriller, that was helmed by musicvid director Antti Jokinen, stars Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee, who played Dracula in several Hammer releases.
-
+ Expand All
-
First?
-
...a novel needs to be top shelf. Life isn't long enough to read second rate books.
-
Or Cowboys For Christ, or Riding of the Laddie, or Wicker Tree, or whatever the hell it's supposed to be called now. IMDB has it listed in "post-production," but I don't know how accurate that is.
-
...Hammer got up and running again. They formed much of my own love of cinema as a kid, and i hope one day to work with them myself.For me the one consistent talent among the Hammer gang was Cinematographer Freddie Francis. I hope the new talent can live up to his.
-
No fake fangs need apply. Got to love that British dentistry.
-
...hot chick envelope a bit the way the originals did.It's an essential ingredient of the HAMMER stew.
-
...Excellent idea - nurturing more new talent is always a good thing, as are new takes on existing icons by existing talent.
-
Some of the first horror movies I seen were Hammer pics. Love em. But as much as i hate the idea of remaking great films this is mildly cool I guess.
-
Hammer horror was always the best.
-
Oct 14, 2009 12:33:14 PM CDT
Grand Moff Dracula, I recognized your stench when I came onboard
by royston lodge
Defiant as always, Princess, but such a pretty neck...
-
*** DEAD SNOW is playing tonight and tomorrow at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa, Canada!!! ***
-
That would be much more interesting
-
When i was writing the Script for Drag me to hell, I said to Sam this has to evoke that hammer feel. Most of my horror scripts pay at least some homage to the Hammer films, That was also the feeling i was going for when i designed DeNiro's creature Makeup for frankenstien back in the early 90's
-
man, i havent been there since the awesome double bill of The Crow and Beverly Hills Cop 3 back in 1994. to this day i dont know why they bundled those. double bills usually have a connection, if its not actor/genre they're usually at least both by the same studio but this case ...yeah...it was odd.
-
why no Quatermass?
You don't even have to rip off an old story. Just cast him and give him new shit to do. Though if done with care, Quatermass and the Pit remake could be sweet. It's already a remade property so fuck it. -
. . . don't hurt'm.
-
The multi-tasking baking soda!
-
It alters some of the book, but it has the best screenplay of any adaptation I've seen.
-
Oct 14, 2009 2:17:33 PM CDT
I played the role of the bloodied teeth of C-Lees's Dracula
by dirk_the_amoeba
C-Lee and me are tight! I still help him chew on the bitches to this very day!
-
All this Hammer chatter brings back such fond memories...
-
Nigel Kneale's estate does.
-
And the thing that sells it for me is that he plays the material straight every time. Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, whatever role he's playing he delivers it with utmost seriousness. Makes an interesting contrast to the goofiness he shows in movies as diverse as the two 1960s DOCTOR WHO flicks and AT THE EARTH'S CORE . It's that seriousness which Lucas rightly latches onto in casting him as Tarkin in STAR WARS.
-
i just like Quatermass...a lot.
-
Cushing was an actor's actor, and a gentleman, too. And the Amicus films rule, too, let us not forget...
-
You did, didn't you? You made a gag about British Dentistry? Oh my god, that is some original shit. Is it just you or is there a team of writers behind that name? Seriously, that is both original and witty. British people have bad teeth! That is fucking hilarious! I take it you've been instantly snapped up by Fox?
I welcome any new development made by Hammer. This is possibly a potent breeding ground for new writers and material. Hammer horror films are the nuts. Even Dracula AD 1972, which was both shit and awesome -
...by all means, bring back Quatermass...the Brian Donlevy Quatermass of "Creeping Unknown" and "Enemy From Space"...the pissed off, single-minded visionary whose dreams of space exploration invariably end up with an invasion by gruesomely disgusting, protoplasmic aliens...and also find an actor as worthy as Richard Wordsworth to play Victor Caroon, the doomed Quatermass astronaut whose short trip to the stars renders him into a slithering, tentacled mass.
...(and no, not Nicholas Cage, who's halfway there already...) -
which is like Drac meets James Bond. On a budget. Or LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES. Or CAPTAIN CRONOS. Glorious.
-
a QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT ripoff with bits of THE FLY, ROBOCOP 2 and WALL-E thrown in at the end.
-
To bad the original wasn't a little more popular, because how cool would it have been if they had made a least three or four CAPTAIN KRONOS films back in the 70s? Maybe even have him team up with Van Helsin (Cushing) and take on Dracula (Lee) or take on other members of the Karnstein clan (like maybe Pitt).
Damn, that would have been cool. -
Hammer time.
-
There's a reason why some of these films stay on the shelf - they suck.
-
Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing to helm these films today. They must be British actors! CW cookie cutter model-types need not apply! I hope to God the producers feel the same. Hammer Horror rules! The Universal Monsters too!
-
dow dow dow dow. dow dow. dow dow. CAN'T TOUCH THIS!!
-
Jesus, don't get your molars in a twist, Basil. You Brits are as sensitive about your mangled grills as your gums are sensitive to gingivitis, huh? I don't know, maybe you should give brushing a try sometime. Just get used to Americans making fun of your inferior dentistry because just like your genital herpes, it ain't going away.
