MICKEY: I can't let the Halloween season, and our recent attention here at Talking Pictures on scary movies, pass without speaking about the monster movies I grew-up with from the Hammer Films studio of England. Hammer Films had been around for many years, but in the late 50's they started remaking the classic Universal Studios Frankenstein, Dracula, mummy, and werewolf, etc, movies . . . and they excelled at what they were doing.
Every suspicious innkeeper, every lab assistant, every local constable, etc, in Hammer films were believable and a joy to watch - but inarguably Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Shelley were who every 10 year old boy was hoping to see in their neighborhood theater. Starting in 1957 with The Curse of Frankenstein and then in 1958 with Horror of Dracula (both, and many other Hammer classics, directed by Terence Fisher), Cushing and Lee began a tradition that I still thrill to watch.
Cushing was always fully convincing as a Victorian era obsessively driven scientist or as the heroically authoritative vampire hunter, and Lee unreservedly recreated Dracula as a sophisticated count who goes rabidly ravenous while under the blood-lust. For many of my (baby-boomer) generation these were the first two movie stars we recognized and cared about . . . if we went to see Lee as Dracula and it wasn't Cushing's Van Helsing chasing him back to his castle but some chubby priest, we were devastated - and if we went to see Cushing as Dr Frankenstein and his creation was not Lee but some middle-aged bald guy, we wanted our money back.
What makes a film a classic - the nature of the material, the age of the intended audience? These movies are classics because they've stood the test of time, they are still beautiful to look at and thrilling to watch. It's a spoiler, but go to YouTube and watch Cushing and Lee, look at the set, costumes, listen to the score, etc, but most of all, watch these two genuinely talented actors fully commit to this kid's Saturday matinée. 
