Line #101 Film/HammerHorror


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hammer-Tribute-hammer-horror-films-831073_800_600_5177.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror -- won't leave it alone\
4	The first time in my life I keep the lights on to ease my soul..."''
5	-->-- '''Music/KateBush''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR4KnfcgLm0 Hammer Horror]]"
6
7	The Hammer Horror films are a series of GothicHorror movies made by the British company Hammer Film Productions between TheFifties and the [[TheSeventies early '70s]]. The name is sometimes applied to similar films from the same era made by other small (often British) companies.
8
9	The films were distributed by studios including Creator/WarnerBros, Creator/ColumbiaPictures, and Creator/{{Universal}} Pictures. The films mostly re-invented the 'classic' horror movie characters previously given form by [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal themselves]] in the 1930s and '40s (Film/{{Dracula\|1931}}, [[Film/Frankenstein1931 Frankenstein and his Monster]], [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 The Werewolf]], Film/{{The Mummy\|sHand}}), putting them into colour (often very lurid colour) and adding some new twists. The reinventions were so popular that the modern public image of many of these characters has kept some Hammer elements. For example, [[ClassicalMovieVampire the popular conception]] of {{Dracula}}, as seen in so many cartoons, wears full evening dress and talks with a Hungarian accent, like Creator/BelaLugosi's portrayal for Universal, but he is also over six feet tall and lean with {{red eyes\|TakeWarning}}, [[FangsAreEvil long fangs]] and a [[VillainousWidowsPeak widow's peak]], which more closely resembles Creator/ChristopherLee's Hammer Dracula.
10
11	The Hammer films included a "stable" of regular actors, one or two of whom (at least) would appear in each major performance. The most famous of the stable were Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/PeterCushing, Creator/OliverReed and Creator/IngridPitt. The style was well plotted but still reassuringly predictable. As Creator/TerryPratchett put it, "You knew just what you were going to get." Just to add to the confusion, other Brithorror studios-- notably Creator/AmicusProductions and Creator/TigonBritishFilmProductions-- borrowed actors from Hammer (as well as other staff such as cinematographer/director Freddie Francis).
12
13	A common assumption was that Creator/VincentPrice did Hammer Horror as well. In fact his films were for other studios (such as his popular Creator/EdgarAllanPoe adaptations, made for Creator/RogerCorman and Creator/AmericanInternationalPictures), though he did star alongside Lee and Cushing in many other films, and was good friends with them.[[note]]Price and Lee were also both born on 27 May (Price in 1911, Lee in 1922), while Cushing was born on 26 May 1913. Eerie.[[/note]] Price did do a few British horror films, notably ''Film/WitchfinderGeneral'' for Creator/{{Tigon\|BritishFilmProductions}}, and ''Film/ScreamAndScreamAgain'' (a Tigon/AIP co-production).
14
15	Creator/TerryPratchett's love of Hammer films was a source of much inspiration for the Literature/{{Discworld}} country of {{Uberwald}}, where every count is a vampire, every baron a werewolf, and every doctor is a MadScientist, and each of them is served by a specimen of TheIgor clan. You can also see many of the old clichés lovingly spoofed in Aardman's animated ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit: WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit''. One of the most fondly regarded periods of ''Series/DoctorWho'' is the "[[GothicHorror gothic]]" period of Season 12-14 (with Creator/TomBaker), which swiped Hammer Horror tropes and monsters and Doctorised them. Creator/TobeHooper's vampire flick ''Film/Lifeforce1985'' was dreamed up as a "70mm Hammer Film" and Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'' is basically an American equivalent, even featuring Christopher Lee and Creator/MichaelGough. ''Film/DraculaDeadAndLovingIt'' pays loving tribute to Hammer the way ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' did the Universal films, and the ''Film/FrightNight1985'' films are more serious, though still tongue-in-cheek homages with Creator/RoddyMcDowall as an extremely Peter Cushing-esque vampire hunter. Creator/GuillermoDelToro is a lifelong Hammer fan and admitted to styling his gothic ghost films ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'' and especially ''Film/CrimsonPeak'' as [[GenreThrowback throwbacks]]. Creator/SteveCoogan, a horror nerd, created the ''Series/DrTerriblesHouseOfHorrible'' to {{Pastiche}} Hammer films, as well as similar ones by their rival Creator/AmicusProductions. Meanwhile in Japan, Literature/VampireHunterD and Franchise/{{Castlevania}} draw strong influence from Hammer's stylings and traditions. In fact, Hammer Horror was ''so'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff popular in Japan]] that Creator/{{Toho}} ended up making its own Hammer Horror derivative series of Vampire movies, known informally as the "Bloodthirsty" trilogy (the first of which was ''Film/TheVampireDoll''). On the other hand, ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' was essentially made as an anti-Hammer film, deliberately shying away from onscreen gore or stereotypical gothic scenery despite featuring Hammer regulars Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt.