Also switching to decaf Earl Grey with no sugar might help your teeth and your bitchy britches, Crankypuss. -
New Hammer acting troop?
Start by signing up Ian McShane and Bernard Hill. Then enlist Monica Belluci for the milf vampiress and you got yourself an inexpensive, good quality and 'up for anything' new Hammer squad. -
Oct 14, 2009 5:08:23 PM CDT
As someone that actually reads books I find this exciting
by soylentmean
The Horror genre (either in movies or books) is my favorite and having contemporary authors writing Hammer books, well that would be sweet!
-
An awesome werewolf epic. Great cinematography and perfect acting (for the style of movie). The werewolf design kicked ass. I love all Hammer films but this is my fave. I would love to see them make a new series of werewolf movies.
-
Hammer time.
-
At least they got Lee for some of them.
-
Boy do I have great memories of that one. I BEGGED my mom to take me to the Drive In to see that and VALLEY OF THE GWANGI in a double feature. I waited breathed held for 2 weeks until the day of the opening...and my mom got the flu! True to her word, she took me anyway and slept in the car while I saw the most awesome Dinosaur epics ever contrived. Thanks, Mom. I'll never forget it.
-
was my favourite thing about Hammer movies.
-
That should have been the title, since there is only one Dinosaur in it, a Chasmosaurus to be exact. Still a super cool movie tho, and that single Dino did kick alot of Cave Man ass!
-
It would have been a treat seeing Blacky chasing Ingrid Pitt around the lagoon.
-
Franchise potential there. If done right. Please?
-
...or Christopher Lee.
-
But who can match the sultry Caroline Munro, the voluptuous Stephanie Beacham, the very tempestous Yvonne Romain...naaah, Hammer's erotic milieu and Grand Guignol just can't be invoked (just as Rita Hayworth's GILDA striptease can't be reprised with the same incendiary flair..it's a product of the [noirish] times). And it near-impossible to match the rougish charm of Peter Cushing (meticulous performances even in toxic wastes like LAND OF THE MONTAUR). A gentle spirit in person (loved to recount Oliver Hardy's addiction to donuts on the set of A CHUMP AT OXFORD). I teach a horror/fantasy film class. And guess what? Plenty of students couldn't credit Vincent Price with a movie. No bullshit! Really fuckin' pathetic (I'm venting).
-
Hammer was the McDonald's of movie making back in the 1960's & 70's. Sacrilege you say? Well, they were renown for making very movies on the cheap and very quickly. They did make some genuinely good movies though - Horror of Dracula, Curse of the Werewolf and Quatermass & The Pit, but they also made some dreadful films - Dracula AD 1972 anyone? Hammer earned their place in history, but let's not get too excited until we some the quality of these new films.
-
BRIDES OF DRACULA; effective hybrid of Freudian speculation and theology. The photography and leftover sets were gorgeous; Cushing kicked ass--and Yvonne Monlaur's virtuous nymphet, absolutely delicious. Check-out Hammer's STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY though an uncensored print is pretty elusive (it's also been gauged as politically incorrect).
-
So now it can go forward.
-
Guess that's why there isn't a new one.
Wouldn't cost much, they aren't special effects heavy. -
Unlike Nigel Kneale, I'm quite fond of Brian Donlevy as Q (should have been a Brit actor, but Donlevy played the character as a driven, compulsive and egocentric SOB ["The world according to Quatermass..."]--unlike Andrew Kier, who shaded the character with compassion. Nice contrast). I also think THE CREEPING UNKNOWN (THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT) is one of the best B-films ever made; cryptic b&w photography, superb supporting cast (Lionel Jeffries, Jack Warner and, most especially, Richard Wordsworth). The same sort of chemistry was applied to another British classic--the '51 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (SCROOGE). Accept no imitations and God bless Mr. Sim.
-
at least in my memory.
I've never seen "Captain Kronos," but I think it would be my kind of stuff. So I green light myself to watch it someday. -
I feel better after typing that.
-
Okay, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth only featured one true dinosaur, but it also had the made-up mom & baby giant lizard-dinos, the giant crabs, 2 different plesiosaurs and a pterosaur. Which is far better than Creatures The World Forgot managed: just a guy in a grubby cave bear costume & an antelope.
-
I thought he was a preacher now!
-
And it's still creepy! I viewed the film, as a juvenile, on "Twilight Movie" (regional CBS affiliate). When the doctor's flesh sunk into "meltdown", that whole gruesome scene floored me. Funny; when the movie was broadcast more than a decade later, on the CBS LATE NIGHT MOVIE, the entire scene was removed. Love the moors, the photography, Dean Jagger's forest odyssey (nice parallel to NIGHT OF THE DEMON) and all the great character actors (especially Leo McKern as a less abrasive journalist); I recall Michael Ripper in a minor role during the military exposition (Anthony Newley played a small part as an extroverted soldier; y'knew this guy's screen time was numbered). Again, quite superior to all of today's Jason/Freddy fracnhises (the "villain" is mobile earth!). The Brits make superior genre movies.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 171 total posts 169 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 157 total posts 111 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 138 total posts 75 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 479 total posts 62 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 59 total posts 59 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 62 total posts 59 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 48 total posts 45 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 116 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 181 total posts 30 posts