What's your fave, Hammer or Universal?

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

And what's your favorite movies of the two? That's a tough one. I gotta go with Universal, but I could easily be persuaded to chang my mind.

The Wolf Man and Bride Of Frank as best Universal; Horror of Dracula and Curse of the Werewolf over at Hammer(honorable mention to Vamp Lovers and Twins of Evil).

[avenger00soul]

My favorites from Universal would be The Wolf Man and Dracula.

My favorites from Hammer would be Captain Kronos and Horror of Dracula.

Hard to pick between the two studios, but I'll go with Hammer. They did introduce cleavage after all.

[Karras]

I love them both but Hammer has to be my all time favourite .
From the use of colour , the terrific British cast , right down to the aformentioned cleavage , these are the movies I come back to time and time again .

Top Five Universal ( in no particular order )

Frankenstein
The Mummy
Bride Of Frankenstein
Dracula
The Wolfman

Top Five Hammer ( almost an impossible task for me but here goes , again in no order )

Dracula a.k.a. Horror Of Dracula
Twins Of Evil
The Mummy
Quatermass And The Pit
Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell

[heapodd]

Hammer gets my vote, although Universal produced some fantastic films too.

[EYEBALLSEESALL]

My vote is for Universal. I have a soft spot for old Hollywood.

My favorite Universal horror picture is 'Son of Frankenstein' with Basil Rathbone.

Even though this is Karloff's most limited performance as the creature, the added depth and absurdity of Legosi's Igor makes up for it. Igor goes throught the whole movie with a literal broken neck! He was previously hanged and no one can figure out how he's still alive.

The best, most unsettling aspect for me though is Rathbone as the son of Frankenstein. His feelings of guilt mixed with responsiblity and allure concerning his father's work.

Other Universal favorites are;

The Mummy (Karl Freund)
Frankenstein (James Whale)
The Black Cat (Edgar Ulmer)

Which is not to say I'm not a big Hammer fan too.

My favorite (though not a gothic horror picture) is Val Guest's 'The Abominable Snowman'.

I think Guest did a better job of suggesting horror withought seeing much than Wise did in 'The Haunting".

Other Hammer favorites are;

Plague of Zombies (John Gilling)
Quatermass 2 (Val Guest)
These are the Damned (Joseph Losey)


EYEBALL

[Sam The Egg]

I never cared much for Hammer.

[StepfatherFan]

Hammer, of course. Favorites?

Taste The Blood Of Dracula
Frankenstein (Chris Lee as the monster was funny as hell)
Dracula Has Risen From The Grave
The Ghoul
And a bunch of other ones that I cant remember the name of. LOL

PS I cant believe anybody liked Horror of Dracula. I thought it was the most boring of all the Dracula films, maybe even the most boring Hammer film, period.

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

Chris Lee gave Dracula a much needed transfusion of hotter blood. He was miles away from any other screen Dracula at the time, and every other Dracula that has come after has to tip the top hat. He was like a demon incarnate.

Plus, how can you call Horror slow with the great score and the swashbuckling fight at the end between Lee and Cushing.

Dracula Prince of Darrkness is SLOOOOW.

[mictlan]

I can't pick a favorite of the two.

These days I'm watching more Hammer than Universal... recently I've re-watched Twins of Evil, Prince of Darkness, and saw the Ghoul and Quatermass and the Pit for the first time.

BUT... for sheer quality it's very hard to top Universal's Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and the Black Cat. The Wolf Man is great but something about Lon Jr. irks me. He redeems himself in Spider Baby but that's much later.

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

Lon is great in Spider Baby, but I just like him in everything. I thought his dopiness actually added something to the Larry Talbot character.

An interesting tidbit---according to the new Lugosi bio by Arthur Lenning, a drunken Chaney once punched an ailing Lugosi just before the latter's Ed Wood years. Strange.

[mictlan]

Originally posted by Dr.Kelvinstein
Lon is great in Spider Baby, but I just like him in everything. I thought his dopiness actually added something to the Larry Talbot character.

Yeah, I'll give you that. I do like how he's dressed up and primed to be the New Hollywood Hunk in Wolf Man... and just seems bewildered by it all.


An interesting tidbit---according to the new Lugosi bio by Arthur Lenning, a drunken Chaney once punched an ailing Lugosi just before the latter's Ed Wood years. Strange.

Ah, what a great fantasy... to get in a bar fight with a surly Lon Chaney Jr. We shoulda been alive back then.

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

No doubt that would have been a great bar fight, and I can only hope that Cameron Mitchell would have our backs.

