As I watch more Hammer films, it strikes me just how sad so many of them are.
Innocents and lost souls find themselves in a similar place in the afterlife, and it never ends happily for them there either. Here you have Susan Denberg, born with a facial disfigurement, taunted by the local toffs, who then sees her boyfriend executed. And that's just the start of her problems before an inevitable downbeat ending.
Hammer horror films, these days, are usually remembered mostly for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and also quite often for their campness. But they're almost always quite serious-minded horror tales that rarely have the get-out of a joke or a comedy character. They're also surprisingly aware in terms of societal issues. I can just imagine the three upper-class blokes who taunt Denberg here being members of the Bullingdon Club or something.
Certainly one of the better or even best Hammer films that I've seen.
Innocents and lost souls find themselves in a similar place in the afterlife, and it never ends happily for them there either. Here you have Susan Denberg, born with a facial disfigurement, taunted by the local toffs, who then sees her boyfriend executed. And that's just the start of her problems before an inevitable downbeat ending.
Hammer horror films, these days, are usually remembered mostly for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and also quite often for their campness. But they're almost always quite serious-minded horror tales that rarely have the get-out of a joke or a comedy character. They're also surprisingly aware in terms of societal issues. I can just imagine the three upper-class blokes who taunt Denberg here being members of the Bullingdon Club or something.
Certainly one of the better or even best Hammer films that I've seen.