Nhân viên khác chỉnh sửa ]

Điểm cho nhiều bộ phim kinh dị Hammer, bao gồm Dracula và Lời nguyền của Frankenstein được sáng tác bởi James Bernard. Các nhân viên âm nhạc khác của Hammer bao gồm Malcolm Williamson, John Hollingsworth và Harry Robertson.

Nhà thiết kế sản xuất Bernard Robinson và nhà quay phim Jack Asher là công cụ tạo ra cái nhìn xa hoa của những bộ phim Hammer đầu tiên, thường là với ngân sách rất hạn chế.

Diễn viên [ chỉnh sửa ]

Phim kinh dị của Hammer có nhiều diễn viên xuất hiện liên tục trong một số bộ phim, tạo thành một "công ty sản xuất búa" không chính thức.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb was a modern-day take on Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars and featured Valerie Leon as a reincarnated Egyptian princess, rather than a Mummy. The same novel served as the basis for the 1980 Charlton Heston film The Awakening and a later direct-to-video feature, Bram Stoker's The Mummystarring Lou Gossett Jr.

Other films[edit]

Horror films[edit]

Other horror films produced by Hammer included:

• The Abominable Snowman (1957), an adaptation of another Nigel Kneale television drama
• The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), a version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Hammer's only werewolf film, and Oliver Reed's first starring role
• The Phantom of the Opera (1962), starring Herbert Lom
• The Gorgon (1964), again starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
• The Witches (1966), starring Joan Fontaine
• The Plague of the Zombies (1966), directed by John Gilling
• The Reptile (1966), directed by John Gilling
• The Devil Rides Out (1968), adapted from the novel by Dennis Wheatley
• Countess Dracula (1971), directed by Peter Sasdy, based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory.
• Hands of the Ripper (1971), also directed by Peter Sasdy, about the daughter of Jack the Ripper.
• Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), another version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydethis time with a gender-swapping twist

Vampire films[edit]

In addition to their Dracula series, Hammer produced a number of other horror movies on the vampire theme, including:

Hammer also made a loose trilogy of films based on Sheridan Le Fanu's early vampire novella Carmillawritten by newcomer Tudor Gates. They included some of the most explicit scenes of lesbianism yet seen in mainstream English-language films, along with a corresponding increase in sequences involving nudity, despite otherwise traditional Hammer design and direction. These three films are:

Psychological thrillers[edit]

Running alongside production of their 1960s gothic horror films, Hammer made a series of what were known as "mini-Hitchcocks" mostly scripted by Jimmy Sangster, and directed by Freddie Francis and Seth Holt. These low-budget suspense thrillers, often in black-and-white, were made in the mould of Les Diaboliques (1955), although more often compared to the later Psycho. This series of mystery thrillers, which all had twist endings, comprised:

Non-horror films[edit]

During their most successful period Hammer produced other, non-horror films, including:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), starring Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes
• Hell is a City (1959), a crime thriller starring Stanley Baker
• Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960), a drama about child abuse starring Patrick Allen and Felix Aylmer
• The Pirates of Blood River (1961), a swashbuckler starring Christopher Lee
• Captain Clegg (1962), (Night Creatures in the U.S.), an adventure starring Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed
• The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964), a period adventure starring Christopher Lee and Barry Warren
• She (1965), based on the novel of the same name by H. Rider Haggard, this starred Ursula Andress and John Richardson alongside Cushing and Lee
• One Million Years B.C. (1966), with Raquel Welch and John Richardson
• Slave Girls (1967), released in the U.S. as Prehistoric Women
• Quatermass and the Pit (1967); U.S. title Five Million Years to Earth (1968), this was an adaptation of Nigel Kneale's third Quatermass serial
• The Anniversary (1968), with Bette Davis
• The Lost Continent (1968) starring Eric Porter, adapted from another Dennis Wheatley novel
• When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), directed by Val Guest
• Creatures the World Forgot (1971), directed by Don Chaffey

On 29 May 1968, Hammer was awarded the Queen's Award to Industry in recognition of their contribution to the British economy. The presentation ceremony took place on the steps of the Castle Dracula set at Pinewood Studios, during the filming of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

Later years of film production[edit]

In the late 1960s, with the release of successful films like Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), the studio struggled to maintain its place in the market. It responded by bringing in new writers and directors, testing new characters, and attempting to rejuvenate their vampire and Frankenstein films with new approaches to familiar material.

