Though Sir Christopher Lee sadly passed away, his work will live on forever. In a new Blu-ray set, Warner Archive is preserving three Lee-starring Hammer horror movies: Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, The Mummy, and Taste the Blood of Dracula.
Blu-ray.com reports that Warner Archive's Horror Classics Volume One Blu-ray collection will hit shelves this fall (October 6th, according to Home Theater Forum). The collection includes four Hammer films: Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968), The Mummy (1959), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969).
In addition to the Horror Classics Volume One, Warner Archive will also release the Special Effects Collection Volume One, a sci-fi / adventure Blu-ray set comprising Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and Them!
It's estimated that both collections will be priced at $54.96 apiece and released in early October, and it's even believed that the titles will be sold separately, as well. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for further updates. Below, we have a look at the collections.
"Dracula Has Risen From The Grave:
A village trembles in fear. A priest forsakes his vows in the service of evil. Young beauties fall victim to a mysterious seducer. And each night brings the threat of death. Because Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.
In his third incarnation as Bram Stoker's infamous vampire, horror great and 55-year movie veteran Christopher Lee goes fang to cross with the forces of good in this atmospheric Hammer Studios film directed with stylish menace by two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Freddie Francis. He and Lee see to it that just as the undead rises in terrifying fashion so will your goosebumps.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed:
Baron Frankenstein's experiment went wrong, dead wrong. Thus, another victim lies in a makeshift grave. Suddenly, a water main bursts, forcing the dead man's arm to the surface. Next the torrent heaves the body upward. Frankenstein's panicked accomplice tries to reconceal the body... but corpses can be so unwieldy.
This creepy scene is a highlight of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, horror great Peter Cushing's fifth Hammer Studios Frankenstein saga. Other cast members of note include film-debuting Simon Ward (Young Winston) and Freddie Jones (The Elephant Man) as the scientist's pitiable new creation. Frankenstein pioneers research in brain transplants - but the procedure is imperfect. Which is just perfect for horror fans!
The Mummy:
In Hammer Studios' vivid 1959 Technicolor reincarnation of The Mummy, screen horror icon Christopher Lee wraps on the moldy gauze bandages and emerges as the tormented Kharis, an avenger stalking the hills and bogs of Victorian England to track down archaeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) and other desecrators of his beloved Princess Ananka's Egyptian tomb.
"Lee looks tremendous, smashing his way through doorways and erupting from green, dreamlike quagmires in really awe-inspiring, fashion" (David Pirie, Time Out Film Guide). Awe-inspiring, too, was the box-office success of this third Hammer reinvigoration - after The Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula - of a classic screen monster.
Taste the Blood of Dracula:
It's the boys' night out, time for bawdy fun. Yet revelry alone can't satisfy these community leaders out on a lark. There's still an adventure they can be duped into trying, one that will transform a certain Count from moldering dust into blood-lusting flesh.
Taste the Blood of Dracula, the fourth film in Hammer Studios' cycle of hemogobbling Victorian -Era horror, is a showcase of why Hammer became the name in Gothic terror. The solid cast and rich production design raise goosebumps to real-life fear and otherworldly dread. And Christopher Lee dons his red-lined cape again to become Evil Incarnate. He's Count Dracula, a being neither dead nor alive... but his movies are livelier than ever."
Images via Home Theater Forum:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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