Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s Hammer Time!

That’s right, folks! We’re finally going to cover one of my favorite horror movie obsessions: Hammer Horror films.

If I dig through the ole’ memory graveyard, I can recall watching Hammer Horror as far back as grade school. I’d be in the living room, surrounded by my parents’ wall of rock and roll autographs, sitting on our long, L-shaped blue couch. It was there I experienced The Hound of the Baskervilles, thanks to my Sherlock Holmes-loving father. Fun fact: In 2002, I actually stood on Baker Street in real life. It was all very meta—even for a knucklehead kid like me.

Watching Hound didn’t immediately hook me on Hammer films. It was during my teenage years that I fell in love with their stylized pomp: the vivid blood, the jarring orchestral scores, the gothic flair, the haunting locations, and of course, the legendary actors. For a 15-year-old boy who had just opened the tomb of horror films, I was completely hooked.

I still remember buying The Horror of Frankenstein all those years ago during AMC’s MonsterFest. Those days, sitting in front of the TV, were pivotal to my love of horror and, looking back, to my creativity. It was like seeing for the first time. Not long after, I encountered The Horror of Dracula—and the rest is history!

To this day, the 1958 Horror of Dracula remains my all-time favorite Dracula movie. The gothic atmosphere, the stunning women, and the performances by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee hit me across the face like an old-timey rubber vampire bat.

As I got older, I managed to collect all the Hammer Dracula films, including the underrated gem The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Let me tell you about this baby!

The Satanic Rites of Dracula was released in 1973, roughly 15 years after the original Hammer Dracula hit the scene. What’s remarkable about Satanic Rites is that it transports Dracula into the modern era of the 1970s. And no, it wasn’t Hammer’s first foray into a modern setting (Dracula AD 1972 beat it to that), but what makes Satanic Rites stand out for me is that it follows the high-trend of the time: James Bond. That’s right, folks—The Satanic Rites of Dracula is not only a Dracula movie but also a spy movie. If you know TGM, you know we love our Bond films (check out our Bondvember articles here), so this cocktail of Dracula and espionage is pure mint!

The story revolves around a Satanic cult, backed by Dracula himself, plotting to spread a deadly plague across the world. Naturally, secret agents get involved. It’s that kind of creativity that grabs my attention—it’s fresh, unique, and weird in the best ways. Sure, it has its quirks, but when you’re watching spies fight Dracula, who cares about plot holes and a bit of cheese?

What makes Hammer Films so significant, you ask? It’s their undeniable contribution to reviving the horror genre in the mid-20th century. Before Hammer came on the scene, the Universal Monsters had largely dominated the horror landscape. Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man were firmly entrenched in black-and-white film. But when Hammer Films started remaking these classics in the late 1950s, they did so in vibrant Technicolor, and they brought a new, visceral intensity to these age-old characters that would put fear in the heart of them.

In many ways, Hammer Horror is truly revolutionary. They took risks at the time that, looking back at the annuals of cinema, were insane: pushing the boundaries of violence, sexuality, and suspense, which paved the way for the genre. I’d argue that without the sex and gore of Dracula we wouldn’t get the likes of Halloween or any of the 70’s teen slashers. Filmmakers like Terence Fisher and Freddie Francis gave these films a very British sensibility, merging classic literature with the what is now the classic and iconic cinematic hammer horror filming techniques – bright, saturdaded blood, chilling soundtracks, and a sense of grandiose doom dread.

Sure, fans of the modern horror age (X, Smile or The Conjuring series) might find Hammer’s charm campy and oozing with bloody cheese but that’s part of it’s timeless appeal. That’s like scoffing at a Hitchcock picture because it’s “all old and stuff.” We are firmly and forever living in the age of hyper realistic CGI/AI scares. Folks, that ain’t going away. That’s why Hammer films means so much more now – it’s a reminder for us all of the importance of the true ingredients of the genre – atmosphere, tension, and relationships of the characters to the actual horror of the story. Sigh,* You simply can’t beat a monster stalking the foggy moors while an isolated castle looms in the background. It’s like watching a gothic painting but with monsters and Christopher Lee.

Watching Hammer Horror always feels like coming home. It’s like a cozy bowl of pozole on a cold October evening, when the day has settled, the sky is gray, and the smell of wet leaves and spices fills the air. The clinking of dishes plays in the background, while the booming voice of Christopher Lee echoes from the TV in the other room. And in that perfect moment, you snap out of your thoughts to hear your daughter ask, “Papa, what doing?” as she catches you smiling into your bowl lost in a foggy memory of the time you first discovered Hammer horror films.