The History of Hammer Horror Films

Horror films have changed over the years depending on what scares people at the time. For example, global warming, hooded youth etc. In the 1950's and 60's people were frightened by monsters like the monster in Frankenstein and Count Dracula.

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Hammer Horror films were famous for making horror films in the 50's, 60's, 70's such as The Curse of Frankenstein (Peter Cushing as shown in the picture to the right as Frankenstein) and Dracula (Christopher Lee as Dracula as shown on the right). They also made Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Film Noir and Comedies. Hammer was established in 1934 and was partner with Warner Bros. William Hinds formed Hammer Productions. Hammer made most of it's money through distribution of it's films. Some of Hammer's early successes were The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.

The Curse of Frankenstein was originally a novel by Mary Shelley and was The first film in colour for Hammer films. It starred both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and had worldwide success which led to several sequels.

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Dracula was released in 1958. It was directed by Terrance Fisher and also stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YktZAMOvZoc

Hammer was based in the UK in London. In the 1970's Hammer became less successful because horror films by other new directors were becoming more artful and subtly horrific. The studio struggled to keep it's place in the market. A main director who was causing problems for Hammer was Roman Polanski.

In 2003 the studio announced plans to work with an australian company called "Pictures in Paradise" to develop new horror films for the DVD and cinema market.

On May 10th 2007 it was announced that Dutch producer John De Mol (As shown on the right) had purchased the Hammer film rights. They began shooting a new horror/thriller film in 2008 in Ireland. In 2009 it was announced that Hammer films and ALliance films were making a remake of "The Woman in Black" scheduled for a 2011 release.