16
17	Early films in the series were basic, Universal-type horror stories done in colour, but as time went on the studio found themselves in greater competition with American studios who had bigger budgets and better special effects. Hammer retaliated by increasing the sex content of their films so that starting in the late '60s and continuing into the mid '70s Hammer films had more nudity than most horror films even today. The contrast can be seen in their two adaptations of Creator/DennisWheatley black magic tales. In ''Film/TheDevilRidesOut'' (written 1963, released 1968, based on Creator/DennisWheatley's 1934 horror thriller) the satanic orgy features characters robed from neck to ankle dancing in a manner no wilder than teenagers at a modern nightclub, ''To the Devil, a Daughter'' (1976) features full-frontal nudity, sex scenes and a gory birth scene, all in an attempt to win back an audience who had seen ''Film/RosemarysBaby'', ''Film/TheExorcist'' and ''Film/TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974'' and wouldn't be impressed by counts in coffins any more. It didn't really work. Hammer stopped making movies after that and went on to their two '80s TV series, ''Series/HammerHouseOfHorror'' and ''Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense''.
18
19	Another cute feature of the series was that they never just [[NumberedSequel numbered the sequels]], instead they thought of an [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo ever more lurid title]]: ''Film/HorrorOfDracula'' was followed by ''Film/TheBridesOfDracula'', ''Film/DraculaPrinceOfDarkness'', ''Film/DraculaHasRisenFromTheGrave'', ''Film/TasteTheBloodOfDracula'', ''Film/TheSatanicRitesOfDracula '', etc.
20
21	'''Television Series'''
22
23	Hammer produced a series of thirteen hour-long horror stories ''Series/HammerHouseOfHorror'' for British television in 1980. ''Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense'' followed in 1984.
24
25	'''Hammer Horror Has Risen from The Grave'''
26
27	Like its most famous character, you can't keep a movie studio dead. [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7629245.stm A new Hammer horror has been produced]], to briefly see the light of day in 2011. They also produced ''Film/LetMeIn'', a remake of ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'' and second adaptation of ''Literature/LetTheRightOneIn''.
28
29	In 2012, they released ''Film/TheWomanInBlack'', starring Creator/DanielRadcliffe. Other projects from the new Hammer include ''Film/TheResident2011'' (which features Hammer alumnus Creator/ChristopherLee in a supporting role) and ''Film/WakeWood''. In 2014, they produced ''Film/TheQuietOnes.''
30
31	In early 2016 Titan Comics [[http://comicsalliance.com/titan-comics-hammer-horror/ announced]] it would be producing comics based on the Hammer horror titles.
