St. Louis: Win Free Tickets to see ‘The Woman in Black’ Early

Hammer Films Dracula has got to be my favorite I guess.

Curse of Frankenstein is my favorite Hammer film.

Dracula

Maybe not my favorite but the one that I’ve seen most recently is “Frankenstein must be Destroyed” It may not be the best Hammer film that I’ve seen but it certainly has its moments. Notably Dr. Frankenstein, played by the great Peter Cushing, sitting in the lounge of the boarding house in which he had taken up residence, eaves dropping on the conversation of some of the other tenants. The other men are discussing rumors of the “mad Doctor Frankenstein” and the events of earlier films, calling him a failed scientist and a lunatic. Frankenstein then interjects and asks the men what their professions are. All 3 are something on the order of bankers or lawyers. Upon hearing their answers Fankenstein cooly replies, ” Oh excuse me, I thought you might be some one who knows what they’re talking about.”

Good stuff.

redhawk239@gmail.com

This may not have to ghosts per se, but famously, St. Louis University once housed the young boy upon which the story of the Exorcist is based. The priests involved in that case were Jesuits from SLU. Before being sentto a hospital room, the boy was removed from his home and moved to a small room in the top floor of what is now known as Verhagen Hall at SLU. The boy was only kept there for about a week but many claim his presence has affected that room permanently. Many claim that that part of the hall is always several degrees colder than the rest of the building any some profess to have heard strange noises. The room was eventually sealed off as certain halls and rooms were redesigned and restructured. about 25 years later however, or about 6 years ago, there was work done to restore the building to it’s original condition for an important University anniversary of some kind. When they unsealed the room however, they found that the room was filled with literally hundreds of dead pigeons. No one is entirely sure how the pigeons got there, but they had to have somehow maneuvered their way through some crevace from the attic above. Unable to find their way back out again, the birds made this trip to their deaths. Birds often get trapped in parts of buildings, but the fact that so many birds made the same exact deadly mistake, into a room with such a specific history is outright eerie. I cannot corraborate any part of this story except the Universities involvement with exorcism case. As for the rest I have my doubts, but on a Catholic campus, such stories about the devil and evil presences are sure to persist for many years to come.

jbuechl2@slu.edu

My favorite ghost story is how that little fuck from Harry Potter is starring in a Hammer film?!

I don’t have any personal ghost stories, so I’ll talk about my favorite Hammer film, which, not coincidentally, was also my first.

My favorite Hammer film is The Hound of the Baskervilles, which may not at first blush seem like a horror film, but in true Hammer fashion, Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale is spiced up with evil tarantulas and satanic sacrifices (a far more successful marriage of Sherlock and Satanism than the Guy Ritchie version would offer). The foggy moors lend the film a wonderfully creepy atmosphere, and the killer hound is very well done. But most importantly, Peter Cushing gives a typically committed performance as Sherlock Holmes. Christopher Lee is also good (if a bit underused) as Sir Henry Baskerville. And, as always, you’ve gotta love Hammer’s trademark Technicolor cinematography, which always makes the blood really pop. Overall, a delightfully Hammerian take on Conan Doyle’s most macabre Holmes tale.

Have to go with an original: Dracule