Let Me in - Hammer Films Rises Again

It has been more than 30 years since British horror movie maker Hammer Films opened it's doors, but now it's back, and is set to release a new horror movie titled "Let Me In".

The last movie that the cult film maker of the 1960's and 1970's released was "To The Devil A Daughter", which was released in 1976 and starred Christopher Lee and Nastassja Kinski.

Although Hammer Films was founded in the 1930's, it was in the 1950's that it gained a reputation for producing horror movies, although the company did also produce comedies and science fiction movies.

How many of these classic Hammer Films do you remember?

The Curse of Frankenstein (1958)
Dracula (1958)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1967)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Countess Dracula (1971)
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974)

Hammer's chief executive, Simon Oates, told The BBC that "the days of heaving cleavages in the Home Counties - spoofed in films like Carry On Screaming - have been staked through the heart".

It's true that the classic horror films from the Hammer studio featured horror scenarios with sexual overtones, and in today's horror movie world they are comparatively tame.

A frequent question of the company has been whether they are going to remake the same classic movies, and Simon Oakes responded that they are not going to do that, because "velvet caped heaving bosom kitsch films was then, and this is now".

It's great to see Hammer back in business, and also great to know that there are not going to be remakes of some classic horror movies, which would destroy them in many ways.

The new Hammer movies are going to be more gory, and more hi-tech as well, using lots of CGI graphics, rather than the gothic movies of the past.

Hammer means to get back in business in a big way and also to stay in business this time, as can be seen by the choice of director for Let Me In, Matt Reeves, who directed Cloverfield, the 2008 movie that grossed $1785 million in worldwide sales.

Let Me In is based on a Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, "Let The Right One In), and is a remake of a Swedish film of the same name.

The film stars Chloe Moretz (the hit girl in Kick-Ass), who plays a 12 year old girl who moves next door to a strange loner who is hiding a dark secret.

According to Matt Reeves, the book on which the movie is based is like a great Stephen King book, and is about coming of age, which implies that this is likely to be a deep and scary movie, and hopefully a big hit for the Hammer studios.

And don't think that the old school of Hammer actors are dead either. Next year Hammer are set to release a thriller called "The Resident", which stars Christopher Lee (who is now 88) and Hilary Swank.

They are also in the process of filming a new version of the classic horror novel "The Woman In Black" which stars Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame.

I for one am looking forward to a new era of movies from Hammer, having seen all of the classic movies from the 60's and 70's and been scared stiff - at the time.

I never could stomach surgery, and I clearly remember going to see Frankenstein And The Beast From Hell, on my own of course at the tender age of 18, and having to leave because of gruesome scenes where they were sawing the top of the skull off the monster.

So look forward to more great horror films in the years to come from the studios that returned from the dead.

Sources:

BBC NEWS