The Extras
The Extras
Hammer’s Haunting Return & The Curse of Frankenstein 4K
Steve Rogers and Mark Stanborough of Hammer Films join host Tim Millard and George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive, to tell us about the resurgence of physical media releases from Hammer this year, along with an update on the new ownership and the new company priorities.
We then detail how The Curse of Frankenstein became a definitive 4K release, along with the Warner Archive, pairing archival rigor with fan-first features. You will hear about the restoration process, the new optional 5.1 audio, and the entertaining new extras included in the various Deluxe UK and US releases. This is a podcast horror and specifically Hammer Horror fans don't want to miss.
US Curse of Frankenstein 4K Purchase link
Get information on the DELUXE UK Edition at the Hammer Films Website
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Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
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Well, I know there are a lot of Hammer film fans out there, and many of you may have been wondering what is going on in 2025? There's a resurgence of releases, and the crown jewel in that is The Curse of Frankenstein, just released on 4K. And that's in partnership with Warner Brothers, as they were partners on the original film release. Well, you're going to find out today from two people from Hammer Films what is behind this resurgence, what fans can expect. And of course, we'll get into the details of the Curse of Frankenstein, both the deluxe release in the UK and the Warner Archive version in the US. And be sure to stick around as you'll get a little teased about what we might be able to expect from this partnership and more from Hammer Films going forward. So if you're a fan of Hammer Films and the Curse of Frankenstein, I think you're really going to enjoy this episode. Hello and welcome to The Extras. I'm Tim Lard, your host, and today I'm joined by George Fellenstein of the Warner Archive and two very special guests from Hammer Films. Steve Rogers of Archive and Product Development and head of restoration, Mark Stanborough. Hey guys. Hello. Welcome. I know there's a lot of excitement for this 4K release of uh Curse of Frankenstein, but before we get into the restoration and details about the extras, there's a lot we could talk about, I think, about the new developments going on at Hammer Films. And Steve, I thought maybe you could start us there and tell us a little bit about this haunting return of Hammer. Certainly.
Steve Rogers:Well, 2023, Hammer was in a bit of trouble. It was actually in liquidation. And it was uh bought up by John Gore. Now, John Gore is a very nice man. I've met him personally, but he's also uh a lifelong fan of Hammer, back to when he was a a small boy. And he wanted to do right by Hammer. Anyone who loves Hammer films when they was a kid, there's a nostalgia there and a love and everything like that. And and it was it was felt, I think, by a lot of fans over the last couple of decades that, you know, there's some really good films, Woman in Black, um, Let Me In, etc. etc. But you know, what about the 50 years worth of films before that, etc.? And when when John Gore took over the company, part of the ethos was that we respect the past as much as we look forward to building new things in the future. So th there are new hammer productions, there will be new hammer productions, but they're not at the expense of the wonderful back catalogue of films that you know everyone loves. So the question was then, how do we respect the past? How do we do this? Right. And there's not that many archives that have been continuously refreshed on uh every single flavor of home video you can think of. VHS, laserdisc, DVD, another DVD, a different DVD on top of that, Blu-ray, etc. etc. So it was obvious that it had to be 4K. Right. And when you do stuff like that, it's not it's not just as Mark can explain, it's not just, oh, we'll do a 4K restoration. There's a whole process before that where you need to find the best available elements, etc. etc. So we knew this was a big job going in. And due to um historical deals made in the 50s, 60s and 70s, there are certain films where Hammer owns all rights, there are certain films where Hammer owns no rights, and there are certain films in the middle. So for Cursor Frankenstein, you have a situation where the the distribution rights are split between Hammer and Warner's. There are other films where there's like four or five companies in the mix, so it can get a bit complex. But you know, Curse of Frankenstein is Curse of Frankenstein is one of the big three. And it's it's one of those films where you can't rush it. You know, if you rush it, people will know. So as a consequence, one of the first conversations that Mark had two years ago was picking up the conversation with George about can we do this? If so, how do we do this? And and it was a good conversation in many ways, not least of which that it was revisiting and reinvigorating a relationship between Hammer and Warner's that goes back to the 1950s.
Tim Millard:Well, before let me let me jump in here, Steve, before we get too far into Curse of Frankenstein, what was kind of the new management comes in and then it's like we get we're honing in on curse. Yes.
Steve Rogers:Well, yeah, I mean that that was we knew that would be a big deal. And we obviously didn't want to start with a big deal because there's looning curves. I mean Hammer had never everyone, like I said, it the you won't get a more thrashed back catalogue than Hammer on all of the Hum video formats. However, in all of those instances, not once did Hammer do its own release, never done it, it had always been licensed out. So we decided that we would do these in-house. And we further decided that a hammer release of a hammer film would be definitive. Because it had to be, because the expectation would be there from the fans. And so we decided to start with because we've only been doing this, it feels like forever, but we've only been doing this for a year. In terms of releasing, I mean Mark has been working on restorations for these things for a significant amount longer than that. But in terms of our home video releases, that started at the beginning of the year with Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter. Um that was chosen for many reasons, not least of which when we first started doing it, it was its 50th anniversary and uh you know the s the stars are still alive. But the deal is that hammer releases of hammer films should be definitive.
