Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.
The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film follows adventurer Rick O'Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with a librarian and her older brother, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest with supernatural powers.
The Mummy is a 1932 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was adapted from a treatise written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Classic Monsters franchise, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron.
The Mummy is a 1959 British horror film, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Michael Carreras and Anthony Nelson Keys for Hammer Film Productions. The film was distributed in the U.S. in 1959 on a double bill with either the Vincent Price film The Bat or the Universal film Curse of the Undead.
Dracula is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, the film also features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, along with Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen. In the United States, the film was retitled Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the U.S. original by Universal Pictures, 1931's Dracula.
Terence Fisher was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.
Tale of the Mummy is a 1998 adventure horror thriller film directed by Russell Mulcahy. The film stars Jason Scott Lee, Jack Davenport, Louise Lombard and Christopher Lee.
The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series. Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and it was also followed by new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959), establishing "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.
The Gorgon is a 1964 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Films. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Richard Pasco and Barbara Shelley.
The Brides of Dracula is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, David Peel, Freda Jackson, Yvonne Monlaur, Andrée Melly, and Martita Hunt. The film is a sequel to the 1958 film Dracula, though the character of Count Dracula does not appear in the film, and is instead mentioned only twice. Christopher Lee would reprise his role as Dracula in the next film in the Dracula series, Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).
The Curse of the Werewolf is a 1961 British horror film based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore. The film was made by the British company Hammer Film Productions and was shot at Bray Studios on sets that were constructed for the proposed Spanish inquisition themed The Rape of Sabena, a film that was shelved when the BBFC objected to the script. While the original story took place in Paris, the location of the film was moved to Madrid to avoid building new Parisian sets. The leading part of the werewolf was Oliver Reed's first starring role in a film and composer Benjamin Frankel's score is notable for its use of twelve-tone serialism, rare in film music. It was also the first werewolf film to be shot in color.
Bray Film Studios is a British film and television facility in Water Oakley near Bray, Berkshire. It is best known for its association with Hammer Film Productions.
Nightmare is a 1964 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Jennie Linden. It was written by Jimmy Sangster, who also produced the film for Hammer Films. The film focuses on a young girl in a finishing school who is plagued by nightmares concerning her institutionalized mother.
Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? is a 2005 American animated adventure film, and the ninth in a series of direct-to-video animated films based on the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 13, 2005. The film was first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on November 24, 2005. It was released on VHS and DVD in the United States and Canada on December 13, 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, though it featured a logo and copyright for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. at the end. This is the last Scooby-Doo film to have a VHS release.
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1962 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher, a loose adaptation of the 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. The film was made by Hammer Film Productions but performed unsuccessfully at the box office.
The Mummy's Shroud is a 1967 British DeLuxe colour horror film made by Hammer Film Productions which was directed by John Gilling.
The curse of the pharaohs or the mummy's curse is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claimed to cause bad luck, illness, or death. Since the mid-20th century, many authors and documentaries have argued that the curse is 'real' in the sense of having scientifically explicable causes such as bacteria or radiation. However, the modern origins of Egyptian mummy curse tales, their development primarily in European cultures, the shift from magic to science to explain curses, and their changing uses—from condemning disturbance of the dead to entertaining horror film audiences—suggest that Egyptian curses are primarily a cultural, not scientific, phenomenon.
Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy, or simply Bram Stoker's The Mummy, is a 1998 American fantasy horror film based on Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. Directed by Jeffrey Obrow, it features an ensemble cast that includes Louis Gossett Jr., Eric Lutes, Amy Locane, Lloyd Bochner, Victoria Tennant, Mary Jo Catlett, Aubrey Morris, and Richard Karn. Morris previously appeared in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, a 1971 Hammer Films adaptation of the same novel.
The Aztec Mummy is a 1957 Mexican adventure horror film produced by Guillermo Calderon from his own story idea, scripted by Alfredo Salazar, and directed by Rafael Portillo. The plot centers on a group of scientists who uncover a secret Aztec tomb through past-life regression, only to awaken an ancient warrior who has been cursed to guard the tomb and its hidden treasures. It is the first of a trilogy featuring the titular character, all filmed back-to-back in order to increase potential profit.
Pharaoh's Curse is a 1957 American horror film directed by Lee Sholem and written by Richard H. Landau. The film stars Mark Dana, Ziva Rodann, Diane Brewster, George N. Neise, Alvaro Guillot and Ben Wright. The film was released in February 1957 by United Artists, as a double feature with Voodoo Island.
