My Personal Ranked List of Hammer Studios Horror/Thrillers
From the mid 1950s and for twenty years, Hammer Studios in England made their own cultural footprint in the cinematic landscape of Horror/Thrillers. These films were often based on classic monster myths, gothic in style with a lush use of color and literate in terms of writing and acting, while not afraid to embrace outlandish ideas and suggestive sexuality. They were home to Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and directors Terence Fisher, Roy Ward Baker and Freddie Francis. There are no inarguable Masterpieces, but the films are often good and there’s a comfort in their house style.
My introduction to Hammer was The Devil Rides Out, starring Christopher Lee, and it’s a nutty ride. The plot hits the gas and races through as much joyful nonsense as it can conjure up in 90 minutes. Dealing in black magic, the evil priests and helpful sorcerers were making up curses and counter-curses as they went along. Like a theme park thrill ride you go for the experience more than the story, but man is it fun.
The script here is by Richard Matheson (Duel, The Incredible Shrinking Man), a master of genre fiction. He isn’t just using creepy totems, but applying the mechanics of what makes these images so scary. There’s an anchor of seriousness to everything so when the Angel of Death is summoned, you believe he’s in the room. Satan is just played by an actor in makeup, but in the moment I’m buying that Lucifer himself showed up for a cameo.
How interesting to see Christopher Lee play the hero, and he’s just as good as in his many villain roles. (Take that Vincent Price!) The big surprise was Rocky Horror’s Charles Gray as the devil worshiping cult leader with a powerful glare. With no back story or personal moments, he comes after his prey like an unstoppable force. The devil’s terminator. He’s often defeated, but rebounds immediately.
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