content on TV, after all—and what
did the studio have to lose, any-
way? In 1955, Hammer released The
Quatermass Xperiment, a lurid big-
screen version of The Quatermass
Experiment, a popular BBC science
fiction/horror series. (Hammer even
changed the title’s spelling to empha-
size the X rating.) The film’s success
led to two popular sequels.
Clearly Hammer had struck a par-
ticularly grisly vein of gold (not to
mention blood), which the studio
continued to mine in 1957’s ground-
breaking The Curse of Frankenstein.
Directed by veteran Terrence Fisher,
the film launched two horror icons:Peter Cushing (Victor Frankenstein)
and Christopher Lee (the Creature).
It differed from its 1931 predecessor in
almost every respect—partly because
Universal had threatened to sue if
Hammer used any elements from its
classic. But the new approach was an
aesthetic as well as a legal decision.
“If one is going to make this film,” said
Fisher, “I think one has got to start from
a personal concept and what you your-
self think.”
For starters, The Curse of
Frankenstein was shot in color (a rar-
ity for horror at the time), with the
emphasis on red—blood red, of course.
In addition, Cushing’s creepily unscru-
pulous doctor becomes the story’s real
monster—morally, if nothing else—
while Lee’s creature is, according to
Fisher, “a wandering forlorn minstrel
of monstrosity.” The finished product“Among the half
dozen most repulsive
films I have ever
encountered,”
one critic said of
Hammer Films’ wildly
successful Curse of
Frankenstein.1974’S FRANKENSTEIN AND
the Monster from Hell (above,
with, from left, Shane Briant
and Cushing) was the last of
the many sequels to The Curse
of Frankenstein (opposite).
Ranging from the excellent to
the execrable, they included
the likes of 1967’s Frankenstein
Created Woman (left), featuring
Susan Denberg and Cushing.
Hammer added other classic
horror icons to its repertoire—
including Dracula, the Mummy,
the Werewolf, and the Phantom
of the Opera—and in the
process helped revitalize the
postwar British film industry.73JOH
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