Hound of the Baskervilles (1958)-this is always how I start my Halloween viewing. Classic fun.
3 Hammer balls out of 4.
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)-great film that hasn't lost any impact, but is in need of restoration work. Hate the imposed bookends and narration.
4 seed pods out of 4.
The War of the Worlds (1953)-surprisingly effective version of the book, completely transplanted into 50's Americana. Brilliant Technicolor and I don't think anyone could ever forget the sound of the heat ray or skeleton beam.
3.5 balls out of 4.
Horror of Dracula- Ah...the big one. This is the film that truly made Hammer a force to be reckoned with and is one of the most important horror films ever made. I love it. I've loved it's peculiar blend of subtlety, drama and action ever since I saw a highly edited TV version as a kid on a late night feature. Just brilliant.
What I would like to see is the 2007 BFI restoration. I've really had it with the old bare bones WB DVD. Not only is it cropped, but cropped pretty badly, losing much of the top of every frame. This is especially noticeable during those dramatic shots of the Count, where his head will be half cut off. It's a small single layer, low bitrate and most awfully drained of color. These were famous for their dripping Technicolor.
I remembered Zombie playing around with the VLC player controls and so did a little bit of tinkering with just saturation and contrast. This was done in about two seconds.
Original:
Saturation and Contrast barely increased:
See what I mean?
In any case, this is the best Hammer horror alongside Curse of Frankenstein (which also has a similar fate on DVD sadly.) and IMO is the finest Dracula film excepting the 1931 film and Nosferatu.
4 badass Peter Cushings out of 4 libraries needing indexing...
Also, I'm finally going to go through every Hammer Dracula in order...why exactly I don't know...I didn't think A.D. 1972 needed to ever be watched by anyone...