Tim Millard:Yeah.
Steve Rogers:And and that starts with the restoration. And the restoration starts with the best available materials. Which sounds simple, but in actuality can result in a global search. Yeah. Um part of I mean, I'm sure Mark can uh can can confirm this, that sometimes it's a hard job. We have to deal with public archives, company archives, private archives sometimes, if they've got the best material.
Mark Stanborough:I was I was gonna just gonna say, sorry, Steve, the thing is to get through to the right people is is you know one of the um one of the the biggest problems. If you're not talking to the right person, then you know you're never gonna get anywhere.
Steve Rogers:Yeah, which is which is why these relationship the the relationship building that we've done at Hammer over the last two years with Warner's and others is crucial to what we've been doing this year and what we plan to do going forwards. You know, I I I don't want to jump straight into Curse of Frankenstein because there's a a little bit more to tell before that, but it is the the poster child for how good these conversations can be to the benefit of everyone, because you know, all of a sudden the entire US and UK have access to a classic of the genre in the best that it's ever looked. Where did it all begin?
Trailer:The most complex thing known to man. Man himself. It's no longer sufficient to bring the dead back to life. We must create one of the beginning. Revolting. We hold in the pounds of assassin's secrets. Then what are you trying to tell me? The victor's wicked innocent? What have I done with this? I created a win. What you're doing before it's too late.
Tim Millard:Released 1956, and just the film itself, what it meant for Hammer and the relationship with Warner Brothers and the industry overall. Well, Curse of Frankenstein was was a game changer.
Steve Rogers:I I know it's uh an overused term, but it but it's true. I think I'm right in saying before Cursor Frankenstein, the horror film was it had sort of gone juvenile. The whole Universal Monsters thing of the 30s, where in the UK at least, you know, you'd you'd have Bella Lugosi censored, etc. Oh, you know, horrible thing, had gone to was it Abbott and Costello meet the Wolfman or something like that? That that is that is generally acknowledged to be sort of like the low point. That is where a horror film had got to. Right. And and probably that's where it would have stayed because in the 50s horror was not a dominant genre. Um in the US there was and in the UK by default, because it would have picked up the films, there was film noir, there was westerns, and um sci-fi was on the rise, it was a bit juvenile, but it was sort of moving towards you know thing from another world, etc. etcetera. And along came Hammer and in 1955 they did a film called the Quatomass Experiment, which was based on a BBC series from a couple of years before. And the reason that was a game changer for Hammer, in its small way, wasn't as big as Kirsten Frankenstein, was because it it treated science fiction and horror things in an adult way. And it was a runaway success in the UK, no one could really understand why. Um and when they asked the distributors or sorry, the exhibitors, the cinema owners, why these cinemas were packing out, uh, they were told categorically, it's the horror. So of course, Hammer, being no sloucher at thinking, wow, this is brilliant, the way to print money here, they tried to fast track a second quite mass and then they realized they needed to do something else. Offered to them according to law and history, it's the asylum partner, Elliot Hyman, who was seven art at the time. He was approached with Frankenstein script. He didn't know what to do with it, but he knew knew some people who would. So that that got passed on to Hammer. Hammer looked at it, said, This is no good, we can do a better one of this ourselves. I mean, I'm I'm I'm speeding things up for for a bit more to it than that. But it ended up with them saying, Right, we'll do our own Frankenstein film. They had to be very, very careful because universal lawyers were poised in the wings, waiting for you know the first sign of a square headed makeup or neck vault or whatever. So they had to be they had to be the same but different. And then at a certain point, because all of the paperwork says, Oh yeah, this is gonna be a black and white cheapie, it'll get knocked out in in four weeks, and another B movie. At some point they decided, and I don't know why, but it was a genius move, they would do it in colour. And I believe I'm right in saying that it was the first colour horror film, and it was a combination of the colour and the shock of seeing Blood, I suppose, in colour. And the fact that they employed actors who took their roles very, very seriously, regardless of, you know, Frankenstein is not kitchen sink drama, you know, you you're not you're not gonna get that on on TV. So it's a it's a bit it's a fantastical um and ridiculous in some ways plot, but nevertheless these these people took it very, very seriously. And it was the combination of Pete Cushing and Christopher Lee, their conviction in their roles and the novelty of Blood and Colour, I suppose. That got uh that that just it was that that's why he was a game changer. All of a sudden it was wow, this is horror, is it horror, is it drama? Damn, these actors are good. And it was you know, because people would sort of s you you you've seen the posters of the day, they are quite lurid, they are bait to get teenagers into the cinemas. And and so it was the poster and the trailer and everything and and the monster makeup that got people in there. But when they when they were in the cinema, it was the performances and it was the direction and the camera work that just grabbed them. It was a sort of a confluence of several things, but it was the confluence that that got it, and that made a lot of money for a lot of people worldwide.
