Horrors that bit the dust
QUESTION I understand that there are at least ten Hammer films that were scripted but never made. What were they? HAMMER Films was founded in 1932 and produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies. Following the release of The Curse Of Frankenstein (directed by Terence Fisher, 1957), the first horror film in colour, the studio gained a reputation for a lush Gothic style.
The critics loathed the film, but the public loved it, and Hammer followed it up with a fantastic version of Dracula (d. Terence Fisher, 1958) with Christopher Lee as the titular count.
From then on, Hammer became a byword for horror fantasy. Christopher Lee, Ralph Bates, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, David Prowse and Patrick Troughton provided the scares, while Ingrid Pitt, Caroline Munro, Barbara Shelley and Valerie Leon filled the bodices.
Hammer produced some classics of the genre, such as Plague Of The Zombies (1966), The Devil Rides Out (1968), and the racy Karnstein vampire trilogy The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust For A Vampire (1971) and Twins Of Evil (1971).
By the mid-Seventies, however, Hammer horror had come to be seen as cheesy and outdated, and was supplanted by gritty U.S. horrors such as Night Of The Living Dead (d. George Romero, 1968) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (d. Tobe Hooper, 1974).
Funding was drying up, but ideas for possible films kept coming, and thanks to some advance poster art produced by the great Tom Chantrell, we have an idea what some of them could have been.
Kali, The Devil Bride Of Dracula featured a younger version of Dracula, and recounted the vampire and Van Helsing’s first meeting in India. Mistress Of The Seas was an account of female pirate Anne Bonney, a role conceived for Raquel Welch in an attempt to revive the remarkable success of One Million Years B.C. (1966).
Vampirella was designed to cash in on the success of Jane Fonda fantasy Barbarella. Chantrell’s poster for the film featured a barely clad vampire, and Caroline Munro reportedly turned down the role as it featured too much nudity.
Horror author Richard Matheson was sent a copy of the Dennis Wheatley novel, The Haunting Of Toby Jugg, and asked by Hammer to take a look at it in preparation of adapting it for the screen.
Chantrell’s poster for When The Earth Cracked Open featured a topless astronaut — but a plot had yet to be devised. Payment In Fear was intended to be a reimagining of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages Of Fear. Victim Of His Imagination was to be a film about the life of Dracula novelist Bram Stoker.
Hammer even proposed to cash in on the popularity of Godzilla and joined forces with Toho, the studio that gave birth to the monster, to bring Nessie, a tale of cryptozoological horror starring the Loch Ness Monster. Toho even produced a model of the creature, but sadly it never climbed out of the loch.
Hammer ceased horror film production following the flop To The Devil A Daughter (d. Peter Sykes, 1976), starring Christopher Lee and a 15-year-old Nastassja Kinski.
Elliot Morris, Edinburgh. QUESTION How did pagan weekday and month names survive into the Christian era? THE short answer is that the Christian church adapted itself to pagan society. Christians were a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire, partly because they refused to pay homage to the Emperor.
However, in the early 4th century on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Emperor Constantine was said to have seen a flaming Cross and took this to be a sign of his victory. He went on to end the persecution of Christians and converted to the faith on his deathbed.
Within 100 years, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman empire. Pagan customs such as spring fertility rites became Easter, and December 25, just after the shortest day, or Sol Invictis (Unconquered Sun), was nominated as Jesus’s birthday. (It was actually an unspecified day in October.) So there was no need to rename the pagan days of the week as the old pre-Christian customs continued, albeit a little adapted to Church traditions.
Dr Hillary J. Shaw, Newport, Shropshire. THERE are many myths and misconceptions about hypnotherapy that mostly stem from exposure to stage hypnotists. The latter is a theatrical performance and has little in common with bona fide clinical hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention or concentration, often associated with relaxation and heightened suggestibility.
The most frequent clinical uses of hypnosis include helping to break bad habits such as smoking, overcoming insomnia, recalling forgotten experiences, and as an anaesthetic for managing pain.
You can test the benefits of self-hypnosis. Simply sit or lie down in a quiet setting. Then, close your eyes and take in a few deep breaths, slowly, in and out.
This exercise places many people into a mild trance. In this state, say some optimistic things to yourself, picture some pleasant events to aid memory.
There has been some clinical research into the possible effect of hypnosis on dementia. Liverpool University forensic psychologist, Dr Simon Duff, investigated its effects on people living with dementia and compared the treatment to mainstream healthcare methods.
He also looked at how hypnosis compared to a type of group therapy in which participants were encouraged to discuss news and current affairs.
He found that people living with dementia who had received hypnosis therapy showed an improvement in concentration, memory and socialisation compared to the other two treatment groups.
Dr Duff said: ‘Over a nine-month period of weekly sessions, it became clear that the participants attending the discussion group remained the same throughout.
‘The group who received “treatment as usual” showed a small decline over the assessment period, yet those having regular hypnosis showed real improvement across all of the areas that we looked at.’
Alice R. Steynman, Oxford.