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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Hammer Trading Monsters For Suspense


Hysteria (1965) Puts Another Amnesiac In Harm's Way

MGM-Elstree was a buzzing hive in 1964 when partnered with Hammer for Hysteria, another (and last) of B/W thrillers done by the horror specialists to feed off success of Psycho. Jimmy Sangster had written most of that group; now he would produce as well. This was likeliest a subcontract between Metro and Hammer, as Hysteria has belonged to the former since '65 release and is currently available from Warner Archive. MGM needed product to distribute and hired Hammer to supply it. There's little about Hysteria to identify it as a Hammer film. The company was transitioning out of Bray House and losing some of its distinctive identity in any case. To shoot at Elstree and London locations made Hammer product indistinguishable from others of similar type. Bob Lippert could have sent a lead man like Hysteria's Robert Webber over and gotten result same as chillers Witchcraft (Lon Chaney) or The Earth Dies Screaming (Willard Parker). Webber was functional if not charismatic; he's an amnesiac who might have killed during blackouts. There are bloody knives and a shower murder, these having more practical use in trailers and publicity for Hysteria than in the narrative itself. Sangster said later that he'd gotten tired of this stuff, and director Freddie Francis confessed it was a miserable six-week shoot (Webber's misbehavior, among other things). Wayne Kinsey tells the story with fascinating detail in his Hammer history book. There's no hint of mod or swinging London among drab backgrounds captured here. Even Webber's penthouse flat has lingering air of postwar austerity. Variety said Hysteria should please "at the bottom of a double bill," where it sat mostly behind Signpost To Murder, another Metro suspenser, or Hammer's She remake, also MGM handled in the US.

3 Comments:

Blogger Dave K said...

Counted the days until I could see the latest Technicolored Hammer Dracula or Frankenstien. Zombies, gorgons, mummies, snake/lady hybrids... those were the main attractions for this monster crazy kid. Yet now, decades later, the main nostalgia pang I feel thinking about those grind house double features is for the bottom of the bill, those wonderful black and white Hammer thrillers. I suppose an adult could see those twist endings in NIGHTMARE and SCREAM OF FEAR coming all the way back in the lobby, but to an excited twelve year old this stuff was super classy! HYSTERIA is not one of the best, but it's not a bad swan song... I also caught this recently on Warner Instant. Now, how about an item on my favorite, THE SNORKLE!

9:27 AM  
Blogger b piper said...

I like THE SNORKLE too, a nice early Hammer with Bray atmosphere and a suitably macabre ending.

12:55 PM  
Blogger Randy said...

Assembling any kind of reasonably complete collection of Hammer horrors hasn't been the easiest thing to do, given how rights to the films are scattered all over the place. There's not always a lot of rhyme or reason to how some of these have been released to the home video market. The Universal horrors benefit from being under the same corporate ownership. The Hammers are here and there, some with owners who seem to regard them as unloved stepchildren, not worthy of the TLC they're willing to give their in-house product.

1:35 PM  

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