32
33	----
34	!!Hammer Horror works with TV Tropes pages:
35
36	[[folder:List of Hammer works with pages on this wiki:]]
37	[[index]]
38	* ''Film/MurderByProxy'' (1954)
39	* ''[[Franchise/{{Quatermass}} The Quatermass Xperiment]]'' (1955)
40	* ''Film/XTheUnknown'' (1956)
41	* ''Film/TheCurseOfFrankenstein'' (1957)
42	* ''Film/TheAbominableSnowman'' (1957)
43	* ''Film/HorrorOfDracula'' (1958)
44	* ''Film/TheRevengeOfFrankenstein'' (1958)
45	* ''Film/TheManWhoCouldCheatDeath'' (1959)
46	* ''[[Film/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (1959)
47	* ''Film/{{The Mummy\|1959}}'' (1959)
48	* ''Film/TheBridesOfDracula'' (1960)
49	* ''Film/TheTwoFacesOfDrJekyll'' (1960)
50	* ''Film/CashOnDemand'' (1961)
51	* ''Film/TheCurseOfTheWerewolf'' (1961)
52	* ''Film/TheTerrorOfTheTongs'' (1961)
53	* ''Film/CaptainClegg'' (1962)
54	* ''Film/{{The Phantom of the Opera\|1962}}'' (1962)
55	* ''Film/{{Paranoiac}}'' (1963)
56	* ''Film/TheseAreTheDamned'' (1963)
57	* ''Film/{{The Old Dark House\|1963}}'' (1963) - co-produced with Creator/WilliamCastle
58	* ''Film/TheEvilOfFrankenstein'' (1964)
59	* ''Film/TheCurseOfTheMummysTomb'' (1964)
60	* ''Film/TheGorgon'' (1964)
61	* ''Film/{{She\|1965}}'' (1965)
62	* ''Film/DraculaPrinceOfDarkness'' (1966)
63	* ''Film/ThePlagueOfTheZombies'' (1966)
64	* ''Film/RasputinTheMadMonk'' (1966)
65	* ''Film/{{The Witches\|1966}}'' (1966)
66	* ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' (1966)
67	* ''Film/FrankensteinCreatedWoman'' (1967)
68	* ''Film/TheMummysShroud'' (1967)
69	* ''Film/PrehistoricWomen'' (1967)
70	* ''Film/DraculaHasRisenFromTheGrave'' (1968)
71	* ''Film/TheDevilRidesOut'' (1968)
72	* ''Film/TheLostContinent'' (1968)
73	* ''Film/TheVampireLovers'' (1970)
74	* ''Film/WhenDinosaursRuledTheEarth'' (1970)
75	* ''Film/TasteTheBloodOfDracula'' (1970)
76	* ''Film/ScarsOfDracula'' (1970)
77	* ''Film/TheHorrorOfFrankenstein'' (1970)
78	* ''Film/CreaturesTheWorldForgot'' (1971)
79	* ''Film/CountessDracula'' (1971)
80	* ''Film/LustForAVampire'' (1971)
81	* ''Film/VampireCircus'' (1971)
82	* ''Film/DoctorJekyllAndSisterHyde'' (1971)
83	* ''Film/HandsOfTheRipper'' (1971)
84	* ''Film/TwinsOfEvil'' (1971)
85	* ''Film/DraculaAD1972'' (1972)
86	* ''Film/TheSatanicRitesOfDracula'' (1973)
87	* ''Film/CaptainKronosVampireHunter'' (1974)
88	* ''Film/FrankensteinAndTheMonsterFromHell'' (1974)
89	* ''Film/TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires'' (1974) - co-produced with Hong Kong's Creator/ShawBrothers studios
90	* ''Series/HammerHouseOfHorror'' (TV series, 1980)
91	* ''Film/LetMeIn'' (2010)
92	* ''Film/WakeWood'' (2011)
93	* ''Film/TheWomanInBlack'' (2012)
94	* ''Film/TheQuietOnes'' (2014)
95	* ''Film/WomanInBlackAngelOfDeath'' (2014)
96	* ''Film/WomanInBlackAngelOfDeath'' (2015)
97	* ''Film/TheLodge'' (2019)
98	[[/index]]
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	----
102	!!The remaining films, or the franchise as a whole, contained examples of such tropes as:
103	* AdaptationalBadass: Van Helsing is still a scholar, but also a vampire hunter. This expands to all the family.
104	* AdaptationalWimp: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and [[Film/TheMummy1959 the Mummy]] are considerably weaker here than in their ''Franchise/UniversalHorror'' versions, where they are harder to kill.
105	** Dracula can't transform into a bat, mist, fog and wolf in the Hammer movies. He is also killed in simpler ways (in the sequels) than the Universal's ones.
