Could there be a more perfect pairing than Second Sight and Hammer Films?! As someone who is working through the Hammer back catalogue, these releases are an absolute gift and a dream. Originally released on special edition, both films will be available on standard blu-ray from Monday 25th May.

The Mummy and Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell are new films to me and it’s been great being able to watch them, immediately followed up by special features talking about the history of Hammer and the impact of the films. Both have fantastic performances from the iconic Peter Cushing, a highlight of my Hammer history lessons, as well as the incomparable Christopher Lee in The Mummy.

Of the two, The Mummy is my favourite. The neon green lighting is stunning and much more of a visual treat than the muted palette of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell. Terence Fisher’s take on two classic monster stories is interesting to see – I feel The Mummy has been far more influential on horror, than Frankenstein… The look of the Monster (good ole Darth Vader himself, David Prowse) is very different than other iterations I’ve seen over the almost 100 years of Frankenstein on screen. While this creation wouldn’t necessarily be my favourite of Frankenstein’s monsters, it’s nice to see Hammer doing something different. I definitely want to see the studio’s other Frankenstein stories!

The Franz Reizenstein score for The Mummy and the James Bernard score for Frankenstein… are both beautiful. They just don’t make film scores like that anymore. The music in both films is lush, atmospheric and absolutely getting added to my horror scores playlist. Both blurays contain special features about the scores, which is a delight. We don’t get extras dedicated to the score very often and when we do, it’s usually from Second Sight!

The new artwork from Graham Humphreys is gorgeous too. Beautiful additions to my physical media collection and more gaps in my horror history filled!

The Mummy and Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell are released on bluray from Second Sight on Monday 25th May and available for pre-order now. Thank you to Second Sight and Aim Publicity for sending copies for me to review.

PR | GIFTED