Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters (2024) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
A look at Hammer’s progression from a back office in London’s Regent Street to its iconic status within the horror film genre. The company, started by comedian and businessman William Hinds in 1934, made films such as The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Quatermass Xperiment during the period for which it is best known, making stars out of the likes of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
Cast
Popular reviews
Hammer is currently in the John Gore era, churning out boxsets of films like Captain Kronos and The Quatermass Xperiment, and producing a couple documentaries on Hammer lineage. This one focuses a lot on the people behind the scenes, as opposed to dissecting the films, and felt like it had good intentions to sort of lift the veil on what it was like behind the scenes.
They did a great job with detailing the structure in the house of Hammer, starting with the Carreras' and Hinds', and the invaluable supporting staff. I know there aren't as many Hammer alums kicking as there were 10 years ago, but there's enough that I feel they could have included more vets, as this is mostly told by second hand accounts.
Would have been four stars but they absolutely ruined it at the very ending. God damn, what were they thinking? Those that have seen it will know.
Currently cued up on my ever-expanding podcast rotation is Hammer Time, a superb series that devotes a good 90 minutes (and often more) to each and every Hammer horror film in the studio’s illustrious back catalogue. It’s a fantastic listen…but it also throws something like Benjamin Field’s new documentary, Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters, into rather stark relief. Because when you’ve got that level of depth available elsewhere, a 90-minute overview of an entire studio’s life, death - and inevitable undead afterlife - has to take a very different tack.
Field wisely pivots away from a film-by-film journey and instead focuses on the people behind the scenes: the creatives who built Hammer from the ground up and shaped its enduring…
Absolutely criminal to fill this with AI garbage
Considering its the 70th anniversary of The Quatermass Xperiment I thought this would be a good year to start my full Hammer rewatch. So starting with last years new documentary on the iconic company seems like a good place to start.
It mostly focuses on the ins and outs and who's who of the company but sometimes covers some of the iconic movies.
Its a fun watch for any Hammer fans but like everything she stars in, it needed more Caroline Munro. It does have a lot of brief appearances from Horror legends and as always John Carpenters appearance adds a bit of spice when he is questioned on Nigel Kneale.
A.I .warning.
Disappointing documentary that tells us very little that's new about Hammer and is riddled with presentation gimmickry. There are plenty of talking heads, most of whom have a reason for being there although some don't. The captions could've been more direct in their reason for being there like A-list Hollywood screenwriter John Logon ... why is he here? Is he a Hammer fan, was he approached to write for the modern Hammer? Both Axele Carolyn and Sarah Appleton are filmmakers but the captions don't explain why they're here.
I know from past experience why filmmakers like John Carpenter, Joe Dante and John Landis are here ... they were fans of Hammer growing up in the '50s and '60s and were…
As an overview of Hammer, pretty decent, just doesn’t need the shit gimmicks.
Irritating from the word go with the clips shown in a faux proscenium arch cinema, the talking heads on a faux television and pointless props ahoy. Come on. Just show the talking heads if that’s what you’ve got.
Bad mood now.
And don’t get me started on the AI.
In the Month of Madness: The Return
70/?
I've knocked a whole star off this because director Benjamin Field, for some reason that can only be known to him, decides to finish off this documentary with an AI-generated clip of Peter Cushing. Which pisses me off enough, but wait until you see the fucking thing. It looks like absolute shit even by the standards of AI. What a prick.
Anyway. Otherwise I rather enjoyed it, even if the only thing I learned was that Nigel Kneale was a miserable old git. Imagine not being able to get along with John Carpenter. Nothing that nobody won't already know and I'm glad they covered their pre-horror era (albeit briefly) but still a…
Fun enough little romp through the behind-the-scenes of the Hammer production company. Includes snippets from John Carpenter and old and new interviews with Hammer cast members, and so forth
Seeing John Landis pop up on screen gave me a fright but kudos to the editor for randomly cutting to him making a bizarre noise every time someone else mentioned something scary
But also wtf that was that random AI-generated Peter Cushing at the end?? Like they really just drop that monstrosity on you after saying something to effect of: “these films are immortal cause the people that made them cared about their work and about their craft”, and then it just ends
With 90 minutes to discuss decades of important cinematic history, this can only be a swift tour of highlights. There are lots of clips from the catalogue, but has an odd way of using them. A guest speaker or the main Narrator will state a point, then a clip repeats the same point. Example: [Narrator] “...the result surprised everybody.” [Clip] “That was a surprise.” After a while, the gag wears thin & you realise it’s amounting to screentime that could have been better used. Said Narrator is Charles Dance, who someone rightly thought was a close cousin to the tones of Christopher Lee. As for guest speakers, while the content & comment is always relevant – can’t anyone speak for longer than…
Once again WHY is there AI in this doc. It's really starting to piss me off. Why bother if you don't want to put effort into a film. The ending is terrible and I'm sure you could have found a photo of old looking TV to show gimmicky clips instead of asking ai to generate a crap one that's REALLY obviously ai.
The doc itself is fine I suppose, doesn't really give you any new info, some nice talking heads (Joe Dante, John Carpenter and Tim Burton being highlights). But again the ai was completely pointless and looked shit.
God I really hope this doesn't become the norm
Really solid little talking heads documentary with a good mix of genuine experts, famous faces and archive interviews, fatally undermined by two terrible decisions.
No reason to interview John Landis. Even less reason to crowbar in an awful AI generated Peter Cushing at the last minute. Evidently Cushing's likeness is now owned by the Hammer Films company, at least according to the closing credits, a legitimately horrifying revelation.
It was difficult to get through the opening of this as it was so gushing in its praise for everything Hammer. But once it started talking about the history of the studio, it got much more engaging. I didn't know much about it so found it interesting. It didn't get me to want to watch anything further of theirs. I'm only interested in Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and it was due to them that they owe their fame. And, of course, I'm glad they found that success as it inspired one of my favourite Kate Bush songs.