24 Facts About Hammer Films

Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer Films reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time.

Hammer Films produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.

Hammer Films announced plans to begin making films again, but none were produced.

Since then, Hammer has produced several films, including Beyond the Rave, Let Me In, The Resident, The Woman in Black, The Quiet Ones, and The Lodge.

Hammer Films name came from Hinds' stage name, Will Hammer, which he had taken from the area of London in which he lived, Hammersmith.

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Hammer Films convinced Anthony Hinds to rejoin the company, and a revived Hammer Film Productions set to work on Death in High Heels, The Dark Road, and Crime Reporter.

In 1950, Hammer Films moved again to Gilston Park, a country club in Harlow Essex, which hosted The Black Widow, The Rossiter Case, To Have and to Hold and The Dark Light.

In 1951, Hammer Films began shooting at their most fondly-remembered base, Down Place, on the banks of the Thames.

Hammer Films signed a one-year lease and began its 1951 production schedule with Cloudburst.

Towards the end of 1951, the one-year lease on Down Place expired, and with its growing success Hammer Films looked towards more conventional studio-based productions.

At the time, Hammer Films voluntarily submitted scripts to the British Board of Film Censors for comment before production.

Peter Cushing again had top-billing, this time as Doctor Van Helsing, whilst Christopher Lee starred as Count Dracula, with direction by Terence Fisher and a set design by Bernard Robinson that was radically different from the Universal adaptation; it was so radical, in fact, that Hammer Films executives considered paying him off and finding another designer.

The Mummy was made in 1959, The Phantom of the Opera followed in 1962, and Hammer Films collaborated with William Castle on a remake of The Old Dark House in 1963.

Hammer Films produced a half-hour pilot titled Tales of Frankenstein that was intended to premiere on American television; it was never picked up, but is available on DVD.

Hammer Films was concerned about typecasting, and after filming The Satanic Rites of Dracula he finally quit the series.

Hammer Films were less well known for their comedies, but they made a number in the 1950s and early 1960s, returning to the genre in the 1970s:.

On 29 May 1968, Hammer Films was awarded the Queen's Award to Industry in recognition of their contribution to the British economy.

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 series On the Buses.

Hammer Films struggled on throughout the 1970s before going into liquidation in 1979.

Hammer Films's last production, in 1979, was a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 thriller The Lady Vanishes, starring Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd.

In June 2010, it was announced that Hammer Films acquired Wake, a script by Chris Borrelli for an action feature to be directed by Danish filmmaker Kasper Barfoed.

In September 2019, Hammer Films signed a worldwide distribution deal with StudioCanal for its catalogue.

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.

In 1980, Hammer Films created an anthology series for British television, Hammer House of Horror.