Hammer+Films

**Hammer Film Productions** is a British film and television production company based in London, United Kingdom.

Hammer is best known for its revival of the classic horror genre. In 1957 Hammer released //Curse of Frankenstein//, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It is regarded as one of the most important horror films of all time.


 * Dracula & Frankenstein (1957-1974) **

In 1957 the film, //The Curse of Frankenstein//, was released. This movie established both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as the new star horror actors. Taking what it could from the Universal Horror the new Frankenstein series of films were taken in a new direction. Peter Cushing would play the lead role of Doctor Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee would play the monster. (Rolfe) Unlike the Universal Horror series the movies would no longer follow the monster, but instead they would follow the many stories of Dr. Frankenstein. These new movies would run from 1957 until 1974, beginning with Frankenstein and ending with him. (Curse) It would also renovate the way future horror films would be played out as. While the original series brought many of the original horror classic aspects to light, these brand new movies made new ways of how horror would be played out in the future. Things such as cobwebs and creaking stairs were a thing of the past, but now these movies were alive and in color. Introductions to a monster that kills a number of people and the massive amounts of blood were what people wanted. Blood was especially used in the Hammer line of Dracula films, starting with //Horror of Dracula//, once again starring Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing.(Curse)

It also brought the idea of remaking a movies to a whole new light. Remakes to this point would mean just copying the entire story, but Hammer brought it in a whole new direction. These remakes would only be loosely based on the originals while following an entirely new series of stories written up by the production company themselves. Movies such as //The Thing//, in 1982, was only loosely based on the original, //The Thing from Another World//, in 1951. This would be an example of taking creative liberties with an original work, and changing it to fit today's standards. (Rolfe)

These color horror films re-innovated the way horror movies were made. If the Universal Horror was the cake, the Hammer was the icing on top. Hammer took the simple roots of Universal and made them completely something new, with better music and acting, they were able to create new standards for the horror genre of movies. In particular, the slasher genre, was attributed to these movies. Hammer would continue to make these horror remakes until 1974, where they ended this classic franchise with //Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell//.(Rolfe) Together, both Universal and Hammer have come iconoclastic figures of the horror genre, and movie industry in general, each introducing something that would be worked with in the future. Where Universal brought things such as musical suspense and monsters who kill to the plate, Hammer brought forward blood and gore to the public, use of dramatic acting, multiple deaths caused by the villain, and gritty story telling. They forever innovated the way future horror films, like the slasher genre, would be made and seen.


 * //Curse of Frankenstein// Review by James Rolfe **

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Rolfe, James E. "//Cinemassacre's Monster Madness 2013//." [|Cinemassacre Productions RSS]. //Cinemassacre//, 06 Oct. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. //The Curse of Frankenstein//. Dir. Terrence Fisher. Perf. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. //Hammer Film Productions//, 1957. DVD. Fish, Andy. //Hammer Films//. Digital image. //Fish Wrap//. Blogspot, 27 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. //The Curse of Frankenstein Review//. Dir. James E. Rolfe. Perf. James Rolfe. //Cinemassacre//. Cinemassacre Productions, 6 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.