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Welcome to the Hammer Factory. This month we dissect Demons of the Mind (1972).

While Hammer Studios has been in business since 1934, it was between 1955 and 1979 that it towered as one of the premier sources of edgy, gothic horror. On top of ushering the famous monsters of Universal’s horror heyday back into the public eye, resurrecting the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy in vivid color, the studio invited performers like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt and so many more to step into the genre limelight. Spanning a library housing over 300 films, Hammer Studios is a key part of horror history that until recently has been far too difficult to track down.

In late 2018, Shout Factory’s Scream Factory line began to focus on bringing Hammer’s titles to disc in the US, finally making many of the studio’s underseen gems available in packages that offered great...

On 27th February 2023, Nucleus Films will release the shocking 1970s horror film Dark Places on Blu-ray.

There’S More Than Death Waiting For You In Dark Places

Legendary British stars Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom get together in a grisly tale of hidden loot in a haunted house.

Dr Ian Mandeville and his sister Sarah mean to get their hands on the £200,000 stashed in the derelict Marr’s Grove – only to find that Edward Foster, a stranger to the district, has recently inherited the place. As Edward rapidly succumbs to the influence of the mansion’s long-dead owners, madness and bloody murder ensue…

Directed by Don Sharp, this long-awaited UK Blu-ray premiere has been remastered from original vault elements and is packed with bonus features.

Also starring Jane Birkin, Robert Hardy and Jean Marsh…

Dare you enter Marr’s Grove and encounter the evil lurking within?

Special Features:...

Hey everyone! Before we bid adieu to the year 2021, we have one last batch of home media releases on the horizon this week, including two great Sundance films—Mayday and Knocking—and one of my favorite movie discoveries of the last few years, Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes, which is getting a Blu-ray from Twilight Time. Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for December 28th include Venom (1971) aka The Legend of the Spider Forest, The Cropsey Incident, Bigfoot Creek, and Red Snow.

Bigfoot Creek

The world has moved on, but he's still out there. Since the 1970s he has roamed the countryside, watching...and waiting. He has been sighted several times over the last few decades and this all-new docudrama chronicles these true events that occurred throughout the Midwest. Featuring interviews and locations from the real encounters.

The Cropsey Incident

The Urban Legend Is Real!! A group of online social...

January 14th is a relatively quiet day for horror and sci-fi home media releases, with Scream Factory doing the heavy lifting this week with their Blu-ray presentations of Demons of the Mind and The Mummy’s Shroud. If you missed it in theaters, you can catch up with Ang Lee’s Gemini Man this Tuesday, and for you cult film fans out there, Srs has put together a very limited edition release of Creep (1995).

Other releases for January 14th include She Walks The Woods, The Jogger, and Home With a View of the Monster.

Creep: Limited Edition

Angus Lynch, a psycho, escapes from prison and hooks up with his stripper sister named Kascha. Some death ensues eventually leading Angus to cross paths with a police captain named David who has a daughter named Jackie and whose wife was murdered when she was a child.

Demons of the Mind

In the 19th century,...

With Christmas officially just right around the corner, we have one last big push for home media before the big day, just in case you have any last-minute shopping to do. This week’s horror and sci-fi releases make for a pretty great final batch of titles for 2019, too, with Scream Factory at the forefront. Not only have they put together a Collector’s Edition for Silver Bullet (which is probably my most anticipated release of theirs for the entire year), but they’ve also put together a new volume of Universal Horror films and are showing some love to Murders in the Rue Morgue and To The Devil… A Daughter as well.

Ad Astra is also hitting various formats this Tuesday, and if you missed it during its release in October, Patrick Lussier’s Trick comes home on both Blu-ray and DVD this week, too.

Other releases for December 17th include Gags the Clown,...

This week’s horror and sci-fi Blu-ray and DVD titles are an eclectic bunch, led by a pair of cult classics—Fright and Straight on Till Morning—which were both directed by Peter Collinson. Arrow Video put together a special edition release for Who Saw Her Die?, which this writer is really looking forward to checking out in the coming weeks, and Unearthed Classics is resurrecting Nightwish on both formats as well.

In terms of new films, The Velocipastor arrives on Tuesday on both Blu and DVD, and for those of you who missed it in theaters, Dark Phoenix rises again on multiple formats, and Clownado touches down this week on DVD as well.

Other notable releases for September 17th include The Night Sitter, D-Railed, The Bloody Ape, Return of the Scarecrow, and The Films of Sarah Jacobson: Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore & I Was a Teenage Serial Killer from Agfa.

While Scream Factory is bringing enough horror movies to Blu-ray this summer to keep you entertained after countless barbecues and bonfires, they also have a bunch of titles to look forward to this September, as they've now announced three more Hammer horror films coming to Blu-ray (including the Christopher Lee-starring Scars of Dracula), as well as 1972's Fright!

