If I Had a Hammer Horror

Hammer Horror and Doctor Who overlap across a significant part of my brain's real estate. Both offer a slightly skewed, richly British way of looking at the world. They're populated by an unending parade of memorable, talented character actors. The biggest difference is that Doctor Who injects primarily science (or pseudo-science) at the core of its storytelling while Hammer Horror divides it's time between pseudo-science (The Curse of Frankenstein, Quatermass, etc. ) and good old-fashioned religious/Christian reasoning (Dracula, The Devil Rides On, etc.).

There is a certain colour palette that distinguishes Hammer, rich velvety reds and blues. If I close my eyes I see forests with bare leaves, luscious Victorian drawing rooms, lusty pubs and blood so red it probably has its own Pantone code. Victims are always warned ad nauseam,

One of my favourite movies from Hammer is The Devil Rides On. Curiously it stars Christopher Lee as the good guy! But even on the side of the angels, he still has a slightly sinister aspect, making the viewer glad he's on our side for once. There's a bit of early first Doctor about him--he's haughty, rude and mysterious. But most definitely not doddering. The cast is fantastic including Paul Eddington (Yes, Minister) and Charles Gray (Diamonds Are Forever, The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Like Doctor Who it revels in offbeat imagery: a goat-headed demon, a rather politically incorrect black genie with the creepiest eyes ever and several scenes that seem ripped right from The Daemons.

Once the 70s came around Hammer became increasingly campy. I loved it. Swinging sixties tropes caught up with gothic horror. Don Houghton (writer of The Mind of Evil and Inferno) brought us The Satanic Rites of Dracula and Dracula 1972. The latter comes complete with hippies and a musical number!

It was about this time that fellow horror maestro Amicus Productions also had it's heyday. Freddie Francis (director) and Jimmy Sangster (writer) both mainstays with Hammer became involved in the slightly more low-brow efforts of Amicus. The best of these were the "portmanteau" films, basically short stories linked by an overarching narrative. These were the best in my opinion. Jon Pertwee featured in The House That Dripped Blood (1970), while a pre-Doctor Who Tom Baker made an appearance in The Vault of Horror (1973). Again the crossover of British Character actors who appeared in both is significant: John Bennett, Ingrid Pitt, Geoffrey Bayldon, Maurice Denham, Michael Gough, Richard Todd, John Franklyn-Robbins, Angela Pleasence, Tom Chadbon, Erik Chitty--the list goes on and on.

Doctor Who echoed Hammer Horror most vividly during the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era with its riffs on classic horror stories (The Brain of Morbius, Planet of Evil, The Talons of Weng Chiang, et all). Like Hammer, gothic horror from that era has its own signposts: English country homes, pseudo-science masquerading as the occult and lots and lots of body horror. There is also that time honoured theme of humanity messing with forces that it shouldn't. Whether it be Professor Scarman opening the tomb of Sutekh, or Professor Sorenson hording away anti-matter, all hell breaks loose when we meddle.

The Stones of Blood was the last ship to leave the horror harbour as the storytelling began to take a turn in different directions. David Fisher's little gem is a bit of a hybrid narrative, switching gears from the horror aspects to a more humourous sci-fi bent in episodes three and four. Some folks are rather turned off by the change in tone, but really it's Doctor Who doing its thing. We had 3 years of stellar gothic horror; why not tinker with the format.

The major attraction to the story is the complete sense of irreverence it conveys. Amelia Rumford and Vivian Fay are simply smashing as the thinly veiled lesbians at the centre of circle. I don't even care that Beatrix Lehmann has an odd almost hartnell-esque quality when delivering many of her lines. She's charming nonetheless. Tom Baker's interplay with the Megara is pure season 17 and I don't care, he amuses me and that's all that matters.

Watching the Key to Time season is like going to a party hosted by someone who likes an eclectic spread. It may not be the best food I've ever tasted, but its fun, varied and I can spit the bits I don't like into a napkin.

Original viewing date: September 22, 1984

Wine: Yes, as threatened I dusted off another bottle of Ravens Wood Zinfandel. As satisfying as it was during The Image of the Fendahl. I did however have a shot of Lemoncello to keep the Ogri away.

Music: "What's Love Got to Do With It?" by Tina Turner.