This British Film Studio was responsible for some of the best horror films of the  50's, 60's and early 70's. I remember spending hours upon hours watching many of their classic films Saturday afternoon on "Creature Double Feature." Their success went well beyond remaking many of the Universal Monster Movie (in fact their Dracula series of films starring Christopher Lee and Peter Crushing far exceeded their American counterpart). In the 50's while horror was dying a slow painful death, my studios were putting the money they used to use making horror film into sci-fi arena. This was done in most part to exploit the public growing concerns with the "Red Scare". Millions of paranoid American were not only feared a Soviet attack, but also an invasion from outer space as they packed the theaters to see such great films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Thing from another World. Although Hammer's foundations during the early days of the studio were strongly rooted in the Sci-fi genre (i.e The Quatermass Series), their mainly focus for the next 30 years was to make horror films. In my opinion, they must be greatly credited with with keeping the genre alive and kicking during this time.

      Hammer, along with AIP (American International Pictures) and Amicus, can directly be sited for spearheading the new Goth movement in horror cinema.  American filmmakers were beginning to lose footing in the genre while their European counterparts began pushing the envelope through the mid 60's. It was only at the close of this decade, with the growing desensitization of violence due to the Vietnam War, that filmmakers would be forced to focus on the problems of society in the modern world.  From these depths spawned such classics as Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary's Baby and the American presence in the horror genre was firmly re-established.

     So "God save the Queen" and Hammer Studio for their outstanding dedication to the genre we all love. From the Quatermass Series through Hammer House of Horrors, their influence on the genre can greatly be felt and still emanates strongly in the filmmaking of today with the success of such Hammer-esqe films like Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow and Alejandro Amenábar The Others. Recently, Hammer Studios has risen from the ashes like the great phoenix has announced a six-picture deal with FirstSight Films to produce horror films. So the future just got a whole brighter for us fans.