{"id":27601,"date":"2018-03-05T13:07:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T18:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=27601"},"modified":"2018-03-05T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T18:07:08","slug":"hammer-films-double-features-maniac-die-die-my-darling-blu-ray-never-take-candy-from-strangers-scream-of-fear-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/05\/hammer-films-double-features-maniac-die-die-my-darling-blu-ray-never-take-candy-from-strangers-scream-of-fear-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Hammer Films Double Features: Maniac\/Die! Die! My Darling! [Blu-Ray]; Never Take Candy from Strangers, Scream of Fear! [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As with all Mill Creek releases, they\u2019re prone to bringing fans and collectors whole box sets of films, and then to re-release the sets in various volumes here and there. For fans that can\u2019t spring for the big box set, there are two releases from Mill Creek Entertainment that got the Blu-Ray treatment. These are fine releases if you want the movies or nothing else. If you want the bells and whistles, you\u2019ll just have to wait longer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1963\u2019s \u201cManiac\u201d is set in France centers on a man named Jeff who is driven to insanity after he tortures the man that raped his daughter. After being released from the asylum years later, Jeff strikes up an affair with a young woman who convinces him to help her break her husband out of the asylum. Oblivious to being used by her, \u201cManiac\u201d takes twists and turns that amount to considerably respectable entertainment. The performances are tight, while \u201cManiac\u201d really comes together as an experience thanks to clear motivation and coherent plot.<\/p>\n

I managed to see the 1965 \u201cDie! Die! My Darling\u201d and it\u2019s a fairly solid horror thriller that feels like a mix of \u201cMisery\u201d and the Gwyneth Paltrow stinker \u201cHush.\u201d Written by Richard Matheson, Stefanie Powers treks to visit the mother of her fianc\u00e9 as a means of getting to know her. When she\u2019s drugged and locked in the house, she must figure a way out before her mother in law\u2019s endless punishing and torture results a guaranteed death. It\u2019s a standard thriller with some god pressing moments, but overall it\u2019s not a masterpiece. I actually had to sit finish this in two sittings. \u201cNever Take Candy from a Stranger\u201d centers on Clarence, a psychopath living in a Canadian Town who is sexually attracted to little girls.<\/p>\n

When Peter and Sally arrive with their nine year old daughter Jean from England, Peter learns that Jean and her playmate have been sexually abused by Clarence in exchange for candy. When Peter and Sally take him to court they learn he\u2019s rich and powerful and the odds are stacked against them. Apparently, \u201cNever Take Candy from a Stranger\u201d was a critical bomb, being destroyed by critics and audiences, as it is it\u2019s a fairly exploitative and despicable piece of horror. It\u2019s uneasy material used for genre fodder and I wasn\u2019t a fan. \u201cScream of Fear!\u201d from 1961 stars Susan Strasberg as a paralyzed young woman confined to a wheelchair who returns to her father\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Incidentally he happens to be away. Suspicious o her new stepmother, as played by Ann Todd, she begins to notice weird goings on around the house. When she finds her father\u2019s corpse, which suddenly disappears she begins to wonder if there\u2019s a conspiracy or if she\u2019s losing her mind. \u201cScream of Fear!\u201d is a solid horror shocker from Hammer with some fine performances. I would definitely lead with \u201cScream of Fear!\u201d While each release are bereft of features, you can at least watch sharp transfers of some very good Hammer horror.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As with all Mill Creek releases, they\u2019re prone to bringing fans and collectors whole box sets of films, and then to re-release the sets in various volumes here and there. For fans that can\u2019t spring for the big box set, there are two releases from Mill Creek Entertainment that got the Blu-Ray treatment. These are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[442,477,1087],"class_list":["post-27601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-hammer","tag-horror","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27603,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27601\/revisions\/27603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}