HHFF #26 Horror of Dracula (1958) – The very first Gothic Hammer Horror Dracula film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing that spawned 6 or 7 weird sequels. I love that Hammer serialized Dracula in this way. It’s like the precursor to the 80’s sequel slashers, Jason Vorhees or Freddy Kruger. This one doesn’t get as bizarre as some of the later iterations like Satanic Rites of Dracula, but it doesn’t really faithfully depict Bram Stoker’s novel either. The death of Dracula in this film is fucking fantastic for having been filmed in the 1950’s!

HHFF #27 Nightmare on Elm Street 2 – Yup the REALLY stupid one. Do you know how they kill Freddy off in this one? Because I don’t and I just watched it 3 minutes ago. Seriously, he just sort of melts for no reason, and then of course he’s not dead; or something, I don’t know Fuck It. This film does feature an appearance by Clu Gulager (ALERT!)

HHFF #28 Nosferatu (1922) – The first film adaptation of Dracula ever. It’s moody and dark and a whole lot more faithful to it’s source than any of the Hammer Films despite changing all of the character’s names. Gorgeous piece of film history and it holds up surprisingly well for a film from the silent era.

HHFF #29 Shadow of the Vampire – A film that imagines Max Schreck, the actor who played Count Orlok in the 1922 Horror Masterpiece, Nosferatu to be a real vampire. Check out the acting chops on Willem Dafoe hamming up some serious weirdness. Shadow of the Vampire is a well constructed love letter to both the classic movie it’s based on and to the eternal nature of film itself.

HHFF #30 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – How important this particular iteration was for the series is unquestionable. Part 2 was such an artistic piece of shit that it almost completely derailed the intellectual property. Nightmare 3 was the one that put the series and the Freddy character on the correct path for longevity using amazing special effects and a great script written by the original creator, Wes Craven with 1st time director Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont (who has now gone on to direct The Mist and create the television series The Walking Dead). Besides the original, it’s my favorite Nightmare film.