I agree, R Pond, though I do like the almost over the top colorfulness and overall lushness of the best of the Hammers, which are something see, and looked great on the big screen. Uni's world seemed more self-contained, created by the studio. I have to hand it to Hammer for seriously attempting to create a Continental ambiance when their films went there, and I find their central Europe both creepy and beautiful, a fascinating place to visit. Universal's horrors were more obviously backlot-confined, and while I don't find the studio's old world particularly convincing as such, its air of unreality creates that Uni alternate universe we've all come to know and love. Amazingly, they were able to sell their own highly specialized brand of horror for a good fifteen years, till the well ran dry, or more properly, they stopped drawing from it.