The Icons of Suspense Collection: Hammer Films

Displaying another side of Hammer Films, the British studio legendary for its Technicolor revisions of the classic monster movies of the 1930s, this collection presents six mid-20th-century black-and-white thrillers, none more anticipated than 1963's These Are the Damned. Directed by American abroad Joseph Losey, the movie opens with a swaggering motorcycle gang (led by Oliver Reed) targeting an American tourist, before segueing into a strange and unusually affecting conspiracy tale involving children of the atomic age. It's a fascinating piece of '60s quasi-sci-fi and social commentary with a fatalistic undercurrent, restored here to its complete running time. Never Take Candy from a Stranger (1960) is a startling adult drama about a small-town child molester protected by a rich man, sensitively directed by Cyril Frankel. The remaining four features offer more familiar narratives. Guy Green's The Snorkel (1958) is a smart little murder thriller with a locked-room mystery twist and a creepily effective performance by Peter van Eyck as the silky killer. Peter Cushing is a Scrooge of a bank manager in Quentin Lawrence's modest but effective Cash on Demand (1961), a mix of heist film, battle of wits, and modern-day A Christmas Carol. A terrible accident leaves a racecar driver with an inexplicable compulsion to strangle his wife in Val Guest's Stop Me Before I Kill! (1960), while Michael Carreras' lurid Maniac (1963) revolves around a mad murderer with an acetylene torch. Presented in an extra-less three-disc set, this is a mixed bag to be sure, but worthwhile overall. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)