Indicator, out now

Four lesser-known Hammer horrors get their UK Blu-ray premiere in a limited boxset, designed for the collector.

One of the frustrations of Hammer’s output is the use of different distributors for their product. Unless all the different companies agreed to join together and release a single boxset (unlikely) you have to pick up single or clustered releases to build up the whole. Kudos to Indicator for releasing these more obscure Hammer flicks, which really aren’t connected beyond being released over a two-year period – Maniac, The Gorgon, The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb and Fanatic.

While each of the movies can be brought separately, the boxset versions contain detailed booklets with reviews, essays, photos and credits. Each disc also follows a formula that I guess will follow across other Hammer releases, namely a short Inside [insert film name] with talking heads interviews and clips, and Hammer’s Women, which focuses on the leading lady of that film. As expected, there are also trailers, promos and image galleries, and other features I’ll look at separately.

Maniac is a psychological horror filmed partially on location in the south of France, with Nadia (The Prisoner) Gray being terrorised by an oxy-acetylene torch-wielding Donald Houston (with dodgy Euro accent). It’s just all a bit formulaic, though we do discover that it was originally called Time of Fire and was shot for no apparent reason in Megascope. Focus Puller Trevor Warren and clapper loader Ray Andrew share some memories, and while this feels a bit non-essential, it’s at least relevant to the subject.

The Gorgon is much more like it – Hammer stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee directed by Terence Fisher, with a James Bernard score. And yet, it’s not a classic, hobbled by a fairly grim monster reveal they worked better as a still image in an Alan Frank horror compendium. The Gorgon is just not that well realised, and its use of a ‘whodunnit’ format when there’s only two females who could do it (and one dies before the end) really limits the mystery. Barbara Shelley does her best, and this really looks and feels the part, but it’s no classic, even with the inclusion of Patrick Troughton. There’s an audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger and I love the inclusion of the comic strip adaptation from the 1977 House of Hammer Magazine.

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb is the follow-up to 1959’s The Mummy and suffers from being a tired rehash, cashing in with all the typical tropes – opening of tomb, artefacts sent back to the UK, trouble ensues. As Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee showed in their movies, there’s more to being a good Mummy than stumbling along with arms outstretched. Saying that, Dickie Owen would return for The Mummy’s Shroud. Jeanne Roland is fine as the damsel in distress, but it’s just all a bit to familiar. The inclusion of the seven-minute, silent, black-and-white Super 8 is a nice curiosity, as well as the chat with composer Carlo Martelli.

Finally, Fanatic (AKA Die! Die! My Darling!) is a great artefact. With its screenplay by the great Richard Matheson and a cast that features Stefanie Powers, a young Donald Sutherland and George & Mildred’s Yootha Joyce, it’s quite bonkers. A young woman (Powers) is terrorized by her deceased fiancé’s demented mother (Tallulah Bankhead) who blames her for her son’s death. The first of Hammer’s colour thrillers, Matheson ensures that the fruity performance by Bankhead always has its eyes on the blackest of comedy, and that the increasing absurdity of it all is just part of the fun. We discover that this is part of the ‘Hag horror’ genre where aging starlets (Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson) were playing evil crones in their twilight years.

Verdict: An eclectic bunch for sure, but the HD transfers are as good as you’ll get from these film prints, and what’s clear is that Indicator really are doing their best to give the collector all that’s available where in truth there’s little to share. 7/10

Nick Joy