Movie Gimmick Double Bill

A classic Hammer double bill and also another classic exploitation promotional gimmick.  In this case (if you watch to the end of the trailer) it is a set of plastic vampire fangs for the boys and zombie eyes for the girls - both given away at the box office.  Obviously, this was a US promotion and it is interesting to see these films marketed toward a teen audience.  Hammer's Gothic horrors weren't the average sort of fare usually aimed at such audiences in the sixties: AIP beach movies, biker movies and cheap blood fests like Mad Doctor of Blood Island and its ilk, for instance.  Certainly in the UK, these were aimed at a more adult audience, (as witnessed by their X-Certificates).  Certainly, in degrees of blood-letting, decapitations and the like, Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Plague of the Zombies, were both pretty strong, even by Hammer standards, making them seem idea teen-fodder.  On the other hand, though, they are much slower moving, concentrating on building up atmosphere and characters, not to mention talkier, than the regular stuff of youth-orientated double bills.

The girl getting decapitated with a shovel in Plague of the Zombies is Jacqueline Pearce, later to become better known for playing Severin in Blake's Seven.  For Hammer, she also played the title role in The Reptile, which was shot, on the same sets, back-to-back with Plague of the Zombies, (they also shared a director in John Gilling).  In fact, Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Rasputin the Mad Monk (both starring Christopher Lee), were also shot on the same sets, with all four films designed to go out on double bills.  (The Reptile was released with Rasputin).  One has to admire the ingenuity of Hammer's art department in managing to make the same sets represent Castle Dracula, Imperial Russia and two different Cornish villages in the course of four films.  Indeed, unless one watches all four films back-to-back it isn't immediately obvious that they use the same sets.  While this multi-use of the sets was implemented by Hammer mainly as a cost-saving measure, the relatively cramped nature of their old Bray Studios undoubtedly was also a consideration.  It was far easier to re-use the same sets rather than tear down and erect new sets in the grounds of Bray House four times over a short period, especially as they were due to vacate the studios shortly.  (John Gilling's  The Mummy's Shroud (1967) was the last Hammer film shot at Bray, before they moved to the MGM lot at Elstree - where Quatermass and the Pit (1967) was their first movie).  Anyway, it was a great double bill and a fun gimmick of the type you just don't get anymore - perhaps in the post-pandemic days they can revive such things in order to tempt people back to the cinemas...