Feinde aus dem Nichts (OT: Quatermass 2) (Anolis Hammer Horror #29) (Bluray Mediabook)

[pygospa]

Release: 28.08.2020

Link: Cover A, Cover B, Cover C (*)

Price: 28,99€

 

 

I just looked up my old threads because I wanted to see what I wrote when writing about this collection series, but guess what? Until now, I haven't written about this collection series! And this is especially strange, as I've written about Anolis "Phantastische Klassiker" series, as well as their "Galerie des Grauens" series. But, their main and most important series, the "Anolis Hammer Horror" series I left out entirely. And this is especially strange as this series is probably the most important to me. So as this is the very first time, allow me to go far afield for this post. I started collecting DVDs at around ~2000 (+/- 1 Year, probably). I cannot reproduce the exact date, but since then I've been collecting, and since then (at 2000 I was around 16 years old), I only collected contemporary movies, as well as a few classics from the 90s that I grew up with. Oldest movies in my collection where probably the 70s, but these where sparse: Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Halloween. But older? No, sir. I did not find any interest in classics and never saw movies from the 60s or 50s, etc. This changed, when all of a sudden, at around 2014 - I just started collecting Blu-rays and people where talking about these new releases by Anolis, that just started a year ago. It was recommended to me, and I looked them up and heard about these Hammer films (I didn't know anything about Hammer Studios), and though: Well, that's probably uninteresting for me. But people kept talking about it, and all of a sudden I realized that there where actually at least 2 movies that I knew: At least one of the Dracula movies, and the Hound of the Baskervilles - I saw these in TV because as a child I used to love both, Dracula as well as Sherlock Holmes. So, in 2016 I finally tried it out, and got Anolis 13th Hammer Horror release, "Gruft der Vampire" (OT: "The Vampire Lovers") just when it was released. To be quite honest, I hated it, but - I loved the release, the extras, all the information, and after seeing all these, I liked the movie more than after watching it the first time. Next, I got a few of the older releases, starting with "Dracula und seine Bräute" (OT: "Brides of Dracula"), "Frankensteins Ungeheuer" (OT: "Evil of Frankenstein") and "Hände voller Blut" (OT: "Hands of the Ripper") - and these where really good. Thus started my journey into the real classic movies, stumbling upon movies such as Roger Corman movies, Terence Fisher and Freddi Francis movies, Mario Bava films, William Castle movies, George A. Romero films, Universal Classic monsters, Hammer Horror, Amicus Productions, and so many more. And it all started with Anolis Hammer Horror release. This is why this label is so important to me.
 

I wrote a bit in detail about the label Anolis on the post I did to "It! Terror from Beyond Space", focussing on the "Galerie des Grauens", this time I'd like to focus on their Hammer releases. So Anolis was founded in 1998 and started out with Kaiju classic movies on VHS. In 2001 they switched to DVD and in 2002 they secured 20 Hammer Studios titles for Germany as DVD release. They where the first to gain these rights, and they decided to do something special with them, so they made it a collectible series, with spine numbering, and an image that streached over all spines (which artificially limited them to 20 titles), with a booklet. A few also had a small number of extras, if there was still space on the DVD. And they promise that this was the only release they'll do of these movies - a promis that Anolis keeps like no other label: There won't be any second prints, or cheaper re-releases. Which is why after finishing their 20 titles in 2004, for a long time they did not pick up with Hammer. It was in 2012 that they actually announced their plans of picking up Hammer once more, but for an HD release. They actually openly asked the community, about their oppinion. They did not want to make collectors of the old release angry, so they decided that this new series will not come with a DVD combo (as is usual for Mediabooks) but as single BD. To add value to the collection, there will be new booklets instead of copying the old ones, new artworks that weren't used with the DVD release, as well as adding extras and producing new extras as well - this way, people who own the DVD could still gain something from these releases. Plus, different to all their other series releases, they decided to not do a spine image or spine numbers, allowing owners of the DVDs to just get the new titles and keep their DVDs when a title was re-released. Also, because a lot of people asked why certain titles where not released with the 20 titles, Anolis wanted to be open to keep this series running as long as possible. This was the consensus that was found with old DVD collectors. And actually, the Hammer DVD releases did not drop in value - even today the DVDs range from 30€ to 130€, and the whole set has absurde asking prices.