Tim Millard:Yeah, and it was a hit right off, right? It was in the UK and then and then George Warner Brothers was a part of that.
George Feltenstein:So the studio was very much behind it, and yes, and the film actually opened at the Warner Theatre in Leicester Square in London because we still had ownership of movie theaters internationally in the 50s. I think your recent re-premiere of the restoration was in the same theater that has a new name. Am I right? It was correct. That's so cool.
Tim Millard:But how did how did Warner Brothers get involved in in this to begin with?
George Feltenstein:It was a distribution acquisition, which the studio really wasn't doing very much of. But, you know, all indications are from what I can garner in the files that people were very excited to embrace this, and the timing couldn't have been better because I don't know if this was happening in the UK at that time, but at that time in the US, the classic universal horror films had all begun airing on television, and they were beloved by new audiences, but they also were obviously older films. So this new approach was embraced really around the world. And uh I just am so grateful that we've been able to come together so that we can bring this new restoration that these gentlemen have toiled on so incredibly definitively for audiences to use in their 4K players or their Blu-ray players, whatever their format is. I think what you folks have done that we're so happy to have collaborated with you on is a definitive presentation of I think this is kind of the the great gem of what began what, 15 years, even more maybe of consistent horror films.
Steve Rogers:Absolutely. This was the one that that started Hammer on the roads. I mean, before that they were known in the in the US, but the deals that they made, the co-production deals, were very much done with not majors, shall we say. People like Robert Lippert, etc., who's a bit of a bye-bye night American producer. Um but what those deals did, however low rent they could be, is that they did give Hammer uh uh as a company foothold in America from the early 50s, which no other British film company did. So by playing this game and basically creating a run of transatlantic crime thrillers, it did actually position them, although they didn't know it at the time, for these later deals going on over, like George said, 15 years. I mean, i if if you look at the companies that Hammer made co-productions with from Curse of Frankenstein onwards, it's pretty much everyone. So you're looking Warner's Universal Paramount, Columbia, 20th Century Fox, and United Artists.
George Feltenstein:Everybody everybody.
Tim Millard:And Peter Cushing becomes not just a star in the UK, which he was from the television, right? But now he's he becomes a huge international star.
Steve Rogers:As he deserved to be. Yeah. And yet he never got an award. He got TV awards for the work he did in the 50s. But if you if you if you watch his performance in Curse of Frankenstein now, it is I I was asked a couple of weeks ago what is the thing that surprised you most about Cursor Frankenstein. And Mark's the same as me. We've seen this film so many times over the last year. Um but but not from a viewing perspective. So we're looking at clips, we're looking for errors, we're looking for whatever. And actually sitting there and watching it, you just think, that's an amazing performance. And it and if it was, I'm pretty certain if it wasn't a horror film, he would have been up for all of the awards going, BAFTAs, Oscars, whatever. But because it was, it was still, you know, oh, it's a horror film. But the performance is superb. Really is superb. And even Chris Ferlee, who who had complained he had no dialogue and doesn't he I think it's about 40 minutes in before you actually uh you actually get to see him. The performance of the creature, there's so much thought behind that. You know, he's not uh he's not uh a big lumbering guy wandering around with his arms out. This is somebody who's put absolute thought into every move he makes, does the arm work properly. You know, how would I how if I was made of bits, how would my body coordinate? The answer is it wouldn't. And so he does this ungainly uncoordinated thing, superb performances.
Tim Millard:Yeah, and I I think the the whole kind of concern or restrictions of hey, universal we can't touch and we can't we need to be different. That's that's really the power behind the differences in the script and the performances and the makeup, you know, it it really makes it its own. And uh th those restrictions I think really helped make sure that Well I I I I th I think you've nailed it there.
Steve Rogers:I mean it it's it's the creativity of restrictions, isn't it? You can't do something, you find another better, hopefully, way of doing it. And it is uh it is a most surprising film. It's been back in the cinemas in the UK. I think we've done 150 screens or something like that. Um and it got what was it, Mark, the Guardian newspaper gave it four and a half stars out of five. I think the Times gave it four out of five or something like that. And this this is uh this is a what is it 70-year-old film? You know, not not bad going. It took 70 years, it's got its due now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But this this started the trend then. I mean, obviously they did Dracula after that, and I mean, and and everything rolled on from that.
Tim Millard:So, so Mark, you get the call, the crown jewel, Curse of Frankenstein, we want to do a 4K. Well, what what happened from there? You pick up the phone, you call George. Well, you take us back, tell us a little bit of that story.
