Flesh & Blood

If 100 minutes feels too brief for a full history of Hammer, the studio that dripped blood, it's largely because it has such a juicy history. The narration is appropriately helmed by dueling Hammer icons and cinematic nemeses Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, whose Ping-Pong-like tradeoffs bring an intimacy through their relaxed voices, in addition to their humor and appreciative insights. Their commentary enlivens the wealth of interviews with the likes of producer Michael Carreras, directors Val Guest and Roy Ward Baker, cinematographer-turned-director Freddie Francis, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, and a gallery of former Hammer scream queens and sexpots (including Caroline Munro and Raquel Welch), as do thankful moments with fan (and coproducer) Joe Dante. Writer-director Ted Newsome structures the picture through thematic threads: examining science fiction films, beginning with early Quatermas hits, then the gothic horror revival begun with the Frankenstein series, then back to follow through with the Dracula series, and so on. Newsome is dutiful in his coverage if less than compelling (the narration helps color that with a little warmth), but the only real debit is the quality of the film clips, too often culled from trailers in which the choppy montage quality hardly captures the mood of many scenes and the inferior source print quality doesn't do the representative films justice. But that's a mere caveat to a rich, well-researched documentary that should please any fan of horror, in general or of Hammer in particular. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

Insightfull, Interesting,Informative.

Being a hammer fan from the first films I ever saw,Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, this video is a pleasent surprise it shows what professionalism Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee gave the horror film. The minus side of it is didn't show as much background on the making of the films. I would have loved to see more behind the scenes stuff or even a blooper or two. August 10, 1999

Audio Mix Mars Total Enjoyment

Unbalanced left-to-right audio mix (not the fault of the producer, btw) makes listening to Cushing & Lee's last teaming difficult. Can the goofs that sent this out please master the sound the way I heard it at a convention two years ago? It's worth it. July 4, 1999

A must for any Hammer Films fan.

For many of us, like myself, who grew up watching Hammer Films, it is a real treat to finally see an in depth documentary on one of the the great film studios. Flesh and Blood is a must for any one who calls himself a Hammer fan. Ted Newson did a wonderful job compiling behind the scenes information from Hammer's beginning to its down fall. The video does have some sound problems (background music tends to be a bit over riding of the narration at times) but don't let that stop you. Hammer made films with a certain style and quality that is, unfortuantely, not found in films of today. Flesh and Blood, if you don't have it get it. You won't be disappointed. June 21, 1999

Nice, but some shortcomings.

"Anchor Bay" should be commended for releasing so many good old favorites, like several "Hammer" classics. This documentary though, is in all honesty not that good. As an introduction to new fans I'm sure it's ideal, but older fans have heard the stories a million times before. -That is, if you can hear anything. Most of the time the music is mixed too loud, making it almost impossible to catch Cushing- and Lee's narration. -This ofcourse is a big minus; it was after all Cushing's last piece of work. There are some nice interviews though, but as always too short. I recommend it anyway. June 8, 1999

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