The decision by Hammer Films to start producing first science fiction / horror hybrids, then pure gothic horror had an enormous effect on the British horror film. What had once been a scattered collection of individual films, often merely hinting at the supernatural and coyly skirting around the fringes of horror, suddenly had a focus and was now more than willing to fully embrace gothic mayhem in all its Technicolor glory.

The successes of the Hammer Draculas, Frankensteins and other horrors sounded a rallying call for like-minded entrepreneurs, and soon Hammer's virtual monopoly on British horror was being challenged by the likes of Amicus, Tyburn, Compton and Tigon as British horror diversified and headed into strange new territories. Hammer in particular did well overseas, particularly in the States and Japan, and the company were rewarded with a Queens' Award for their work.

The late 50s and 1960s produced a slew of British horror stars, chief among being the Twin Titans of Terror, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee whose work for Hammer, Amicus and the many independents that were starting to spring up are among the very best that British horror has to offer - indeed Dracula (1958), their finest pairing, is one of the very best genre movies produced anywhere at any time. The proliferation of low budget movies gave many a struggling young actor the break they needed and soon a small repertory company of familiar faces were turning up time and time again in British genre movies - Michael Ripper, Ingrid Pitt, Donald Pleasance, Michael Gough and many others turned up time and again.

Directors too were starting to specialise in the genre, chief among them the much-loved Terence Fisher who did so much to shape the look of the Hammer gothics. Other Hammer alumni included Freddie Francis, Peter Sasdy and Roy Ward Baker, while among the independent sector Robert Hartford-Davis, Peter Collinson and Gordon Hessler were among the many names emerging as offbeat talents.

Going into the 1970s, British horror looked healthy - the House of Hammer may have passed its creative peak and be on its way to finally collapsing, but a new batch of independents - chief among them Pete Walker and Norman J. Warren - were waiting in the wings to nudge British horror along, adding even more sex and violence than Hammer could imagine. But by the middle of the decade, times were getting hard for British film-makers of any genre and, as the money dried up and the economy collapsed, the independent sector shriveled and died. By the end of the decade, the great production companies were gone and many of the directors were either dead, retired or working in semi-anonymity in television.

The small screen provided many of the best examples of filmed horror, particularly in the BBC's much-loved series A Ghost Story For Christmas (1971 - 1978), but also in the likes of The Stone Tape (1972) and Beasts (1976) (both by Nigel Kneale) and others. Doctor Who (1963 - 1989) got into hot water when it ventured into gothic territory, but produced some of its best stories while working in the genre - Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius and the wonderful The Talons of Weng Chiang among them.

In the 1980s, the home video market seemed to offer a new outlet for low budget film-makers, but the backlash against violent horror on video that lead to the "video nasties" debacle did little to encourage a revival in fortunes. The availability of increasing cheap and sophisticated video camera equipment kick-started a thriving community of enthusiastic amateurs who were able to get their films seen by a much wider audience than the previous generation of Super 8mm film-makers thanks to the miracle of tape-to-tape copying.

The professionals, though, were finding it hard and British film production slumped. What few feature length films were being made soon ended up gathering dust on video rental shelves up propping up the bottoms of bargain bins in retail outlets.

The story remained pretty much the same throughout the 1990s, but towards the end of the decade several things happened at once to give British a horror a shot in the arm. The British film industry in general was enjoying a revival, thanks to the international successes of films like Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Billy Elliot (2000) and others. The industry seemed more confidant and buoyant and, coupled with the arrival of professional quality video equipment at a reasonable price, an upturn in the economy and the sheer number of professionals looking for work, British horror and other low budget genres suddenly became popular again.

As the millennium turned, British horror seemed to be on the cusp of a rebirth - films like Dog Soldiers (2002), Deathwatch (2002), My Little Eye (2002) and particularly Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later... (2002) all appeared within 18 months of each other and the latter was a success in the States. It paved the way for other fine movies, particularly Edgar Wright's riotous Shaun of the Dead (2004) though changes in the tax laws governing film production in early 2004 caused some concern and may yet affect future investment.

Whether British horror really is going through a renaissance remains to be seen, but the fact that British film-makers are still willing to give the genre a try is cause for some celebration. The glory days of Hammer in the 1960s may be a very long way away now, but while genre films of quality are still being made in the UK, British horror is far from dead.
KEVIN LYONS

Part One: The Pre-Hammer Years