Mark Stanborough:Well, it yeah it went back a few more years pre the new hammer. Um I I started talking to George about doing 4K because I thought, well, I know that Warner Brothers had done a uh a Blu-ray version back in 2020, um and that was great, and that looked great. But you know, from a hammer perspective, I thought, well, we could be doing we could do a f the first 4K, and and what a great film to do, the the first colour um hammer horror film, you know, the one that really set the scene. Unfortunately, George was um was very much behind it, and uh, and after quite a few years of um uh dialogue, we we finally got to to actually put it into action. So um George kindly allowed us to use the the 4K scans of the protection masters that was was used for the um the previous Blu-ray restoration. But we also we also took a look at the original negative. I mean we knew the neg wasn't gonna be in as in in very good condition because you've only got to look at some of the older um releases to to see that the the the you know the colours have faded out um and and the and that was you know that was known, but we thought we'd take a look. And we actually did use we used the main title from the original Neg in the end because uh because of the uh it's only white text on a on a smoking red background, um there was no there was no sort of colour to to really go. So, you know, and it was marginally sharper than the uh than the the recombined uh ProMaster separations. So yeah, so we we we looked at everything. We did try we did try and replace the the colour layer in the negative to see if we could still use it, but it was just too far gone in the in the yellow layer, so you just couldn't that there was no grade in it to get it to look anything like it should. Whereas the the combined separations look look great. Um, and that's that's what we went with. The only problem with those is that not only do you have the negative dirt from the actual original negative, but then you have the three-color dirt that's printed back into it. So you've got the red, green, and blue dirt. So it it kind of you know it it triples your or quadruples your work uh in terms of restoration. But I think the results are you know uh are worth it.
Tim Millard:From the time that uh you you actively kind of started it, not from when you were just talking, but when you're like, this is a go, let's let's get the master from from Warner Brothers, how long then to you know to finish that process?
Mark Stanborough:Well, it was it was probably from around about uh August time last year, and and we finished around the end of July. So it was nearly a year working on it. Um and it and if it's okay, I'm gonna just uh give some thanks to the people who did the work, if that's okay.
Tim Millard:Sure.
Mark Stanborough:Um so you've got Anthony Badger, who was the head of um restoration. Um he's a he's great, look, looked at all of the uh actually recombined some of the shots, you know, that that he felt was slightly out, so he really did, you know, really went to town. Um Simon Edwards and Mandy Whitby, they they were the restoration artists. Uh, and I always think restoration is uh almost a thankless task, really, because you know, they can take out thousands and thousands of pieces of dirt and and damage, and then someone will spot one piece of dirt, and and you know, and that's kind of it just you know, to me it's it's it's such a shame because they do such a great job. And then the uh the colourist Ray King, who who did a lovely job on the uh on getting the colour looking just right, he spent a lot of time. Um, and I mean we had a we had a very good reference um guy from the the the Warner's 2K um version, but uh but he did an absolutely brilliant job. And then obviously grading it in HDR, you get all those, you know, nice rich blacks and and deep colours. It's looks really great. And Dolby Vision. And Dolby Vision, yes.
Tim Millard:Yeah, I mean it I did want to be sure we did talk about the score um and some of the restoration of the audio of this as well. Tell us about that.
Mark Stanborough:Uh well the the the actual restoration um of of the the mono tracks was done by Warner Brothers for their for their release, but we thought, you know, how how can you try and do something different? So we decided to make a 5.1 track. Uh, and this involved using AI to take out the the dialogue stem from from the mixed mono track and then using the music and effects track uh for the surrounds. I mean, it is obviously limited in a in a certain way, and and you'll get people who don't like it, and that's fine. We always supply the uh the mono track on the on the discs if anyone wants to watch it as it as it was intended. But uh the the 5-1 sounds sounds pretty good considering where it's come from and and what we've had to do. Uh yeah, it gives it a nice it gives it some nice depth and width and everything, you know. So I think it's it's definitely worth doing.
George Feltenstein:And it's important to note that the the original monotrack is the default. So the consumer has to actually look for and choose the 5-1. Yeah. And I should also mention that Hammer is offering in the UK this Uber deluxe box set with so many pieces of memorabilia and a whole extra disc uh that is not part of their general release, nor part of our release. But the discs, uh not counting the deluxe version, the discs are exactly the same in the UK version, the US version, and we wanted there to be complete parody so that everybody could get as much as they wanted. And uh I think the results are really not only a tribute to everything Hammer has done, but also uh it's so it's a gift to the loyal, rabid Hammer fans who have never ever, they've never gone away. They've only grown in size, in my opinion. The the popularity of the works of Hammer in the genre, especially, are, you know, uh they're a major part of cinema history. And it's wonderful to see this kind of care and attention put to such an important film that's very important to a lot of Cinephiles out there. And that's great news.
Tim Millard:George, I thought we should also maybe mention the different formats that are offered of viewing the film.
