Five Million Years to Earth [Quatermass and the Pit (1967)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 20, 1968

I remember Five Million Years to Earth scaring the daylights out of me, back in the day, when it aired on The 3:30 Movie. While I also remember being somewhat impatient for the 'bug monsters' to show up and wreck havoc upon the populace, I was in no way disappointed with what happened in the movie.

That would be the only time I would see what I now know as Quatermass and the Pit, the third Hammer Film feature adaptation of a Nigel Kneale BBC serial. Because, just as was the case with Terence Fisher's monster movie Island of Terror, the damn thing never seemed to air again. At least that is how I remember it.

This is my favorite Quatermass movie/story and the creative impact it had on the filmmakers that I grew up watching is blatant. The one that comes to my mind the quickest is, of course, John Carpenter's 1987 Quatermass homage Prince of Darkness. There was also a noticeable homage to it in the 2006 animated feature Monster House.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 11, 1970

Considering the amount of pre-release tampering that is alleged to have been done on Frankenstein Must De Destroyed, I was surprised to read that, when asked which of his own films were his favorites, Terence Fisher (in an interview in Vol. 4, Issue 3 of Cinefantastique magazine) said this was one of them. That, of all his films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed was the one he most enjoyed making.

As far as that supposed tampering goes, I heard there was a "last minute" decision it "spice up" the film with a sexual assault that, according to an interview with Veronica Carlson that appeared in (I think) Fangoria magazine, had both Cushing and Fisher apologizing to the actress throughout the filming of the scene.

Another ill-advised "last minute" inclusion was the comedic investigating carried on by Inspector Frisch (Thorley Walters). One could excise both the assault and Frisch scenes from the film and be left with a tighter, leaner, and far better paced movie, I think.

My favorite hammer Frankenstein's remain The Revenge of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Created Woman.

Double-billed with Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the middle section of Hammer Film's trilogy of direct sequels to [Horror of] Dracula. While an interesting and entertaining enough follow up to Dracula Prince of Darkness, picking up more or less where that film ended, and leading directly into Taste the Blood of Dracula, I have to say that I prefer and enjoy both Prince and Taste a great deal more than Grave.

It is not bad, I just find it a tad slow and, because of that, it has tested of my patience at times. Other times, not so much.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 9, 1972

Of the four prehistoric fantasy films that Hammer Film produced, this is the only one I have seen from start to finish. An entertaining little piffle that not only shows dinosaurs and humans co-existing, but that also postulates the moon was birthed from the area that would become the Pacific Ocean.

Okay...

Creature Features: The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) - Promo

San Francisco Examiner - January 6, 1974

The San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle's Sunday TV Week supplement had this modest promo for an episode of Creature Features featuring Hammer Film's third Frankenstein movie, 1964's The Evil of Frankenstein. This would be one of two entries in the famed company's series of Frankenstein films the was not directed by Terence Fisher. Nope, this one was helmed by Freddie Francis. The other would by the 1970 Jimmy Sangster helmed horror-comedy The Horror of Frankenstein.

This episode aired on Saturday, January 12, 1974 and, being all six or seven years old, I would not have been allowed to stay up and watch it. So it goes.

Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride [The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 26, 1978

Although the poster for this retitling of The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) promises that 'The King of the undead marries the Queen of the Zombies" at some point, it would not be in this movie. Not that anybody would have cared, or noticed, at this point in time.

This would be Christopher Lee's final performance as Dracula for Hammer Film. Lee, when embellishing the reasons for Dracula having no dialogue in Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), would often cite terrible lines, such as, "I am the Apocalypse!" Silly trash that the character from Stoker's novel would never have uttered, according to Lee.

The thing of it is, this line is from The Satanic Rites of Dracula. The movie that 'convinced' Lee to stop, step away, and distance himself from the role that had grown to define and shackle him.

I do enjoy this movie, though.

The Mummy (1959) / Curse of the Undead (1959) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - September 11, 1959

Bryan Senn, in his book Twice the Thrills! Twice the Chills! Horror and Science Fiction Double Features, 1955 - 1974, describes The Mummy (1959) as being, "Tightly plotted, efficiently directed, superbly acted, sumptuously dressed, and featuring a number of tense and exciting action set-pieces..." [P. 168] I whole-heartedly concur.

Although The Mummy shares its title with the classic 1932 Karloff feature, its plot elements were taken from the plodding programmers that Universal Pictures released in the early-to-mid 1940's. Unlike those repetitive and patience testing outings, Hammer Film's version contains an attention holding amount of energy and ferocity. Which is why this particular entry remains an all-time favorite of mine.

Coupled with The Mummy is the vampiric weird western Curse of the Undead. Although it began as a silly lark of writing practice for the husband and wife team of Edward and Mildred Dien, a producer saw its potential. So the joke was reworked into something a tad more serious and a minor classic was born.

Curse of the Undead is one of a trio of weird westerns that I remember watching on television as a youngster. The other two were the infamous Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966).

I have no idea as to the order I first saw them, but Curse of the Undead is the best of them, by far.

