Hammer’s House of Horror Part II:The Decadent Years (1967–1976)
July 20 – August 2
The Quad bares it all with Part II of our extensive Hammer Films retrospective featuring 25 titles from the studio’s libidinous and gloriously gory go-go years. With 20 films on 35mm plus four U.S. premieres of new digital restorations. Highlights include Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Lust for a Vampire, Dracula A.D. 1972, Hands of the Ripper, and more!
Part two of our Hammer retrospective finds the studio reaching its zenith, by the late 1960s, modern cinema had caught up with its lurid envelope-pushing blood and guts, and so Hammer took advantage of loosening censorship to forge ahead into the realm of “erotic horror”; the sexual undertow that had hitherto been glimpsed in its films was now literally bared, titillating anew the generation that came of age during the Swinging Sixties. Other genres were explored, and sometimes cross-bred in experiments that recalled those in the studio’s durable Frankenstein series. The famous monsters that Hammer had successfully reanimated were updated and upgraded, while women were given more agency to dominate horror mythos—and to flout some taboos. But the studio’s “disreputable” and unarguably cut-price offerings were to be outflanked and outdone by films like The Exorcist, which signaled the mainstreaming of horror. Hammer unleashed one final salvo in 1976 before retreating into the crypt, emerging later only to tell television tales of terror. After long haunting and inspiring fans and filmmakers, Hammer has begun making movies again in this decade; there may yet be a full-blooded resurrection at hand. Until then, we present glories from the gory go-go years.
Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb – Seth Holt, 1971, UK, 94m, DCP – U.S. premiere of 2k restoration
Countess Dracula – Peter Sasdy, 1971, UK, 93m, 35mm
Creatures the World Forgot – Don Chaffey, 1971, UK, 92m, 35mm
Crescendo – Alan Gibson, 1970, UK, 83m, 35mm
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde – Roy Ward Baker, 1971, UK, 97m, DCP
Dracula A.D. 1972 – Alan Gibson, 1972, UK, 96m, 35mm
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave – Freddie Francis, 1968, UK, 92m, 35mm
Fear in the Night – Jimmy Sangster, 1972, UK, 94m, 35mm
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell – Terence Fisher, 1974, UK, 99m, 35mm (original UK version)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed – Terence Fisher, 1969, UK, 101m, 35mm
Hands of the Ripper – Peter Sasdy, 1971, UK, 85m, 35mm
The Horror of Frankenstein – Jimmy Sangster, 1970, UK, 95m, DCP – U.S. premiere of 2k restoration
The Lost Continent – Michael Carreras, 1968, UK, 97m, 16mm
Lust for a Vampire – Jimmy Sangster, 1971, UK, 95m, 35mm (original UK version)
Moon Zero Two – Roy Ward Baker, 1969, UK, 100m, 35mm
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (aka Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride) – Alan Gibson, 1973, UK, 87m, 35mm
Scars of Dracula – Roy Ward Baker, 1970, UK, 96m, DCP – U.S. premiere of 2k restoration
Shatter (aka Call Him Mr. Shatter) – Michael Carreras, 1974, Hong Kong/UK, 90m, 35mm
Straight on Till Morning – Peter Collinson, 1972, UK, 96m, 35mm
Taste the Blood of Dracula – Peter Sasdy, 1970, UK, 95m, 35 mm (original UK version)
To the Devil… A Daughter – Peter Sykes, 1976, UK/West Germany, 95m, DCP – U.S. premiere of 2k restoration
Twins of Evil – John Hough, 1971, UK, 87m, 35mm
Vampire Circus – Robert Young, 1972, UK, 87m, 35mm
The Vampire Lovers – Roy Ward Baker, 1970, UK/U.S., 91m, 35mm
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth – Val Guest, 1970, UK, 96m, 35mm