106	** Frankenstein's Monster in Hammer is vulnerable to normal weapons, and at the endings, the (many) monsters are dead.
107	** The Mummy (or mummies) were more like unstoppable undead. Kharis, while more agile, is easily killed by shotguns. The Universal Kharis is invulnerable to shots, or even fire. The most nearby character to a mummy-lich like Imhotep, is Queen Tera.
108	* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dinosaurs and man alongside each other in ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' and ''Film/WhenDinosaursRuledTheEarth''. ''Creatures the World Forgot'' shows why the trope is necessary -- if you think being slightly more realistic makes it better than the others, seek medication.
109	* BadassNormal: Creator/PeterCushing is the reason that Dr. Van Helsing is now thought of as a HunterOfMonsters, instead of the weird old Dutch physician he was in the book.
110	* BackFromTheDead: Again and again and again...
111	* BehindTheBlack: In ''The Kiss of the Vampire'', Marianne is running along a deserted road in the countryside in broad daylight. As the camera follows her, she suddenly screams as she runs into a man standing there, even though she could not possibly have failed to see him before.
112	* BloodierAndGorier: Compared to the Franchise/{{Universal Horror}}s, at any rate. Tame though they look now, contemporary critics were taken aback.
113	* BottleEpisode: Defined much of the studio's philosophy starting with ''Film/TheCurseOfFrankenstein'', which used a tiny cast and took place almost entirely in a single location, lacking even the traditional villagers with TorchesAndPitchforks because Hammer couldn't afford to build a village set or hire that many extras. Once they started making money they were able to get more ambitious but even then, most of their 1960s productions were designed to be very cheap and efficient, reusing the same sets, props, filming locations and a regular troupe of actors more consistently than some television shows do.
114	* BreakTheCutie: Anna in ''Film/FrankensteinMustBeDestroyed.''
115	* BrieferThanTheyThink:
116	** The classic image from Hammer horror was Peter Cushing’s Professor Van Helsing battling Christopher Lee's Dracula in Victorian-era Europe, but that particular combination occurred only twice (out of sixteen vampire movies the studio produced), in ''Film/HorrorOfDracula'' and briefly at the beginning of ''Film/DraculaAD1972''. For the rest of the latter movie, and its sequel, ''Film/TheSatanicRitesOfDracula'', Cushing plays Van Helsing’s 70s-era IdenticalGrandson, Lorrimer. Other films had one or the other character, or sometimes neither. (''Film/TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires'' was the only movie to have one of the two characters ''not'' played by those actors; Cushing's Van Helsing fought a Dracula played by John Forbes-Robertson.)
117	** More generally, Hammer's horror golden age only lasted about a decade after ''Curse of Frankenstein'' put them on the map in 1957 (compare that to Universal, who dominated the genre from the early 1920s to the early 1950s). ''Dracula Has Risen from the Grave'' (1968) and ''Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'' (1969) are often said to be the last really good entries in their Dracula and Frankenstein series, and ''The Devil Rides Out'' (1968) was their last really successful standalone film. The remaining Dracula and Frankenstein films fall under ContestedSequel or SoBadItsGood territory and while some of the studio's 70s films are fondly remembered cult classics, none of them were big hits or got much critical appreciation in their time.
118	* BroadStrokes: ''The Evil of Frankenstein'' follows the basic idea of ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' and ''The Revenge of Frankenstein,'' that the baron has created monsters and is now on the run, but alters many of the details. The rest of the movies seem to continue on from ''Evil'' normally.
119	* BrotherSisterIncest:
120	** ''Demons of the Mind''. We only actually see kissing, but Emil and Elizabeth are obsessed with each other, and their father is willing to do anything to keep them apart [[spoiler:(up to and including killing them)]].
121	** In ''Film/TheseAreTheDamned'', King's [[MySisterIsOffLimits overly protective behavior]] towards his sister Joan is implied to be due to incestuous desire.
122	* BurnTheWitch: ''Film/TwinsOfEvil.''
