You can't kill the pointy toothed count that easily

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Another Dracula movie from the Hammer Collection. This time the movie wastes no time on getting the count back up and sucking blood as before the title credits a bat spills blood on his cape and on we go. I really have to say that bat makes a freaking annoying sound and unfortunately we need to hear it quite a many times later on. Anyways back to the story, a man runs from the law to hide in the castle, only to be captured by Dracula. His brother and the brother's wife go after looking for him and of course meet the count. This was a bad movie, probably the worst in the Dracula series. But it does go into the campy side quite nicely so there are some laughs in there. The movie tries to get that gothic Hammer feel but it just ends up being a cheap ripoff. I guess the makers thought that just sucking blood from the neck was boring so this time the bat does a fair share of the killing and even Dracula himself relies on a knife and poisoned soup. So yes, it's stupid, but it's quite fun and it isn't too boring either. The ending was quite great. That Dracula sure loves them boobies. The picture quality was quite ok. The disc had no subtitles, but there is a commentary by Roy Ward Baker and Christopher Lee, stills gallery and a trailer.
40%

The dilemma of intelligent stupidity

Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

The eleventh movie from the Hammer Collection is quite a dilemma. On the other hand it's stupid as a boot and campy like the worst of them, but on the other hand it's quite clever, interesting and thought provoking. It's the third part in the Quatermass series and the only one in this collection. This time professor Quatermass is called to investigate a strange object and skeletons found underground in a London subway tunnel while they were extending it. The bones seem to be around five million years old and appear to be of some pre-human nature. The object is of an indestructable unknown material and seems to be some kind of container or something like that. This being a Quatermass movie it's of course aliens again and the horror starts. The effects are horrible at best and make it at parts quite hard not to laugh at them. Parts of the story are simply stupid and a bit too much "out there". But still it's definitely not a bad movie. There is quite a bit of good things in the story as well. At parts it's almost ingenious and quite thought provoking. The mood is guaranteed Hammer quality and the movie is properly scary at parts. The cast is great with good performances by pretty much all of them. So basically this movie works well both ways, it's at the same time a hilarious campy fun ride and a properly scary interesting sci-fi thriller. That's what I would call quite an achievement and a movie well worth watching. The picture quality on the DVD is not bad and again there are no subtitles and only a trailer as an extra.
79%