Hammer and Beyond: The British Horror Film - Paperback

by Peter Hutchings (Author), Johnny Walker (Editor)

Peter Hutchings's Hammer and beyond remains a landmark work in British film criticism. This new, illustrated edition brings the book back into print for the first time in two decades. Featuring Hutchings's socially charged analyses of genre classics from Dead of Night (1945) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) to The Sorcerers (1967) and beyond, it also includes several of Hutchings's later essays on British horror, as well as a new critical introduction penned by film historian Johnny Walker and an afterword by Russ Hunter. Hammer and beyond deserves a spot on the bookshelf of anyone with a serious interest in the development of Britain's contribution to the horror genre.

Back Jacket

'Few academics understand the balance between industry and artistry, history and heritage, and few can articulate the impact each has had on the other as well as Peter Hutchings. This new expanded edition is cause for celebration and should be placed beside your collection of Hammer films for immediate reference, constant study and eternal enjoyment.'
Constantine Nasr, filmmaker and writer

'This new edition of Hammer and beyond updates and extends Peter Hutchings's trailblazing work and his determination to take British horror cinema seriously. It will be an essential addition to any horror studies syllabus.'
Helen Wheatley, author of Spectacular Television: Exploring Televisual Pleasure

'Johnny Walker's new introduction and thoughtfully selected supplementary materials frame Hutchings's contributions alongside contemporary developments in scholarship and film production, making this an essential volume for the past, present and future of British horror studies.'
Adam Lowenstein, author of Shocking Representation: Historical Trauma, National Cinema, and the Modern Horror Film

Peter Hutchings' Hammer and beyond is a landmark work in British film criticism. First published in 1993, the book entered British horror into international discussions that were heavily weighted towards North American film production. Locating post-war British horror in relation to shifts and tendencies in British social history, the first edition showed how films produced by Hammer Films and other companies present a 'rich, fascinating and multifaceted response to life in Britain'.

This new, illustrated edition reproduces the original in full, allowing readers to reacquaint themselves with, or experience for the first time, Hutchings's socially charged analyses of genre classics from Dead of Night (1945) to The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) to The Sorcerers (1967) and beyond. It also includes several of Hutchings's later essays on British horror and a new critical introduction penned by film historian Johnny Walker, which assesses the book's impact and charts key developments in British horror film production since its publication. Hutchings's colleague and friend Russ Hunter provides an afterword.

Author Biography

Peter Hutchings (1961-2018) was Professor of Film Studies at Northumbria University
Johnny Walker is Senior Lecturer in Media at Northumbria University