It was planned that every release would come in one limited Mediabook release as well as in an non-limited keep case with same disk but no booklet and the standard cover artwork (to preserve these classics). However, they had to change this as early as their second release: People where so unhappy with the french cover variant, that Anolis decided to "exceptionally" offer a second cover variant. This exception became the standard since their fourth release, and four their Dracula releasees they bumpt it up to 3 Mediabook cover variants.

Here's a list of what they've released so far:
 

1. Quatermass and the Pit [Das Grüne Blut der Dämonen]
2. Twins of Evil [Draculas Hexenjagd]
3. The Mummy's Shroud [Der Fluch der Mumie]
4. The Curse of the Werewolf [Der Fluch von Siniestro]
5. Hands of the Ripper [Hände voller Blut]
6. Countess Dracula [Comtesse des Grauens]
7. Plague of the Zombies [Nächte des Grauens]
8. The Evil of Frankenstein [Frankensteins Ungeheuer]
9. The Reptile [Das Schwarze Reptil]
10. The Brides of Dracula [Dracula und seine Bräute]
11. The Quatermass Xperiment [Schock]
12. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell [Frankensteins Höllenmonster]
13. The Vampire Lover [Gruft der Vampire]
14. Captain Clegg [Die Bande des Captain Clegg]
15. Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter [Captain Kronos - Vampirjäger]
16. The Witches [Der Teufel tanzt um Mitternacht]
17. The Phantom of the Opera [Das Rätsel der unheimlichen Maske]
18. Nightmare [Der Satan mit den langen Wimpern]
19. Horror of Dracula [Dracula]
20. Paranoiac! [Haus des Grauens]
21. Taste the Blood of Dracula [Wie schmeckt das Blut von Dracula]
22. Dracula A.D. 1972 [Dracula jagt Mini-Mädchen]
23. Dracula has Risen from the Grave [Draculas Rückkehr]
24. Rasputin, the Mad Monk [Rasputin - Der Wahnsinnige Mönch]
25. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb [Die Rache des Pharao]
26. To the Devil... a Daughter [Die Braut des Satans]
27. Vampire Circus [Circus der Vampire]
28. The Devil Rides Out [Die Braut des Teufels]

So far, I've collected all of them in one cover artwork - except for the first one - not because I don't want it, but because I cannot find it for a price that I would still be willing to pay (50€ including insured shipping), as it is sold from 120€ - 200€

 

 

But let us FINALLY come to the release that was actually announced today!

 

After Anolis has already released "Das grüne Blut der Dämonen" (OT: "Quatermass and the Pit") [as their first release] and "Schock" (OT: "The Quatermass Xperiment"), we finally get the completion of the "Quatermass Tirlogy" with "Feinde aus dem Nichts" (OT: "Quatermass 2"). As its predecessor "The Quatermass Xperiment", "Quatermass 2" is a black-and-white science-fiction horror movie by Val Guest and with Brian Donlevy as the name-giving protagonist "Prof. Bernard Quatermass". It was released in 1957, and as Shock, the story revolves once more around hostile aliens that want to invade the earth.

As you can see in the first image, there are three Mediabook cover artworks, cover A features the US movie poster artwork, cover B features the rare Belgian movie poster and cover C was used in France. On the disk there'll be an audio commentary with Nigel Kneale and Val guest, an German exclusive audio commentary with Dr. Rolf Giesen and Volker Kronz, a "vintage" version of the movie, i.e. the german Cinema version in 1.37:1 [while the normal version on the disk will be 1.79:1], the "World of Hammer" episode on "Science Fiction", a super-8 version of the movie, a featurette(?) on the comic adaption, and picture galeries and trailers. Compared to the only other release out there (by Shout Factory in the US), these extras are basically shared (with the exception on the comic adaption and the german audio commentary, as well as the super-8 and vintage versions of the movie), but Shout Factory's release actually features two additional audio commentaries by film historians, as well as an Interview with Val Guest. It's more or less even, with the Shout Factroy being more English friendly, of course. But, we also get the 32-page booklet, which will - as usually - also contain rare picture material, such as international movie posters, lobby cards, etc.