123	* ButHeSoundsHandsome: In the thriller ''Cash on Demand'', a man posing as a representative of an insurance company, supposedly checking the bank's security, tells one of the workers that it would take a "very clever fellow to rob this bank," ''even as he himself is secretly robbing it''.
124	* ChristianityIsCatholic: The Dracula films.
125	* CobwebJungle: Many of the sets.
126	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Generally, a lesser vampire will get a simple stake through the heart, while Dracula's deaths will be more elaborate and brutal.
127	* DamselInDistress: Frequent, especially in the colored films with a historical setting. In the contemporary black and white thrillers, the damsel does often end up saving herself and others.
128	* DarkerAndEdgier:
129	** Compare the sophisticated Count of Creator/BelaLugosi with the barely controlled feral madness of Lee's version.
130	** Cushing's Baron Frankenstein is far more arrogant and murderous than his counterpart in the Franchise/UniversalHorror films.
131	* TheDulcineaEffect:
132	** In ''Film/TheseAreTheDamned'', Joan sets up Simon Wells to be mugged and beaten by her brother's gang, but that doesn't stop him from helping her escape them later. Wells is undergoing a mid-life crisis, so lust and loneliness are implied to be a factor.
133	** Gender-flipped in ''Lust for a Vampire'', in which Richard is in love with Mircalla, but Janet has noticed that everyone who gets close to Mircalla ends up dead. Janet tries to get Richard to stay away from Mircalla. When he asks why she cares, she says she's in love with him -- even though they've barely spoken in the movie before then, and most of their conversations seem to consist of him blowing off her concerns.
134	* EvilIsPetty: Baron Frankenstein, who goes out of his way to demean and order around those he considers his inferiors, especially in ''Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed.''
135	* EvilSoundsDeep: Count Dracula and other villains played by Creator/ChristopherLee.
136	* EvilTwin: Freida from ''Twins of Evil'' is hedonistic, mean and selfish. [[spoiler: She's the vampire while her sister Maria is the virgin.]]
137	* FauxAffablyEvil: Baron Frankenstein can be quite charming when necessary. Goes to AffablyEvil in the middle of the franchise, and then back to this towards the end.
138	* FeministFantasy: ''Film/TheWitches1966'' carries strong feminist themes; the protagonist is a woman recovering from mental illness who has to [[CassandraTruth deal with her suspicions being dismissed as 'feminine hysteria']]. The villain of the film [[spoiler: wants to sacrifice a young girl but not out of a desire to become young and beautiful again - but to expand her knowledge of the world]].
139	* {{Fictionary}}: A primitive language was designed for ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth''.
140	* FinalGirl: Rather uncommon; Hammer females tended more towards ScreamingWoman and DamselInDistress roles, although they are frequently {{plucky\|Girl}}. Margaret in ''Blood from the Mummy's Tomb'' got to outlive all the men, though.
141	* ForeignRemake: Many of their more famous films are remakes of American horror films.
142	* TheFundamentalist: Mrs. Trefoile, of ''Die! Die! My Darling!'', is a fanatically extreme example. In fact, the film's original UK title is ''Fanatic''.
143	** The Brotherhood in ''Twins of Evil''. They spend a good portion of the film hunting witches and target women who are less than sexually pure. Gustav is particularly fanatical at the beginning as he uses corporal punishment to 'beat the devil' out of his nieces. It's hinted they target women because they're too scared of incurring the wrath of the Emperor if Count Karnstein is harmed.
144	* GenreShift: Occasionally, Hammer folks did non-supernatural psych thrillers like ''Film/{{Paranoiac}}'' and ''Nightmare''. Despite the title, though, ''Film/NightCreatures'' was more of a 1790s crime thriller than a horror movie.
145	** One of the most bizarre examples was ''Film/TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires'' (also called ''The 7 Brothers meet Dracula''), a film that attempted to combine Hammer's standard Gothic horror with the {{Wuxia}} genre. This resulted in a plot where Dracula joins forces with a tribe of Chinese vampires who all know martial arts, and Van Helsing must team up with a family of Chinese martial artists to stop him.
