Kate Sutton

Hammer BackgroundTypeProduction company

IndustryFilm ProductionTelevision ProductionTheatre ProductionPublishing

FoundedNovember 1934

FoundersWilliam Hinds, James Carreras

HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom

Key peopleSimon Oakes(CEO & President, Hammer)

ParentExclusive Media(2007 – present)

WebsiteOfficial website

Hammer HistoryWilliam Hinds (nick named William Hammer from his hometown Hammersmith in London) established the company in 1934, starting off in a three room office suite in Imperial House, Regent Street. Almost immediately they started on their first film ‘The Public Life of Henry the Ninth’. However, there was a dive in the British film industry in 1937 which forced Hammer into liquidation after they filed for bankruptcy in the same year. Exclusive survived and in July 1937 they bought a leasehold on Wardour Street and then distributed films made by other companies rather than their own. James Carreras decided to join Exclusive in 1938, at the start of the war out break (WWII) with William Hinds’ son, Antony Hinds. Both men joined the armed forces to help out in the war, so the distribution of films from Exclusive was slow, and there was a limited workforce.

The Birth of Hammer HorrorHammer had its for recognisable success with the horror category when in 1955 they did an adaption of The Quatermass Experiment; which name was then changed to The Quatermass Xperiment which put emphasis on the new X certificate horror films.

Audrey Field, examiner - commented:

"Well, no one can say the customers won't have had their money's worth by now. In fact, someone will almost certainly have been sick. We must have a great deal more restraint, and much more done by onlookers' reactions instead of by shots of 'pulsating obscenity', hideous scars, hideous sightless faces, etc, etc. It is keeping on and on in the same vein that makes this script so outrageous. They must take it away and prune. Before they take it away, however, I think the President [of the BBFC] should read it. I have a stronger stomach than the average (for viewing purposes) and perhaps I ought to be reacting more strongly."

Some of Hammer Horror’s Recent

Films

Let Me In

Budget $20 millionBox office $24,145,613

Wake Wood

Budget Unknown Box office Unknown

The Quiet Ones

Box office $17,834,867