 

Are you interested in this release? Do you own any other Anolis Hammer releases? What Cover would/will you pick? As usually I am interested in your thoughts, and to shorten the wait for the release, here is the trailer:

 

 

 

 

(*) Full disclosure on the link: This can be bought at any Mediabook store around; I would have listed another one but that one's not liked here, which I respect. Wicked however only has a really limited quantity of these books. If you don't get it via them, you can also try jpc, and others (which I do not have any experiences with, so no recommendation here). Amazon usually also carries some, but they are usually much more expensive right from the beginning. Also keep in mind, that currently there is still a block from Germany to the US (apprently by the DHL), so if you are from the US please try getting them via detour or a hub (e.g. over Canada); if you cannot, I know that Wicked will keep your orders and send them out as soon as they can.

 

[Grendel]

Just WOW;  🤩

 

Again, I must commend you on your excellent write-up and photos @pygospa. Thanks very much! 🙂

I know we've discussed the Hammer titles in the past but I certainly appreciate the additional info and a view iof your incredible collection.

 

As I've mentioned, I've been a Hammer Fan since forever, starting with vhs then dvds and now of course Blus.

They were quite prolific in churning out lovely new films though so have a rather extensive catalog.

The only downside to that, being the cost to "update" my collection, every time they elect to improve the format.

This is another reason why I'm in no hurry at all to adopt 4K media.

 

So when I was on the hunt for everything Hammer, I did know about the Anolis releases but as you so adeptly mentioned, they are not cheap.

So my endeavour was to first focus on obtaining the films in Blu, regardless of release packaging.

In that sense, I was quite successful, predominantly focusing on Box Sets that came available from a variety of countries, including;

- Germany

- France

- Australia

- UK

- USA

- Canada

and a few more I'm sure.

I was careful to read reviews of these releases first, to discover best quality options.

I'd suggest I was quite successful, steering clear of the Mill Creek Blus, the Studio Canal cheap first renditions and some USA labels I won't go into.

I think it's safe to say at this point, I have all hammer films that have been released on Blu. Though not all of them are the best renditions.

 

Which brings us back to Anolis.

Long reputed for putting out exceptional quality releases, it is well known throughout the Hammer collecting community ( which yes, is certainly a thing) that they have the best PQ/AQ versions out there.

Now the thing about collecting box sets. You are going to get doubles. Not a a show stopper of course, but for some films, I even have triples.

 

So, do I want to go through this all again, and pick up their Hammer releases?

I honestly don't know.

I can't really put that much cash out in this direction, with so many other Premiums in the pipe coming my way.

So for now, I'll elect to wait a bit.

I realize that brings forth the potential of missing out, since some titles will sell quite quickly.

Alas, it's part of the perils of this hobby. heh.

 

So lastly, I'll just mention that this release of Qatermass 2 looks great!

As I have all 3 of the films in Blu already though, I'm in no panic.

As for covers, I have an appreciation for Cover C as it is very unique for this title. 🙂

 

One last thing I wish to close with.

A Gentleman on another forum, is offering the following for sale.

The chap knows what he has, so they are not cheap.

I'll replicate his post info below;

 

" The "Rache der Galerie des Grauens" is a collectors-box by Anolis, you get the first movie with the box that has room for 10 DVD-cases and over the years you slowly fill it up with nice American/Japanese 50s Sci-Fi and Horror flicks, pretty cool.
Most of these are probably locked to region B.

