News

Hammer Films has announced a new Limited Collector’s Edition release of Blood Orange on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray arriving on 11 August 2025. First issued in 1953, this sharp-edged crime thriller predates Hammer’s more familiar horror fare and marks one of director Terence Fisher’s earliest forays into suspenseful storytelling. The film has been meticulously restored from the original negatives and presented in vivid 4K for the first time.

The release is housed in a beautifully designed slipcase featuring brand-new artwork and includes both a 4K Ultra HD disc and a Blu-ray. Among the extensive bonus materials is an exclusive interview with filmmaker Alice Lowe, whose credits include Prevenge and Timestalker. Cinema enthusiasts will also find two fresh audio commentaries: one pairing cult film critic Kim Newman with Barry Forshaw, author of Brit Noir and The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, and another with film historian Lucy Bolton and critic Phuong Le.

Welcome to the Hammer Factory. This month we dissect The Mummy’s Shroud (1967).

While Hammer Studios has been in business since 1934, it was between 1955 and 1979 that it towered as one of the premier sources of edgy, gothic horror. On top of ushering the famous monsters of Universal’s horror heyday back into the public eye, resurrecting the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy in vivid color, the studio invited performers like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt and so many more to step into the genre limelight. Spanning a library housing over 300 films, Hammer Studios is a key part of horror history that until recently has been far too difficult to track down.

In late 2018, Shout Factory’s Scream Factory line began to focus on bringing Hammer’s titles to disc in the US, finally making many of the studio’s underseen gems available in packages that offered great visuals...

Veronica Carlson, the British actress and Hammer Horror Films star of such 1960s favorites as Dracula Has Risen from the Grave and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, died Feb. 27 of natural causes at her home in Bluffton, South Carolina. She was 77.

Her death was announced on her official Facebook page and by Hammer Horror Films. “A true Hammer legend and we loved her,” Hammer tweeted.

Born in Yorkshire, England, Carlson was a model when she began her acting career with uncredited or small roles in several 1967 films including Casino Royale. When producer and Hammer Films co-founder James Carreras saw a newspaper photo of Carlson wearing a bikini, he offered her the role opposite Christopher Lee in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). Her performance as the vampire’s intended victim was the first of her trio of popular Hammer movies, and was followed in 1969 by Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed starring Peter Cushing...

This week saw the release of a new book that details the life and career of horror legend, Peter Cushing. Titled, Peter Cushing: A Life in Film, we have an exclusive excerpt that talks about The Curse of Frankenstein, and multiple photos from the book:

“Peter Cushing was an unforgettable presence in cult cinema of the fifties, sixties and seventies, and remains one of Britain’s best-loved film stars. Cushing made a huge impact in the groundbreaking television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and went on to find international fame as Baron Frankenstein and Doctor Van Helsing in the most acclaimed films from the Hammer house of horror. During his lengthy career, Cushing also played Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes and Grand Moff Tarkin, the villain of the original Star Wars.

Author David Miller has written a definitive guide to the stage and screen career of a legendary star, drawing upon...