The purpose of this page is to show StudioCanal that there is interest in releasing their dormant Hammer titles on Blu-ray: SCARS OF DRACULA, HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB, DEMONS OF THE MIND, FEAR IN THE NIGHT, STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. To request these titles on Blu-ray, please go to the Vintage Classics Facebook page and post your comments in the "Visitor Posts" section.

PLEASE READ ON...

Over 15 years ago, DVD Drive-In created online campaigns to get studios such as Warner Bros. and MGM interested in releasing a number of their cult movies on the DVD format, and this met with some considerable success. More recently, DVD Drive-In teamed up with Diabolique Magazine in a petition to convince Warner Bros. to begin releasing their Hammer film titles on Blu-ray, and it worked. Even more recently, your editor was part of a spontaneous Facebook writing campaign to convince Mill Creek Entertainment to begin releasing their Sony-licensed Hammer titles on Blu-ray, and that too worked, rather quickly we might add.

Now we come to a package of 1970s EMI Hammer titles which are now part of the StudioCanal library, and have been for some years. In 2012, the current Hammer Films company put out a press release promising that “thirty movies will receive newly remastered and restored Blu-ray editions” and this fantastic news was followed by UK Blu-ray releases of a handful of 1960s Seven-Arts Hammer titles owned by StudioCanal. Only two such titles (DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS and FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN) were released on Blu-ray in the U.S., and the promising undertaking halted suddenly.

There haven’t been any new-to-Blu-ray StudioCanal Hammer titles released to the format in years. But just recently, StudioCanal has announced ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. for Blu-ray (on October 24) with cover art similar to their previous Hammer releases, so that could be an indication that the series will continue. But ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (which is being released on Blu-ray later in the U.S. through Kino Lorber, as licensed through Fox, the American owner of the film) is an iconic movie that doesn’t need the Hammer name to endorse it, so its “50th Anniversary” release in HD could be just a fluke and nothing to do with possibility of further StudioCanal Hammer titles being released on the Blu-ray format.

Now if you’re enjoying your Blu-ray editions of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and TWINS OF EVIL, you’re probably wondering why the second Hammer “Karnstein” picture LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is not available on the format. LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is in a package of 1970s era EMI Hammer films that also include SCARS OF DRACULA, HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, DEMONS OF THE MIND, FEAR IN THE NIGHT, STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. Although this package of Hammer titles were some of the first to ever make it to the DVD format (when Anchor Bay released them in the early 2000’s), they are so far being totally ignored for Blu-ray, and that really needs to change!

Even though no known effort has been made thus far to get these EMI Hammer titles prepped for Blu-ray, StudioCanal must know the importance and significant market there are for these movies, as well as the desire to own the best quality releases possible. If anything, fervent present-day product licensing should be an indication of these films’ worldwide popularity. StudioCanal has recently licensed images from these specific Hammer titles for T-shirts and trading cards, and due out in early 2017 is a StudioCanal-licensed Christopher Lee high-priced 1:6 scale Dracula figure based on and being sold as from SCARS OF DRACULA. This item, the first such authorized “toy” ever based on SCARS OF DRACULA, is manufactured by Star Ace Toys, and retails for well over $200 and certainly desirable to diehard collectors (but where is SCARS OF DRACULA on Blu-ray?).

StudioCanal also owns a number of 1960s Seven-Arts Hammer films that have yet to be released on Blu-ray anywhere in the world such as THE LOST CONTINENT, PREHISTORIC WOMEN, THE VENGEANCE OF SHE, THE VIKING QUEEN, THE ANNIVERSARY and A CHALLENGE FOR ROBIN HOOD. We would also like to mention that StudioCanal also holds rights to a number of other non-Hammer British horror and sci-fi classics, also not available on Blu-ray anywhere in the world, including CIRCUS OF HORRORS, THEATRE OF DEATH, FRIGHT (1971), THE FINAL PROGRAMME and I, MONSTER.

Ok, if you’re still with me, the bottom line is that StudioCanal owns a nice chunk of 1970s-era EMI Hammer Horrors that need to be released on Blu-ray, namely SCARS OF DRACULA, HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, DEMONS OF THE MIND, FEAR IN THE NIGHT, STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. We are asking Hammer fans to write a friendly request on the Vintage Classics Facebook page HERE, as they are the official UK Blu-ray line of StudioCanal. Although they are in the UK, this would be the best place to make requests for these Hammer titles, as StudioCanal would release the films on Blu-ray in the UK, and once HD masters are created, the films could be licensed to companies in other countries such as the US and Germany, where Hammer titles on the Blu-ray have proven quite popular. We do suggest you make your requests on the “Vintage Classics” linked above, but if you are not on Facebook, you can also e-mail your requests to StudioCanal at info@studiocanal.co.uk.

HOME