Icons of Horror: Hammer Films (2-disc) (The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb / The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll / Scream of Fear / The Gorgon)

I own over 30 Hammer flicks on DVD, & there are only a few I do not own that I want to( the Cushing-less 'Horror of Frankenstein' is one available that I don't want, 'Kiss of the Vampire' I have 'cuz it came in a box set with other excellent Hammers I DID want ), and this release plugs a very BIG hole in my horror library, sub-group Hammer Films! 'The Gorgon', IMO, is up there with the Cushing Frankensteins & Lee Draculas.

'Curse of the Mummy's Tomb' is not the best of Hammer, but it's hardly the worst - nice to see it in this set. 'Scream of Fear' & 'Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll' I cannot comment on as I have not seen them. But I will..........soon!

wow! this studio should of took some tips from universal hammer collection,great films which i highly recommend but dissapointing artwork. i guess everything can't be perfect. :(

With Sony Pictures, I suppose the quality will be good.
With the release of these DVDs, there is only one "real" Hammer Horror film left that was never released on DVD : The Man who could cheat death (1959). Then we will all R.I.P.

While Columbia was the most faithful purchaser of Hammer productions--crime films, war films, swashbucklers, even comedies--they didn't get the best of their gothic output, which at this time usually went to Universal-International. The films in this set vary in quality. SCREAM OF FEAR was the first of a long line of psychological thrillers from Hammer. It had a strong cast, led by Christopher Lee and a fine director (Seth Holt) at the helm. It's no PSYCHO, but it does it's job. THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL was the first really problematic Hammer production. Some people loved the idea of a handsome Mr. Hyde, others hated it. Since this is Columbia's package, we will hopefully be seeing the version of the film that Columbia released, not the edited melange that appeared in the U.S. under the utterly silly title HOUSE OF FRIGHT. (And while we're at it, let's hope that all of these films are presented in the letterbox format.) THE GORGON is undoubtedly the best film in the set. It offers Terence Fisher directing at the top of his form and a nifty bad guy turn by Peter Cushing as an asylum director with something to hide. Christopher Lee gets to play the hero of sorts as a grumpy classics professor who knows a little something about Gorgons and how to deal with them. The runt of this litter is definitely THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB. It's very similar to the Universal Mummy films of the 1940s, but it does demonstrate the virtues of Hammer's superior production design and the effectiveness of the roster of fine British character actors they could call upon to flesh out even the most uninspired script.

With so many acknowledged classics from Hammer Studios already available on DVD, I was beginning to wonder if lesser-known efforts like these would ever be released. In case you may have missed them, here's a bit about the films themselves:

TWO FACES OF DR. JECKYLL is the real gem of the set. Christopher Lee is perfectly cast as the hedonistic friend to Paul Massie's Dr. Jeckyll. Hammer favorite Terence Fisher directs this very adult (for its time) story.

CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB is neither the worst (The Mummy's Shroud) nor best (Blood From the Mummy's Tomb) of Hammer's follow-ups to the 1959 original Mummy. In the worst tradition of Mummy movies, however, it's a pretty dull offering.

THE GORGON is a fine pairing of icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and is among Hammer's most expensive-looking productions. The title creature reminds one of the work done by the great Ray Harryhausen.

SCREAM OF FEAR is another seldom-seen thriller, much in the vein of Psycho (Collector's Edition). It's certainly the most realistic of the films in this collection.

While no single film here (with the possible exception of TWO FACES...) really compares to Hammer's best films, there's still plenty of b-grade thrills for fans of films of this type.