Gothic Nightmares

A survey of British horror films on DVD and Blu-ray

By Tony Dayoub

Serena in Hammer's Vampire Circus

As the climate turns chilly, leaves fall away from skeletal trees and nighttime lasts just a bit longer, I’m always tempted to enjoy the run up to Halloween by binging on spooky films. In selecting a sampling of some of those horror films to share with all of you, I decided to focus on a cross-section of British horror films. Though this sample leans toward the more esoteric in theme, many of them feature very familiar monsters and are representative of the eroticism, gothic panache and propensity for colorful gore that characterizes screamers made in the UK...

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Book Review: Hammer Glamour

Hammer Glamour by Marcus Hearn (160 pp. Titan Books $29.95) profiles fifty of Hammer Films' most famous beauties. It is a paean to the lovely starlets that populated not just their well-known horror flicks but also their comedies, prehistoric action romps, and more. The book is frank in its glimpse into the publicity machine that selected these women, developed their sexy personas for appearances in one or two films, then dropped them in favor the next fresh face.