Hammer Films Reveals Plans for Dracula, Frankenstein, and More Ghost Movies?

With releases such as The Woman in Black and Let Me In, Hammer Films has been sticking with more classical storytelling over heavy gore. Since Hammer Films relaunched, we've been wondering if they were considering reviving their old franchises, and a recent interview reveals the slate of films they are looking to develop.

Shock Till You Drop recently spoke to Hammer's Simon Oakes, who mentions an upcoming poltergeist story, Dracula, and Frankenstein as potential new films:

"We have a very active slate... What we did with Kronos is we developed a new novella as part of our publishing thing. We are rebooting Quatermass. We are developing a really cool poltergeist story - I can't give you a title yet because it's still under wraps. And, we're looking at, without giving too much away, a couple of the iconic characters like Frankenstein and Dracula and looking at a [new] Hammer approach to those."

In other Hammer news, they've posted to their restoration blog with a status update on Dracula's lost footage:

"On Monday we reviewed the restoration of the Japanese footage to DRACULA (warmest thanks to Simon & Michiko Rowson and The National Film Center at The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). It was incredibly exciting to see the two long-lost moments in the context of the BFI’s restoration. Molinare have done a superb job restoring this footage, considering the state of the reels (you’ll be able to compare and contrast on the eventual Blu-ray; we’re going to release all four surviving Japanese reels unrestored as a single extra). The moment where the Count leans-in over Mina is full of transgressive threat and erotic charge (one can easily see how this moment had to be cut in 1958) though the footage does not actually include a bite (contrary to wishful thinking in some quarters). The “face-clawing” scene is truly magnificent and sits perfectly within the last few seconds of the film."

For more details on Hammer's first Blu-ray restoration, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, visit: http://dailydead.com/dracula-prince-of-darkness-blu-ray-details-images-and-cover-art/