146	** They also made several ScienceFiction films, including ''Film/TheseAreTheDamned'', the SpaceWestern ''Film/MoonZeroTwo'' and film adaptations of the ''Franchise/{{Quatermass}}'' series.
147	** Then we have ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'', a fantasy in which [[HollywoodPrehistory prehistorical humans and dinosaurs coexist]]. It was the most expensive Hammer film ever produced.
148	* GenreThrowback: ''The Evil of Frankenstein'' is basically a 1940s Franchise/UniversalHorror film in color, with a relatively light tone and lots of old-school cliches like an evil hypnotist and exploding lab equipment in place of Hammer's own usual trappings like bloodshed and sex appeal. This was likely by design given that Universal distributed the film.
149	* GoodShepherd: Most of the priests in the Dracula films.
150	* GorgeousPeriodDress
151	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold:
152	** The caveman epics often differentiate between tribes by hair color, and the blondes will generally be nicer and smarter than the brutish brunettes.
153	** Generally speaking, the more virtuous a Hammer heroine, the more likely she will be blonde.
154	* HandicappedBadass: Harry in ''The Devil-Ship Pirates''.
155	* HeroAntagonist: Professor Van Helsing in most of ''Dracula'' films.
156	* HollywoodDarkness: You never saw such night-time visibility!
157	* HotterAndSexier:
158	** The sexual attraction between Dracula and his female victims is clearer than it was in earlier films.
159	** The vampiric sexual attraction above made the genre Hotter and Sexier, but Creator/IngridPitt as a LesbianVampire and others in her wake brought this to a whole new level.
160	** Not to mention the victims getting [[MsFanservice more gorgeous]] than before at the turn of TheSeventies, played by the likes of Madeline Smith.
161	** ''The Horror of Frankenstein'' remade ''Film/TheCurseOfFrankenstein'' with a greater emphasis on the Baron's love life.
162	** Also the whole series of movies were HotterAndSexier than most of the Gothic Horror films that came before them.
163	* KensingtonGore
164	* TheKindnapper: ''Die! Die! My Darling!''
165	* LockedRoomMystery: ''The Snorkel'', though it has the slight variance in that the audience is shown in the opening sequence exactly how the murder is executed and disguised as a suicide (and who does it). Only one character, the victim's daughter, Candy, suspects what really happened, and the suspense comes from whether or not she'll be able to figure out the method before the killer targets her.
166	* MadScientist: Usually played straight, but deconstructed in ''The Evil of Frankenstein'', along with the idea that ScienceIsBad.
167	* MoodLighting: Why else would there be bright green electric light inside an ancient Egyptian tomb?
168	* MsFanservice:
169	** Yvonne Romain, who made Jessica Alba look like Wayne Knight.
170	** Creator/IngridPitt seemed to be Hammer's equivalent to Scarlett Johansson. She was an accomplished writer too but is best remembered for her sex symbol status.
171	** The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120602120856/http://www.horrorstars.net/hammer-hotties Hammer Hotties]] list at horrorstars.net names a full 79 candidates.
172	** Special mention must go to Raquel Welch; the image of her in a FurBikini from ''One Million Years B.C.'' is arguably more famous than Hammer Studios itself.
173	* NubileSavage: Found frequently in ''She,'' ''Vengeance of She,'' ''One Million Years B.C.'' ''Prehistoric Women,'' ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth,'' ''The Viking Queen,'' and ''Creatures the World Forgot.''
174	* OffTheShelfFX: The rubber bats used in films like ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' were sometimes bought in bulk from grocery stores.
175	* OneSteveLimit:
176	** ''Film/DraculaHasRisenFromTheGrave'', ''Film/TasteTheBloodOfDracula'', and ''Film/ScarsOfDracula'' all had major characters named Paul; supposedly, writer Anthony Hinds found this name easy to type.
177	** In both ''Film/DraculaPrinceOfDarkness'' and ''Film/ScarsOfDracula'', the titular vampire has a servant named Klove, [[spoiler:though these must be different men, as the one in ''Prince'' is definitely killed]]. Amusingly, the second, in ''Scars'', is played by [[Creator/PatrickTroughton the second]] [[Series/DoctorWho Doctor]].
