TWO 4K BLU-RAY AND THREE BLU-RAY DISCS, with the content duplicated across both formats
Three iterations of Captain Kronos: the widescreen 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version, the fullscreen 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version and the widescreen 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version
Brand-new Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes for each version alongside the original mono film soundtrack
English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese subtitles on each version of the film
Packaged in a high-end, leather-feel slipcase with debossed red foil titling
Rigid inner box featuring new artwork by cult favourite artist Graham Humphreys
Double-sided poster of the original UK and US one-sheets
Eight art cards featuring facsimiles of the original US cinema lobby cards
136-page booklet featuring interviews, articles and reproductions of original paperwork
100-page comic featuring a reprint of the Kronos strips from legendary 1970s magazine The House of Hammer
DISC FEATURES
The House of Clemens: a brand-new 59-minute documentary looking at Brian Clemens and his body of work, with contributions from his family, friends and colleagues
New 2024 introduction by Caroline Munro on 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version
New 2024 commentary featuring Caroline Munro and Sam & George Clemens on 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version
New 2024 introduction by Sam & George Clemens on 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version
Archive 2011 commentary featuring Brian Clemens, Caroline Munro, Shane Briant, John Carson and Marcus Hearn on 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version
Archive 2011 commentary featuring Brian Clemens, Director of Photography Ian Wilson and Marcus Hearn on 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version
Archive 2013 introduction by Brian Clemens on 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version
Archive 2020 commentary featuring film historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck on 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version
Archive 2003 commentary featuring Brian Clemens, Caroline Munro and Jonathan Sothcott on 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version
Original UK Theatrical Trailer
Original Foreign Theatrical Trailer
Original US Theatrical Trailer
Original UK Censor Card
Original US Radio Spots
Original Textless Titles and Backgrounds
Kronos Returns: archive featurette on the 2008 reunion of cast and crew
Brian Clemens 1991 interview from the Festival of Fantastic Films archive
Brian Clemens 2000 interview from the Festival of Fantastic Films archive
Horst Janson 2010 interview from the Festival of Fantastic Films archive
Lois Daine 2017 interview from the James McCabe archive
Anything Goes: Hammer Horror in the 1970s - 2020 featurette featuring Kim Newman and Stephen Jones
Extensive stills gallery including many rare behind-the-scenes pictures and featuring music from Laurie Johnson's outstanding score
BOOKLET CONTENT
New article on the making of Captain Kronos by actor and author Bruce G. Hallenbeck
Archive interviews with Horst Janson, Caroline Munro, Laurie Johnson, John Cater, Lisa Collings and William Hobbs, courtesy of Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine
New article examining why Kronos never made it to a franchise by film historian Laura Mayne
New article on Laurie Johnson by Movie Music International's John Mansell
Archive Brian Clemens interview from a 1974 edition of Monster Times
Archive review of Captain Kronos from 1974 by Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas
New article examining the film's UK cinema distribution by Steve Rogers
Reproduction pressbook, call sheet and US PR material
What a stacked set, but even more impressive is the exemplary AR, audio and subtitle line-up. The latter, I imagine, is only possible due to Hammer having the rights for all these countries. I hope the international approach they’re taking makes this sell well and encourages them to do more in that vein.
nicolas wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2024 9:40 pm
What a stacked set, but even more impressive is the exemplary AR, audio and subtitle line-up. The latter, I imagine, is only possible due to Hammer having the rights for all these countries.
Inevitably, online moaners have been saying "why are they doing this and not, say, Dracula?", to which the obvious riposte is "because they can with this and they can't with a really whopping chunk of the Hammer catalogue, which is in the hands of various major studios."
See also the misplaced excitement about Hammer's restoration project - I say "misplaced" not because it's not a big and culturally important thing but because people inevitably assume that they mean Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing films, whereas it's actually the likes of their pre-1957 films (mostly thrillers and comedies) plus the occasional later title like Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter.
I have been really into watching Hammer horror films this month and have been wondering when the UHD dam would burst for their classic catalog. I’m glad I got a swift answer, even if it’s not quite the answer I wanted. Still very encouraging, and this is still a fun film.
Now added to the special features is a 59 min piece about Brian Clemens from Toby Hadoke. Based on the similar features he’s done for the Dr Who range, should be good. Pre orders go live on Thursday.
Dr Amicus wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2024 12:03 pm
Pre orders for Captain Kronos just gone live, a not unreasonable £50. With bonus gifts, discount vouchers for early purchasers
Using the following code, the Hammer site is offering single day-only free shipping for this Kronos set, and it seems to be effective worldwide: KRONOSFIEND
And apparently, according to posts at Blu-ray.com, the first Quatermass has been promised somewhere along the line.
I’ve never seen this, although is one of the few pre Frankenstein Fishers to get considerable attention due to being SF. I’ll preorder as soon as it’s available, but the fact that we get this in UHD so early is bizarre. I’m absolutely not complaining though!
Hammer has released a clip of an interview with Jane Asher, the only surviving cast member of The Quatermass Experiment, from the documentary on the upcoming release. This is particularly interesting because Asher's character turns up in a single scene which feels to be clearly homaging the notorious 'little girl versus monster' sequence in 1931's Frankenstein. Bizarrely the same scene turns up again decades later with Steve Buscemi's character in Con Air! Just set next to a presumably Frankenstein-homaging but with a Ballardian-esque twist of an empty swimming pool instead! And it is interesting that the earliest film is the one in which the child dies, whilst in The Quatermass Experiment it is the child who proves to be strangely intimidating to the still just barely clinging onto humanity monster; and eventually Con Air implies something worse than death befalling the child in the situation, but then pulls back somewhat to show the girl happily waving Buscemi off on his plane ride instead!
(It has been really good to see Jane Asher getting behind promoting her horror roles receiving physical media releases - just a couple of weeks ago she was even enthusiastically extolling the virtues of The Stone Tape's Blu-ray release to Alan Titchmarsh on his genteel Saturday morning chat show!)
colinr0380 wrote: Sat May 03, 2025 8:53 pm
Hammer has released a clip of an interview with Jane Asher, the only surviving cast member of The Quatermass Experiment, from the documentary on the upcoming release. This is particularly interesting because Asher's character turns up in a single scene which feels to be clearly homaging the notorious 'little girl versus monster' sequence in 1931's Frankenstein. Bizarrely the same scene turns up again decades later with Steve Buscemi's character in Con Air! Just set next to a presumably Frankenstein-homaging but with a Ballardian-esque twist of an empty swimming pool instead! And it is interesting that the earliest film is the one in which the child dies, whilst in The Quatermass Experiment it is the child who proves to be strangely intimidating to the still just barely clinging onto humanity monster; and eventually Con Air implies something worse than death befalling the child in the situation, but then pulls back somewhat to show the girl happily waving Buscemi off on his plane ride instead!
(It has been really good to see Jane Asher getting behind promoting her horror roles receiving physical media releases - just a couple of weeks ago she was even enthusiastically extolling the virtues of The Stone Tape's Blu-ray release to Alan Titchmarsh on his genteel Saturday morning chat show!)
In the Frankenstein novel, the monster saves a little girl from drowning, but is shot for his pains. Whale sort of used this scene in Bride of Frankenstein where the monster rescues a shepherdess.
THIS ITEM IS A PRE-ORDER, IF IN STOCK ITEMS ARE ORDERED AT THE SAME TIME AS THIS ITEM, THE WHOLE ORDER WILL BE HELD UNTIL THIS ITEM IS IN STOCK. If you would like to receive other, in stock items earlier, please place a separate order.
This limited collector's edition comprises:
- Five discs in a stylish digipak, including two UHD and three Blu-ray, with the Hammer content duplicated across both formats. The BBC content is presented in Standard Definition on Region B formatted Blu-ray disc.
- Three iterations of Quatermass 2: the widescreen 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version, the fullscreen 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version and the widescreen 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version re-titled Enemy from Space.
- Brand-new 5.1 mix for all three versions alongside the original mono film soundtrack.
- Additional German and Italian audio for all three versions. English, French, Italian, Spanish and German subtitles on all versions of the film.
- Packaged in a high-end, leather-feel slipcase with debossed red and silver titling.
- Rigid inner box featuring new artwork by cult favourite artist Graham Humphreys.
- Double-sided poster of original one-sheets.
- Eight art cards featuring facsimiles of the original US cinema lobby cards.
- 176-page booklet featuring new and reprint articles and reproductions of original publicity.
- 60-page comic featuring a reprint of the comic strip from legendary 1970s magazine The House of Hammer.
The discs feature:
- The Legend of Nigel Kneale: Enemy from Space. Toby Hadoke continues his investigation into the truth behind the legend, in part two of a brand-new two-part documentary.
- Doubling Down: Uncovering Quatermass 2. A close look at the making of Quatermass 2, with contributions from Jon Dear, Stephen Gallagher, Toby Hadoke, Wayne Kinsey, Andy Murray and Stephen Volk.
- Quatermass II: All six episodes of the landmark 1955 BBC serial.
- Man of Action: Author and Hammer expert Stephen Laws and author/biographer Derek Sculthorpe examine the life and career of Brian Donlevy.
- Quatermass Crew: Candid reminiscences from the making of Quatermass 2 with 3rd assistant director Hugh Harlow and special effects assistant Brian Johnson.
- A Question of Character: Nigel Kneale famously hated Brian Donlevy’s performance as Quatermass. Jon Dear, Stephen Gallagher, Toby Hadoke, Wayne Kinsey, Andy Murray and Stephen Volk offer their own perspectives.
- Quatermass and the Hammer Experience: Interviewed by Ted Newsom in the early 1990s, Val Guest discusses the films he made for Hammer.
- Val Guest 2003 interview from original UK DVD release of Quatermass 2.
- Reviving Quatermass 2: A look behind-the-scenes at how the new 4K restoration of Quatermass 2 was made.
- Original trailers, foreign titles, Super 8 cut-down version and the original BBFC censor cards for Quatermass 2.
- Extensive image gallery of stills and publicity material, alongside tracks from James Bernard’s score.
- New commentary with actor and comedian Toby Hadoke, Nigel Kneale’s biographer Andy Murray and Stephen R. Bissett, artist and film historian.
- New commentary with writer/academic Brontë Schiltz and author/producer Jon Dear.
- Archive commentary with director Val Guest, recorded for laserdisc in 1998.
- Archive commentary with writer Nigel Kneale and Hammer expert Marcus Hearn, recorded for laserdisc in 1998.
- Archive commentary featuring sections of both laserdisc commentaries, edited for DVD in 2003.
- Archive commentary featuring documentarian and Hammer expert Ted Newsom, recorded for Blu-ray in 2019.
- Archive commentary with filmmaker and Hammer expert Constantine Nasr and writer/producer Dr Steve Haberman, recorded for Blu-Ray in 2019.
The booklet features:
- New article on the making of Quatermass 2 by Bruce Hallenbeck.
- New article by Andrew Pixley where he takes a look at the production of the second BBC series and its impact on the viewing public.
- New article by Andy Murray that takes a look at that most complicated of relationships: Nigel Kneale vs 1950s Sci-Fi.
- Archive article from Picturegoer magazine where Edith Nepean visits the Danziger’s Studios during the filming of Quatermass 2.
- New article from writer Stephen Laws, who takes a personal look at Brian Donlevy and his place in the pantheon of Quatermass actors.
- New article from Jon Dear, who investigated why New Towns are often portrayed on film and television as sinister monuments to trauma.
- Archive interview with Barry Lowe, who featured in both Quatermass films as well as several other Hammer productions
- New article by Hammer expert Wayne Kindey, who unpicks the differences between the TV series, the draft scripts and the final film.
I used to have a Science Fiction encyclopaedia, published mid-90s, that insisted the Hammer version was inferior to the TV version for jettisoning the "exciting voyage into space". I don't know how easy it was to see the TV version back then, but it turned out the finale takes place in a room with chairs covered with tarpaulin simulating the Moon due to the money running out.
Hammer's next title is Blood Orange (I hadn't heard of it before).
Hollywood favorite Tom Conway – famed for playing Sherlock Holmes, The Falcon, Bulldog Drummond and Simon Templar – stars in this sharp-edged crime thriller from director Terence Fisher. Co-starring Naomi Chance as a model hiding dangerous secrets and Richard Wattis as a grumbling police inspector, Blood Orange has been painstakingly restored by Hammer in 4K from the original film negatives.
Ex-FBI agent turned private eye Conway is called in to investigate a jewel robbery at an exclusive London fashion house. But when murder enters the frame, the catwalk becomes a crime scene – and the killer is still at large.
Special Features
This limited collector's edition comprises:
Blood Orange and supporting material on two discs in a stylish digipak and rigid box: one UHD and one Blu-ray, with the content duplicated across both formats.
English, French, Italian, Spanish and German subtitles on each version of the film.
The discs feature:
New commentary with author and critic Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw, author of Brit Noir and The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction.
New commentary with film historian Lucy Bolton and film critic Phuong Le.
Dressed to Kill: Screenwriter and author David Pirie and Wayne Kinsey, writer of numerous books on Hammer, discuss Michael Carreras, his relationships and his work at Hammer in the early 1950s.
I'm Just a Girl!: award-winning film-maker Alice Lowe discusses Blood Orange and female representation in British cinema.
The ABC of British B!: Artist and film scholar Cathy Lomax, film historian Richard Hollis and author Gavin Collinson discuss Hammer's run of B movies which formed the company's staple output for the best part of a decade.
The House of Glamour: author and fashion historian Liz Tregenza gives insight into the fashions and fashion industry portrayed so vividly in Blood Orange.
A short gallery of stills and publicity material alongside tracks from Ivor Slaney’s score.
The booklet features:
New article by Hammer expert Wayne Kinsey examining the making of Blood Orange.
New article by Robert JE Simpson on Hammer's "sister company" and initial distributor, Exclusive Films.
New article by Nora Fiore on the "bad girls" of Hammer Noir and how they stack up against American femme fatales.
New article by Wayne Kinsey, who examines a key piece of Bray Studios architecture used to good effect on Blood Orange.
New article by crime and Noir expert Barry Forshaw on lead actor Tom Conway.
New article by Gavin Collinson, who takes a look at cinema’s often-jaundiced take on the fashion industry.
Article by Denis Meikle on James Carreras, whose drive, initiative and inexhaustible energy drove Hammer to global success.
Archive interview with Harry Oakes, focus puller on many Hammer films.
