Hammer Horror - The Golden Era (1956-1967)

Each year along with the approach of Halloween comes the bombardment of Hammer Horror films on television. Blood, gore, and buxom babes are splattered onscreen in brilliant Eastmancolor, while sanguinary counts and grimly ghoulish characters lurk stealthily in dark corners of seedy districts intent on carrying out nefarious deeds on their unsuspecting prey.

And we…sweet, kind, gentle, innocent viewers…sit by with pizza in hand, eyes-a-goggled and heart-a-pounding as we stare transfixed at our screens while these deliciously diabolical scenes are being carried out.

Prior to the British Hammer film, there really was no such thing as a “gory” film. There were lords of tiny European hamlets suffering from lycanthropy, mad scientists making pastiches out of gently worn body parts, secluded islands inhabited by horrific animal creatures, misguided poor souls continually making themselves disappear, and of course the all-too-common haunted house filled with frustrated spirits (and the occasional runaway gorilla)……but alas, no gore. Hammer Studios had found a niche and filled it capitally.

Just what would Halloween be without Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing entertaining us?  

Hammer Productions was formed in 1934 by William Hinds, a comedian and businessman who once went by the name of Will Hammer on stage. His films were low-budget and simply made but, even with his own distribution company, he wasn’t able to find a market for them and filed for bankruptcy in 1937.

A year later, his son, along with producer James Carreras, resurrected the production company and began work on a series of BBC radio adaptions such as Dick Barton Special Agent, and The Adventures of PC 49. Many films were made during the 1940s and early 50s but nothing of noteworthy attention, until, that is…1955. This was the year Hammer Studios released The Quatermass Xperiment, a wonderfully chilling adaption of the popular BBC television series of the same name. 

Quatermass, also known as The Creeping Unknown, was about a missile sent into space with three astronauts on board. Only one of the men return to Earth and with him, brings an alien infestation which turns him into an ‘orrible blood-sucking monster. Professor Bernard Quatermass (played by American actor Brian Donlevy) becomes the first of many, many scholarly extraterrestrial/mythical/vampyr hunters to be featured in Hammer film….Van Helsing being the most famous of these.

The film became the first to ever receive an X rating certificate from the British Film Board and was so successful that similarly themed pictures were quickly put into production and released.

X- The Unknown (1956) 

Radiation tests done by the British Army in a remote Scottish village unearth an unknown radioactive “blob” that leaves only the bodies of its burnt victims behind. Dr. Royston sets out to stop the beast before it grows bigger and bigger and feeds off of them all! Dean Jagger, Leo McKern, Edward Chapman, Anthony Newley.

Quatermass II: Enemy from Space (1957) 

Professor Quatermass explores a deadly gas that is originating from a hidden factory in rural England. Unusual creatures just may be planning something deadly for planet Earth and, once again, Quatermass is the man to stop them. Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Brian Forbes.

But it was when The Curse of Frankenstein came out in 1957 that the studio earned its infamous title as a House of Horror. This was, officially, the start of Hammer Horror.

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Using the hands of a pianist and the brains of a renowned scholar, Doctor Frankenstein sticks together a "human" from leftover bodies and finds that it didn’t quite turn out to be the success he had planned. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, heretofore relatively unknown company players, quickly earned worldwide recognition for their roles as Dr. Frankenstein and his Monster and for the next ten years basked in the sunshine – or rather moonlight – of success.

The Abominable Snowman (1958) High in the snow-covered Himalayan mountains, an English botanist and a burly American scientist lead an expedition to discover the legendary Yeti creature. Peter Cushing, Forrest Tucker, Maureen Connell.

Universal Studios was the American distributor of the Hammer horror series and since they earned such great returns off of them, they let them have access to their stock house of scripts. Numerous retellings of their horror classics were plotted out, and the studio focused all its efforts and funds on the making of these colorful adaptions.

The Horror of Dracula (1958) After a man attacks Dracula in his castle (yes, bold man he be!), Dracula travels to a nearby village to seek revenge on his family and his fiancée. They turn to Professor Van Helsing, a fellow student of vampires, for help in destroying him. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes novel gets a colorful retelling here, as the ace detective and his doctor friend come to the aid of a nobleman who is being threatened by supernatural hounds on the moors of his estate. Peter Cushing, Andre Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi

The Hound of the Baskervilles was one of the less successful films in the series though Peter Cushing made an admirable Holmes, as did Andre Morell as Dr. Watson. During 1951 – 1967, Hammer Studios' home was in Bray, near Windsor, Buckinghamshire. A house (Down Place), a large backlot, and several smaller studios were on this property. The house was included in many of the films (it added a lot to that “Hammer atmosphere”) and the backlot was turned into a European village which was used again and again in different films. First in The Brides of Dracula, then as a Spanish village in The Curse of the Werewolf, as London in The Phantom of the Opera, and then as a Russian palace in Rasputin, the Mad Monk.

