Hammer Films Boss John Gore on Resurrecting the British Horror Icon, Plans to Remake the Classics and Why Christopher Lee Was the ‘Greatest Dracula’

Hammer's 4K restoration of its 1958 classic 'Dracula' premieres this week in London, but Gore — who acquired the company in 2023 — is now looking to revisit its library of monsters with new productions

By Alex Ritman

Alex Ritman

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In the credits for the “Paranormal Activity” stage play currently running on the West End before it heads off to Broadway next year, next to Blumhouse, which produced the original hit film franchise, sits the name of one of cinema’s most historic and iconic horror brands: Hammer.

The British production company, founded in 1934, is famed for its Gothic reinventions of monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy starring horror titans such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Most of these movies released in the late 1950s, 60s and early 70s, influencing generations of noted filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton and John Carpenter, to name just a few. Yet it had nothing to do with “Paranormal Activity.”

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