These are the movies:

• Night of the Demon (1957) - including the collectors box - 70€
• War of the Satellites (1958) - DVD only - 21€
• The Tingler (1959) - 28€
• The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955) - DVD only - 21€
• The Alligator People (1959) - 28€
• The Giant Claw (1957) - 28€
• The 27. Day (1957) - 28€
• The Black Sleep (1956) - 28€

All of these movies are in DVD protection foils, so no shelfwear, they look like new. The box looks great as well.
They have reversible covers without the FSK logo, I just didn't bother to change it. "

 

So, I was curious if you know which series is this one @pygospa ?

The first?

The second?

It might be possible to talk him into a deal but again, this is a case where I already have all (well almost all) these films, so hard pressed to justify 200+ Euros at this time.

Just curious your thoughts regarding his offer my friend. 🙂

 

Thanks again for your very informative post!

Cheers.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Grendel

[pygospa]

Hey @Grendel! Thanks for your feedback and your kind words. It's so much more fun doing these posts when you know that there is someone out there actually also appreciating them, and being able to get something out of them 🙂  So thank you, for this feedback! Highly appreciated.

 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

The only downside to that, being the cost to "update" my collection, every time they elect to improve the format.

This is another reason why I'm in no hurry at all to adopt 4K media.

 

I totally get you on this, and to be quite honest - if I started collecting them on DVD, I would have doubted to ever get into Blu-ray with them. Well, probably I'd had, because on DVD not all titles where available anyways, we in Germany had Anolis and Koch who did a comparable series (in Amarays with Fullslip-like slipcover - I think they had 11 titles), and maybe one or the other cheaper made box-set. But yeah, not much to go on, and the real quality boost, with having them re-scanned from film with a 2K or even 4K sampling rate and new masters, and longer versions - all this shenanigans only came with the release of the Blu-rays. At least for me it feeels like this will be the format that these films will go down with - 4K hasn't hit the physical media market as it was hoped for (how could it, if even Blu-ray wasn't really established, yet?), and I do not think that companies will go through all this hassle of re-scanning, cleaning up, color correcting, etc. pp. for a 4K release. They'd probably be happy if they started out with a 4K scan (which for these classics they usually don't, as far as I can tell - mostly I read about a brand new 2K scan), else they'd probably just blow it up to 4K.

I'd doubt that there is much you can still get much more out of these classics anyways; I mean, often even the HD format does so much good to the image that it actually starts looking bad (because some cinematographers knew that certain things wouldn't be visible on the current technology, and therefore seem realistic - pastic stones, matte paintings, etc. - with HD they are easily spotted). So for me, even if I ever switch to 4K, I'd be contempt with my HD releases of these classics and probably wouldn't switch up, if it was possible. But up to now, I actually haven't seen any classic movie (i.e. 70s and earlier) being released on 4K. Usually, it's the newer stuff, where the master was already in 4K or the movie got released just recently. And I bet a lot of blow-ups are out there as well. And I don't think we'll ever see much else, as the 4K disc market is so much smaller than the HD market is, and even the HD market never unfolded the same potential as DVD did. And the Hammer collecting community (whose existance I won't dispute) is a small one as it is. Can you imagine a lot of people getting 4K releases of any of the lesser known Hammer classics?

The other thing is of course the question about if it makes sense for ones own situation, and as you probably know, I don't think so.

So in that regard, for me it makes totally sense to pay up "one last time" (so to speak), and get the greatest edition there is for the last time (sounds so dramatic  )

 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

Long reputed for putting out exceptional quality releases, it is well known throughout the Hammer collecting community ( which yes, is certainly a thing) that they have the best PQ/AQ versions out there.

 

I wasn't too sure if that is also true internationally, I do know that it's true for German releases. There are sometimes boxsets with Blu-rays from one of the other labes we've got, and sometimes even "premium" releases, e.g. the famous Warner/Hoanzl mediabooks I already ranted about in one of the other threads. None of them have the quality of the package, the extras (especially the booklet), or even picture and audio quality. But to be quite honest, I haven't checked out any international competitors. I was lucky because - by sheer luck and accident - I started out with the right edition from the get-go. I wouldn't have compared quality at that time I wouldn't have checked differences, etc. That was the reason I fell for the worse Warner/Hoanzl releases to begin with - it would have been even better to just get an Amaray release from the UK, rather than those cheaply done Medabooks. But you only learn by making mistakes, I guess...

