Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror

I found this documentary to be very interesting. Although most of the clips from the Hammer films were in the format of theatrical trailers (due to actual film clips being too expensive), I found that there was enough of a mix of interviews and clips to keep most people happy. The narration was good (as you would expect from Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee) but was also tinged with sadness, as when it was shown in the UK (on consecutive Saturday evenings) Peter Cushing died before the second part was shown. It can truly be seen as his swansong for Hammer, for whom he made so many classic films.

I grew up watching the Hammer horror films on TV in the late 1970s. Even though some of them were severely edited (for violence and time) they still scared me silly and I was impressed by the acting and lush settings. In 1994 (a few years before Peter Cushing's death) they got together him and Christopher Lee to narrate a documentary on Hammer films. They also had tons of interview footage of Hammer directors, producers, editors, composers, executives etc etc talking about productions. Also many actors of the various Hammer movies talked about their roles and the productions themselves. Raquel Welch and Martine Beswick give very amusing commentaries and Veronica Carlson talks about a disgusting rape scene she was forced to act in for "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed". It was (thankfully) cut from the final print but the footage is here.

If you're a horror fan (like me) this is a just engrossing insight into how some of the best horror films of the 1950s-1970s were made. This isn't a whitewash job either. The actors and executives do complain about issues and problems they had with scripts and productions. Just fascinating from beginning to end. My only complaint--the footage from Hammer films is in pretty poor shape. Couldn't they have gotten some better prints?

Documentary, narrated by Lee and Cushing charting the huge success of Hammer at Bray studios. It covers the categories of films eg Frankenstein, Dracula and others rather than opt for a straight chronological journey and as well as many great clips to jog memories there are some fascinating insights from directors and producers.

A touch stilted / unimaginative in its presentation, but worth seeing if you're interest in film history or just loved the Hammer films.

A more complete and fascinating study of the heritage left behind by Hammer Studios will not likely ever be done quite this well in this format again. To hear the narrative thoughts of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee on their time with Hammer and its eventual rise and fall prove fascinating as do the many comments and interviews from the likes of Jimmy Sangster, Val Guest, Hazel Court, Ingrid Pitt, Caroline Munro, Michael Carreras, Raquel Welch, James Bernard and Tony Hinds's son. This is sure to thrill and delight any true fan of Hammer Horror. In fact it's a must-have!

Perhaps no other studio has been linked with the horror genre more so than that of the English Hammer Studio. Flesh and Blood is the story of that studio and its meteoric rise in the late fifties and its crashing demise in the late seventies. The chronicle is related to the audience through the voices of the studio's biggest stars...Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. This was Cushing's last project before his death in 1994, and it is thrilling just to hear him speak of his days of old with Hammer. Christopher Lee adds more insights into his films and about those people that worked in front and behind the camera. Among those interviewed are Hammer starlets Raquel Welch, Veronica Carlson, Ingrid Pitt, delicious Hazel Court, and Caroline Munro, Hammer producers and directors Anthony Hinds, Michael Carreras, Jimmy Sangster, Freddie Francis, and Val Guest, and other notables such as actor Andrew Keir. This documentary starts out with the studio's success with the Quatermass movies and then spends a good amount of time going over the breakthrough film The Curse of Frankenstein and its sequels and then The Horror of Dracula and its sequels. Ted Newsom certainly has done a great job with this definitive story of the House that Hammer Built!