The House of Hammer #1

[Oct 1976]; Cover price 30p.
52 pages. B&W.
General Book Distribution.

Edited by Dez Skinn.

Cover by Joe Petagno III.

Contents:

.2 Bargain Basement advertisement.

.3 Contents

.4 Editorial (half page) by Dez Skinn. / Stop Press (half page) news.

.5 Dracula w: Dez Skinn, based on the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster; a: Paul Neary.

.6 Dracula, part one: Castle Dracula

12 Dracula, part two: The Curse Spreads

19 Dracula, part three: The Final Chase

26 Hammer House Biography No.1 Christopher Lee - the Man Behind the Monster text feature by UNKNOWN.

30 Christopher Lee Filmography

32 Media Macabre news feature by Dez Skinn (?).

34 Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter text feature by UNKNOWN.

35 Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter UNTITLED, part one, w: Brian Clemens; a: Ian Gibson.

36 Horror Around the World text feature by Barry Pattison.

38 Effectively Speaking text feature by John Brosnan.

45 Drinkers of Blood... Stealers of Souls text feature by Steve Moore.

49 Van Helsing's Terror Tales Voodoo Vengeance w: UNKNOWN; a: Angus McKie.

52 Fantastic Value! advertisement.

It will come as little surprise to anyone that I love Hammer films, but despite my affection for the lurid cinematic treats they produced in their heyday I can see problems within their output - scripts were often rough in places, the visual effects tended towards the obvious, and the posters were always better than the films managed to be. Yet the company holds an appeal beyond simply restating novels and television classics for a big-screen audience. They were important.

Hammer itself was on the downturn, only able to release To the Devil a Daughter during the existence of the title, despite some fabulous ideas being suggested - there are many people who would quickly suggest that a big-budget Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls film be made, based only on the poster commissioned to sell the proposed feature, and they wouldn't be wrong.

The cover for the first issue of The House of Hammer doesn't feel like a finished piece of work. Petagno's illustration is slightly off, looking more like a 1980s video cassette sleeve for an Italian or Spanish knock-off than it does an official Hammer product. The brick effect on the logo is quirky enough, but the pasted-on bat is something more appropriate for Monster Fun or Shiver and Shake. Even the text at the bottom of the cover is slightly crude in appearance. A glimpse on Dez's website at the intended first cover shows that the main problem is the garish yellow border.

Thankfully looks can be deceiving.

The adaptation on the 1958 Dracula film (itself an adaptation of Stoker's novel) is excellent in every regard. How good? It is far better than Marvel's use of the character, and easily stands up to the Classics Illustrated novel adaptation by Nestor Redondo. Every panel seems to have been lovingly crafted by Paul Neary to wring tension out of even the most innocuous moments. The likeness of Dracula is clearly based on Christopher Lee, which assists the feeling that this is the genuine article.

With lettering black-on-white, and chapter breaks separating the scenes, the adaptation works well in condensing events to the most important elements, and (although wordy in places) doesn't feel too rushed. A seralised adaptation might, in hindsight, have been better (with separately-available collected volumes, and more time spent with each story), but it is hard to argue with the finished product's appeal.

the Dracula strip is followed by a feature on Christopher Lee, which is relatively brief, though with enough accompanying photographs to cover the fact that it is, essentially, a promo piece. Delving into his history, and his relationship with the character, would have made the article more interesting, but it was early days for the title. The filmography is, in these days of instant information and specialised websites, redundant, but at the time was an invaluable resource.

It may be difficult for some to believe, but even in the nineties finding good filmographies was difficult. That such a piece could have been written twenty years earlier is testament to the skill of the creators.

The most fascinating part of Media Macabre is the Dan Dare news:

Another comic strip is heading for the screen, and possibly TV. It's Dan Dare, the space exploration hero to millions of readers of "Eagle" comic in Britain and Commonwealth. A new production company, Phenomenal Films, has acquired theatrical rights from the owner International Publishing Corp. and is planning a multi-million dollar series of six films.

First of the six, Return of the Mekon, is in development this spring. The producers have obtained stage actor Peter Lucas to play dare as a Bond-style hero some 1,500 years in the future. Cornel (Naked Prey) Wilde is listed as possible director.

Hands up if you can pick Peter Lucas out of a crowd. Yeah...

The Captain Kronos feature wisely neglects to mention how oddly-paced and weird the film feels, playing it up with a recap which makes the film sound much more appealing than it actually is. It isn't a bad film, in any estimation, but suffers from pacing issues and a lack of intensity. The five-page strip which follows is a large improvement on the cinematic outing, and would have convinced me that the character had what it takes to sustain an ongoing series of adventures.

• Tremble as Kronos hunts an Abchanchu in the Bolivian rainforest!
• Witness the vengeance of the Jiangshi as it hunts down Kronos!
• Quake in fear as Kronos enters the valley of the Dakhanavar!
• The dark desires of a Baobhan Sith threaten to overwhelm Kronos!

The character's name is hard to justify, but the bare bones of a franchise were present from the moment the film was released. That it wasn't rapidly followed by either a sequel or a television series is (in these days of sequel-friendly, shared universe, multimedia-friendly campaigns) a crying shame.

Horror Around the World is a (very) abbreviated look at foreign films, anticipating the boom in videos - although films were being rented for home-use, the selection in the seventies was relatively small, edited for length, and extremely expensive. As a list of titles to look out for, it still has a certain amount of use. The main focus of the article is the Coffin Joe films (under the name of Coffin Ze here), which... Actually have to be seen to be believed.

John Brosnan's Effectively Speaking covers the history of special effects in horror films, and is well worth a read. Steve Moore's history of vampires is not quite a comprehensive history of vampires (no mention is made of Arnold Paole, nor the numerous vampire texts which appeared before and after the publication of Dracula), but does a good job of covering vampire films. Much of vampire literature history is still only half-heartedly covered, and an accompanying feature might have raised the bar for other horror magazines.

Voodoo Vengeance, opening with a strange illustration of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, the host, is an atmospheric Haiti-set horror tale of spurned love and zombies. The script is satisfying, there's solid art, and it doesn't outstay its welcome. The choice of subject is rather strange - had the topic been vampires, tying in with the adaptation of Dracula, it could have been more cohesive a first issue.

Overall, the quality of the features is impressive, and the strips are a delight to read. Highly recommended.