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| Title: | Hammer Films
: The Elstree Studios Years |
| Author: | Wayne Kinsey; Foreword by Peter Hutchings |
| ISBN: | 0953192628 : 9780953192625 |
| Illustrations: | 710 b/w illus |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Size: | 170x245mm |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Weight: | .872 Kg. |
| Published: | Tomahawk Press - January 2007 |
| List Price: | 19.99 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: | In Print |
| Subjects: | Films; cinema |
Foreword by Peter Hutchings, Northumbria University. Wayne Kinsey reveals the story of Hammer Films from 1967 to the present day, following the highs and lows of the company as it bedded into its new home at Elstree Studios. Based on extensive oral history recording with Hammer personnel, the book describes in fascinating detail how the studio would plummet from one of the most successful British film companies and proud recipients of the Queen's Award for Industry, to the depths of bankruptcy within a single decade. As the British Censor relaxed, Hammer took full advantage, steeping their films in the seventies with sex and nudity as well as ever increasing gore. Even better than Kinsey’s previous volume, the acclaimed "Hammer Films: The Bray Studios Years", this book is heavily illustrated throughout by rare, never before published photographs and documents, many taken behind the scenes of the famous "House that Dripped Blood".
Hammer and the Fall of Bray Studios (1948-66); The Devil and All His Works (1967); The Queen's Award to Industry (1968); Space Westerns; Vampire Lusts and Lovers (1970); Dracula Today (1971); Farewell to the Baron (1972); Hammer Goes to Hong Kong (1973); The Final Horror (1974-75); The Hammer Falls (1976-the Present Day).
"This is the story of Hammer’s failure; of its failure to update successfully its horror formula, to engage with new markets, to regenerate itself. Kinsey shows that this was not for want of trying, and indeed a sense of Hammer’s desperation becomes apparent at certain moments. Particularly revealing in this respect are Hammer‘s encounters with the British film censors - which are recorded here in some detail. Take this book not as a memorial, but instead as a record of an enduring fascination with one of the most extraordinary enterprises in British cinema history." -- Peter Hutchings (from his foreword). "...the first and the last word in books on Hammer and their years at Elstree." -- Paul Burton, Elstree Calling, Feb 2007. "...the research is both expert and thorough, whilst the text displays the keen enthusiasm of a devout (but not uncritical) fan as well as the historian’s eye for detail and accuracy. A brilliant piece of journalism, Hammer-holics will undoubtedly devour every page of this lovingly assembled study." -- Howard Maxford, Film Review.
