Martin Scorsese discusses his love for Hammer horror movies
The great Martin Scorsese was part of the ‘Movie Brats’, a group of directors who rose to popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s with an invigorating approach to cinema that incorporated styles from across the world. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Brian de Palma, Scorsese brought a love for Western cinema, British horror, and Asian action films to the fold.
Although his love of the horror genre can’t really be seen in his early feature films Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, there are certainly elements of terror in both of these iconic flicks, with the director undoubtedly bringing his love of gore and cinematic tension to the forefront. With that being said, his 1967 short The Big Shave certainly takes inspiration from the visceral violence of horror flicks such as the British Hammer company.
Known as one of the oldest film companies in the world, Hammer defined the early horror genre, creating such classics as The Devil Rides Out, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy and The Curse of Frankenstein. Founded in 1934, although the company was known for its horror flicks, only a third of its projects were made in the genre; even still, fans and filmmakers know Hammer for its iconic fright-fests.
Scorsese was one of many directors inspired by Hammer horror and even recalled seeing such movies with his friends in an old 1987 interview.
“I was in my early teens or about 11 or 12 years old when I went with groups of friends to go see certain films,” the director began, “If we saw the logo of Hammer films, we knew that it was a very special picture and a certain kind of film. A surprising experience usually, and shocking, it seemed that when we saw The Curse of Frankenstein, there was a graphic quality to it that was totally uncalled for, which made it extremely endearing to us, we enjoyed it a great deal”.
Although the Hammer production company is better known for its classic horror movies, they have made a contemporary resurrection, helming such beloved recent hits as 2010’s Let Me In with Chloë Grace Moretz and 2012’s The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe.
Continuing in his praise of Hammer, Scorsese adds: “I’ll never forget the audience’s reaction that midnight…we were about 15 years old, I think, my friends myself, and then the better of the two, the film that I really felt went further was the Horror of Dracula. There’s nothing like the introduction of Dracula in that picture where he simply walks down the stairs and walks over to Jonathan Harker and says, ‘Hello, I’m Dracula’”.
Take a look at Scorsese discussing Hammer horror in full below.
