Hammer Horror is Undead
One of the most famous brands in horror is rising from the dead. Variety reports that John Gore, a British theater producer whose live theater company, the John Gore Organization, owns Broadway.com and Broadway Across America (a presenter of touring Broadway shows), has bought Hammer Films and Studios. Gore will serve as the chair and CEO of Hammer, and they’ll be announcing a slate of new horror films “imminently,” which are intended “to breathe new life into the studio, blending the nostalgic charm of Hammer with modern cinematic style and innovation, while preserving its heritage and library.” The first will be Doctor Jekyll, directed by Joe Stephenson and starring Eddie Izzard. (Ugh, this is gonna be a whole can of worms, isn’t it?) Doctor Jekyll will be released later this year.
If you’re unfamiliar, Hammer is the label that produced the Dracula movie series starring Christopher Lee as the Count (beginning with Horror of Dracula, or just Dracula, depending on where you see it, and going for seven films), as well as alternate versions of the Universal Monsters like The Curse of Frankenstein, The Curse of the Werewolf, and The Mummy (curse implied, I guess). Hammer’s horror films featured several esteemed British actors aside from Lee, such as Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin from Star Wars, who played the Abraham Van Helsing to Lee’s Dracula), David Prowse (the physical actor who played Darth Vader), Michael Gough (Alfred in the Burton-Schumacher Batman series), and Oliver Reed (elaboration unnecessary). Gore had this to say about his love of Hammer:
“Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve been enchanted by the magic of Hammer Films. Its stories, its characters and its unique place in British heritage and cinema have been a source of inspiration and wonder. Today, as I stand at the helm of this iconic studio, my commitment is twofold: to celebrate and preserve the unmatched legacy of Hammer and to usher in a new era of storytelling that captivates audiences worldwide. With significant investment and a fresh creative vision, we will ensure that the spirit of Hammer not only endures but thrives in the modern age.”
I’m up for this in theory. I haven’t seen many Hammer films; the only one I’ve checked out so far is Horror of Dracula (although I have a copy of Taste the Blood of Dracula that I have yet to open; probably next month). But a revival of old-school horror is enticing, especially when nowadays it’s all this Conjuring/Saw/Insidious stuff that mostly looks the same, or those awful reinterpretations of the Universal Monsters. (That’s probably an oversimplification, but I’m not much of a horror fan in general.) But when they say they’re giving Hammer a “modern cinematic style and innovation,” I hope they don’t mean annoying woke stupidity. I made a joke about Eddie Izzard playing Henry Jekyll earlier, but it turns out I wasn’t far off the mark. If that’s what they plan to do with Hammer, I’d rather they just leave it in its coffin, mercifully staked in the heart with its legend intact. The good news – one hopes – is that they acquired Doctor Jekyll for distribution, which makes sense since it’s ready to go to theaters already. If the movies they actually make are more in keeping with the fun of Hammer’s old films, this could be something special.
