Horror Films: Universal vs. Hammer

I love the Universal horror films of the 30s/40s, yet I can stand the Hammer films of the 50s/60s.

Hammer films attempted to connect horror and sex in an overt way that was too bodice-ripping, humorlessly campy. Awful stuff. Very little fun, too many close-ups of British teeth - the fangs were the better looking ones - and the heroes all had that bloated look of English players who spent too much time in provincial public houses feeling like they had missed the main chance. Universal films were often formulaic, but the best had A+ directors and scripts and players who understood that horror requires pacing and a little laughter in order to get the chill right.
I love Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Castle
I do too. They just deserved better vehicles than they usually had.
The Hammer films are far superior because they are essentially European. The British have that in their blood. Universal horror reflects the stale white bread mentality of American puritanism.
You're a dummy, r5. Universal's classic horror films were directed by oddball European directors which is why they hold up so well. By the '40s the formula was in place and they accordingly became B pictures. Hammer bought the Universal library of characters because they admired them. I appreciate Hammer now more than I did as a gay kid, cleavage and Satanism just weren't of interest to me. But their '50s through '60s work seems as quaint as Universal's weaker efforts to a mature eye, and the color and costumes are a nice break from Universal black and white.
Neither can touch Val Lewton's classic films from the 40s.
Hammer Horror, won't leave me alone.
Kate Bush
Val never made a monster movie. His movies are great, but you don't see trademark marketing of the characters or a rush by Hollywood to remake them. I think the American puritanism thrown at the Universal film is more apt with Lewton films, though he used it to contrast the unsettling subcultures in his movies.
[quote]Neither can touch Val Lewton's classic films from the 40s. I watched a bunch of them on TCM over the weekend. I never get tired of Cat People.
R9, Cat People was famously remade in the 80s. He did have monsters in his films. And Karloff and Lugosi starred in The Body Snatcher together, though not as monsters.
Lewton's best five are all must-sees, each and every one of them: CAT PEOPLE I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE THE LEOPARD MAN THE SEVENTH VICTIM CURSE OF THE DEMON (made in the 60s--the others were all made in the 40s) But there are great things about all the others: CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE THE GHOST SHIP ISLE OF THE DEAD THE BODY SNATCHER BEDLAM
I just discovered Val Lewton's films this month on TCM, and I've been blown away by them. So far, I've only seen I Walked With a Zombie and The Body Snatcher. I've got The Seventh Victim on DVR. I feel like I've discovered a secret goldmine. I Walked With a Zombie is one of the most beautifully filmed black & white movies I've ever seen. Just gorgeous shadows and atmosphere. Boris Karloff and Henry Daniell should have been nominated for Oscars for The Body Snatcher.
Japan's Toho studios roster beats 'em all.
I thought Anna Lee was great in Bedlam, her dialogue was so smart and sarcastic. TCM rarely shows The Seventh Victim - Jean Brooks had an unusual quality in it - it's hard to describe, but she was different from many of the actresses back then.
it was the hairdo.
Both studios demonstrate mastery of the genre's mise-en-scene. I just like black and white a bit better
I love both Hammer and Universal, but if I had to pick which box set DVD to take to a desert island, it would be Universal.
Princess%20Ankh%20es%20en%20amon
The Universal movies-which I loved as a child--are essentially dark fairy tales. The ones directed by the Siodmak brothers are the best.
Universal over Hammer: Hammer films usually were retreads of Universal classics, differentiated by color and bulging bosoms. Universal horror films came first and had superior directors (James Whale, etc), and superior knowledge of the genre. In the 1930's, Universal was "the" studio for horror films. The films {R12} listed are all must-sees, IMO.BTW, check out these two films from MGM, the best of their limited horror output in the 1930's. Freaks (1932) Mark of the Vampire (1935)
compulsive%20reader
Curse of the Demon wasn't a Val Lewton production. It was directed by Jacques Tourner, who directed Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and Leopard Man (as well as one of the best film noirs, Out of the Past). My vote would go to Lewton's RKO horror films as well.
Hammer's blood looked like paint. Also, there were only 2 actors (Lee and Cushing) surrounded by buxom broads. Wasn't Cushing a virgin? Weird guy. At least Lee played different characters.
Hammer films are considered cult. They are beyond criticism as fear and the illogical stand further than that... I love Universal Horror films but someone in this thread has to support Hammer Horror Films so i must take this task and do that. Hammer Horror Films are not so scary but they are very atmospheric and gothic and they have a sense of nostalgia and a bizarre beauty in them...the beauty of the past. Below there is a list with 7 Hammer horror movies that i recommend you to see. The Vampire Lovers (1970) Scars of Dracula (1970) Rasputin:The Mad Monk (1966) Quatermass and the Pit (1967) The Devil Rides Out (1968) Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
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I thought the Hammer films were stupid when I was a kid and had only seen them on broadcast TV, cut to ribbons and interspersed with commercials and stupid horror film hosts. Now that I've seen more of them uncut in good digital prints I appreciate them as classics in their own right. Certainly they were incredibly influential, with tons of imitators (some of the best Roger Corman pictures of the late 1950s and early 1960s were basically Hammer imitations) and homages ("Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" are loaded with references to Hammer films.) And of course the greatest Universal films were those directed by James Whale, who was British. So there.
Hammer Horror, Hammer Horrorrrrugh!
Kate%20B
Scream of Fear (1961) with Susan Strasberg was also an interesting Hammer movie. A black and white film with an uneven finally plot but a very atmospheric one.
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