George Feltenstein:Both Hammer and Warner Archive have a 4K set, and then it's also available for people in Blu-ray with all the special features and three aspect ratios. So no one can walk away and say, but it should look like this. Well, that was part of our thinking back in 2020 when we did the Blu-ray, uh, there was so much controversy about the aspect ratio that we decided to offer all three. And now the same thing is happening in 4K. So uh unless someone wants to see it in uh VistaVision, which of course it wasn't filmed in, uh just joking, uh, you know, everything is, I think all the bases are covered here, and it's important to recognize, and I deal with this very often, Hammer fans are passionate worldwide. And you have generations of film aficionados and just general audiences that love hammer horror. And this is a celebration to start with the film that gave birth. To a whole raft of films for many, many years thereafter. It's been a wonderful partnership, and we're so grateful to have had this collaboration. And I'm delighted that we're all talking on the extras together about it.
Tim Millard:Yeah, I do appreciate that as well. And I did want to go back to you, Steve, was kind of putting together this deluxe Uber collection falling under kind of your umbrella. And how did you and and the rest of the team there go about while Mark and his team are restoring all of the elements, get that marketing and packaging and these extras all together?
Steve Rogers:Um first of all, it was sort of shock and horror about how big a job we'd need to do to make this. I mean, for the for the other ones that we've done, we've done two different tiers of special edition. But that doesn't matter because this is Curse of Frankenstein. So whatever we've done before, this has to be better. Has to be first among equals. So the first step was, okay, what what has been created before? And in terms of this content, Hammer previously released it on Blu-ray about 13 years ago, I think. And there was a very good half-hour featurette on the making of the film and and a couple of other things. And when uh George released uh the Warner Archive version in 2020, I think, there's uh um four very good featurettes on there about the music, uh etc., done by Constantine NASA, and they were brilliant. So we knew for a start off we had to have those. There would be no reason to leave them out. Right. Um and they did a very, very good job grounding context for the film itself. And there was no point reinventing the wheel, because because they were pretty good, you know. I mean, I I I could have said let's let's do a uh a another making of, but there would have been no point. So we thought, okay, then we have these, these are the base blocks of what we have. What else can we do? What other aspects of the film can we touch? An obvious one was Peter Cushing. And what we decided was that to do justice to the man, everyone knows the actor, everyone knows the performances, everyone loves Peter Cushing. But they don't really know the man. So we we took the lovely Madeline Smith to Whitstable, which is where Peter Cushing lived for the last however many decades of his life. We took it to some of his haunts, just discussed the man, what he was like, uh how he was a family man, etc. etc. And and through um because of course Madeline worked with him on two films, maybe more, I think, on two hammers at least, but she only knew the actor. So as Madeline learns about Cushing the Man, we learn as well. It's a very lovely, warm I love that piece. It's terrific.
Tim Millard:Isn't it good? It it's not your traditional let's sit everybody down and cut up their interview into 30 different bites and and put it together like a puzzle. It's literally through her eyes hearing these. Wonderful. This is brilliant. I did not know this. Like her joy and enthusiasm is infectious in that piece.
Steve Rogers:This is it, and what we like to do, not just for Kirsten Frankenstein, but but for the rest of our releases as well, is that we like to do the just the fact stuff. Everyone loves those anyway, just as me in this way, and there's always a place for them, but we like to mix it up a bit with with more human things as well. So one of the other pieces on the set is about Molly Arbuthnot. Now, casual hammer fans won't know who she is or what her contribution is. But try and imagine Curse of Frankenstein or Dracula or any of the other Gothics with bad costuming. It would just it it just wouldn't work, you know. So we decided the time was right to to shine a spotlight on Molly again. So not only did that give us an opportunity to cover her story, but it also gave us an opportunity to work with lovely Melvin Hayes, who of course was young Victor Frankenstein, 90 years young, more energy than I have, I promise you. Um he he was the star of the Restoration Premiere that we did the other day. I can't can't say too much about him. I give Melvin an opportunity to contribute because he is probably probably is actually the only one still alive and kicking, who can speak to being costumed for this film by Molly Arbuthnot at Bray, so there's all of this confluence there. And again, that that's another nice, warm and human piece while still giving facts. So we knew we wanted to touch those two, and then it's sort of like, okay, then what else can we do? Do we do we cover Christopher Lee? Well, we did a bit in the booklet, but we knew that if if we ever get to Dracula, that would be heavily Lee-centric. So we left that one alone. Same with Terence Fisher. He changed the game with Curse of Frankenstein, but that was just the first step to Dracula. So those two were in the frame for a different film. So we thought, okay, who else is left? Jimmy Sangster. Now Jimmy Sangster is a bit of a character. Started behind the camera as a clapper boy, I think, and then became an assistant director, and then he gravitated towards scriptwriting. And if you believe his story, he sort of backed into it because he was the only one in the room who could who who was there who was willing to do it. Nevertheless, it's his script that the film is based on. And we wanted to celebrate that by getting, I think it's five contributors, but they're all writers, and they all knew Jimmy towards the end of his life, but he would do convention appearances and stuff like that. And they knew him, so they could speak to the man as well as the work. And it's not comprehensive by any means, because the guy was actively writing for like seven decades or something like that. But it's a very good primer on the man, his attitude to his work, which was very self-deprecatory, and just what he brought to this film and to Hammer in general. And that so that was those were the three key ones, those are the touchstones that we knew we we had to do. And we knew that fans would love learning more. Because one of the things that has become apparent from all of the lovely feedback we've been getting from our other releases is the more context, the better. You know, the the the days of sort of popping a film on a disc and saying, there's a trailer there, that's a special feature, that's your lot. Um those days are sort of gone now, especially in the UK, the audience is more towards like the the box that the market has flashed now, which is the size of a house brick. This is where the market is in the UK. And we wanted to to celebrate that and just make this as good as we can. So uh I'm I'm referring to my list now because there's so much we we need to talk about the audio commentaries as well.
