the gambler and the lady (1952)

Film noir in which Dane Clark is a successful American gambling club owner in London, who aspires to mingle with the upper classes. Complications come when he falls for a titled lady and he tries to mend his ways. But his dumped ex-girl friend won't take the hint and he also has to deal with the arrival of Italian mobsters trying to take over his clubs.
Interesting film, that has it's moments but takes too long to come to a boil and ultimately lacks that vital spark.

the devil-ship pirates (1964)

Christopher Lee returns as a pirate captain, this time in the employ of the Spanish as part of the armada. Soundly beaten and in need of repair they beach the ship in English marshland and convince the local village that the Spanish had won. But not all the villagers are convinced and begin a resistance moment.
Another rousing pirate romp with a suitably devilish Christopher Lee. By this time Hammer had found a ship, but it never really moves and thus we have another entry to the landlocked pirate genre!

pirates of blood river (1962)

Hammer decided they would branch out into pirate adventure films...the only snag being they didn't have a boat. So welcome to a small sub-genre of land locked pirate films!
The plot revolves around pirates hunting for treasure in a village of Huguenot refugees. Christopher Lee is suitably menacing as the pirate captain Le Roche in this romp.
Seemingly this was the only Hammer film that went from a provisional X certificate to a U cert when the censors saw it!

frankenstein meets the werewolf (1943)

aka Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
A classic Universal horror bringing together two of their great monsters. Lon Chaney Jr is cursed to become a Werewolf, and in trying to find a cure, or death! He search leads him to stumble upon Frankenstein's monster (Bela Lugosi). Chaney wants to die, but the monster wants to live. Who will come out on top in this clash, and what will the villagers do? This movie trots along nicely, even having time to stop for a musical number before the big finish.

the night caller (1965)

aka Blood Beast from Outer Space. Bloodbeast from Outer Space. Night Caller from Outer Space.
Starts as your typical sci-fi, with a mystery object spotted over London. It lands and is being investigated by Ministry of Defense scientists when
mysterious things start to happen, and an inhuman presence makes itself felt before escaping. Subsequently the film flips into a detective noir, as young women start disappearing, and the scientists and police both try to hunt a mysterious killer down.
A gem of a film that showcases the fact that a low budget does not necessarily mean a low rent film.

satan's slave (1976)

aka Evil Heritage.
Starts promisingly with a satanic sacrifice, but quickly descends into an overly talky thriller, interspersed with short sharp sadistic tortures, mostly visited upon naked women. Whilst the gore is well done, the interminable wait and over verbose exposition dampened the whole experience for me. A mix of sex, death, sadism, satanism, resurrection and madness, all at a tortuously slow pace.