Hammer Horror Films were Ahead of Their Time
Since Hammer Horror Films began creating Creature Features in 1957 no other studio has been as successful in producing quality, low budget horror films for the masses.
Written by The Zombie Master
March 18, 2008
Starting in the early 20’s, the undisputed king of cinematic horror was Universal Studios. The reign of Universal would last for almost 30 years and allow the world to be introduced to the genius of Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains, Boris Karloff and many more. By the 1950’s however, the classic monsters were relegated to sharing top billing with Abbott and Costello. The powers that be at Universal Studios decided that the movie-going public was tired of Horror and wanted more Sci-fi.
Around this very same time, Hammer Film Productions out of the United Kingdom had noticed that the opposite was true; they were ready to make the move from Sci-fi to Horror. Hammer Horror Films wanted to resurrect and update the movie monsters that everybody recognized without stepping on the toes of Universal, so in 1957 they released The Curse of Frankenstein. The eyes of Universal lawyers were all over the production so Hammer went out of its way to make sure that no aspects of the 1931 
film were duplicated. Along with keeping the lawyers off of their backs, Hammer also succeeded in outraging many reviewers with a level of gore and violence that was ahead of its time, yet for this same reason the public loved it. The success of The Curse of Frankenstein just cemented the fact that Hammer was on the right track.
Now with the backing of the box office numbers productions started on the Hammer Horror Films direct sequel to Curse entitled The Revenge of Frankenstein along with a retelling of another classic horror story with Dracula (The Horror of Dracula in the U.S.). The two films were released back to back in 1958 after an 80 page full legal agreement was finalized between Hammer and Universal and the success of Dracula alone put Hammer Studios on the map and convinced Universal International to hand over the rights to their entire library to be remade by Hammer.
With Universal International on board as their U.S. distributor, Hammer Horror Films moved into position to become the most influential medium of the “creature feature” sub-genre of horror in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Their catalog is very impressive. Consider these numbers: Between 1957 and 1974, Hammer released 7 Frankenstein films, 9 Dracula films, 5 mummy films, 9 psycho style films and 9 more unrelated horror films. These numbers do not include the non-horror films that Hammer was producing at the same time.
While Hammer Film Productions was cranking out classic horror the Hammer Horror Films were also introducing the world to the people who would be as influential to the genre as the films themselves. Terence Fisher, director of 21 Hammer Horror Films including The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula introduced a level of gore and explicit horror that was unprecedented for its day. He was the first to bring “gothic horror” into the realm of Technicolor and is only recently becoming recognized by many for the genius that he was. Peter Cushing became famous as Baron von Frankenstein and Van Helsing in no less than 11 Hammer films. He also played Sherlock Holmes, Dr. 
Who in two movies and Star Wars fans recognize him as Grand Moff Tarkin. His passing in 1994 was a sad day indeed.
One of Cushing’s close friends was another actor by the name of Christopher Lee. Lee’s first film for Hammer was as the Frankenstein monster in The Curse of Frankenstein but he is most famous for his portrayal of Dracula, a character that he has portrayed more than any other actor. He has been in over 230 films to date and holds the distinction of being in a movie role every year from 1948 – 2005.
As the 60’s came to a close films such as Rosemary’s Baby and Night of the Living Dead emerged and their success showed a shift in the type of horror that the public was leaning toward. Realizing that they could no longer compete in the “gore” market, Hammer Horror Films started to move more towards the sexual content to sell their creations. Probably the most successful of these are known as the Karnstein Trilogy.
Named after the family portrayed in the films, the Karnstein Trilogy comprised of The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, and Twins of Evil and showed some of the most explicit lesbian scenes to hit mainstream cinema of the era. Other attempts by Hammer during this period include films such as Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. While these films have become cult favorites they never achieved the success of Hammer’s earlier work.
The 70’s ended with a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes in 1979 but it was such a box office failure that it all but bankrupted Hammer Studios.
Hammer Horror Films were ahead of their time when they first started portraying Creature Features. Though many studios have tried to copy them, Eros and Amicus just to name a couple, no other studio has been as successful in producing quality, low budget horror films for the masses as Hammer. As of 2007 John De Mol, a Dutch producer who also owns the rights to over 300 films in the Hammer catalog, owns Hammer Film Productions Ltd . De Mol has restarted Hammer with the planned release of Beyond the Rave.
I am not sure what will become of the upcoming resurgence of Hammer, but my heart will always be fond of the original Hammer Horror Films that kept horror from dying on the vine while the American filmmakers were worried about a looming alien invasion. Questions or comments about Hammer Horror Films? Contact us!
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