Hammer Horror Movies rank high in my all time favourite of movie genres ever. I particularly loved the 1960’s and 70’s era. I think it is also because I loved seeing the retro furniture, cars and clothing, which seemed to fit in really well with the horror mix.
I don’t enjoy watching todays horror as much, well not in the gory sense anyway. CGI has taken away too much of the magic. Seeing the fake blood and really knowing it was fake and the prosthetic limbs, gave it a mild comic feel while at the same time the eerie music was still enough to make you jump.
I admire the people of that era, when they would walk into their living rooms, pick a cigarette out of the box and light it, with the big heavy lighter always on the table. Then go over to the drinks cabinet and pour themselves a gin and tonic. There was such an eligence of that era, which is long lost and some ways I wish it were back.
A history of hammer horror.
Hammer Horror was founded in November 1934, but interestingly enough only a third of its movies were actual horror. The rest were made up of scifi, thrillers and historical epics.
It is well known for its three main characters, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy. In the 1940’s, there was a huge call during the war for British movies to be made. It was not till the 1950’s, that the horror section became more apparent, this is where we see the late Christopher Lee come on the scene with his unforgettable Dracula role. He also played the role of Frankenstein along side Peter Cushing, in The Curse of Frankenstein. This was the first Hammer Horror, that was produced in colour which gave a new emphasis on gore, as opposed to its silver screen predecessors.
Of course this was not the first time these roles were shot, earlier versions of the movie prior to hammer season were shot by people such as Boris Karloff who also played Frankenstein, and Lon Chaney who played the werewolf and where quite possible the ideas came from to shoot the future movies. When Lee played the role Dracula, this did not come out until 1958, he was so iconic in the role he went on to play almost all of the Dracula roles afterwards.
Success of hammer in the 60’s
The late 50’s movies and the introduction of colour, sprang hammer horror into the limelight. Interestingly the first Dracula movie, Hammer struggled to get finance. The big studios did not want to know and thought it was too risky. According to Wikipedia, it is actually not clear who did invest in the movie, but we know the budget was £20.000 higher than that of Frankenstein.
Hammer went on to produce more horror movies, and this is where we began to see such movies with occultism being the main feature. Such as The Devil Rides Out again starring Lee but we also now also introduced on the scene was Charles Grey who played the high priest Mocata, I love this movie.
Of course we cannot forget one of the unmistakable legends in horror, which was the late Vincent Price who starred in various movies along side Cushing and Lee. However Price was on the horror screens from the 1930’s and interestingly enough, I can find no reference that he featured in any actual hammer horror movies.
Other Horror movies, that hammer created throughout the 60’s and 70’ a lot were vampire based, but we also see such movies that Cushing made sole appearances in such as The Gorgon and Twins of Evil.
At this time though, the American Market was gaining popularity and released its own versions of Horror box office hits, such as Rosemary’s Baby, The Mephisto Waltz and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The movies were becoming more evolved and audiences were starting to move towards the American preference due to better quality of special effects making it more realistic and giving a better fear factor.
The Demise of Hammer Horror.
By the end of the 70’s, moving into the 80’s Hammer had taken a back seat on the movie market and decided to try and create a British Miniseries entitled Hammer House of Horror which ran for two seasons. Lee was a lot more established now and had starred in independent horrors such as The Wicker Man and did not feature in the series. However Cushing did make some appearances along side actors like Diana Dors and even Pierce Brosnan.
However sadly it would seem that the tv series did not take off and it was aired from September to December in 1980 and never continued to be shot.
Hammers Reprieve.
Back in 2007 Hammer returned back to the cinema when in May 2007 the dutch director John De Mol had purchased the film rights for Hammer movies. Now owning the company and all 300 movie titles he set to work and during the time of My Space they released a vampire movie called Beyond the rave which was a 20 x 4 minute series.
Then in 2009 in the US it produced the movie The Resident which featured non other than one of its original stars Lee and was released in both the US and UK in 2011. In 2012 it released the hit movie, The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe and then the 2nd movie, The Woman in Black: Angels of death.
(Credit Giphy)
The revival films to date are
Beyond the Rave. (2008)
Let Me In (2010)
The Resident (2011)
Wake Wood (2011)
The Woman in Black (2012)
The Quiet Ones ( 2014)
The Woman In Black: Angel of Death (2015)
Critics and fans.
Hammer horror was and is, always praised by its critics for it’s individuality and in some cases its camp style, in the cinema industry. Many tributes have been made, as a result of Hammer Horror such as singer Kate Bush’s music videos. Tom McLoughlin, director of Friday the 13th part VI said that the movie was heavily influenced on Hammer Horror films.
Of course there were spoof movies based on Hammer, such as Carry on Screaming due to being produced in Britain. The musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, many of the props featuring in the famous movie originated from Hammer Horror Movies.
Fanbase.
To this day Hammer has a die hard fanbase, who see nothing better than these cult classics, which are now timeless pieces. Much research can be made about online, even to this day many horror fests around the globe, will largely attribute to Hammer Horror, which really put a stamp on cinematography. Even the most recent movies have a vintage feel to them which is part of Hammer’s master plan. Whilst they do not make as many movies as they did we can be assured that what is released is well thought out and in timing within the Hammer’s own individual Genre. Long live the Hammer Horror Industry.
References
Hammer House of Horror TV Series
Thank you for reading.
xoxo
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