A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer

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No company in the history of cinema did more to legitimize the horror film than Hammer Films ��the small British independent, which operated out of its tiny Bray Studios on the banks of the River Thames. From the Gothic elegance of The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula to the violent sexploitation of The Vampire Lovers and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, the Hammer name stood for one thing to a generation of films fans as the term "Hammer Horror" became a part of the language.

This revised and updated edition of A History of Horrors traces the life and "spirit" of Hammer, from its fledgling days in the late 1940s through its successes of the 1950s and '60s to its decline and eventual liquidation in the late 1970s. With the exclusive participation of all of the personnel who were key to Hammer's success, Denis Meikle paints a vivid and fascinating picture of the rise and fall of a film empire, offering new and revealing insights into "the truth behind the legend." Much has been written about Hammer's films, but this is the only book to tell the story of the company itself from the perspective of those who ran it in its heyday and who helped to turn it into a universal byword for terror on the screen. This definitive history also includes cast and credits listings for the "Hammer Horrors" and a complete filmography of all of Hammer's feature productions.

A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer Review

The good news is that for more-than-casual Hammer horror fans, this is a meticulously researched studio history, written from the business perspective, that goes far deeper than the usual rehashes found in horror encyclopedias and video guides. Meikle does a great job of putting the British film industry into a larger 1950s and '60s context, and sheds the light on Hammer's spotty U.S. distribution history for those of us who grew up on this side of the pond as frustrated young monster magazine readers wondering why the movies in our monster magazines (especially in the later years) never came to theaters or only played grindhouses and drive-ins.
The bad news is that the author is so down on Hammer's output in general that you wonder how he ever mustered the enthusiasm to tackle the topic in the first place. It's one thing to flail the usual whipping posts (he calls "Scars of Dracula" "irredeemably tacky"). But the harsh tone extends to even the usually acknowledged classics, such as "The Mummy" and "Curse of Frankenstein." Maybe Meikle feels it goes without saying that Hammer often captured lighting in a bottle in spite of its own scripts and budgets that today wouldn't even measure up to first-run syndication TV such as "Hercules." You appreciate the clear-eyed approach, but Anchor Bay seems to have a better attitude with its "even the cheesy stuff has its charms" approach to the background materials on its DVD releases.
If anything, a Hammer fan goes away from the book feeling it's a miracle these films came out as good as they were, after the author unveils the cynicism and/or studio heads' lack of faith in the source material that U.S. fans always took for granted with our "The British do this stuff best" assumptions.

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