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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
David Barnett

Re-vamped: British horror film-makers Hammer and Amicus are back from the dead

A poster for the 1957 Hammer film starring Peter Cushing.
A poster for the 1957 Hammer film starring Peter Cushing. Photograph: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

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.

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