ENTERTAINMENT

Frighteningly fun horror film series to be shown at Gateway Film Center

Peter Tonguette
Special to The Columbus Dispatch
Christopher Lee stars as "The Mummy," screening Aug. 20. 21 and 22 at the Gateway Film Center.

From the early 1930s through the mid-1950s, Universal Pictures solidified its status as Hollywood’s leading factory for horror with a series of much-lauded, black-and-white monster movies, including “Dracula” with Bela Lugosi and “Frankenstein” with Boris Karloff.

Then, toward the tail end of Universal’s heyday, a new kid on the horror block emerged — one with a distinctively British accent. 

In 1957, London-based Hammer Films Productions began churning out its own series of horror films. Many featured the same set of legendary characters as the earlier Universal movies, but Hammer’s approach was bold, bloody and brash — and boasted opulent color photography to boot.

Horror aficionados have long debated which studios’ releases are more hair-raising.

“I don’t think you have to choose,” said Chris Hamel, president of the Gateway Film Center, which, starting Sunday, will present a monthlong, 12-film series celebrating Hammer Films.

“They sort of defined the horror genre in many ways, at least for several decades,” Hamel said.

Brandon Thomas, a member of the film center’s programming committee who co-curated the series with Hamel and local film critic Hope Madden, concurs.

“I think they definitely coexist,” said Thomas, who works at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Maybe for some horror fans, it’s seen as a little edgier, a little cooler, to prefer Hammer over the Universal titles.”

But, he added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it turn into a horror version of ‘West Side Story.’”

Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein in "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed," screening Aug. 17-19 at the Gateway Film Center.

In fact, even the most steadfast partisans of Universal’s classics are sure to gain a fresh appreciation of Hammer’s output with this month’s screenings.

“They’re going to look incredible on the big screen,” said Madden, also on the film center’s programming committee. “The costumes and the period detail are so lush and gorgeous.”

The series will open with screenings Sunday through Tuesday of 1958’s “Horror of Dracula,” starring Christopher Lee as the title count and Peter Cushing as his pursuer, Doctor Van Helsing.

“The series kicks off with ‘Horror of Dracula’ on purpose: If you come to the film center and you watch ‘Horror of Dracula’ in those first few days, I think there’s a high likelihood you’re going to watch the other 11,” Hamel said.

The on-screen contrast between Lee and Cushing — both mainstays of Hammer’s horror roster — contributes to the film’s lasting power.

“Cushing (is) a smaller man,” Madden said. “He’s sort of schoolmarm-y. And, of course, Christopher Lee was so tall and glorious with that deep, soft baritone. They were such a great counterpoint to each other.”

Lee was again front and center as the blood-sucking count in 1970’s “Taste the Blood of Dracula,” to be shown Aug. 4-6; and he was again pitted against Cushing in “The Mummy,” screening Aug. 20-22.

Meanwhile, the character of Frankenstein’s Monster will be represented in “The Revenge of Frankenstein” (Aug. 10-12), “The Curse of Frankenstein” (Aug. 14-16), and “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed” (Aug. 17-19), the last of which is one of several films in the series to be shown using a 35mm print.

In addition to the classic films produced by the studio, the series is studded with less well-known films, including 1974’s “Captain Kronos — Vampire Hunter,” which, as Thomas describes it, hopscotches between genres. The film screens Aug. 7-9.

“It’s less of your straight-ahead horror,” said Thomas, who describes the film as a “swashbuckling vampire adventure, which is definitely something different from Hammer at that time.”

Also likely to be new to audiences are “The Vampire Lovers” (Aug. 26-28) and “Twins of Evil” (Aug. 29-31), both of which Madden describes as bad movies that are nonetheless enormously entertaining.

Despite its questionable quality, “Twins of Evil” — a 1971 film in which Cushing shares the screen with twins (and one-time Playboy models) Mary and Madeleine Collinson — is a particular favorite of Madden’s.

“(Hammer) had already remade all the Universal movies, and then their formula was really sort of showing,” Madden said. “So they just got more lurid.”

But, she said, “I have a twin sister, so twin movies I always love.”

To be shown Aug. 13 — a Friday — are two contemporary films produced by the still-in-business Hammer Films, “Let Me In” (2010) and “The Lodge” (2019).

“There are people who may have seen these films and not realized they were part of this Hammer legacy,” Hamel said.

Also on tap is another vintage Hammer production, “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll” from 1960, on Aug. 23-25.

In the end, the curators assembled a representative sampling of the studio’s vivid and imaginative contributions to the horror genre.

“Some Hammer films, I think, probably won’t hold up very well,” Hamel said. “The great thing about curation is we’ve left those out.”

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At a glance

The Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St., will present the series “Horrors of Hammer” throughout August. For showtimes, tickets and more information, visit www.gatewayfilmcenter.org.