The History of Hammer Horror
Many have dawned the cape and fangs of Count Dracula, but Christopher Lee’s representation in the Hammer Films is the most indomitable. (This image was generated using Leonardo.ai)
In a cinematic climate where IP franchises reign and conglomerates fight for every dollar from the shrinking theater industry and complex streaming platforms, one movie studio has been pumping out profitable hit after hit both in the box office and critical reviews.
The privately owned movie studio by Jason Blum started in 2000 but got its big break with 2007’s Paranormal Activity. This found footage film only cost $15,000 to make and earned almost $200 million worldwide.
Since then, the studio has become a household name, giving directors creative freedom to produce original works primarily in the horror genre.
Blumhouse’s notable titles include:
The Purge Series
The Insidious Series
The Sinister Series
Split and Glass
Oujia
M3GAN
They’ve produced Oscar-worthy features like Whiplash, The BlaKkKlansman, Get Out, and US.
And in the past few years, they’ve adapted and rebooted notable titles like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Amityville, Black Christmas, The Craft, Firestarter, The Invisible Man, Halloween, and a new Exorcist film.
On Blumhouse’s slate in a Spawn sequel starring Jamie Foxx. and Wolfman reboot starring Ryan Gosling.
“A Blumhouse film is first and foremost entertaining, scary, and hopefully original,” said studio founder Jason Blum in an interview with IMDB. “We try and make movies that haven’t seen before, and sometimes on top of all that, we try and make them about something in society or put a theme of some kind into them, although they don’t all have that.”
For as much fanfare that Blumhouse receives from moviegoers and fanatics alike, their model isn’t new.
The horror genre has always been a breeding ground for fast, affordable, and entertaining filmmaking.
That strategy was paved by a small British production company that churned iconic and profitable hit after hit.
Hammer Pictures, more commonly known as Hammer Horror.
Hammer Films Comes Alive
From 1935–1977, the small British production company produced 166 films. Hammer’s rise was when cinema transitioned from the post-war noir and fantastical musical era to the gritter auteur filmmaking of the 1970s.
Hammer Horror filled the gap by moving cinema to a darker, raw, and aggressive pace in the guise of classical period storytelling.
I first started investigating Hammer by tracing the lineage of two actors that shaped my childhood.
First was Peter Cushing, who most famously played the sinister and confident Governor Tarkin in 1977’s Star Wars.
His counterpart and collaborator during the Hammer days was Christopher Lee, who played another villain in the Star Wars universe, Count Doku. In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he also portrayed the power-hungry and vengeful wizard Saruman.
But before they were franchise icons for these fantasy and sci-fi franchises, they dominated genre cinema for decades, portraying many characters, but most prominently, Lee as Count Dracula and Cushing as Doctor Otto Van Helsing.
Within 15 years, from 1958 - 1973, Hammer produced 88 pictures, with Lee and Cushing starring in a combined 43 films and seven as co-leads. They’d work together in 22 films over their illustrious careers.
The first decades of Hammer in the post-war era were mainly spent on low-budget radio adaptations. It wasn’t until 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein that a snowball effect shift happened for the studio.
Ben Mankiewicz explains in his intro to the film for Turner Classic Movies.
“There are big differences between this film and the Frankenstein movies made by Universal in the 1930s. First, these are shot in color. And second, the filmmakers take advantage of that as much as possible, especially when it comes to the use of blood and severed body parts [...] One review referred to the gore in The Curse of Frankenstein as, quote, road accident cinema, which sounds like a compliment to me but may not have been. Others explicitly credited Hammer with rejuvenating the monster film genre. The result was a huge worldwide success, especially with teenagers from 1957.”
The Curse of Frankenstein made 70 times its production cost – $7 million.
Hammer Horror was off to the races.
A Cottage Industry
Nestled in an English countryside manner called Bray Film Studios, Hammer Horror cheaply started producing scores of gothic horror films.
One of the former staff members describes the cheap and homey feel of Bray Studios in the 1994 documentary Flesh and Blood: The Heritage of Hammer Horror, narrated by Lee and Cushing.
“Everybody who worked for Hammer loved what they were doing. We didn’t have enormous budgets. We worked very long hours in very cramped facilities,” the employee said. “It was only a big old house, and we did remarkable things. If you look at the old films, the old horror films that were made in that old house, it’s quite remarkable. You’d think we’d shot it at MGM or Pinewood [Studios].”
“It was only a big old house, and we did remarkable things.”
A year after the success of The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer released Dracula (The Horror of Dracula) and cemented Lee as Dracula and Cushing as Van Helsing in pop culture lore. Over the next twenty years, Hammer established itself as the leading studio in exploitation cinema, especially thanks to their popular release in the United States.
Title card from 1958’s The Horror of Dracula.
Alongside the Dracula films, Hammer produced hits like:
The Hounds of the Baskervilles - 1959
The Mummy - 1959
The Gorgon - 1964
She - 1965
And while Hammer wasn’t as progressive or self-aware as today’s prestige horror, they did push the limits of filmmaking and messages, including making a rare film portraying a lesbian love story called The Vampire Lovers that still is cherished today.
But as Hammer entered the 1970s, they failed to keep up with the evolving tastes and reinvent their genre lane. Many of their late 60s and 70s films were pitched and funded just with a title and poster. The studio also fell into the trap of increased demand for nudity, turning its once-provocative reputation into schlock.
“During the 60s, there were a lot of imitators of Hammer [like] Amicus Pictures were looked virtually the same, had identical casts and people,” said filmmaker Joe Dante, who was heavily influenced by the Hammer films. “I think the studio started to lose its identity a little bit.”
“I think the studio started to lose its identity a little bit.” - Joe Dante
Eventually, Hammer would limp into obscurity, with studios like New Line Cinema in the 80s and 90s taking place, ushering the genre.
But like the devilish villains they showcased, the memories and cult following of Hammer could never really die.
Immortal Hammer
In 2007, the Hammer film rights and brand name were purchased, and produced eight films in 11 years, most notably the American adaptation Let Me In and The Woman In Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe in his first role major role after the Harry Potter franchise.
Hammer was acquired again in 2021 and is releasing its first new picture in four years. It’s an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Like the indomitable count, will Hammer and their reputation once again entice filmgoers to flock and shock?
Like the indomitable count, will Hammer and their reputation once again entice filmgoers to flock and shock?
I think studios like Blumhouse and Hammer that punch above their weight and do better with less can give us hope as consumers that there are still original ideas out there.
In my mind, Hammer is a predecessor of a trend happening in Hollywood, where the most innovative films are the ones supported by artist-first studios.
Are future moviegoers going to buy tickets or stream because of a studio name versus who’s on the billing? And can more studios like Blumhouse provide artists with creative autonomy and original storytelling?
The horror genre has and always will be at the intersection of original storytelling with consumer appeal. And will continue to fight against a system that rewards safety and predictability.
The horror genre has and always will be at the intersection of original storytelling with consumer appeal.
Maybe these two forces, the push and pull, are destined to do this forever–like Dracula and Van Helsing, who eternally will be consecrated foes, endearing film lovers generation after generation.