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Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter and Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell

Long before there was TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there was another scourge of the undead - Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter! Just one of the many fantasy film classics out now DD Video.

Instead of modern-day California, the captain (played by Horst Janson) stalks 19th Century Europe in search of his undead prey, assisted by the beautiful gypsy Carla (Hammer stalwart Caroline Munro) and his trusty hunchbacked assistant Professor Grost (John Cater).

Vampire Hunters

As the film begins these professional vampire hunters have been summoned to a village where a young girl has been found been emaciated, drained of all vitality youth. As the death toll in the village rises, Kronos devises a daring plan to expose the murderer - a plan that uses Carla as bait.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter is one of the most unusual and sought-after horror films from the legendary Hammer Film Productions. The collector's edition DVD features the original uncut British theatrical print of this gruesome classic and new bonus material, as well as a 24 page full colour guide to the film.

The second new Hammer Horror release from DD Video stars legendary Hammer Films favourite Peter Cushing. Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell is the concluding entry in Hammer's popular Frankenstein series, and the final masterpiece from acclaimed director Terence Fisher.

Peter Cushing

Dr Simon Helder (Shane Briant) is arrested for sorcery and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in a squalid asylum for the criminally insane. The inmates are cared for by the seemingly benevolent Dr Karl Victor (Peter Cushing) and his mute assistant Angel (Madeline Smith). Victor soon reveals his true identity to Helder - he is the notorious Baron Frankenstein, and he is continuing his depraved research, safe in the knowledge that most people believe him to be long dead.

Helder becomes Frankenstein's apprentice, assisting him in the creation of a brutish new monster (Dave Prowse). When the experiment goes wrong, the insane Frankenstein decrees that the monster should be reborn and selects Angel as its mate.

Mayhem at the lunatic asylum!

Both these DVD's feature the original uncut British theatrical print of this gruesome classic and new bonus material, as well as a 24 page full colour booklet delving into the film's history.

These films are just the latest in a series of British horror and science fiction from DD. Already available in the same format in this highly collectable series are: The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass II, X The Unknown and The Abominable Snowman

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter and Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell are available on video and DVD, from DD Video.

Quatermass!

These two releases – available now on video and as extras packed DVD - are two of the most famous British science fiction and horror films ever made - The Quatermass Xperiment and its sequel Quatermass II. These two great adaptations for the big screen are contemporary with some of the earliest classics of British science fiction –including Village of The Damned and director Rudolph Cartier’s famous version of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four for Sunday Night Theatre.

Theatrical Feature

Cartier was the man who also made the original Quatermass serials for BBC TV (The Quatermass Experiment in 1953, Quatermass II in 1955 and the follow up Quatermass and the Pit in1958), upon which these theatrical features were based.

The Quatermass Xperiment takes place at the very dawn of alternative space age that never was. Author Nigel Neale gives us the British Rocket Group – an organisation firmly steeped in the post-war British period – and it’s leader, Professor Bernard Quatermass (played by Brian Donlevy, in one of the many incarnations of the role) – a man at once courting and at the same time, wary of the British establishment.

The Rocket Group launches three astronauts on an experimental mission using a prototype test rocket – the Quatermass I – which promptly loses radio contact with Earth and later crash-lands. Quatermass himself is one of the first on the scene of the crash landing, and is intrigued to discover that two of the crew are no longer aboard. It soon becomes clear that the mission's sole survivor, astronaut Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), has come back in a desperately ill state.

Parasitic Alien

Ill-fated astronaut Carroon is rapidly consumed by a parasitic alien organism that seems to have killed his fellow astronauts, embarking on a murderous rampage, while the scientists working to save him prove powerless to prevent his ultimate, horrifying transformation.

Based on Nigel Kneale's groundbreaking BBC serial, The Quatermass Xperiment was the first of Hammer Film Productions' legendary horror films. The film presented in this release is the original uncut British theatrical print of the feature. The special edition DVD also includes an interview with director Val Guest, audio commentaries, a documentary on Hammer’s science fiction output and a 24 page guide book.

Moonbase

The sequel, Quatermass II opens with strange metallic meteorites raining down over Winnerden Flats, an eerie new town in the vicinity of a highly guarded chemical plant. Professor Quatermass is once again on the scene, and is intrigued to discover that contact with the meteorites causes an unusual infection which could be extra terrestrial in origin!

Quatermass is further astonished to find that the chemical plant at Winnerden Flats appears to be modelled after his own prototype design for a moonbase - a design that enables life to thrive in an artificial atmosphere.

