Author(s): Marcus Hearn, Alan Barnes
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Titan Books
Revised edition
Release Date: September 25, 2007
Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Hammer Films, legendary British company, has been release some of the best genre films in the last fifty years. It is also responsible for making international stars out of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and many other actors. This book is that story of this amazing company that is still making great films today like “Let Me In” and “The Woman in Black”. I have read many other book about the legacy of Hammer but they are usually about the posters art or the woman of Hammer. This gets to the real heart of Hammer’s history.
Marcus Hearn, known for his work with Hammer, is the author on the title and he got some really great insight into the history of the company and was nice enough to allow us to take a rare look into their archives. “The Hammer Story” gives a very thorough film-by-film breakdown and is jam packed with amazingly rare promotional material and previously unpublished photographs. It is really amazing to get a chance to view this material and you really get taken into this book and take a journey through its history.
The great thing about this release is that it is put out by Titan Books and they have always impressed me. The pages are so crisp and contain such beautiful high quality images. There is a forward by Mr. Christopher Lee himself. It is fantastic to get Hammer’s main star to tell his experiences but the only issue is that it was written in 1997, which was for the first edition of this book. I wish that when this book was revised in 2007 that they would have gotten Lee to update his forward. Nonetheless, this is a real treat for all horror fans and especially fans of Hammer. It is a no-brainer purchase and will make a fantastic spot on your coffee table for sure.
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