While the studio remained true to previous period settings in their 1971 release Vampire Circustheir Dracula AD 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Draculafor example, abandon period settings in pursuit of a modern-day setting and "swinging London" feel. These films were not successful, and drew fire not only from critics, but from Christopher Lee himself, who refused to appear in any more Dracula films after these. Speaking at a press conference in 1973 to announce The Satanic Rites of Draculathen called Dracula is Dead… and Well and Living in LondonLee said:

"I'm doing it under protest… I think it is fatuous. I can think of twenty adjectives – fatuous, pointless, absurd. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. I don't see the point."^[37]

The film indulges the turn toward self-parody suggested by the title, with some humour appearing in the script, undercutting any sense of horror.

Hammer films had always sold, in part, on their violent and sexual content. After the release of films like Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Wild Bunch (1969), audiences were increasingly able to see more explicit gore, more expertly staged, in relatively mainstream films. Night of the Living Dead (1968) had set a new standard for graphic violence in horror films. Hammer tried to compete as far as possible (Frankenstein and the Monster from Hellfor example, features a scene where the Baron treads on a discarded human brain) but realised quickly that, if they could not be as gory as the new American productions, they could follow a trend in European films of the time, and play up the sexual content of their films.

Hammer Films had commercial success with some atypical output during this period, with film versions of several British TV situation comedies, most notably the ITV show On the Buses (1971). The first spin-off made was Hammer's biggest domestic earner of the 1970s and was popular enough to produce two sequels, Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973), seeing Hammer return to their pre-horror practice of adapting television properties for the cinema as they had once done with PC 49 and Dick Barton.

In the latter part of the 1970s, Hammer made fewer films, and attempts were made to break away from the then-unfashionable gothic horror films on which the studio had built its reputation. Both The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), a co-production with Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers which attempted to combine Hammer's brand of horror with the martial arts film, and To the Devil a Daughter (1976), their third adaptation of a Dennis Wheatley novel, were quite successful at the UK box office, but Hammer were unable to capitalise on them as most of the profits went to other financial backers. Hammer's last production, in 1979, was a remake of Hitchcock's 1938 thriller The Lady Vanishesstarring Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd.

Revival (2007–present)[edit]

In the 2000s, although the company seemed to be in hibernation, frequent announcements had been made of new projects. In 2003, for example, the studio announced plans to work with Australian company Pictures in Paradise to develop new horror films for the DVD and cinema market.

On 10 May 2007, it was announced that Dutch producer John De Mol had purchased the Hammer Films rights via his private equity firm Cyrte Investments. In addition to holding the rights to over 300 Hammer films, De Mol's company plans to restart the studio. According to an article in Variety detailing the transaction, the new Hammer Films will be run by former Liberty Global execs Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper. In addition, Guy East and Nigel Sinclair of L.A.-based Spitfire Pictures are on board to produce two to three horror films or thrillers a year for the U.K.-based studio.

The first output under the new owners is Beyond the Ravea contemporary vampire story which premièred free online, exclusively, on Myspace in April 2008 as a 20 x 4 min. serial.

The company began shooting a new horror/thriller film in Donegal in 2008, backed by the Irish Film Board. The film is titled Wake Wood and was scheduled for release in the United Kingdom in the Autumn of 2009.^[38] The film was produced in collaboration with the Swedish company Solid Entertainment, makers of the vampire film Frostbitenwhich pays homage to the Hammer vampire films among others. It was given a limited UK/Ireland theatrical release in March 2011.

