The Hammer Story

The revised and updated only authorised history of Hammer Films, the company, its leading figures, and a film-by-film analysis of the studio’s entire output up to 2023’s Doctor Jekyll.

Now with new imagery throughout and continuing the story as Hammer came back from the dead in 2007 and began producing new horror films for a modern audience.



Established in 1934, Hammer Films is one of the most renowned and prolific independent production companies in the world.

Hammer’s productions encompass almost every genre, but it remains best known for the groundbreaking reinvention of cinematic horror that was a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1950s. The unique formula that became known as Hammer Horror was perfected in such classics as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959). Over the next 20 years numerous sequels and similarly acclaimed films such as The Devil Rides Out (1968) made Hammer one of the most recognisable filmmaking brands in the world.

The Hammer Story is the only authorised history of the company and was compiled with unlimited access to its archive. The book is lavishly illustrated with rare promotional material and previously unpublished photographs.

Now with an additional 32 pages continuing the story of Hammer as it came back from the dead in 2007 and began producing new horror films for a modern audience, including:

• Wake Wood (2009) – Hammer Films’ first theatrical release for 30 years

• Let Me In (2010) – directed by Matt Reeves

• The Resident (2011) – starring Oscar-winner Hilary Swank and Hammer legend Sir Christopher Lee

• The Woman in Black (2012) – starring Daniel Radcliffe

• The Quiet Ones (2014) – starring Jared Harris

• The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2015) – starring Helen McCrory

• The Lodge (2019) – directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala