THE REVEREND’S REVIEW

FT’s resident man of the cloth REVEREND PETER LAWS dons his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church forgot! (www.theflicksthatchurchforgot.com)

The director died of a heart attack after a week-long bout of hiccups

In 1970, The British Board of Film Censors (today, the ‘C’ stands for ‘classification’) changed the entry age for an X certificate from 16 to 18. And boy… what a difference those two years made! With a proper ‘adults-only’ certificate, formerly taboo subjects like rape, incest and graphic murder could now be explored in lingering, horrible detail. Studiocanal have released a crop of Hammer films from the early 70s, three of which take this certificate change, and gleefully run with it.

First up is Scars of Dracula (1970), which many Hammer fans think is crap. To be honest, it is – but I still have a soft spot for it. Especially the first half-hour, which throws in everything from bawdy sex comedy, unconvincing bats vomiting blood and then a shocking, zoom-tastic scene of a village church filled with mutilated women. Just watch how long the camera lingers to see the full effect of that certificate change. Dennis Waterman is the irritating hero, and Christopher Lee’s Dracula is surprisingly chatty compared to previous outings. The film doesn’t show much class, or even respect for its predecessors, but it’s still a hoot to watch. Keep an eye out for a gratuitous scene where Dracula skips the fangs, and viciously stabs his side-chick with a dagger.

1971 saw Hammer’s throat-ripping, cleavageheavy Blood from The Mummy’s Tomb hit the screens. Based on Bram Stoker’s novel, The Jewel of the Seven Stars, it takes the Hammer mummy in new directions. For a start,