Quatermass's investigation uncovers a sinister conspiracy that extends from government level to the zombie-like workers who will stop at nothing to protect the plant. It soon becomes clear that they have all been enslaved by alien creatures who are using Winnerden Flats as the launching point for an invasion of the Earth. Complete with an appearance by Hancock’s Half Hour and Carry On stalwart Sid James, this film is a real treat!

Extras

These two Quatermass films were based on Nigel Kneale's classic 1950’s BBC serials of the same name (although the original TV show for the first serial was spelt The Quatermass Experiment) and are still regarded as some of the most disturbing films Hammer ever made.

This release of Quatermass II is the original uncut British theatrical print. The special edition DVD includes an interview with director Val Guest, audio commentaries and a 24 page guide book.

The precursors of a wealth of British science fiction – everything from the science fiction novels of John Wyndham, radio serials like The Slide and Journey Into Space, to sixties TV shows like The Prisoner, The Avengers and Doctor Who, the legacy of Manxman Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass tales can be felt to this day.

Fans of British fantasy have long awaited a DVD release of the surviving Quatermass television serials from the BBC – and a release at last for the fourth and final – dystopian 70’s serial (simply called Quatermass, starring John Mills) perhaps akin to their excellent Doctor Who release range, but none seem forthcoming. In the mean time then, these great film versions will make a welcome addition to the ranks of science fiction classics now out on disc.

Additional titles in this range include: Island Of Terror and The Blood Beast Terror

Island Of Terror and The Blood Beast Terror

Classic British horror specialist DD Home Entertainment is releasing two previously unavailable Peter Cushing films on DVD. Available for the very first time on disc, The Blood Beast Terror is a Tigon British Films' classic, written by Hammer's Peter Bryan, and is very probably the only British giant killer moth movie in existence!

The first vintage terror of the two is Island Of Terror, which sees Peter Cushing in a rarely-seen Planet Films Production. Directed by the legendary Terence Fisher and now being released on DVD for the very first time it’s a chilling science-fiction thriller set on a remote island plagued by mysterious deaths. Island Of Terror sees Brian Stanley - played by Hammer studios original Van Helsing, big screen Doctor Who and small screen Winston Smith, among countless other roles, Mr. Peter Cushing - and called in to investigate .

Science-Fiction Thriller

Accompanying Cushing’s character on this investigation is another physician: David West (played by Edward Judd). Puncture marks on the corpses seemingly reveal the horrifying truth: that both the islanders and their animals are being killed not by a disease, but by a strange type of silicate organism that literally sucks the bones from their bodies! As the death toll rises, the seemingly indestructible creatures multiply at an alarming rate and threaten to spread into the world beyond.

This new, digitally-restored Collector's Edition features an exclusive film interview with Christopher Lee, in which he pays tribute to director Terence Fisher, and a 24-page booklet featuring rare stills and information about the film, once again composed by noted writer on cult film Marcus Hearn.

The second release in the same mould is the charmingly titled The Blood Beast Terror. After a series of chilling, bloody and seemingly inexplicable murders, Inspector Quennell (Peter Cushing) finds himself on the case with just one clue, the dying words of a victim: “Death's Head”. His investigations bring him to the door of the distinguished entomologist Dr Mallinger (Robert Flemyng) and his beautiful daughter Clare (played by Wanda Ventham). But he is not prepared for the depths of Mallinger's madness or his daughter's dreadful secret…

This digitally-restored Collector's Edition features the original screen ratio and extras including a specially filmed interview with co-star Wanda Ventham - in which she shares her memories of this unique film and her appearances in cult BBC series Doctor Who (notably the Tom Baker story Image of The Fendahl) and in Gerry Anderson’s (none puppet) anti-extraterrestrial agency series UFO. The pack also contains a 24-page booklet featuring rare stills and information about the film by cult film expert Marcus Hearn.

Other Peter Cushing titles already available from DD include: Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell and The Abominable Snowman. Similar cult fare from the same stable includes the likes of Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass II and X The Unknown.

Other forthcoming genre releases from DD Home Entertainment this year include Peter Cushing's famous appearance as George Orwell’s Winston Smith in the Rudolph Cartier mould-breaking BBC production of Nineteen Eighty Four, as well as the third and final series of Terry Nation’s epic dystopian series Survivors.

All the above are available from all good DVD stockists, priced £15.99 each (RRP). The titles are also available direct from DD Home Entertainment. Credit card customers can order copies by ringing the 24 hour DD hotline on 01829 741490.

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