Tim Millard:We do, we do, which is why absolutely I I mean I uh uh obviously we've all seen the film multiple times. So when you watch it with the audio commentary, then it's another experience. And I I like the fact that you put one audio commentary with one aspect ratio, another other audio commentary, I think with a different aspect ratio. So it's two different experiences. One's very academic, and one's a little bit more uh to the to the image, so to speak.
Steve Rogers:It's it's a deliberate policy whenever we do uh a release. If there's one more than one version of the film, and sometimes there are, sometimes it's just retitling, sometimes it's we just we we've just done one uh recently which is a completely different edit. I think it's about what does it mark, about seven minutes difference or something between the UK and the US. And it allows us to have different voices talking about the same things from different aspects. So, you know, some people might look at look at the Frankenstein thing and say, four audio commentaries, are you mad? What are you doing? But two of those are very good ones done previously, one done for the Warner release, one done for the Hammer release. And we knew we wanted to do some new ones anyway, it just made sense to have one for each aspect ratio. So the new ones that we did, we did one with Kim Newman, Stephen Jones, and Barry Foleshaw. And that is, they are they they know their horror. They really do. And and they get they can do warts and all facts, and they're brilliant. And it's it's it's a very good function.
Tim Millard:I felt like I was in a college like uh course.
Steve Rogers:It's it's it's very much I mean, it's the sort of thing that hammer fans of a certain type love. I mean, you can see some of the books possibly behind on the wall. They're the size of telephone directories when telephone directories used to exist. And they're all about different aspects of Hammer. And and it is probably, with the exception of Disney, I imagine, probably the most analysed and over-analyzed fill series of films in the world. But nevertheless, people love love this sort of stuff, and they love facts, and you'll never lack the facts when you've got Kim Newman, Stephen Jones, Barry Fourchio on a commentary. So what so we did that one, and then we thought, right, how can we balance this out? And earlier in the year I did a commentary on um the the American version of a film called Shatter, which is uh mid-70s US Hong Kong action thriller, Steve Whitman. And on on that, we we had uh a commentary on the American version of the film by a guy called Toby Rowan, who is uh a cult film expert, loves his westerns, loves his crying films, loves 50s stuff, and Heidi Honeycut, who is a force to be reckoned with, and and they did a very fun, lovely, boisterous, chatty commentary, and I knew that when we did the more academic one for Frankenstein, I wanted something like that to balance it out, and then I thought, well, I've already got something like that, I've got them. So I said, guys, would you like to do a commentary for Curse of Frankenstein? And they went, Are you joking? And I went, No. And they went, Okay. But but it's uh I suppose that there's a different commentary for whatever mood you're in at the time. You fancy a laugh and a fun commentary and just some light you know there there are there are facts in there, but there's there's uh an energy there. You've got two Americans talking, there's an energy there, you know. Yeah, but it's you know, i if you fancy that, you can do that. If you fancy something more fact-laden, you can listen to Kim. It's there there's so much stuff on on this set I defy anyone to be bored with it. Right. Um I've probably I've made a jinx of myself now. But but it's but it's it's very much uh a deliberate policy to include different tones of voice on this thing coming at at different angles. And also, not for these things. I mean, these things were British films, they were made in Britain, but as George mentioned earlier, they're loved globally. So why wouldn't we have you know colonial voices in there? Why wouldn't we have Australian voices in there, Japanese voices, German voices? So that that's a work in progress. There will be more of those because I love it. I love hearing different people's views. I mean, I've learned so much on some of these commentaries just by something which I thought I knew, and somebody coming in at from a different angle. It's like, well, damn, I didn't know that. I didn't think about it that way. And it's it's brilliant, it's eye-opening. Like I'm gonna think of it, it's just marvelous.
unknown:Yeah.
