Horror got a whole new colorful image with the establishment of Hammer Film Productions in 1934. 90 years later, the brand is still synonymous with gore, exploitation, and legendary genre icons like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Ingrid Pitt.
As this Hammer edition of the Ack-ives shows, Famous Monsters was along for the ride, and it championed Britain’s new monster canon with countless features and photographs. This blood-drenched special includes classic black and white pages as well as coverage of the studio’s more recent fare such as The Woman in Black and The Lodge.
Full List of Credits
Honorary Editor-in-Chief: FORREST J ACKERMAN
Publishers: PHILIP KIM and DOMINIE LEE
Executive Editor: HOLLY INTERLANDI
Art Director: JENN PHAM
Associate Editor: JORGE MARRERO
Cover by SANJULIAN
Published by MOVIELAND CLASSICS, LLC © 2019
Letter From the Editor
Here’s my cold open: when I sat down to write this intro, I thought to myself, what can I say about the legacy of Hammer that hasn’t already been said?
Should I emphasize their ability to create new icons out of classic monsters and update legendary horror stories in color for a more mature audience? Should I discuss the careers of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, both of whom made so many Hammer Films that these horror movies rival their respective Star Wars and Lord of the Rings appearances in popularity?
Should I make clear comparisons between Hammer Films and Famous Monsters, both of whom were left behind for decades before emerging triumphantly into the 21st century? We’re like vampires—we don’t stay dead. Appropriately, Hammer always did vampires best, whether it was Dracula staring into the eyes of his latest victim before biting, or a voluptuous female bloodsucker seducing an unsuspecting soul into death.
Let’s take a look at what Hammer accomplished in objective terms. An entirely independent studio in the UK managed to resurrect and eventually rival Universal’s Hollywood monsters, then continue to produce both those series and new horror tales with big-name stars to regular international distribution and worldwide slackjaw. That’s like a small production studio in France remaking The Wizard of Oz and discovering an unknown stage actress to play Dorothy multiple times who was eventually even more cherished in the role than Judy Garland. Sounds ridiculous, right? But that’s the power of Hammer.
I myself was a bit too young to experience the heady rush of the so-called exploitative Hammer films rippling across fandom in the 1970s (“Boobs and blood,” as was their reputation). I was negative five, in fact. Not even in utero.
And yet, sitting in my living room with a DVD on of Dracula or The Devil Rides Out still feels subversive, like I’m getting away with something. Like I’m still in high school staying up to the wee morning hours to read Interview with the Vampire (and inevitably make us late for school the next day). Hammer is what horror is supposed to feel like: forbidden and imaginative and a little too sexy to watch with your parents.
Lucky for us, they’re not done yet, and 2019’s THE LODGE will undoubtedly scare the pants off of everyone brave enough to watch it, although now you can hide under the covers and watch it on your phone, making no one—least of all your parents—the wiser.
LOOK INSIDE:
HOLLY INTERLANDI 