New Books from the U.K.

May 26, 2024 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged Anthony Hinds, Bray Studios, Hammer Films, Hammer Horror, Hammer Studios, James Carreras, Peveril Publishing, The House that Hammer Built, Unsung Horrors Has Risen from the Grave, Wayne Kinsey, We Belong Dead | Leave a comment

As a book collector, it is so tough to get books from across the pond because of the postage. But I still do it for a few of reasons. The titles I’m buying are more than worth it for the content. It also helps support the smaller publishers in continuing to put out such fantastic books. Oh yeah, and I’m a sucker when it comes to these kinds of titles!

The first one is the latest from the We Belong Dead people, Unsung Horrors Has Risen from the Grave. I have started contributing to some of their books, not in this latest volume though, but it’s not stopping me from adding it to the library. I mean, I already have the previous two titles in their Unsung Horrors series, so I obviously need this one as well! As usual, the authors have selected titles they feel need a little more love, which I’m always in agreement of. With so many movies coming out every year, there are plenty that seem to be left in the shadows that are more than worth your time. This volume covers titles like Curse of the Vampires, Evil of Dracula, The Redeemer, Lake Mungo, Curse of the Black Widow, Rogue, The Phantom Carriage, Splinter, and so much more.

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House that Hammer Built Coming Soon!

October 11, 2022 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged Anthony Hinds, Hammer Films, Hammer Horror, Hammer Studios, House that Hammer Built, James Carreras, Peveril Publishing, Wayne Kinsey | Leave a comment

That’s right folks, start gathering those pennies because the latest book coming from Peveril Publishing is coming soon! And as a fan of Hammer Studios, this is one you’re going to want for your library. The House that Hammer Built: The Complete Hinds/Carreras Years (1934-1979) Vol. 1: 1934-1949 will “hopefully” be on sale late November, according to Peveril boss Wayne Kinsey. The best way to be notified when it is ready is to subscribe to their website (just click HERE). But beware, these are not cheap and sell out fast. But every single edition I’ve bought from them has been well worth it. Not only are they incredibly well made and designed, but they are also filled to the brim with facts about one of our favorite film studios.

This series of books, which will be in 3 volumes, is Kinsey’s “definitive work on Hammer”. On the Peveril site, he states that he’ll be “taking a chronological look at all Hammer’s films (in production order) including all the early Exclusive pictures for the first time as well as Hammer’s many un-filmed projects. I’ll be amalgamating all my research from previous books with all new research and return to the oral history approach, so we can hear many of the stories from the mouths of those who worked at Hammer, many sadly no longer with us.”

If you love historical information about Hammer Studios and their films, this series is going to be a must for your library.

Horror History: James Carreras

August 16, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Hammer Films, James Carreras | Leave a comment

jamescarreras James Carreras
Born Jan. 30th 1910 – Died June 9th, 1990

James Carreras was the son of Enriqué Carreras, who along with William Hinds, would form the company that would later evolve into Hammer Films. First starting just as a distribution company, they figured instead of buying other films to distribute, they could make their own films and distribute them, cutting out the middle man. Then Hammer Films was born. James Carreras would be the head of that division until he retired.

The great thing about Carreras was that he knew little about the actual making of films. He left that up to the people who knew what they were doing. But he did how to sell the movies. In fact, he was known for selling a movie before a script was even written! They would come up with a title, create a poster, and sell the movie on that alone. Then it was up to the screenwriter to whip up a story and go from there. And it worked. A lot.

Carreras’ policy was about as simple as you could get: make films that are guaranteed to make a profit. In those days, with these smaller film companies, sometimes your financing on the next film would rest on how well your last one did at the box office. And this is something that Carreras seemed to excel at. He was always bringing in fresh female faces to appear in their newest films. Starting the trend that would become known as Hammer Glamour. Again, he knew what would sell.

He was the head of the company until 1971, when he gave control over to his son, Michael.