 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

Now the thing about collecting box sets. You are going to get doubles. Not a a show stopper of course, but for some films, I even have triples.

 

And that's the reason why I never got into those boxsets. It's probably a rather stupid notion. I was really intreagued by those box sets that Indicator produced and is still producing. But, one or two of them would make me double dip, and then I already start calculating - is it still worth it, if I pay more for the other releases (because that double dip does not add any value, so actually the price is not divided among all titles, but among the rest of the titles  ). Or also: What happens if Anolis would still release these titles (one of the things I am not so happy about is the missing "mission statement". Is Anolis actually planing to one day have all the Hammer titles released? Are they only concentraring on certain titles? The often refer to the series as the "Hammer Horror" series, does that imply, that imply that movies such as "She", "One Million Years B.C." and others will not be part of their lineup? But Anolis at least had the right to these movies (and when they started the Blu-ray series they claimed that they could renew all their licenses, so people expected to see movies like "She", "Slave Girls", "A Challenge for Robin Hood" or "Sword of Sherwood Forest"), yet they are not coming and it seems like they probably never will. On the other hand, movies like "Hands of the Ripper", "Paranoiac!", etc. are also more psychological thrillers than horror movies, and Quatermass is more science fiction than horror. So where are they going?). Then again, Wicked already did two Hammer releases, "Hammer House of Horror" series, as well as "Kiss of the Vampire" (so there could be someone picking up those titles Anolis is leaving out intentionally, and their releases are worth their money as well) and Anolis are currently releasing a lot of titles we've seen at Indicator before (Happy Birthday to Me, Terror, Night of the Demon), so not sure if in time all the Indicator titles will also be released by Anolis. If so, there is again a huge number of Hammer titles as well (but up to now, this only applied to titles not part of any of the Hammer boxes).

So what's actually my point in all these ramblings? I guess you either try to avoid double dipping, which then means that you cannot by any boxsets at all (because you never know what the future will hold), or you try to live with double dipping, because you cannot avoid it, if it is more important to you to get all the movies, as we don't know if any one label will be able (and willing!) to secure the rights to all of these titles - which I never counted, but estimate to be at least 100? (because again, you never know what the future will hold). Avoiding double dipping by persuing getting all titles, only seems to be possible if you had this magic crystall ball that everyone likes to have (or the Delorian - if I was McFly, I wouldn't have gone for the Sports Almanac, I would have gotten the back catalogue of all blu-ray releases 🤣 - it would have ended with the first part, because try making a sequel with the bad guy getting a catalogue of all hammer blu-rays ever released 😂).

 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

So, do I want to go through this all again, and pick up their Hammer releases?

 

In your case, with having all those films on Blu-ray already, to be quite honest, I probably wouldn't go for the single releases by Anolis - at least not all of them. I mean, the Indicator boxsets for instance, look totally stunning, and I would (and probably will) buy them. But they cost as much as would two of the Anolis single releases for double the films. So, coming from the Anolis collecting side, getting those boxes might still make sense for Indicator as they have them theme based, and there are a lot of films that Anolis has not yet released, and might maybe never release, as they are not "horror". But coming from owning all movies from different companies, here is what I would do:

I'd only go for (a) my most favourite movies of the bunch - e.g. I really love that movie (that most people actually hate?!) "Hands of the Ripper" - that would have been one, I would have gone for, because of it's beautiful cover artwork and the booklet, and (b) the ones that would actually add value that I didn't already have. E.g. the "Dracula" release that Anolis did, was even longer than the one coming from Arrow/Shout Factory(?) just half a year earlier, because they found a copy in Japan that had footage that was thought to be forever lost. That would have been something where I'd double dip because it adds (perceived psychological) value to the releases I'd already own, as it is longer, or improved in a way that I would actually really feel, or that are just in the collection because I love the movie so much. But getting them all? I probably wont (but well - you know - never say never. You start off with the noblest of intentions, and soon you are surrounded by all of them and deeply in dept, because you started off with just one of them, and then _blank_, and all of a sudden you had them all and don't remember what happened 🤪).