178	* OnlySaneMan: Karl in ''Demons of the Mind'', quite possibly Hammer's strangest movie. Pretty much everyone else in the story is ''completely nuts''.
179	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The rules seemed to change in each film, even ones with the same character!
180	* PinballProtagonist: Richard in ''Lust for a Vampire'' occupies what would normally be the hero role, but he accomplishes ''nothing'' in the story except mooning after Mircalla.
181	* PluckyGirl:
182	** Candy in ''The Snorkel'', who resolves to prove the guilt of her mother's murderer.
183	** The Hammer heroines in general are as plucky as they are beautiful.
184	* PolarOppositeTwins: In ''Twins of Evil'', Maria (Mary Collinson) is kind and sweet-natured, while Freida (Madeleine Collinson) is mean and cares only about herself and her own pleasures.
185	* ThePowerOfBlood: Blood revives Dracula in several of the sequels.
186	* PyrrhicVictory: ''To the Devil... A Daughter'', the last film in Hammer's original period, actually did very well at the box office, but because all the profits went to the movie's German backers, Hammer was forced to close its doors shortly thereafter.
187	* RapeAsDrama: Anna by the Baron in ''Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed''. The scene was added after shooting was nearly complete and at the last minute by studio head Sir James Carreras, who thought the film was lacking in "sex". Peter Cushing deplored the inclusion of the scene and even apologized to Anna's actress Veronica Carlson.[[note]]Hardly surprising, given that Cushing's longtime friend and ''Film/TheSatanicRitesOfDracula'' co-star Joanna Lumley described him at his funeral as "the most gentle man I ever knew."[[/note]] The director, Terence Fisher, filmed the sequence under protest. Ironically, the scene comes across as horrific instead of titillating and ends up contributing strongly to theme of the Baron's moral descent in this film as well as the deterioration of Anna's mental state.
188	* RedEyesTakeWarning: When Dracula was really in bloodlust mode his eyes would get ''extremely'' bloodshot.
189	* ReligionOfEvil: ''To the Devil a Daughter''.
190	* ScreamingWoman: Too many to count. Hammer generally let the men handle all the action, which left the job of being terrified to the women.
191	* SequelEscalation: The Frankenstein and Dracula films became gorier and more sexually explicit over time.
192	* SexEqualsDeath: The more promiscuous a character is, the less likely he or she is to survive until the end credits.
193	* SexySoakedShirt: ''The Viking Queen'', made just before real nudity started to show up, has a scene where the title character, wearing a white top, falls in a lake.
194	* SmugSnake: Baron Frankenstein.
195	* StartsWithTheirFuneral: ''The Lost Continent''. It's not initially clear whose funeral, though.
196	* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Common in earlier Hammer films, such as ''Rasputin the Mad Monk,'' along with DressHitsFloor.
197	* TriadsAndTongs: ''The Terror of the Tongs.''
198	* {{Uberwald}} / {{Ruritania}}: Even when it was stated to be Transylvania, the setting was just Generic UsefulNotes/CentralEurope.
199	* UndeadBarefooter: Some female vampire brides and Queen Tera are barefoot.
200	* VillainProtagonist: The Baron in the ''Frankenstein'' series, though sometimes he crosses into AntiHero. Also Count Dracula.
201	* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: No matter what hot ass vampire chick Dracula already has under his thrall, there's always some other maiden he wants more.
202	* WhamLine: ''Scream of Fear.'' ([[spoiler: "Mrs. Appleby, surely you must know your stepdaughter Miss Penelope Appleby committed suicide three weeks ago in Switzerland."]])
203	* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: In ''Maniac'', [[spoiler: the main character helps his new girlfriend spring her husband from an insane asylum, and another man is killed in the process. Once he realizes his girlfriend is playing him, he helps the police get the goods on her. This apparently exonerates him for his earlier crimes, even though he was most decidedly ''not'' innocent of them.]]

Context Film / HammerHorror