Actors; Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwold, Ray Walston, Jamey Sheridan, Ruby Dee, Miguel Ferrer, Adam Storke, Rob Lowe, Bill Fagerbakke, Laura San Giacomo, Stephen King
Rating: 8 out of 10, probably the best movie of a Stephen King's book to be made into a movie, in this case a TV miniseries. Sinise is one of my favorite actors and that dates from seeing him in this as one of the central characters, Stu Redmond. The story revolves around a plague, the super flu, which escapes from a government lab and kills 99% of the population. The survivors are split between two camps, good and evil. The evil ones are led by Sheridan as Randall Flagg, a demon masquerading as a human and sometimes a raven. What I really liked about this was the perfect way the movie makers captured the spirituality of King's work. The good are summoned to gather by Mother Abigail, a 106 year old black woman, played superbly by Ruby Dee. The central theme is that the good must "stand" against evil. I thought that simple premise says so much. The approach is almost lyrical and although the movie is showing some signs of aging it is still a great watch. I absolutely loved the book which, as with all of King's work, had some great characters. When each of these beloved characters were introduced in the movie I looked at them with a biased eye and surprisingly they got it right, which is hard to do. The last part of the story when four men set out to walk hundreds of miles to "stand" against the evil, appropriately centered in the remains of Las Vegas is just prefect in both its message and its execution in the movie. Walston’s scene where they finally meet Flagg shows what a great actor Walston was. Evil will flourish if good men/women do not stand up against it. King, himself is in the movie in a bit part and shows as an actor that he is a great writer. The music accompanying the final quest was also pitch perfect. An aging, but magnificent piece of cinema.
MVP: Sinise as Stu Redmond, the East Texas everyman who leads
Actors: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne, George Pastell
Rating: 7 out of 10, the last of the Hammer films I received for Christmas and surprisingly, to me, one of the best. Cushing was at his peak in this movie and shows what a truly fine actor he was. He plays the son of the archaeologist who unearths the mummy's tomb and then pays the price a few years later. Lee does a good job as the mummy, especially in the flash backs that depicts him in ancient Egypt. The plot moves right along and the sets are excellent. There is real tension generated by the threat of the mummy and some nice comic moments where the English villagers are exposed to the monster. You also have to give credit to the movie makers because they point out the facts that taking the artifacts out of Egypt was wrong, even at a time where it was routine. An extremely solid movie and a nice watch.
MVP: Peter Cushing, the star of the Hammer studio, excels as John Banning
Actors: Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson, Simon Ward, Thorley Walters
Rating: 7 out of 10, the baron is back, somehow surviving the guillotine from the first movie. He's in England where he blackmails a young doctor and his fiance into helping him with the first brain transplant ever. He smuggles an old colleague out of a mental institute and cures him by transplanting his brain. There is of course multiple side stories going on but this really is one of the best of the Hammer films in terms of quality. The story moves right along and the acting is superb. Carlson was a knockout in her day and could also act. Both Jones and Ward went on to have distinguished acting careers. I couldn't remember this from my youth, I think it scared me so much that I walked out after the first killing; but I found myself drawn into the plot and caring about the what was happening - a good, solid movie. There is a completely unnecessary rape scene and no monster this time. At the end we have the baron getting his comeuppance from his former colleague who goes around with a huge scar around the top of his bald head and who unsuccessfully tried to convince his wife who he was.
MVP: Jones actually lends a sympathetic air as the ill fated Professor Richter
Actors: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart
Rating: 6 out of 10, dated but another solid effort from Hammer retelling the horror classics from the 1930s. Lee struck me as way too skinny to be the monster. Cushing is great as the driven, and morally corrupt Baron Frankenstein. He and his childhood tutor get together to experiment that eventually leads to the creation of the monster. The tutor pulls out and tries to convince the baron of the error of is ways. That the movie is told from the Baron's death row cell in flashback forms tells you how successful he was. Really solid acting at all levels here. It also has one of the scariest falls I've ever seen in the movies when the Baron kills a respected scientist to get his brain. It really looks like the actor goes head first into the floor from two stories up.
MVP: Cushing as the Baron Frankenstein, corrupt and loving it.
Actors: Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis, Anthony Higgins
Rating: 4 out of 10, the series had definitely lost its way in this sequel. Lee is still great as Dracula but the story is ludicrous in the extreme. All of Dracula's victims here seem to deserve their fate as Dracula uses their children to go after them. Once again its interesting the see the differences in the mores present here with full on nudity and strange cults, a comment on the end of the 1960s. Dracula is seeking revenge against the guys who double crossed the demon worshipper who resurrected him. In the end Drac is a lot less powerful as he dies without even being staked - kind of a lousy ending. Wile the acting is solid the story is so stupid as to defy description. Hammer had apparently lost their way and quantity over quality was the goal.
MVP: Lee as Dracula once again menacing
Actors: Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Paul Barry, Barbara Ewing
Rating: 6 out of 10, this is the third in the series and first without Cushing and it suffers a little bit for that. Its easy to see the difference from the earlier one as there is a much greater emphasis on sex with extremely low cut blouses on the female actresses. It's interesting to watch directly after the first because you can see the changes in society between the 1950s and 1960s reflected in the movie. Dracula is resurrected only to find his castle sealed with a cross. He sets out to seek revenge from the monsignor who sealed the castle. The main story is a young couple associated with the target and Dracula's attack on her. This movie has a lot less suspense and Dracula seems a little less menacing than in earlier films. I'm missing the one that came between the first and this the third and I'm going to have to find that the complete the collection. I again enjoyed this although it is definitely lost some of its punch.
MVP: Ewing as Zena the bar maid with a gravity defying blouse
Actors: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, Jophn Van Eyssen
Rating: 6 out of 10, a film from my youth when movies used to be recycled through theaters because there were no VHS or DVDs. I just loved the Hammer horror films, they were so English. I received a boxed set of them for this past Christmas. Both Cushing and Lee were favorites of mine and these movies scared the crap out of me in the 1960s. I guess its a comment about how much movies have changed but as I watched this last night I was amused at how tame it is now. Christopher Lee has been around for so long, recently appearing in the Lord of the Rings as Saruman. He was always the scariest Dracula for me - much more so than Lugosi or any of the modern incarnations. The real star of this series of films was Cushing, a really good actor, who plays Doctor Van Helsing here. It's interesting that both he and Lee became associated with the Star Wars series; Cushing as the original villain, Tarkin, in the first movie and Lee as Count Dooku in the newer films. I really enjoyed watching this purely from the nostalgia it presented. The dialogue was also so polite; it reminded me of a bygone era.
MVP: Cushing as the stalwart but at the same time frail Dr Van Helsing
