My "Hammer Horror" Top 20 (11-15)

Eleven 

Hammer's "The Plague of the Zombies" almost bridges the gap between traditional folklore Zombies routed in myths from the so called "Voodoo" ritual as featured in the 1943 RKO picture "I Walked with a Zombie" and the "Zombie Apocalypse" films of George A. Romero. 

Keeping in mind this movie Predated Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" by two years! 

On its release the film was reviewed favourably  by critics  who hailed it as a good although formulaic film from Hammer. I feel that is it's charm It gives you a great Gothic horror experience away from Vampires and Frankenstein creations and it's free from the baggage of the expectations that come from having Cushing or Lee involved. 

It was also a financial success for Hammer making £299'700  profit for the studio

(£4.6m in 2024)  

Twelve 

I can't be sure but I think this was the first Hammer Horror film I ever saw (but nobody's memory is totally trust worthy) but I definitely watched it on Channel 4 late at night. 

Hammer Initially pitched this film to Universal Pictures in 1963 as"The Curse of the Reptiles", the script was written by then Hammer board member Anthony Hinds but Universal passed and the script was filed away. In 1965 Hammer producer Anthony Nelson Keys devised a plan to make movies and save money, he selected four films to be shot back on the same sets with staggered release dates. These films were,

"Dracula: Prince of Darkness" (1966), "The Plague of the Zombies" (1966) ,

"Rasputin the Mad Monk" (1966)  then "The Reptile" (1966). 

As documented in books on Hammer Film's history, actress Jacqueline Pearce disliked wearing the Reptile make-up as she suffered from claustrophobia. After this film she vowed never to wear "creature" make-up in her future acting projects.

In 2012 Time Out magazine wrote, "it's slower and moodier than its companion-piece (Plague of the Zombies), but strikingly Conan Doyleish in its stately costume horrors. Jacqueline Pearce is terrific"

Thirteen

I adore this film! 

released in America as "Five Million Years to Earth" because... Americans?

The character of Professor Bernard Quatermass was introduced to the public in two BBC television serials, The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and Quatermass II (1955), both written by Nigel Kneale. Hammer acquired the film rights to both and the Hammer Film versions "

The Quatermass Xperiment" and "Quatermass 2" were among the first X certificate films Hammer made that launched them into the whole horror thing. Kneale went on to write a third Quatermass serial "Quatermass and the Pit" for the BBC in 1959, again hammer snapped up the rights and Kneale had a script ready to go in late 1961 but  Securing financing for the new Quatermass film proved difficult. Hammer had a deal with Columbia Pictures to distribute their pictures but Columbia was not interested in Quatermass and passed on the project so the script and production went into limbo for several years. In 1966 Hammer entered into a new distribution deal and "Quatermass and the Pit" finally entered production in 1967. Filming took place between 27 February and 25 April 1967. The budget was £275,000 (£4.2 million in 2024).

The title sequence of "Quatermass and the Pit" is pretty iconic.  Kim Newman, in his British Film Institute (BFI) monograph about the movie, states:

"The words 'Hammer Film Production' appear on a black background. Successive jigsaw-piece cutaways reveal a slightly psychedelic skull. Swirling, infernal images are superimposed on bone – perhaps maps or landscapes – evoking both the red planet Mars and the fires of Hell. Beside this, the title appears in jagged red letters."

The critical reception was generally positive on release. Writing in The Times,

John Russell Taylor found that, "after a slow-ish beginning [...] things really start hopping when a mysterious missile-like object discovered in a London excavation proves to be a relic of a prehistoric Martian attempt to colonise Earth [...] The development of this situation is scrupulously worked out and the film is genuinely gripping even when the Power of Evil is finally shown. 

Critic Leslie Halliwell wrote in his book "Halliwell's Film Guide" published in 1989:

"The third film of a Quatermass serial is the most ambitious, and in many ways inventive and enjoyable, yet spoiled by the very fertility of the author's imagination: the concepts are simply too intellectual to be easily followed in what should be a visual thriller. The climax, in which the devil rears over London and is "earthed", is satisfactorily harrowing."

I'd hate to think the film was too clever for the audience in 1967 but the film was not a financial success at the time but it now enjoys a large cult following.

I highly recommend this film Nigel Kneale was always ahead of his time and this film blends HG Wells sci-fi with Lovecraft cosmic horror. It is so much fun. 

Fourteen

This film is incredible! Christopher Lee plays an aristocrat who just so happens to be an expert on the occult and the formidable Charles Grey appears as a psychotic satanic cult leader. there is even a cameo from Baphomet!

Released in America as "The Devil's Bride" because... again I have no idea why America couldn't handle these titles. 

Hammer had wanted to make this movie since 1963, but it stood little chance of passing the censors until the worries over Satanism had eased off in the UK.

Christopher Lee had often stated that of all his vast back catalogue of films, this was his favourite and the one he would have liked to have seen remade with modern special effects and with him playing a mature Duke de Richleau. In a later interview, Lee also claimed the author of the original novel Dennis Wheatley was so pleased with the film adaptation of his book that he gave Lee a signed first edition of the book.

What makes this film stand out in the Hammer canon is that it has little sexual or violent content and is more serious than many other Hammer titles from the late 60's.  

Paul Leggett, in his study of Terence Fisher's films, describes The Devil Rides Out, despite its occult themes, as a "total conquest of Christianity over the forces of evil". Leggett sees the film's script drawing inspiration from the works of Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis in addition to Wheatley's novel. The film portrays in a serious manner a spiritual reality underlying the physical universe, and the sceptics of the supernatural becoming unwitting allies of evil.

Professor Peter Hutchings stated that the film has noticeable paternalistic themes: the struggle between good and evil is set up with the older male "savant" authority figures (Duke de Richleau and Mocata), while the younger characters are incapable of defending themselves without subjecting to their authorities.

This film really works and has layers... It also has amazing posters! 

Even though it is a stone cold cult classic it received very mixed reviews at the time and did not make money for Hammer.... It's a Masterpiece!   

Fifteen

Something happened to Hammer when they hit the 70's... Their films very much embraced embraced the changing and more relaxed attitudes towards sex in cinema. This shouldn't come as a massive shock, the success hammer had with their Horror films in the 1950's was embracing the new X certificate at a time when television was affecting cinema attendance Hammer were producing counter programming to anything you would get on the BBC and by 1970 you could probably see 50's style horror on TV so they needed to raise the "stakes". The late period Hammer stuff gets a lot of flack for their "sexploitation" style films  but there are a lot of real gems in the late period of Hammer.  

The Vampire Lovers was shot at Elstree Studios in  January 1970 and used locations in the grounds of Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire. The film was supposed to be co-funded by the American production company "American International Pictures" who gave Hammer £167,000 but Hammer managed to make the whole movie for £165,227 and Hammer's deal meant they got a 25% of the gross so it ended up being very profitable since technically they had nothing in it.