From 1960 on, Hammer consigned themselves to raising their monsters from their graves in sequels or rehashings of their previous successes…with the exception of The Phantom of the Opera, Curse of the Werewolf (another misfire), and The Gorgon…which were new characters to the series.

The Brides of Dracula (1960) A schoolteacher unknowingly sets free a young man ( of the undead variety ) in Transylvania, and worse yet, finds that he’s after her students at her school for girls. Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur, David Peel

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) A young Spanish boy on a hunting trip gets bitten by a wolf, and years later moonlights as a first-class howler in this retelling of the classic Universal The Wolf Man. Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain

The Phantom of the Opera (1962) In Victorian London, a poor musical professor finds that his life work has been stolen by a corrupt lord and, with his fire-burnt disfigured face, he hides out in an Opera house as a “phantom” waiting for his moment of revenge. Herbert Lom, Edward de Souza, Michael Gough, Heather Sears

Kiss of the Vampire (1963) A young honeymooning couple gets stranded in a southern European village and are “helped” by an aristocratic family…who have a taste for newlywed blood. Clifford Evans, Edward de Souza.

Evil of Frankenstein (1964) – Penniless Baron Frankenstein, returns to his family castle to renew his work on his beloved Monster, only to find that an evil aid, Zoltan has been using his monster for his dirty work. Peter Cushing, Peter Woodthorpe, Duncan LaMont

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) An Egyptian mummy is delivered to London, where it begins a rampage while under the control of a man with murderous intentions. Terence Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark

The Gorgon (1964)  In pre-WWII Germany, a small village is being plagued by a snake-haired gorgon who turns those who bear their eyes upon her to stone…only during full moons though. Professor Meister and Dr.Namaroff come to the aid of the townsfolk. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Richard Pasco, Michael Goodliffe, Barbara Shelley

All of these Hammer Horror pictures really weren’t that scary (especially compared to today’s standards) but, in 1965, gore, as in bottles of oozy gooey goopy red ketchup, entered the picture. EEeeek!!

This was the year that the content of the Hammer films became more….ahem, mature…with the eyes of our blood-sucking fiendish friends glaring more fiercely, the bodices of their voluptuous prey creeping lower and lower, and pools of blood squirting to and fro, making Van Helsing’s appearance – along with his cross of Christ – all the more anticipated so we can see our anemic villains writhe in terror at their impending doom.

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966) Four unwary tourists take refuge in Count Dracula’s castle for the night (!). Within a few hours one of them is drained of his blood and his wife ( Shelley ) gets transformed into a vampire so the gruesome twosome can pursue the remaining two “guests”. Some hospitality. Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Charles Tingwell

Island of Terror (1966) A group of doctors head to a remote island off the coast of Ireland to investigate a series of medical mysteries and discover a deadly lifeform unleashed. Peter Cushing, Edward Judd, Carole Gray, Keith Bell. 

Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966) The story of the mad Russian “monk” Rasputin (aid to the Czars) is exploited in all its gory glory. Christopher Lee, Richard Pasco, Barbara Shelley, Suzan Farmer

Quatermass and the Pit (1967) While digging a subway in London, a construction crew discovers a skeleton and what seems to be a German missile….but in truth it is an alien spaceship. James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley

The Reptile (1966) While investigating his brother's death, a man and his wife move into his former cottage in a small village in England and become embroiled in a reptilian curse. Ray Barrett, Noel William, John Laurie, Jennifer Daniel. 

The Mummy's Shroud (1967) An archeological team discovers the remains of a mummy while on a dig in Egypt in 1920. Returning home to England with their find, the members are killed one by one. Andre Morrell, David Buck, Elizabeth Sellars, Maggie Kimberley.

There were also a number of "Scream Queens" that became associated with Hammer Horror (Hazel Court, Barbara Steele, and, later, Ingrid Pitt) but of them all, no one can top Barbara Shelley, that lovely English lady who somehow got caught in the vortex known as “the horror genre”. In total, she made seven pictures with the studio, sometimes as the victim, but not infrequently as a vampire herself.

Many believe that the golden age of Hammer Horror ended with Dracula: Prince of Darkness and that does indeed have some credibility to it, for the films made after this tend to be repetitious and rather malodorous.

All in all though, Hammer Studios had a long line of successes and it is during this bewitching month that we fans appreciate them the most. We get to sit back, have some popcorn, and enjoy Peter Cushing and those legendary ghouls give us goosebumps….what more fun could you have than that?