Hammer Box-set: Icons of Adventure available June 10th (2 Viewers)

[Alan Tully]

Well let's hope the discs look good!

 

[Simon Howson]

I see cover art like that and lose confidence in what the transfers will look like.

Is someone in Sony trying to sabotage this release?

 

[Richard--W]

That cover art is unfortunate. It makes the films look like cheap public domain stuff and isn't going to help sell this collection.

 

[Jim_K]

Eeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh!!! Now that is hideous. I don't think you could make the artwork more unappealing if you tried.

If I were to come across this while browsing in a store my first (and only) thought would be this is a PD release and I probably wouldn't have given it a second glance to see what the titles were.

 

[Simon Howson]

I don't know what aspect of it is worse: the fact it uses three different fonts, or the silly border with skulls at the corner!

The set contains four films, they could've just divided the cover into quarters with a small replica of the original cover art in each corner, then a "Hammer Icons of Adventure" title at the top, and a reference to the bonus features at the bottom.

I am a hopeless graphic designer, but I did this in MS Paint in about 15 minutes:



My guess is that the back will have pan and scan VHS sourced frame captures next to the blurbs.

 

[Radioman970]

Yeah. I just bought the Hammer House of Horror TV series and it's gotten me in the Hammer mood big time! Searching on amazon for stuff I don't have was disappointing. Then I came across this and thought it was a bootleg or something. Horrible cover. They do actually want to sell this stuff to everyone, not just fans right?

Well, I'm just glad this is Hammer and it's affordable. I'll be buying it. Can't wait, actually. Are these films pretty good? I haven't even researched them.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Excellent news. I knew this had to be coming sometime. I just hope they found a better copy of or did some work on Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll as the VHS release from about 10 years ago was horrible with very washed out color.
Hard to believe that Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is just now getting its US Home Video debut. I wonder where this will leave Maniac now that they are including Scream of Fear in this set. It would have been nice to include it in this set as well.

 

[soop.spoon]

Some very positive reviews are coming out:

DVD-Drive-In
DVD Savant

I'm really looking forward to this now!

 

[Stephen PI]

Received my copy on Monday. The transfers have great picture and sound. Hammer fans will not be disappointed. "Terror of the Tongs" is anamorphically enhanced at 1.66 while all the others are in their original aspect ratios of 2.35:1.

 

[John Hodson]

'Pirates of Blood River' is a little softer than 'Devil-Ship Pirates' but both look great - 'Terror of The Tongs' shares similar sumptuous production values as 'Brides of Dracula' and Sony's transfer is probably as good as Universal's slice of eye candy. Only 'Stranglers' to go - terrific set.

 

[R-T-C Tim]

Seriously stunning prints - is Sony the first major to put extras on a Hammer disc? Sure didn't see that one coming.

A superb boxset at a great price - Icons of Adventure freshly reviewed.

It bodes very well for their Horror set later in the year, and would it be too much to hope for a war set in 2009 with the two Blood Islands, 'Yesterday's Enemy' and 'Steel Bayonet'....?

 

[Tim Tucker]

No, MGM's Midnite Movies DVD of Countess Dracula/The Vampire Lovers had commentary tracks and trailers for both films, and Ingrid Pitt reading from Carmilla.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY is apparently cut. Scroll down to the entry marked Tuesday June 17, 2008 in the link below:

DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson's Review Column at DVD Talk

 

[JulianK]

More details on the cuts here: Zeta Minor - A guide to Hammer films on DVD