There’s good news for horror fanatics, as Hammer Films has announced it will be releasing a 4K restoration of The Curse Of Frankenstein.
First released in 1957, this was the first film that Hammer produced in colour. It follows Baron Victor Frankenstein as he becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a man from deceased human body parts, and is based on the iconic novel by Mary Shelley.
It’s got a pretty stellar cast as well, including Peter Cushing (known for Dracula, Star Wars: Episode IV) and The Lord of the Rings’ Christopher Lee.
With a respectable Rotten Tomatoes score of 82 per cent on the Tomatometer, this old-school horror is quite the hit with both critics and audiences.
Empire’s Kim Newman, for example, writes that “in its best scenes, it adds dynamism and British grit to a genre that had previously tried to get by on atmospherics and mood alone”.
Despite its age, Hammer claims it has given the film quite the makeover. In a joint effort with The Warner Archive Collection, it says the movie has been “carefully restored from original film elements by the Hammer team”. It will certainly be interesting to see how the horror giant manages to work around the film’s now-dated camera technology.
The limited 4K edition contains six discs (two UHDs and four Blu-rays) which all include a new 5.1 mix in Dolby Atmos alongside the original mono film soundtrack.
There’s some neat extras included as well, such as facsimiles of the original cinema lobby cards and original artwork from comic book artist Greg Staples, who has worked as a concept artist for Doomsday and Hellboy.
This special edition is only available on Hammer Films in the UK, with the release date set for 13 October.
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