Tim Millard:Well, the the the name of this podcast is The Extras, because I worked with George at Warner Brothers for nearly 14 years, working on the you know, the bonus materials. And then whenever there's a chance to talk about a film that has a release with this kind of um appeal, so that you you know that there's an appetite, even even with all the books that have already been written, all the releases previously, there's more to know, there's more to hear, or the ability to kind of aggregate it as well into this release with the previous one archive uh extras and and your own extras from the Blu-rays, it's fantastic because some collectors uh would love for this to be the definitive, the Blu-ray. That's it. Why do I have to buy another 4K or whatever? Absolutely. Whereas there are many of us who are like, you can't believe how great it looks in 4K. Of course you want to get this. And then on top of that, not only are you getting the better image and sound quality and all that, but they're giving you even more, you know. And uh so it makes it so worthwhile to pick these up because I'm watching this and and and seeing that 4K and hearing it. And I mean, I just watched it, you know, George, when we talked about the the previous Blu-ray release, and I'm like, this looks amazing. It looks fantastic. I love the restoration, the sound improvements as well. It's uh it's fantastic. That's just my little piece here. And the extras that I have watched um and listened to, because I haven't gone through them all. It's gonna take a little while, get to enjoy it, do it slowly, so to speak, have been fantastic. I I love it.
George Feltenstein:There's one extra on there that it was a real huge piece of nostalgia for me, and that is the eight millimeter cutdown version. A lot of people wouldn't be able to relate to this now, but there was a time where you couldn't buy a movie before there was home video. And what was offered were usually uh, if at all, a three to ten minute or sometimes twenty-minute abridgment of a feature. And there was a company that was around for a couple of years in the late 60s called Americom, and they licensed several feature films, which they cut down, and you were supposed to synchronize it with a record so you could have the sound. What nobody paid attention to at the time, and I had one of these things when I was a kid, and I couldn't figure out why it didn't work, was eight millimeter silent movie projectors ran at 18 frames per second. And the films were not adapted in any way to keep sync, because the films were 24 frames a second. So there was no actual way you you'd be with your phonograph and keep having to move the needle, you know. And I think it was a charming, brilliant idea to add that because it's a piece of Chris and Frankenstein's history that the people who loved it could approximate a viewing in the theater in their own home theater with their record player and their eight millimeter silent projector. I just thought that was a brilliant uh addition that you folks came up with.
Steve Rogers:Well, we did that for you, George. You see? We knew we'd like it. But the thing is, what what we had originally was just the moot version. And I was talking some of my contacts, bemoaning the fact that we didn't have the soundtrack for this. Um one of the guys, Matt Harrison, said, I've got it, it's in my garage. Would you like me to see it? Because these things were a flexi disc. I mean, the odds on a flexi disc in a garage from 1965 or whenever this thing was released, still being playable. But he found it, and it was, and that's the version that's on there, and syncing it up was painful. So this just goes exactly back uh to what George was saying. It's good you mentioned that because that demonstrates the range of special features in there because you have something made as a cheap and cheerful thing from 1965. Balanced out with I don't know whether you've seen it yet, Tim, but the uh the recreating the creature special feature. I've never seen that. Well, what we what we did with that because the other key thing, obviously, of Curse of Frankenstein is the creature makeup. And there's uh um a makeup effects artist, Oscar winning makeup effects artist called Dave Ancy. And the reason he's in the business was because he saw Curse of Frankenstein as a kid, loved it, and thought, I can do that. So we asked Dave if he'd like to recreate the makeup in his own way as a special feature for the new thing. So he did that. So I if you haven't seen it yet, I'm not gonna spoil it. You'll enjoy it.
Tim Millard:Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to it. There's just a wealth of content. And like I said, I I I was watching the different versions with the different audio commentators as well. Now you know I take so much time to go through going through it all. But it's a pleasure. You know, it's a pleasure to do so. Well, one thing that uh people who are listening to the audio podcast uh couldn't do was see the packaging that you held up there, Mark. So uh it's fantastic uh for the deluxe edition and and so uh beautiful for the Warner Archive edition as well. But Steve, maybe you can tell us a little bit about the thought and and you hired an artist and all these things that you did for that.
Steve Rogers:Absolutely. Um one of the things that we've done for our own releases, um which we initially do as limited collectors editions, little box sets, of which Curse of Frankenstein is one, is that we include quite a chunky booklet can range between 120, 180 pages of new articles, more contacts, etc. etc. Alongside newly designed pieces of artwork. We've used a variety of artists and the sort of the the general instruction is we want something old but new. We want something which echoes the style of the time but with its own modern twist. So with Curse of Frankenstein, we talk to a superb artist called Greg Staples, um, who I know from my youth because he he used to uh work on a a comic that I bought, and now he's a superb fine artist uh who happens to love Hammer. And we've been looking for a project to to work on together for nearly a year now, I think. And at a certain point I said to him, Cursor Frankenstein? And he went, Yes. I said, Do we need to discuss it any further? And he said no. And and what you what you see is is a super I mean, you you look at it and and you have to think, is that new? Is it original? The penmanship and the the painting is exquisite. And we knew when we were we we commissioned it that we'd want something that would not only be able to be cropped to be a a Blu-ray or a UHD cover, but would also serve in our in a wider format as film poster. Uh and and he nailed it, and it's beautiful. And not only is it on uh people can see it outside cinemas where the posters are, they can see it on our box, and they can see it on George's uh releases as well, because it's just too good a design not to use. What do you think, George?
