Launched in 1934, Hammer’s first production was The Public Life Of Henry The Ninth and, following a period of inactivity during WW2, the first picture from the newly incorporated Hammer Film Productions Ltd. was 1949’s Dr. Morelle: The Case Of The Missing Heiress. The new company’s first colour film was The Men Of Sherwood Forest in 1954, and in 1955 the success of The Quatermass Xperiment led to Hammer’s move into horror films including The Curse Of Frankenstein in 1957 and Dracula in 1958.
A hugely successful run of Gothic monster movies cemented the company’s reputation as ‘Hammer House of Horror’, and deals with Universal Studios and Columbia kept the production base at Bray Studios busy with an incredible volume of films produced during this period.
Half-way through the 1960s deals were struck with Seven Arts and Twentieth Century Fox, which led to further horror classics including The Plague Of The Zombies, Quatermass And The Pit, and The Devil Rides Out in addition to successful adventure films including One Million Years B.C. The 1960s also saw Hammer’s first move into television production with Journey To The Unknown and in 1968 the company received the Queen’s Award for Industry.
The 1970s saw a clutch of vampire movies and some lucrative movie spin-offs from British sitcoms. To The Devil A Daughter was the last Hammer horror feature in 1976, but production continued into the 1980s with two influential and well-loved TV anthology series: Hammer House Of Horror and Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense.
Hammer’s return to horror was heralded by interactive web serial Beyond The Rave, which was broadcast by MySpace in 13 territories in 2008. Let Me In, Hammer’s first theatrical feature of the millennium, was released worldwide late 2010 to widespread critical acclaim. The Resident and Wake Wood followed early 2011. The Woman In Black (starring Daniel Radcliffe) will be released in the UK and US in February 2012. Today, Hammer has an active development slate across diverse genres sourced out of both Europe and the United States.
