The
Authorized History of Hammer Films
Marcus
Hearn and Alan Barnes
Titan
Books
Distributed by Bookwise
Fifty years ago, Hammer Films released
its first major horror film “The Quatermass Xperiment” The now-legendary British company went on to
make such classics as Dracula, Frankenstein and a range of successful sequels.
In the next couple of decades Hammer produced more than seventy horror, science
fiction, prehistoric and thrillers. Along the way they created such
international stars as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, changed the face of
horror cinema, and inspired a generation of
This superbly produced volume is packed
with rare photos, posters and images, many never seen since their original use
as promotion for the films release. Indeed, the Hammer Story is illustrated
with scores of colour photos, including over 450 rare
posters, photographs, press books and clippings. The book itself offers not
only a comprehensive history of Hammer but coverage of all its films in many
genres. While, of course, hammer is primarily well known for its horror
productions, it was equally successful in comedy, suspense and adventure films,
this superb history offers a complete history of all Hammer films with lots of
behind the scenes memories and stories along the way.
The book itself is presented
chronologically with each section offering a history of a given period with
special articles on genre and unique productions.
For example in Fresh Blood 1965-1969, we
have an overview of the development of Hammer during that period, a discussion
of the development of Bray Studios and feature articles on Prehistoric
Adventure and the Hammer Glamour girls of the period as well as reviews of
hammer films produced during the period.
Each of the reviews include posters of
the films, rare images, discussions of directors, actors and photos and
memorabilia, not to mention actors memories, reflections and behind the scenes
recollections of each film.
The final section of the book discusses
the demise of Hammer films, some of its more obscure films which were never
produced, for example, there is a discussion of a wild WWII exploitation film
called "Savage Jackboot" starring Peter Cushing as an SS commander in
WWII with a never before seen promotional poster !!
There is also an overview of the
development of Hammer series for Television and an extensive Hammer filmography.
This is a truly comprehensive volume,
meticulously researched and beautifully produced. It is the ultimate Hammer
history and includes everything you could hope to know about Hammer films from
its best known successes to it’s most obscure and
unusual releases.