Case Study on Institutions- Hammer Horror

Hammer is one of the biggest institutions involved with Horrors in Britain. The company was founded in 1934, and whilst having moderate amounts of fame for various Comedy and Sci-Fi films, the company is better known for their iconic series of Gothic Horrors, labelled as “Hammer Horror”, from the mid-1950’s to the early 70’s. The first significant Horror made by the company was The Quatermass Xperiment in 1955, which was an adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s BBC Television science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment, the change in title coming to cash in on the new X certification in films, which gave the connotations of an increase of violence, gore or sex that were rare for the 1950s. The film was surprisingly popular, and got a 1957 sequel Quatermass 2.

As production began on this film, developments were being made for an American style horror film, which came about in the form of an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s seminal gothic novel Frankenstein, and as the book had long been in the public domain for years the makers were allowed as much artistic freedom as they wanted. Despite some problems during production, which included one of the heads of Hammer stating, "The script is badly presented. The sets are not marked clearly on the shot headings, neither is DAY or NIGHT specified in a number of cases. The number of set-ups scripted is quite out of proportion to the length of the screenplay, and we suggest that your rewrites are done in master scene form" the film,named The Curse of Frankenstein, after several revisions of the script, did well and like The Quatermass Xperiment before it became immensely popular with the public. This was the official start to the Gothic series of Hammer Horrors and like Universal before it, started doing Monster Horror but now with increases in technology (Particularly the introduction of colour) there were now more chances to create gore and therefore fear. Whilst tame now, for a contextual audience it would have been the most terrifying pieces of cinema that had ever existed. Other popular film series made by the company include the Dracula series (The Count played by the now iconic Christopher Lee) which ran for 9 films, the Frankenstein series ran for 7 films, The Mummy films ran for 4 films. There were also several other films based on iconic “monsters” including The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Wolfman films.

By the early 70s audiences were becoming more sophisticated as to what they would view as scary. Subtle Horror like Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) or more explicit gore from films like Night of the Living Dead (1968) gradually desensitized the general audience and made the scares from the early Hammer Horrors seem outdated and unfashionable, and they found it harder to compete on the market. Whilst they couldn’t compete with the violence or gore due to the smaller budget of their films, but followed the European trend at the time and fill their films with more sexual content. Throughout the early 70s less and less films were made by the company, mainly due to the increase in slasher horror films coming from America, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974. There were a few attempts to move away from the increasingly unpopular gothic horrors, such as the film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, which tried to combine horror with martial arts, and To the Devil a Daughter, an adaptation of a famous horror novel. Both of these films were successful with the public but never as well received as the earlier films. The final film made in this series was a remake of The Lady Vanishes in 1979, which was a failure at the box office and finally bankrupted the studio. 

Hammer Horrors have made a small resurgence recently, despite being in hibernation for nearly 40 years. On 10 May 2007, it was announced that Dutch producer John De Mol had purchased the Hammer Films rights. In addition to holding the rights to over 300 Hammer films, De Mol's company made plans to restart the studio. In collaborations with other companies, Hammer have recently made some popular horror films, including Let Me In in 2010 and an adaptation of Woman in Black in 2012.

The campy and exploitive Hammer has been parodied over time, particularly in the cult film Rocky Horror Picture Show, and has influenced several key directors, particularly Tim Burton, who has incorporated similar gothic themes into most of his films, and has made collaborations with staple Hammer actors Christopher Lee and Michael Gough. The legacy that Hammer has left within Horror is substantial, despite the company never really getting any artistic or critical praise. Despite them not being as scary to a modern audience, they really helped horror evolve into what we watch today.