Doors to Hammer's House of Horrors Set to Re-Open

I grew up on Hammer horror films, especially the great Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing dust-ups that marked their signaure series of Dracula flicks. Each Saturday afternoon I'd settle in for Doctor Shock's Creature Double Feature and cheer as the fearless vampire hunters tracked down the evil Count, one more time.

Years later I even discovered the studio's Frankenstein cycle, a fascinating and influential take on the life-after-death plotline that I somehow skipped when I was a kid. And film fests and horror cons turned me on to such one-shot classics as CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER.

But by the time the slasher movement took over, Hammer's low-key, genteel approach to horror seemed antiquated and the studio faded into the background. Fast forward to 2007 and it looks like The Studio That Dripped Blood will be scaring the pants off horror fans once again.

A Dutch consortium led by the creator of the popular Big Brother reality series has purchased the company and its back library of more than 250 films. Plans include new films – I'm sure we can count on remakes of some of their classic titles – as well as offering existing content on new media.