After my marathon of Roger Corman's eight Edgar Allan Poe
horror films last week I started to think about the unfamiliar classic b-movie
horror genre in general and whether it might be good for me to, well, "go
swimming" as it were in a pool of celluloid blood. Or something.
Even though I've watched my fair share of horror films I
think it's safe to say that I'm a horror newbie with a lot more to learn, but
with the horror genre being such a popular one at the moment there's clearly buckets
and buckets of gory screen outings to trawl through of varying quality. Too
many, you might say. Or say with absolute certainty.
So where do I start? How do I decide which to try and which
to steer clear of? And what's the best overall purchase to make in order to compile
the best collection possible?
What instantly came to mind was Hammer - a name that to me
means drab, dated 70s British rural chillers, but I think that's because I've just
not seen the right ones over the years, and after a little looking around I
found there might be more in it than merely dodgy hairstyles, dour
cinematography and cheap locations.
So I managed to dig up around ten or so websites/blogs that
list their favourite/what they think are the best Hammer horror films. I've
made no note of the sites and, to be honest, I've probably made the odd mistake
here and there (ain't I a pro?!), but basically here are the fifteen films that
cropped up the most (in descending order of the number of mentions):
x10
Dracula AKA Horror of Dracula
(1958)
The Curse of Frankenstein
x8
Curse of the Werewolf
x7
The Devil Rides Out
x6
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Brides of Dracula
x5
The Plague of the Zombies
The Mummy
x4
Twins of Evil
Quatermass and the Pit
The Revenge of Frankenstein
Dracula, Prince of Darkness
The Vampire Lovers
Vampire Circus
So there you are. I think it's now time to go shopping and
start building up my collection. No marathon this time, methinks, as I might
end up with too many for that sort of thing, but a season certainly!
Are there any personal recommendations that you can make?
Let me know!
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