Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters, 2024
Directed by Benjamin Field.
Featuring Valerie Leon, Tim Burton, John Landis, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, Martine Beswick, Caroline Munro, Madeline Smith, John Gore, Jonathan Rigby, Wayne Kinsey, and Axelle Carolyn.
SYNOPSIS:
Showcases Hammer Films through the eyes of its actors, filmmakers and fans, tracing the history of the production house.
Whether it is from the classic golden period of the 1950s to the 1970s, the brief resurrection in the 2010s that gave us, amongst others, The Woman in Black or the recent(ish) takeover by John Gore and the superb box sets they have been putting out, the name Hammer Films strikes a chord in the minds of audiences as a brand name they can trust to provide solid entertainment. Not every movie that came out under the name was a masterpiece, but there was something reassuring about seeing the familiar faces of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing facing off against each other in a script penned by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Terence Fisher, a bit like a comfort blanket.
Of course, it wasn’t just those names that made the studio what it was but seeing the same cast and crew names pop up in the credits with regularity year after year meant you were getting something that had been put together by a team who knew what they were doing and who cared about the process – a family, if you like – and Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters is well-timed documentary that tells the story of how it was a literal family business when it was first started back in 1934 by comedian-turned-businessman William Hinds.
Well-timed because any younger fans turned onto Hammer by their more recent history may not be aware of how the company was founded and who the key players were during the early days, and this film does paint that picture without going into too much detail. You don’t get a history of the movies or a breakdown of early stars like André Morell or Paul Henreid, but you get the story of how Hinds partnered up with former cinema owner Enrique Carreras to take Hammer through the war years and into the 1950s, whereupon their sons Anthony Hinds and James Carreras became the key players before James’ son Michael took over in the final years of the company in its original guise.
All well and good, but we’re here for the heroes and monsters of the title, and that period of Hammer’s history didn’t start until the release of The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, which paired up Cushing and Lee for the first of many screen adventures and changed the course of the British film industry. But if you want a detailed background of that movie then you’d best buy the expansive 4K UHD set that Hammer put out last year as you won’t find it here.
Indeed, this documentary doesn’t really delve into any one movie in particular, instead focusing on some of the key players involved in the movies, such as director Terence Fisher, composer James Bernard and make-up supremo Phil Leakey. Since most of those who were there at the time are no longer with us, it is up to surviving Hammer luminaries Caroline Munro, Madeline Smith and Martine Beswick to share their reminisces about their time with the studio, which doesn’t really amount to much as they only appeared in a handful of movies each during the latter years of the original run.
To fill in any other gaps there are interviews with celebrity fans such as John Carpenter, Joe Dante, Tim Burton, John Landis and Axelle Carolyn, along with Hammer authorities Jonathan Rigby, Wayne Kinsey and John Gore himself, but there aren’t really any insights that hardcore Hammer-heads (you read that here first) wouldn’t already know, and that is what makes this documentary a little disappointing as most of the coverage concerns Michael Carreras, whose impulsive decision making kept the company going through troubled times but also signalled the death-knell during the mid-1970s, when grittier contemporary US horror movies such as The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre changed the game again.
With that in mind, it is a little confusing as to who this documentary is aimed at as the dedicated Hammer fans already know most of this stuff and for newbies it doesn’t really cover enough individual movies or notable points of reference to give you a list of titles to check out. If you were lucky enough to land one of those wonderful The Curse of Frankenstein box sets then the 1994 documentary Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror is included on one of the bonus discs, and that one gives a much more detailed look at the studio and how it came to represent British horror movies. It probably helped that Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were still alive to narrate it (it was Peter Cushing’s final appearance) and could add their own experiences, so taken in that context Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters works as a companion piece but as it doesn’t focus on where the studio went during the 2000s and beyond, it just doesn’t add very much to what is already out there.
Coming in a fancy-looking two-disc set, the first disc features extended interviews with those involved and a newly edited version of the film narrated by Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb star Valerie Leon and, more notably, cutting out the AI Peter Cushing that caused controversy upon its original broadcast on Sky Arts. That original version, featuring AI Cushing and narrated by Charles Dance, is on the second disc should you fancy it, as well as a rather amusing Behind-the-Scenes featurette that sees Madeline Smith unable to recount a story about sex education due to cracking up with laughter, as well as other outtakes.
Overall, Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters is a well-made documentary that features interviews with people clearly passionate about the Hammer brand and what it represents. However, there are other, more expansive documentaries out there that cover the classic era in more detail. If Hammer were to follow it up with a documentary that covered the 2000s up to now then it would serve a bigger purpose, but as a standalone film it is a handy reference, a fun trip down memory lane but hardly essential viewing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
