Leofwine_draca MONSTER MADNESS: THE Gothic REVIVAL OF HORROR is apparently the third in a series of documentaries exploring Universal horror, the 1950s atom age of horror, and Hammer horror in turn. What we get is basically another clip compilation in which various footage from both the Hammer horror classics and their trailers is utilised while a voice-over artist narrates the history of the company.First, a word of warning: any genuine Hammer buffs are unlikely to find out anything new here. The quality of the given information is quite basic and scant, although the exploration of the early days of the Carreras family is quite interesting. Later, the documentary becomes a straight run-through of the films, focusing mainly on the Dracula and Frankenstein series, although intriguing mention is made of Hammer's forgotten psycho-thrillers. Stuff like THE REPTILE and THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES is ignored completely.The most interesting thing about MONSTER MADNESS is the '90s-era interview footage of various personalities that emerges. We see Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing all too briefly, as well as Yutte Stensgaard, Jimmy Sangster, and Val Guest. This keeps things quite snappy. I also liked the mention of Michael Ripper and rival studios such as Amicus and Tigon. I could have done without the interviews with various American 'experts', basically movie bloggers who you've never heard of; they needed a Kim Newman or Tim Lucas to do the subject matter justice.

Michael_Elliott Monster Madness: The Gothic Revival of Horror (2015) *** (out of 4)Following their documentaries on the Golden Age of the 1930s horror film and the Sci-Fi boom of the 1950s, this film centers on Hammer films and how they brought Frankenstein's monster, Dracula,, the mummy and the wolf man back to the big screen in glorious color and with an added dose of sex and violence. The documentary covers Hammer's early days to their revival with the help of stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.Archival interviews with Cushing, Lee, Val Guest and Veronica Carlson are mixed with interviews with historians and experts as they discuss Hammer in the 1930s, their bankruptcy and their comeback with the sci-fi films and of course their major breakthrough with bringing the famous monsters back to the screen. There's no question that the interviews are certainly the highlight as it's great getting to see these older interviews. Sure, you can probably find them on YouTube but it's still fun seeing them here.The majority of the film footage is from trailers but that's okay because I thought the filmmakers did a good job at not showing too much footage and making a good balance with the interviews. It's doubtful you Hammer experts are going to learn anything new here but it's still a fun way to go back through the studios history.