1951 Down Place

Do you feel it? That constricting feeling in your throat? Is it a fall cold coming on? Nope. It’s just the Down Placers Casey, Derek, and Scott back in the latest episode of 1951 Down Place! This time around, they’re watching 1959’s Stranglers of Bombay (dir. Terence Fisher). Did the boys find this film easy […]

You don’t get the Teen Angels this month. Instead, you get the Down Placers as Casey, Derek, and Scott tackle what was once billed as Hammer Films’ 100th production – One Million Years B.C. (dir. Don Chaffey). Don’t worry, folks – none of the boys wore a fur bikini while talking about this caveman epic. Download […]

The Down Placers are Kung Fu fighting! Their podcast is fast as lightning! Ahem . . . in this month’s episode of 1951 Down Place, Casey, Derek, and Scott take a look at the Hammer-Shaw Studios co-production The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (dir. Roy Ward Baker, Chang Cheh). And listen carefully – this […]

All three Down Placers are back . . . and wearing tights . . . for this month’s episode of the podcast. Before tackling the stories of Frankenstein or Dracula, Hammer Films explored another legendary character, and The Men of Sherwood Forest (dir. Val Guest) was their first go at bringing Robin Hood to the […]

This month, the Down Placers explore their mummy issues by looking at the first of Hammer Films’ mummy films, 1959’s The Mummy (dir. Terence Fisher). This Cushing-Lee-Ripper team-up tells us what happens when man starts digging where he shouldn’t be digging . . . even if Universal sanctioned the remake to begin with. Download 1951 […]

Baron Frankenstein is back . . . and so is Casey as the Down Placers dive into 1958’s The Revenge of Frankenstein. Casey isn’t the only Down Place regular rejoining Scott and Derek in this month’s episode; director Terence Fisher, Hammer regular Michael Ripper, cinematographer Jack Asher, make-up artist Phil Leakey, and the indomitable Peter […]

Hungry? How about some of that so-called “synthetic food” being whipped up at Winnerden Flats? Tell you what – you go on ahead and get something to eat while the Down Placers settle into a discussion of 1957’s Quatermass II (dir. Val Guest). The film, also known as Enemy from Space, features the return of […]

Thanks to Casey’s birthday month pick, the Down Placers only have . . . Ten Seconds to Hell (dir. Robert Aldrich). This 1959 Hammer film stars Jack Palance, believe it or not, and is a stark departure from what one might expect from the studio responsible for films like Horror of Dracula or The Quatermass X-Periment. Is Ten Seconds […]

What if you made a Dracula film and the Prince of Darkness is a no-show? Well, that’s the scenario this month for Casey, Derek, and Scott as they get together to talk about The Brides of Dracula from 1960. The film is directed by Terence Fisher and is the sequel to 1958’s Horror of Dracula. […]

Derek taps into his painfully-obvious-fandom of zombie movies and, for his birthday month, brings The Plague of the Zombies (dir. John Gilling) to the birthday party happening at 1951 Down Place this month. These zombies aren’t interested in eating your flesh, but they are on the look out for tin. Download 1951 Down Place: Episode […]

Scott picked his own present for his birthday month, so it wasn’t “unknown” to him even though the movie he chose is X: The Unknown (dir. Leslie Norman). Casey and Derek join the birthday boy to talk about this 1956 science fiction thriller. Professor Bernard Quatermass wasn’t available when Scotland faced a radioactive threat, so […]

Happy Halloween, everyone! This year, the Down Placers spend one of their favorite holidays with their favorite doctor when they discuss 1967’s Frankenstein Created Woman (dir. Terence Fisher). Casey lists this movie among his Top Five Hammer Films, and in this episode we’ll learn if Scott or Derek enjoy the movie as much as he […]

Kicking off Year Two of 1951 Down Place, the Down Placers go to . . . Manchester when they turn their gaze toward 1959’s Hell is a City (dir. Val Guest). This is the first time the gang takes a look at a “Hammer Noir.” How will it fare against these fans of Hammer’s sci-fi […]

The Down Placers are seeing double when they spend some time with Hammer’s Twins of Evil (dir. John Hough).  While discussing the film, Casey, Derek and Scott fall under the spell of Dennis Price, marvel at the Collinson twins and have conflicting emotions about both simultaneously enjoying and being terrified by Peter Cushing.  And if […]

Per listener request, Casey, Derek and Scott sit down to talk about 1966’s Dracula: Prince of Darkness (dir. Terence Fisher) . . . and they say more in this podcast than actor Christopher Lee says throughout the entire movie (but that’s not saying much!). Thanks to all the listeners that voted in the Listener Pick […]

She who must be obeyed has commanded the Down Placers to tackle the 1965-film She (dir. Robert Day), and who are they to argue with She?  Based on the classic adventure novel She by H. Rider Haggard, Hammer Films’ version of the story pits Down Place favorite Peter Cushing and company against the dubbed Ursula […]

James Whale took a crack at adapting the 1927 J. B. Priestley novel Benighted for Universal in 1932. In 1963, Hammer Films and William Castle made their own attempt at adapting the novel. In 2012, the Down Placers take their turn at discussing the film that would become Hammer’s The Old Dark House. What is […]

The Quatermass Xperiment (dir. Val Guest) delivers classic and intelligent science fiction with that Hammer touch, and this episode of 1951 Down Place delivers a discussion of the film that ranks Number 3 on Scott’s Top Five Hammer Films list.  Near the end of the discussion, Scott asks his enthusiastic co-hosts of The Quatermass Xperiment […]

The Down Placers considered taking a trip to Ollie’s Last Pub in Malta to discuss Oliver Reed, but since at least two of them don’t have passports, they settled for discussing Oliver Reed’s performance in 1963’s Paranoiac (dir. Freddie Francis).  And while Peter Cushing isn’t in this month’s featured film, the guys just can’t seem […]

After last month’s discussion of Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (insert the Captain Kronos opening theme stinger here!), the Down Placers continue their look at 1970s Hammer Vampire films by taking a good hard look at Ingrid Pitt in the first installment of the Karnstein Trilogy, The Vampire Lovers (dir. Roy Ward Baker). This film […]