George Feltenstein:Well, usually when we do things uh from the Warner Archive collection, we like to use uh original key art, and the US key art for this film was not particularly attractive. So when we released our Blu-ray in 2020, we found an international poster. I think it may have been Belgian, but the artwork that you folks created is so gorgeous because it has that authentic feel of the film, of the period, and yet it's fresh and new. And that's very, very difficult to do. I've seen other attempts at creating new packaging where it tries to make a film that's of that vintage look new, which is not what the fans want. And it really is across purposes. New packaging is gorgeous, and everybody around here who's seen it has just been knocked out by it. So uh kudos to the artist and to all of you for making it possible.
Steve Rogers:That's really great to hear. Thanks, George.
Tim Millard:Yeah, yeah. I I I think it's fantastic. I love it. Uh, you've got Christopher Lee with his arms extended in that pose. It's uh it's fantastic artwork. But uh what a terrific release. It's so wonderful to hear about the fact that Hammer and Warner brothers are working together on these. And I know you have more films that historically have been worked on. So we can hope maybe that in the future, this uh uh if this release is successful, that more could happen in the future, George.
George Feltenstein:Now that we have reinvigorated the partnership, I'm looking for every opportunity to join forces with these wonderful folks and keep the Warner Hammer relationship alive and thriving.
Tim Millard:That's fantastic. And meanwhile, I know you've announced a few other titles that Hammer is uh is gonna be releasing as well. So you're very busy over there at Hammer just reinvigorating the company with all of these releases. Uh, I think one was Men of Show Sherwood Forest. Is that your next one?
Steve Rogers:That that that should be due out in about two weeks. Yes. I mean the whole thing is a rolling program. Right. And what we've done this year and what we'd be doing going forward is um a mixture of Stone Cold classics, Frankenstein, Kratomass, etc. with rarities because they're sort of historically they've been ignored and and loved. But they are part of Hammer, this this is we've just come out of our 90th anniversary. You know, there's a lot of films in there. Yeah. I think I there's close to 200 different productions, of which only maybe 20% perhaps were horror or horror centric. So it uh it's it's and it's really nice to shine a spotlight on these films. And some people might look at them and say, What, that's a hammer? And it's like, well, yeah, it is. And it it it's in the beginning, back in January, which seems like a million years ago now, we started with Kronos and people went, Yay, horror's brilliant. And then the next one was Four Sided Triangle, which if anything is sort of like a science and noir type thing. And we we confused people, I think. But by the time we got to about the fifth release, the second Quator Mass film, fans were really on board with it. They understood what we were doing, they understood the the package that we were creating with all of the context and special features, etc. And and that buoyed us up, and we knew we knew because at that point we were working on Curse of Frankenstein. It's like, okay, this one's for the fans.
Tim Millard:Yeah.
Steve Rogers:And it's been so successful, this this uh mixture of rarities and and classics. And you know, that's what we're gonna be doing going forward. And I'm sure there's lots of opportunities with our good friends at Warner's here, because as well as um three films on which we share distribution rights, um there's a handful more from the late 60s, early 70s where Warners have distribution rights, but they were made by Hammett. So there's lots of potential going forward for for other things, which I'm sure the fans will love. As will I, and as will Mark as well, because we're fans.
Tim Millard:Mark, you're gonna be busy. Steve, you're gonna be busy. This year it sounds like it sounds like you've been very, very busy with all of these releases. What a what a year for Hammer. It's so great to see this resurgence of physical media for the collectors and the fans of uh these great films. And if you're a fan of horror, I think what are you gonna say? It this is a must-have. I mean, Kurt, uh it's a must-have. So uh hopefully everybody is getting their copy, or if if they haven't yet, if they're waiting till the holidays, well, here we are, just in time for the holidays as well. Uh, this is a huge thumbs up release, and what a wonderful, wonderful collaboration between Warner Brothers and Hammer Films. And thank you for all coming on and sharing the story with the fans.
George Feltenstein:Thank you, Tim and Mark and Steve. It's really an honor to be on the extras with you to celebrate this wonderful joint effort. We're very, very pleased to work with you and look forward to the future.
Steve Rogers:Thanks. We we're both loving what we're doing, and things can only get better. It's brilliant. Thank you.
Tim Millard:Well, I hope you enjoyed the conversation we just had with Steve Rogers and Mark Stanborough of Hammer Films. What a terrific story about this resurrection of the Hammer Films in their physical media releases. 2025 has been a fantastic year for Hammer Films, as well as Warner Archive, of course, for those of you who listen to the editors on a regular basis. So it's great to see this partnership. If you'd like to order a copy of Crystal Friends Panam 4K, I will have ordered links in the podcast show notes, so look for that there. If you'd like more information, we'll also have some links to their website and to our Facebook page for more will be provided. As always, if you enjoyed the podcast, we hope that you will subscribe or follow the show that helps us, and all podcasts will come on the show. Of course, we always appreciate all of our listeners and thank you for being so loyal to us this year and in previous years. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim a lot. Today, slightly upset about hope.