Enjoying a resurgence with The Woman In Black, venerable British horror studio Hammer has chosen the Cinema And Television History (CATH) Research Centre at the UK’s Leicester De Montfort University to house its script archive. The CATH center will catalogue and curate a collection that includes screenplays from most of the studio’s film and TV productions from 1947-1990 along with extensive corporate paperwork, correspondence and other ephemera. This is the first time the archive will be opened to public research and study. Last month, Hammer announced a global restoration project for its library of films in partnership with Studiocanal, Pinewood and other international players and with the participation of 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount. The studio was founded in 1934 and has produced such films as Frankenstein Created Woman, The Plague Of The Zombies, The Witches and The Mummy. Hammer stopped production in the 80s and returned to features in 2010 with Matt Reeves’ adaptation of Swedish hit Let Me In. Its most recent film, Daniel Radcliffe-starrer The Woman In Black, has taken in over $60 million worldwide. Since 2008, Hammer has been a division of the Exclusive Media Group.


Hammer produced some of the seminal horror films of the 1950s and 60s: Horror of Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein that combined heaving bosoms, lots of red blood and horror. Who can forget Christopher Lee’s eyes in The Curse of Frankenstein? Or the stakes through the heart in Horror of Dracula?
Couldn’t have put it better. Go, Hammer!
It’s always good news to hear about a restoration of classic films, especially horror films from Hammer Productions. Back in the day it was unthinkable for the major studios to participate in something like this. Thank god there is new blood (pun intended) in this business and the thinking is now different.