A Host of Horror

All aboard the:

My absolute favourite genre of film is horror.  Most people say to me when they find this out: "But I never would have thought you'd like those kind of films!"  Well people, appearances can be deceptive and we see this in many horror flicks - Norman Bates comes to mind...

There have been many classic movements of horror over the years including the Universal monster movies of the 1930's (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman) as well as the slasher horror films of the late 70's and early 80's (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elmstreet).  This post today, however, is going to focus on my all-time favourite - the Hammer Horror films from the mid 50's to the late 70's.  Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are the icons of Hammer Horror (and are total legends in my opinion) and were involved in many of the Dracula's and Frankenstein's throughout this period as well as projects such as Rasputin: The Mad Monk and The Hound of the Baskervilles. 

Hammer Horror's were renowned for their fake-looking, vibrant-red blood, hammy acting and cheesey interpretations, but the audiences obviously enjoyed them otherwise Hammer wouldn't have made the 6 sequels to The Curse of Frankenstein and 8 sequels to Dracula.  This appreciation is still apparant today as I went along to a Hammer Horror film festival a few weeks ago in the Old Vic Tunnels (organised by The Flicker Club http://theflickerclub.com/).  With the release of Hammer's The Woman in Black, there was a whole host of other Hammer Horror films being shown, and when I was sat amongst 100 other people enjoying Dracula: Prince of Darkness as much as I was, it confirmed the appeal and timelessness of such an awesome collection of movies.

I love the fact that Hammer has re-emerged in the last few years with the modest Hilary Swank film The Resident and the more mainstream Let Me In.  Both were a great introduction for Hammer before their box office smash The Woman in Black. Along with the brilliant West End play and the chilling book by Susan Hill, I think Hammer created a distinct but (very!) spooky version of the tale (and to all you critics out there, I thought Dan Radcliffe was excellent in it!).

I have enjoyed so many Hammer Horror's since first being introduced to them at uni when learning about the history of British cinema.  My favourite would have to be Countess Dracula with the lovely Ingrid Pitt.  It is a tragic tale of the desperate pursuit of youth (the aged countess kills young women and bathes in their blood...this makes her young and beautiful again) which today seems even more relevant than ever! 

Hammer posters are another subject in themselves and you can see the extensive collection by legendary film-poster artist, Tom Chantrell at this link http://hammerhorrorposters.com/.

Hammer historian Marcus Hearn has also written some excellent books that are worth a look: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marcus-Hearn/e/B001K8AA6A