Our movie podcast recommendation of the week? It’s one devoted to the work of British horror studio Hammer – Hammer House Of Podcast.
When you think of classic horror filmmaking, chances are one name will spring to mind: Hammer. The iconic British horror studio responsible for some of the most groundbreaking and terrifying horror films in cinematic history; making household names out of not only Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but giving us the definitive cinematic versions of the characters they played.
Hammer House of Podcast, hosted by Paul Cornell and Lizbeth Myles, discusses every Hammer horror film made between 1955 and 1976. Starting with The Quatermass Xperiment through to To The Devil… A Daughter, which takes the podcast through to January 2024, according to the schedule on their website.
On the 13th of every month, you’ll find a new episode from Hammer House of Podcast which, according to Liz, came about after a small disagreement at the bar of a convention over Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Both Paul (a Hugo Award-winner) and Liz (a double Hugo Award-nominee) have extensive history in and around podcasting, and so decided to create a podcast purely dedicated to the continued discussion of Hammer Film Productions, a studio that’s mostly associated with horror, but also dabbled in other genres too. Ultimately, Lee’s Dracula and Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein made the studio a staple of British cinema.
It would be really easy for a podcast on Hammer to just purely focus on the works of Cushing and Lee, and while these are the most well-known Hammer characters, and icons of cinematic history, Paul and Liz discuss all movies released during this period, including the not-so-great and less well-known ones. Their clever and witty presenting style means that you don’t need to have watched the movie to listen and enjoy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
Whether you grew up watching Hammer horror or not, Hammer House of Podcast remains an excellent all-round podcast for any fan of horror or British cinema, mostly because Paul and Liz are clearly so passionate about Hammer, and their infectious enthusiasm is a genuine tonic. The recommended episode is a great example; listening will make you want to hunt out The Witches (1966), because they could not endorse it more.
Obviously, the story of Hammer continues, with modern horror fables such as The Woman In Black and Wake Wood. The story of Hammer House of Podcast may be due to end in 2024, but there’s every possibility, just like Hammer’s famous characters, that the legacy will continue.
If Dracula were here, he’d no doubt welcome you to his Hammer House of Podcast, apologise for not greeting you personally but trust you found everything you needed…
Recommended episode: Episode 38 – (13 April 2021) – The Witches (1966) – https://hammerhouseofpodcast.wordpress.com/2021/04/13/episode-38-the-witches/
Hammer House of Podcast can be found at https://hammerhouseofpodcast.wordpress.com/
And followed at:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/HammerHousePod
All episodes of Hammer House of Podcast are available and can be listened to or downloaded from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from.
Are you a British movie podcast who would like to be featured on Film Stories? We welcome all suggestions and requests, but we especially want to hear from you if you’re female, POC, non-binary, LGBTQIA+ or have a disability. Email Em – verbaldiorama at gmail co uk (Just remove the spaces and add the ‘@’ and the dots, but don’t send spam. She’s vegetarian.)
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