From Scream Factory: "If you’re a fan of Hammer Films (like we are) then save up for this Sept when we release three films from them on Blu-ray for the first time in North America! (**Correction: We originally included Fright as in the Hammer library. Our "Oops!" on that. Sorry! Its still releasing though.)

Scars Of Dracula (1970) - The legendary Christopher Lee is back as Dracula, bringing unspeakable horrors upon a local village that defies his evil reign. But when a young man and his luscious girlfriend unwittingly visit the Count's castle,...

The seventies were rough on Hammer Films; horror tastes were passing them by, as audiences became enamored with grittier gutter grue and moved away from ripped bodices and cobwebbed halls. With the success of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973), it only made sense for the company to grasp for the popular straw in an effort to compete in the marketplace. To The Devil…A Daughter (1976) saw that straw burst into flames to the point that it became Hammer’s last horror film before initially shuttering the place in ’79. But my god, is it a spectacular pyre to behold.

Released in March in the UK and other parts of Europe before hitting North America in July, To The Devil did poor business to match its mostly abysmal reviews. This is understandable when one considers some of the lurid behavior on display; there are images conjured here that are closer to Fulci than Fisher.

Horror festival’s 18th edition to close with Tyler McIntyre’s Tragedy Girls.

FrightFest, the London-based horror festival, will mark its return to the Cineworld Leicester Square (formerly the Empire Leicester Square) with the global premiere of Cult Of Chucky.

Director Don Mancini will be in attendance on the opening night, along with stars Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif, which takes place on August 24.

Other world premieres at this year’s festival include an unseen version of Adam Green’s Hatchet, as well as Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Leatherface, their prequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

FrightFest’s 18th edition runs until August 28 and will screen 64 films, including 20 world, 22 European and 18 UK premieres, across five screens at the Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema.

This year’s festival will close with the UK premiere of Tyler McIntyre’s Tragedy Girls, starring Alexandra Shipp and Brianna Hildebrand.

FrightFest perviously...

Back in the heart of London’s West End for its 18th ‘adults-only’ anniversary, the world renowned horror and fantasy film festival will take place at the Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema from Aug 24 – Aug 28 2017, taking over five screens to present 64 films including 20 World, 22 European and 18 UK Premieres. Fourteen countries are represented spanning five continents, reflecting the current global popularity of the genre.

The opening night attraction is the global premiere of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s criminally entertaining Cult of Chucky (pictured above), with writer and director Don Mancini and stars Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif in attendance, alongside the iconic deadly doll of destruction himself. Mancini said today:

It’s a true pleasure to be hosting the world premiere of Cult Of Chucky at FrightFest. I have fond memories of unveiling Curse Of Chucky there in 2013 so it’s great to be returning to the...

Gather your fright-loving family members, fill your cup to the brim with egg nog, and find a comfy spot around the TV (or computer) screen, because enough horror movies to fill Santa's sleigh are coming to the streaming service Shudder this December, including Rob Zombie's 31, Bob Clark's Black Christmas, and many more.

Press Release: This December, there’s oh so much under Shudder’s tree. But before you get unwrapping, let’s shake the boxes a bit… We have something special for everyone, inside.

Love clowns? Coming exclusively to Shudder is Rob Zombie’s latest, 31, a vicious and characteristically Zombie film. Which is to say it’s dirty, mean and, from the get, right up in your face.

Looking to stay in? We’ve got a very special Shudder exclusive in Shrew's Nest. Directed by Juanfer Andrés & Esteban Roel (and produced by Alex de la Iglesia), this elegant,...

Acting careers begin with the endless judgments of auditions, the “we’ll be in touch,” the doubt of wondering if it will all work out. But for an Oscar-buzzed actor, all that anxiety fades away, and is replaced by three words: Lead or Supporting?

For talent, picking the right Academy category can make or break whether you win, or even get nominated. There’s also the delicate matter of which movie to campaign for if you’re lucky enough to have more than one.

Agents, managers, distributors, and Oscar campaign strategists lobby and advise the talent on which way to go, but the decision lies with the one who, should they be so lucky, has to show up at the endless public appearances that will follow.

Ego’s a major player here. George Clooney now has four Leading Actor nominations, but his only Oscar came when he swallowed his pride...

Acting careers begin with the endless judgments of auditions, the “we’ll be in touch,” the doubt of wondering if it will all work out. But for an Oscar-buzzed actor, all that anxiety fades away, and is replaced by three words: Lead or Supporting?

For talent, picking the right Academy category can make or break whether you win, or even get nominated. There’s also the delicate matter of which movie to campaign for if you’re lucky enough to have more than one.

Agents, managers, distributors, and Oscar campaign strategists lobby and advise the talent on which way to go, but the decision lies with the one who, should they be so lucky, has to show up at the endless public appearances that will follow.