In the summer of 2009, Hammer produced in the U.S. The Resident, a thriller directed and co-written by Finnish filmmaker Antti Jokinen and starring Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee.^[39][40] It was released in the US and UK in March 2011.

In 2010, Hammer, in partnership with Overture Films and Relativity Media, released Let Me Ina remake of Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.^[41]

In June 2010, it was announced that Hammer acquired Wakea script by Chris Borrelli for an action feature to be directed by Danish filmmaker Kasper Barfoed.^[42]

In February 2012, the Hammer and Alliance Films adaptation of The Woman in Black was released. Daniel Radcliffe stars as lawyer Arthur Kipps. Jane Goldman wrote the film's screenplay, with James Watkins in the director's chair.

In April 2012, the company announced it was to make a sequel to The Woman in Black titled The Woman in Black: Angel of Death. Also in 2012, Hammer and Alliance Films announced two more films going into production during 2012, entitled The Quiet Ones and Gaslight.^[43]The Quiet Ones tells the story of an unorthodox professor (Jared Harris) who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist. It was released on 10 April 2014 in the UK and 25 April in the USA.

Revival films[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Hammer's horror films were often praised by critics for their visual style, although rarely taken seriously. "Altogether this is a horrific film and sometimes a crude film, but by no means an unimpressive piece of melodramatic storytelling" wrote one critic of Dracula in The Times in 1958.^[44] Critics who specialise in cult films, like Kim Newman, have praised Hammer Horror more fully, enjoying their atmosphere, craftsmanship and occasional camp appeal. In A History of HorrorMark Gatiss remarked that Hammer's earlier films were taken seriously at the time, in comparison to the trademark camp appeal of their later works.

In a 2013 retrospective for The GuardianMichael Newton wrote:

Shot in Eastmancolor, the first batch of Hammer Horror movies – Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) – are among the loveliest-looking British films of the decade… The early Hammer films offer a last gasp of British romanticism, the solid sets drenched in a soft brilliance of shadows, of greys, reds and blues; when these films stray into the far woods, it's always autumn there, never spring. The leaves fall, and the light shines golden and clear; compared with the well-lit contemporary look of the "angry young men" films, Hammer's mournful sumptuousness must have been even more striking. They play out a 1950s reverie of contagion, lust and post-Suez anxiety. Questions of guilt circulate in these films, where the virtuous can be transformed into vampires through one moment of sexual weakness…^[45]

Television series[edit]

Journey to the Unknown[edit]

This was a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural anthology series which dealt with normal people in everyday situations that found themselves having to experience something out of the ordinary. 17 episodes of approximately 50 minutes each were produced by Hammer Film Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. In America, eight episodes from the series were broadcast as four made-for-television films consisting of twinned episodes along with new segment introduction footage provided by actors Patrick McGoohan, Sebastian Cabot and Joan Crawford serving as hosts. The series was first aired on ABC from September 26, 1968 to January 30, 1969, prior to broadcast in the UK on ITV during 1969

Hammer House of Horror[edit]

In 1980, Hammer Films created an anthology series for British television, Hammer House of Horror. Shown on ITV, it ran for 13 episodes with a running length of approximately 51 minutes each. In a break from their cinema format, these self-contained episodes featured plot twists which usually saw the protagonists fall into the hands of that episode's horror at the end. The series featured a different kind of horror each week, including witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil worship and voodoo, but also included non-supernatural horror themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers. All the stories were set in contemporary England.

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense[edit]

A second television anthology series, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspensewas produced in 1984 and ran for 13 episodes. The stories were originally to have been the same 51 min. length as their previous series, but it was decided to expand them to feature-length to market them as 'movies of the week' in the US. The running time varied from 69 to 73 minutes. The series was made in association with 20th Century Fox (who broadcast films as Fox Mystery Theater) and as such, the sex and violence seen in the earlier series was toned down considerably for US television. Each episode featured a star, often American, known to US viewers. This series was Hammer's final production of the 20th century, and the studio went into semi-permanent hiatus.