[The_Return]

Ive only seen one Hammer production [As far as I know], Hound of the Baskervilles. I loved it, but I much prefer the Universal films Ive seen. I really want to see any of Lee's outings as Dracula, however....

[phantomstranger]

Oh you evil bastard, how am I suppose to choose between the two greatest horror studios ever? I guess I will go with Universal because I have great love for black and white horror movies. but I will say that Christopher Lee's Dracula is still the best

[Tat2]

Universal with out a doubt. I like alot of the Hammer films, most notibly, the Christopher Lee Dracula series, but when I think "Monster" I think Lon Chaney Jr's Wolfman, Boris Karloffs Frankensteins Monster, Bela Lugosis Dracula, Boris Karloffs Mummy etc... I grew up watching these films on late night TV and they were the driving force behind my affection for Horror Movies!

[urgeok]

apples and oranges ...you cant compare the 2 so its hard to pick one over the other.
Universal for the classic old feel and the rich grand feel, Hammer for the grittier spin and stylish productions

[Gojira]

This is a very tough question to answer I think there are alot of great Universal horror movies and alot of great Hammer horror movies. I cant choose just one from either Hammer or Universal as being a fave when I have so many faves.

[tom-tom]

Universal VS Hammer Horror
It's got to be Hammer Horror that wins, and for one very good reason: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

[Gojira]

Well you know the ole saying what Universal invented Hammer perfected.

[ClassicHorror]

I didn't notice this thread when I made that Hammer Horror thread, oh well, Horror of Dracula for me.

[Gojira]

As good as Bram Stokers Dracula is 1992 I still prefer Horror of Dracula 1958 with Lee and Cushing. I have said before and I will say it again You just cant beat cushing and Lee in a Dracula movie.

[ClassicHorror]

My favorite Dracula film is Nosferatu, but ya Cushing and Lee make a formidable couple.

[Gojira]

Hi Classic Nosferatu is not a Dracula movie it is an almost Dracula movie. The 1st Dracula movie was made in Russia in 1920 then Dracula was made again in Hungry in 1921 staring Paul Askonas as Dracula the movie was titled Drakula. Then Prana studios in Germany was going to make a dracula movie but Florence Stoker Brams widdow said she would sue Prana if they didnt change the title so Prana made the movie and changed the title to Nosferatu in 1922. The Vampire in Nosferatu is Graf Orlock played by Max Shreck. Universal bought the rights of Dracula from Florence Stoker and made Count Dracula with actors Bela Lugosi and Carlos Villarias for the english and spanish versions.

[ClassicHorror]

Yes Nos is an almost Dracula film. BUT its character Count Orlock is based on the book, and if you read some of the subtitles (or whatever you call it) you'll see that it uses Count Orlock's character as "Dracula". Nosferatu is not the first Dracula film, but it certainly does use his name alot in the film (and thats what I think F.W. Murnau was looking for when making this film). Not to mention Bram Stoker's wife sued him for making a film based on the book without permission.

But yes Nos will always be Count Orlock to me.

[Gojira]

All Dracula movies are based on Bram Stokers book we know this as far as Nosferatu I agree Prana made the movie based on the book like 2 other Dracula movies before. However Brams widdow made Prana change the titles so Nosferatu is not a Dracula movie if it were the movie would be titled Dracula but its not. Count Yorga i am sure is based on Dracula but again that movie and its sequel are not Dracula movies. There are lots of Vampire movies based on Stokers character but they are not Dracula movies.

[ClassicHorror]

It doesn't have to be a Dracula title to be a Dracula movie. I am sure he would have left the title to Dracula if Bram Stoker's widow didn't go besark and get all the copies destroyed (later in a couple of years some copies were discovered. )

By the way you never see the name "Count Orlock" in the movie, but ya I guess its not a complete Dracula film. What I think Murnau did is change the story completely and made it into a different story, but that doesn't explain why the name Dracula is used for the vampire....

[filmmaker2]

I love both these companies.

We should make a new company, though, called "THE UNIVERSAL HAMMER," and then replace the two companies with that. It would be like Disneyland, with a huge theme park and big statues of Chris Lee and Boris Karloff shaking hands.

[Gojira]

What I find very disapointing today is that Universal does not treat horror movies very well as far as backing them. It seems Universal forgot it were the horror movies they made in the 1920s and 1930s and 40s that helped Universal surive. I have seen the 1922 Nosferatu movie about 3 times and I dont ever recal seen where they referd to Orlock as Dracula in the subs. Now in the 1979 remake of Nosferatu which I also saw i cant say for fact if they used the name Dracula in that but I doubt it.