ESplatter informs us that Monsters HD, the high-definition satellite network devoted to horror films, will screen a marathon of Hammer horror classics on November 30, from 5:15pm to 4:40am:
For over two decades, one British-based studio mesmerized the world with a brand of horror so distinct it would help to define a genre. Hammer Films produced some of the most chilling and memorable genre films from the late ‘50s until the ‘70s, bringing to life classic horror icons such as Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy and, in the process, branding Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as horror legends. To honor the landmark 50th anniversary of Hammer Films, MONSTERS HD, the first and only high-definition network dedicated to horror and creature features, commemorates the studio’s most classic goth horror with HAMMER HORROR TIME MARATHON, airing Friday, November 30 from 5:15 PM–4:40 AM ET.
Viewers will certainly be able to sink their teeth into this exclusive MONSTERS HD marathon, featuring not only the best of Lee and Cushing, but an unforgettable assortment of Hammer House’s most shocking films, including genre classics such as DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED and THE MUMMY.
Read the complete schedule below the fold.
MARATHON SCHEDULE
- DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968) 5:15 PM ET/ 2:15 PM PT/ 4:15 PM C
Starring Christopher Lee as the inimitable Count, the film opens in a middle-European village suffering under Dracula’s reign of terror. When an altar boy discovers the body of a woman stuffed in the church’s bell, the local villagers implore the Monsignor to exorcise Dracula’s castle. However, the bloodsucker gets his revenge by making the holy man’s niece his bride in this 1968 thriller.- TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1969) 7 PM ET/ 4 PM PT/ 6 PM C
After three elderly, bourgeois gentlemen stumble upon one of Count Dracula’s servants, they’re invited to a ritual where they unwittingly help to restore the Count back to life. But when they kill Dracula’s servant, their days are numbered in this vampiric classic starring Lee in his most toothsome role.- DRACULA A.D. 1972 (1972) 8:40 PM ET/5:40 PM PT/ 7:40 PM C
One hundred years following the deaths of Dracula and legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing, the Count is resurrected by a group of hippies in modern day London. One of the group, Jessica, hails from the Van Helsing bloodline, so when Dracula awakens, the legendary battle between the two great foes begins anew.- THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1974) 10:20 PM ET/7:20 PM PT/9:20 PM C
The eighth film in Hammer’s Dracula series and seventh to star the wonderful Christopher Lee in the title role, this sequel to Dracula A.D. 1972 begins with Scotland Yard investigating several cases of vampirism. After calling in Van Helsing, an expert vampire researcher and descendent of Dracula’s greatest nemesis, it becomes apparent that the feared nightstalker is yet again preying on the innocent. Will he be uncloaked before he drinks again?- FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967) 11:50 PM ET/8:50PM PT/10:50 PM C
Peter Cushing stars as the best known mad scientist, Baron Frankenstein, in this Hammer Films classic. After reviving the body of a disfigured young woman, Christina, it’s discovered that she committed suicide following the wrongful execution of her lover, Hans. Continuing his deranged experiments, he transplants Hans’ soul into his newly-undead monster, who then begins to take revenge on those who wrongly framed Hans for murder.- FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969) 1:25 AM ET/10:25 PM PT/12:25 AM C
Cushing delivers his most cold-blooded portrayal of the mad Baron in his fifth turn as Dr. Frankenstein. Abandoning his latest experiment after a drunk stumbles into his secret lab, he hurriedly finds new lodgings with a young woman whose boyfriend works in the local sanitarium. Frankenstein blackmails the lovers into complicity with his latest experiment – helping him transfer his friend’s brain into another body to save him from the local asylum. When the creature awakes, he is horrified by his appearance and escapes to go to his “former” wife. Frankenstein finds the creature, but is it too late?- THE MUMMY (1959) 3:10 AM ET/12:10 AM PT/2:10 AM C
After, three British archeologists open the sacred grave of a Princess Ananka, who died four millennia ago, an ancient curse befalls them. They also manage to raise the vindictive mummy Kharis (Christopher Lee), charged with guarding the Princess in the afterlife, as well as the ire of Mehemet Bey, an Egyptian adept of the god Karnak. Which English infidels will experience the wrath of the Mummy, in this Terrence Fisher-directed Technicolor classic starring both Lee and Cushing?- THE MUMMY’S SHROUD (1967) 4:40 AM ET/1:40 AM PT/3:40 AM C
In 1920, an archeological expedition unearths the tomb of an ancient Egyptian child prince. After returning home with their discovery, the archeologists soon find themselves being killed off one by one by the mummy, which was unknowingly revived when they translated the prince’s burial shroud.As with all MONSTERS HD programs, all the films in HAMMER HORROR TIME will be airing uncut and commercial-free in their original aspect ratios. MONSTERS HD is available in the U.S. on Echostar’s DISH Network (channel 9481) and Cablevision’s iO digital cable service (channel 777).