Tribute and parody[edit]

The initial success of the Hammer Horror series led to tributes and parodies:

• Carry On Screaming! (1966) is a broad parody of horror film tropes in general but is often labelled a ‘Hammer horror spoof’ due it being produced in Britain at the height of Hammer's boom period.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) has many locations, sets, and props that were used in Hammer films. The "pretty" monster featured is, perhaps, a reference to Hammer's The Revenge of Frankenstein.
• Seasons of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who beginning in autumn 1975 and running to spring 1977 are widely acknowledged to owe a debt to the look, tone and feel of Hammer's horror films. This is shown particularly in the serials Pyramids of MarsThe Brain of MorbiusThe Masque of Mandragora and The Talons of Weng-Chiangthough many others have obvious roots and influences from the films.
• Bloodbath at the House of Death uses Hammer's films as the inspiration for its setting.
• The British TV series Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible (2001) featured spoofs of Hammer films. Noteworthy in this regard was the episode entitled "Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust".
• Singer Kate Bush immortalised the range of films in her song, "Hammer Horror", referencing The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which was never adapted by Hammer Film Productions), Dracula and Frankenstein.
• British rock band Maxïmo Park paid tribute to the series with their song "Hammer Horror", from their B-sides collection Missing Songs.
• The dark feel of the Hammer films was a possible inspiration for the atmosphere used in the comedy-horror film Dracula: Dead and Loving Itthough it more closely parodies the Universal horror films of the 1930s.
• In the DVD commentary of Sleepy Hollowdirector Tim Burton credits Hammer horror films as a primary influence for the film. Sleepy Hollow featured Hammer veterans including Michael Gough and Christopher Lee.
• The faux trailer for Don't featured in Grindhouse was intended to be a spoof of Hammer Horror.
• Tom McLoughlin claims that Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives was heavily influenced by the Hammer films.
• Tale of the Mummya 1998 low-budget Mummy film by Russel Mulcahy, is a tribute to Hammer's pictures and features a cameo role by Christopher Lee and a scene which references to the poster art of Hammer's 1959 mummy adaption.
• The parody serial "The Phantom Raspberry Blower", in the British comedy sketch series The Two Ronnieswas highly evocative of the Hammer's style of horror, particularly the Dracula films, though it was primarily a spoof on the Jack the Ripper theme.
• Much of the dark humour of the BBC comedy series The League of Gentlemen written by and starring Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss can be seen to have been influenced by the British horror films by Hammer and other production companies, of which they and co-writer Jeremy Dyson are great fans.
• In 2010, Mark Gatiss devoted a large part of the second episode of his BBC documentary series A History of Horror to Hammer films, including interviews with key Hammer figures.^[46]
• The British black/death metalgroup Akercocke have drawn influence from the Hammer House of Horror, adopting in their works the tropes of devil worship and sexuality present in the 1980s series and based an album (Choronzon) on the episode 'Guardian of the Abyss'.
• The British radio dramatist Marty Ross acknowledged a debt to Hammer with regard to his two serials for BBC Radio 7; Ghost Zoneinfluenced by Hammer science fiction such as The Damned and the Quatermass films, and Catch My Breathinfluenced by The Kiss of the Vampire and The Brides of Dracula.^[47]
• The Midsomer Murders episode "Death and the Divas" (series 15, episode 4, first broadcast 2 January 2013) is an homage to Hammer Horror films, featuring mock-clips from a variety of 1960s horror movies; the plot concerns an actress famous for her roles in British horror films.
• Dario Argento's 2013 adaptation of Dracula is heavily influenced by the previous Hammer films starring Christopher Lee.
• In an interview for the new Blu-ray release of Lifeforcedirector Tobe Hooper said that he "had made a 70mm Hammer Film."

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]