Ego’s a major player here. George Clooney now has four Leading Actor nominations, but his only Oscar came when he swallowed his pride...

Nitrate film fell out of widespread use due to the how flammable it is, but anyone who’s seen an actual nitrate print knows that its quality is impossible to fully reproduce. Enthusiasts of the long-gone format were excited over the weekend by the discovery of the original uncut trailer for 1939’s “Son of Frankenstein,” not least because it’s said to be taken from alternate takes and deleted scenes. Watch it below.

Read More: Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe Wants Javier Bardem as Frankenstein

Rowland V. Lee directed the film, the third entry in the “Frankenstein” mythos produced by Universal. Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi star in the picture, with narrator Charles Frederick Lindsley singing their praises throughout the two-and-a-half minute trailer: there’s Karloff “rising from the past to spread new terror,” for instance, while Lugosi is “sinister, mysterious, evil.”

Read More: Can You Answer These 10 ‘Frankenstein’ Questions?...

Curious about all those Region B Hammer Blu-rays from overseas, the ones requiring a region-free player? As a public service, Savant has solicited an expert opinion (you'll have to take my word for that) of a film restoration/transfer specialist who is also an informed fan of the filmic output of the little horror studio at Bray. I know, real Hammer fans buy first and worry about quality later, but this little guide might be of help to the rest of us budget-conscious collectors.

A 'Guest' article Written by a trusted Savant correspondent.

(Note: I receive plenty of emails asking for advice about the quality of Region B Blu-rays, most of which I don't see. I have access to industry people qualified to compare and judge the discs, but they stay off the record, because their employers forbid them to go online with their opinions. They must sometimes simmer in...

“If a movie makes you happy, for whatever reason, then it’s a good movie.”

—Big E

*******Warning: Review Contains Spoilers*******

By Ernie Magnotta

If there’s one thing I love, it’s 1970s made-for-tv horror films. I remember sitting in front of the television as a kid and watching a plethora of films such as Gargoyles, Bad Ronald, Satan’s School for Girls, Horror at 37,000 Feet, Devil Dog: Hound of Hell, Scream Pretty Peggy, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Moon of the Wolf and The Initiation of Sarah just to name a few. Some of those are better than others, but all were fun.

When I think back, there have been some legendary names associated with small screen horrors. Genre masters John Carpenter (Halloween), Steven Spielberg (Jaws), Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Joseph Stefano (Psycho) all took shots at television...

Giving Us moviegoers enough thrills to possess the top spot at the North American box office last weekend, Evil Dead will have its UK debut on Thursday, April 18.

And in anticipation of the remake's arrival on British screens, Studiocanal and Vue Entertainment have teamed up to offer interactive photo-booth experiences in the foyers of some London cinemas.

This evening was the turn of North Finchley Vue Cinema, tomorrow (April 12) the activity is at Westfield Shepherds Bush Vue Cinema from 4.30pm to 8pm and on Saturday (April 13) it moves to Islington Vue Cinema from 2pm to 6pm.

There's also a cryptic challenge called The Cursed Word, which you can find on the official Facebook page.

Pages of The Book Of The Dead which contain parts of a 'cursed word' have been hidden. Players need to find all the pieces and translate the word into English for a chance to win a...

“My name is Bond - James Bond". That classic introduction to the cinema’s greatest secret agent is as famous as “I am Dracula, I bid you welcome.” When the box office success of Dr No (1962) turned the unknown Sean Connery into a movie legend, Hammer was never far away from the franchise. With their own films running parallel to the Bond series, Hammer and Eon Productions often made use of the same talent.

Dr No also marked the debuts of Bernard Lee (the first of 11 films as M) and Lois Maxwell (the first of 14 as Miss Moneypenny). Lee had a brief turn as Tarmut in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973) and despite never starring in a Hammer horror, Maxwell turned up in their early fifties thrillers Lady in the Fog (1953) and Mantrap (1954).

As doomed double-agent Professor Dent, Anthony Dawson is best known as the vile Marquis in Curse...

To quote The Art of Hammer introduction (which quotes the poster for the Hammer Films flick Creatures the World Forgot): “They don’t make them like this anymore.” Bloody, heaving boobs, wild-eyed vampires, lusty werewolves – nothing promises such lurid poster art like a Hammer Films collection.

Edited by Marcus Hearn, The Art of Hammer is a collection of rare Hammer Films posters from the golden age of the British studio’s output of glorious B (and sometimes C or D) horror flicks, creature features and quickie-noirs. The surprisingly brief introduction tells you just enough about the book’s intentions and the studio’s history to ground you, then steps aside and lets the posters tell their story.

And what a marvelous collection it is. For fans of schlocky old horror flicks, Hammer Studios is nothing short of legendary. They gave the world the Dracula movies with Christopher Lee as...