To the Devil A Daughter (1976) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - September 8, 1976

The release of To the Devil A Daughter did not ping my burgeoning horror geek radar, back in the day. I think I may have first heard about the film via an article or still in the pages of Fangoria magazine, maybe.

Then again, perhaps, it was the review I read in John Stanley's Creature Features Movie Guide saying, "[Director Peter] Sykes zooms all over the gloomy landscapes and the final results are pretty good if somewhat muddled..." I have no argument to make with that assessment. 

I do know that I first saw the film on home video in, or around, 1984. When we were living in Hong Kong. I also rented and watched The Wicker Man around that time, as well.

While the movie does have its issues and controversies, I remember really liking it. Dennis Wheatley hated the liberties the film took with his source novel and wanted no more Hammer Film adaptations made of his work. Nastassja Kinski, Richard Widmark, and Christopher Lee also seem to have had unpleasant experiences making the film. Evidently the shoot was really chaotic.

The film's abrupt ending also seems to be getting no small amount of negative criticisms, but I remember liking it. This is one I should add to my collection, I think.

Oh, and To the Devil A Daughter was coupled with Embryo at most theaters. Save for the Hilltop Drive-In, where the co-feature was Abby, and the Hayward Automotive, where the co-feature was, of all things, St. Ives.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 21, 1959

Sandwiched between a Tarzan adventure (his greatest, it seems) and a Civil War period western sits The Man Who Could Cheat Death, a lesser known Hammer Film offering.

While it does not have the vibrancy of, say, The Curse of Frankenstein or Horror of Dracula, The Man Who Could Cheat Death nonetheless delivers an engaging story and is well worth seeking out.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure was directed by John Guillerman, who I know as the director of The Towering Inferno (1974), King Kong (1976), King Kong Lives (1986), and Death on the Nile (1978). Future screen icon Sean Connery also appears in the film, as does character actor Niall MacGinnis, who I best remember from Curse of the Demon (1957), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and Island of Terror (1966). I really need to seek this one out.

Edward Bernds helmed Quantrill's Raiders. Although Bernds might be best known for his work directing The Three Stooges short subjects, feature films, and television episodes, I know him best for directing Return of the Fly (1959). Bernds also directed a few science-fiction offerings that I have yet to get around to watching: World Without End (1956), Space Master X-7 (1958), and Queen of Outer Space (1958).

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) / X the Unknown (1956) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - July 30, 1957]

John McCarty, in his seminal book Splatter Movies Breaking the Last Taboo of the Screen, shared how his "young, monster-movie addicted eyes were quick to spot a series of starkly lettered handbills that had been tacked to the trees and telephone poles." [Splatter Movies, Pg. 16]

Those handbills were hyping the imminent release of today's subject du jour, a double-bill of two terrific, top tier Hammer Film productions: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and X the Unknown (1956).

Going in order of production, 1956's X the Unknown, the 'B' feature of this double-bill, began as a sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment,  a moneymaker for the company. Only there was one small detail Hammer Film had not factored into the equation. Screenwriter Nigel Kneale, who had created the character of Bernard Quatermass and retained the rights, refused to have his creation appear in anything that he himself had not written. 

Even with any and all marketable connections and/references to The Quatermass Xperiment excised, X the Unknown is able to stand on its own as a cracking good monster movie. 

First-time screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, having penned a sturdy and reliable script for X the Unknown, was then entrusted with scripting Hammer Film's first color film, 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein. 

Curse took a very different approach than the 1931 Universal film and its sequels, for reasons that were both legal and artistic. In this film Baron Victor Frankenstein turns out to be every bit as dangerous and deadly monster as his witless creation.

Audiences ate it up and Hammer Film, seeing that it had struck gold, proceeded to mine the Gothic Horror genre for every penny it could uncover.

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) - Soundtrack

Although ignored and dismissed by audiences, critics, and even its own production company at time of release, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter would survive to become a minor cult classic. One that, after I managed to catch up with it, became one of my favorite latter day Hammer Film offerings.

Randall D. Larson's liner notes for this limited edition release offers a detailed history of the film's genesis, production, and release, before focusing on Laurie Johnson's excellent score.

"The title sequence of any film," Johnson explains in the liner notes, "is really furnishing a house for a guest to come in to." No surprise that the film's Main Title serves as an auditory introduction to the film's narrative themes.

First is a rousing motif for trumpet that is countered by an energetic theme for violin. This melody characterizes Kronos's heroic purity and nobility. A second theme is then introduced. This darker and less melodic section represents the vampiric menace Kronos will be battling.

While those three themes serve as the foundation and backbone of the score, with variations on them weaved throughout the film, there is another that is pointed out that is worth mentioning. A low-end bassoon is used to create a rumbling texture that introduces and underplays during vampiric attack scenes.

This is a terrific score for a wonderful "little" movie that tried, but failed, to birth a new heroic horror movie icon. Which is too bad, because the potential displayed in this introduction is just breath-taking.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune- February 12, 1970]

The Solano Drive-In still exists and is open for business. I saw Tenet (2020) there, back when drive-ins were getting a pandemic fueled boost in business.