Re-vamped: British horror film-makers Hammer and Amicus are back from the dead
Think of a classic horror film with an archetypal character such as Frankenstein or Dracula, or a movie with a name that does what it says on the tin, like Tales from the Crypt or Beyond the Grave, and the chances are you are thinking of a product by one of the “twins of evil”.
Hammer and Amicus were the studios that defined British horror cinema and bestrode the 1960s and 1970s, employing a wealth of British acting talent including Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Casts included names such as Michael Gough, Ralph Bates, Ingrid Pitt, Patrick Magee and Joan Collins.
Hammer is famous for its gothic output, which often took as its and , with taking the role of the Transylvanian bloodsucker in seven movies beginning with 1958’s .