 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

So, I was curious if you know which series is this one @pygospa ?

The first?

The second?

It might be possible to talk him into a deal but again, this is a case where I already have all (well almost all) these films, so hard pressed to justify 200+ Euros at this time.

Just curious your thoughts regarding his offer my friend. 🙂

 

On 6/7/2020 at 5:37 PM, pygospa said:

And last, but not least, there was the third and rumored to be last boxset called "Die Rache der Galerie des Grauens" (lit. Revenge of the Gallery of Horrors). With this release, Anolis did a major change: They switched to Blu-ray. But finally, in 2016 when they did the switch, the licensing conditions for Blu-rays where relaxed, i.e. you hadn't have to use the blue Amaray anymore and wheren't forced to print the blue stripe on Digipacks, boxsets and Steelbooks anymore, allowing Anolis to keep the format as it was for the other two boxes: It's still black DVD-sized (G1) Amarays with a reversible cover to remove all the nastiness, and inside you have either just a Blu-ray or a dual format packaging (Blu-ray + DVD) together with the booklet, as you know it, and with the first release including a box to put in 10 releases. Why was it rumored to be the last boxset? Because it was getting harder and harder for Anolis to find further releases suitable for this box - or so they said during that time. They try to get these movies that already have a German dubbing, otherwise this endeavour would get much more expensive - it already is, as these old movies need special treatment as is. A couple of them have not been released on blu-ray elsewhere, so a lot of work has to be put into these releses as it is. Here's the list of movies:

1. Night of the Demon [Der Fluch des Dämonen] (1957)
2. War of the Satellites [Planet der toten Seelen] (1958)
3. The Tingler [Schrei, wenn der Tingler kommt] (1959)
4. The Beast with a Million Eyes [Ausgeburt der Hölle] (1955)
5. The Alligator People [Im Sumpf des Grauens] (1959)
6. Bijo to Ekitai Ningen [Das Grauen schlecht durch Tokio] (1958)
7. The Giant Claw [Angriff der Riesenkralle] (1957)
8. Uchû daisensô [Krieg im Weltenraum] (1959)
9. The 27th Day [Der 27. Tag] (1957)
10. The Black Sleep [Die Schreckenskammer des Dr. Thosti] (1956)

 

So, it's the last of their releases, and I have to say, prices are fair; the asking price when this was new, was arround 25€~30€ (depending on where you bought it, and if it was dual format or single). So this is a good price, except of course the "Night of the Demon" one, because that one also just used to cost ~30€. However that one movie is desired - was also one of the first that sold out with Indicator, if I remember correctly? So maybe one can argue that it's okey. What I dislike about the offer is, that only 8 films are listed, so you need to get the two missing ones separately. "The H-Man" (Das Grauen schleicht durch Tokio) is sold separatly at around 50€, and "Battle in Outer Space" (Krieg im Weltraum) is around 70€~80€. Given that he also wants 70€ for the first release, that would make you end up at around 400€, if you want to complete the set yourself. I think that it is probably cheaper to try and get a complete set. Those sell at around 300€~350€, if you are lucky. But to be quite honest - I was considering getting them as well for a while now, and always postponed it, because getting the set is also a lot of money at once, and then I feel like they might be not worth it (even though now I started with box four getting them separately as they are released - it's just not that much money upfront - but it will add up to similar prices), and they might become more and more expensive as more time passes. I still think it's a good offer though, and maybe if you get the lot, he'd go down with the entire price a bit; but adding up these prices he listed, you are at around 250€, which is still quite fair. I am not sure, though, if I would double dip any of these movies, as you said you own all of them already? However you decide - best of luck, and keep us updated, please  Would be a great chance for you to actually open up a thread next to these ones, and fill them with lovely pictures and ramblings about the movies  :