26 - Sunday, February 1, 1998 — North Shore News

“LONDON — Winter
sunshine brings out
locals and tourists
alike on the glorious
embankments of the
River Thames,
strolling by Rodin’s
Burghers of Calais and
the miajestically pranc-
ing statue of Richard
the Lionheart at the
Houses of Parliament,
and taking in the view
of author Jeffrey

-Archer’s penthouse
apartment and the
new MI6 building.

_ ~ Llove the bridges, partic-
ularly the Hungerford,
which is for walkers only,
stretching from Charing
Cross to the South Bank
Arts Complex, a pot-pourri
of venues including the
Roya! Festival Hall, National
Theatre and Hayward

-. Gallery. Off to the right is
Waterloo station, the

. Eurostar rail terminus for
Paris and Brussels.

This day. I’m going left,

- like ali of Britain since Tony

“. Blair took over, heading
towards Waterloo bridge,
and a dark corner at that
where the Muscum of the
Moving Image (MOMI) has
just unveiled a special show
for this season of short days
and long nights —
“Hammer Horror.”

If it’s enough of a shock -

. to discover that Hammer
movies are now 40 years
old, the reason for all of
this, there’s dungeons of

“displays with reminders of

north shore news

NAB

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the blood and barely
restrained cleavage that had
us on the edges of our seats
as bodices ripped and spines
snapped.

Just the posters were
good for a month of night-
mares, such as Hammer’s
Creatures the World Forgot,
made in 1970:

“Sce prehistoric love
rites! See primitive chieftains
duel in naked fury! See the
young lovers sacrificed! See
naked girl menaced by giant
python!”

Rather more down to
earth is a showcase with
Frankenstein’s size 20 iron
boots, and if it ever gets to
be just a little bit creepy you
can always duck out and
enjoy the full range of
MOM I exhibits, from magic
lanterns and silent movies to
Hollywood glitz, with actor-
guides adding to the enter-
tainment.

The signs are, however,
that Hammer Horror, which
runs to May 18, will be one
of MOMI’s most devilishly
clever ideas, because it
strikes a chord with so many
people in the same way as
the Goon Show, Benny Hill
and Monty Python.

We always suspected, like
the modern audiences biting

BO. ‘TRAVEL

their nails at Scream, that
the bloke being burned at
the stake would be riding
home fron: the studio on his
bike that night, and surely
somebody’s Dad would get
after Vlad the Impaler for
seducing statuesque virgins
in low-cur dresses.

Later in life I discovered
that most of the Hammer
movies, including The Rocky
Horror Picture Show and the
St Trinian’s movies, were
made at a mock-French
chateau ona fovely part of
the River Thames near
Windsor.

Ir’s now a hotel, the
Oakley Court, and handy
enough to Heathrow to be
one of the world’s best air-
port hotels.

This was home of
Hammer’s world of gothic
horror, which started in
1957 with the Curse of
Frankenstein, followed a
year later by Dracula. They

were reniakes of Hollywood
classics made famous by
Boris Karlotf as
Frankenstein’s monster and
Bela Lugosi as Dracula.

Hammer did just as well
in making stars of
Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing.

Who could forget Lee as
the biood-sucking count in

the Satanic Rites of Dracula:

“I was always here.
Always, since the dawn of
time. Since the rebel angels
descended into hell.

Since darkness fought
light. I am Dracuia, Lord of
Darkness, Master of the
Waking Dead.”

The man behind it all
was Will Hammer, one-time
bike salesman and vaudeville
actor, who in 1935 joined
with Enrique Carreras, a
Spaniard, to make the
Mystery of the Mary Celeste
starring Bela Lugosi.

The horror movies came

22 years later. as did the
reviews — “for sadists only,”
said the Daily Telegraph —
while today, current studio
boss Roy Skeggs is working
ona TV cartoon series, the
Hammer Zone, and also has
on his desk a script for Mr
and Mrs Dracula by actress
Ingrid Pitt, who gave D-cup
performances in the Vampire
Lavers and Countess
Dracula.

Of late things have been
quiet as a graveyard around
Hammer, certainly since
Hollywood upped the gore
with the slasher movies, but
a headstone-tossing come-
back is not only likely but
probably shocking!y success-
ful, for Dracula is the kind
of man vou can’t keep
down, not even with a stake
driven through his heart.

British Airways flies non-
stop from Vancouver to
London every night.

We did say... every night.

Romantic Valentine’s Escape

COUPLES looking for a last-
minute St. Valentine’s getaway can
look no further then North

Vancouver.

Thistledown House Inn, a romantic hide-
away at 3910 Capilano Road, is offering a St.
Valentine’s Escape, which includes onc
night’s accommodation, fresh flowers in the
room, a bottle of sparkling wine, chocolates,
afternoon tea and a gourmet breaktast.

Rates range from $110 for the Snuggery,
with its own fireplace, rich colors, Persian cay-

pets, to $189 for Under the Apple Tree, a full
suite with its own sunken sitting room, fire-
place, jetted-air tub-for-two and secluded patio.

Each one of the Inn's five rooms is indi-

vidually designed, with private bathroom and

Located

Association.

other luxuries.

within minutes of
Mountain, the Capilano Suspension Bridge
and the Capilano Fish Hatchery, Thistledown
House is rated 4-star by Canada Select and 3-
Diamond by the American Automobile

Grouse

Fore more into call 986-7173.

ICBC RATES

FROZEN

RATE FREEZE

“SAFETSM RESULTS. KEY. TO, 1.9.9 8.

May 29 to June a5
dune 05 to 12
From CON. $1180

GALAXY
dune 05 to 12
dune 12 to 19

From CDN. $1200

RHAPSODY OF
THESEAS
May 30 to June 06
June 06 to 13
From CDN. $1150

From CDN. $1550

Prices are per person, double
occupancy, inside cabin.
Port taxes ate extra.
Reservations are subject t
:.. , availability. “rs

586K. VENTURE |

TRAVEL NEWS
$77.1. million is spent each
year on personal air travel

and package tours by the
North Shore residents. : -

The way we drive is the key factor in determining BC’s
insurance rates. If we continue to drive more carefully, we
can reduce crashes, save lives and help keep our rates affordable
for years to come.

The 1998 ICBC rate freeze — just one of the benefits of
cracking down on dangerous driving.

For an information package, call 1 800 663-ICBC.

RITISH CCLUMBIA’s road safety program is starting to

show results. BC drivers are slowing down. There were

29 fewer deaths and 1,500 fewer injuries on BC roads last year

than in 1996, and the average costs of ICBC claims declined.

Because of that progress, there will be no increase in ICBC

tates in 1998. It’s the third consecutive year without an
increase.

B "Ss DRIVE TO SAVE LIVES