Here at Blazing Minds we are big fans of the classic movies and we were over the moon when we heard that Arrow Video are releasing the European Blu-ray debut of Hammer’s legendary gothic flick, The Hound of the Baskervilles, which will be howling its way on to Blu-ray on the 1st June 2015.

Starring genre stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, this classic Sherlock Holmes adaptation stands as arguably the best re-telling of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tale to date.

This new edition of the classic movie comes full with bonus content, including a new audio commentary with Hammer experts Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby alongside a brand new documentary, Release the Hound!, which looks at the genesis and creation of the Hammer classic, featuring interviews with hound mask creator Margaret Robinson, film historian Kim Newman, and actor/documentarian and co-creator of BBC’s Sherlock Mark Gatiss.

Also included on the Blu-ray release are featurettes such as André Morell: Best of British, which looks back at the career of the late great actor and the 1986 documentary The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes which examines the many incarnations of Conan Doyle’s celebrated character, narrated and presented by Christopher Lee.

Rounding off the Blu-ray is an archive interview with Christopher Lee, excerpts from The Hounds of the Baskervilles read by Lee, the original theatrical trailer and an extensive image gallery. The Blu-ray comes with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by former Hammer archivist Robert J.E. Simpson, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

The Hound of the Baskervilles Synopsis

Sherlock Holmes is the most filmed character of all time – but it is arguably this 1959 re-telling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale The Hound of the Baskervilles, from legendary horror studio Hammer and starring genre stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, which stands as the super sleuth’s finest cinematic hour.

Rising up out of the swirling mists of Dartmoor, Baskerville Hall stands tall and gloomy. Its occupant, Charles Baskerville, has been found dead in mysterious circumstances. Could Sir Charles have been the victim of the so-called “Baskerville Curse”, which tells of a deadly beast that stalks the surrounding countryside? Unperturbed by the legend, next-in-line Sir Henry Baskerville (a rare leading man performance from Lee) sets out to Dartmoor to assume inheritance of the family estate, under the auspices of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and right-hand man Dr. Watson (Andre Morell).

Imbued with an atmosphere as thick as fog, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a superlative gothic yarn which benefits from game performances from Cushing, Lee and Morell, as well as the expert direction of Terence Fisher, known for helming many of Hammer’s most celebrated efforts including The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Devil Rides Out.

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Review

We have been lucky enough to get our hands on a copy of the Blu-ray before its release, so we snuggled down during a late evening and watched the Hammer film for the first time in Hi-Def.

As many of you may know I’m a fan of the classic movies and also love the work of Cushing and Lee, so to have the chance to get to see the original version of this timeless Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle classic on Blu-ray was a real treat.

It had been a while since I had seen the film and being able to watch it in HD is something that is a must for classic movie fans.

Although Hound of the Baskervilles has been done in various versions, including TV, theatre and Film, it is still a story that not only haunts and brings your fears to light, but is also a story that is great to to watch time and time again.

As this is the version with the fantastic Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, you can’t expect to get a DD5.1 soundtrack, but to make up for this you get uncompressed audio that doesn’t loose any of it’s atmosphere during moments of the film that need to make your nerves tingle.

As always Cushing and Lee’s screen presence is a delight to watch.

So on the 1st of June grab yourself a copy of this Classic movie and sit back and enjoy a good hearty movie.

Special Features of the New Release

· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) feature presentation

· Original uncompressed Mono 1.0 Audio

· Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack

· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

· New audio commentary with Hammer experts Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby

· Release the Hound! – a brand new documentary looking at the genesis and making of the Hammer classic, featuring interviews with hound mask creator Margaret Robinson, film historian Kim Newman, actor/documentarian and co-creator of BBC’s Sherlock Mark Gatiss, and others

· André Morell: Best of British – a featurette looking at the late great actor André Morell and his work with Hammer

· The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes – a 1986 documentary looking at the many incarnations of Conan Doyle’s celebrated character, narrated and presented by Christopher Lee

· Actor’s Notebook: Christopher Lee – an archive interview in which the actor looks back on his role as Sir Henry Baskerville

· The Hounds of the Baskervilles excerpts read by Christopher Lee

· Original Theatrical Trailer

· Extensive Image Gallery

· Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper

· Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by former Hammer archivist Robert J.E. Simpson, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Karen Woodham

Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.

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