A history of horrors

by Denis Meikle

The story begins in the late 1940s when the little-known British film studio was struggling to survive. That all changed in 1957 with the overwhelming success of The Curse of Frankenstein and continued through the 1960s and well into the 1970s. During those years, Hammer Film Productions produced more than sixty films that transported cinema-goers from a world facing the threat of nuclear war and the demise of the planet to a dark, Gothic fantasyland peopled with vampires and virgins, madmen and mummies. While film critics might not always have responded favorably, audiences loved them. A History of Horrors traces the history of the House of Hammer in rich and highly readable detail, providing a unique perspective on the creative spirit that built the studio into one of the most successful British film companies of its time and on the changing world that brought about the studio's downfall. With the aid of many of Hammer's key players - including actors Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed, and