Robert Michael Cotter (1)

As its subtitle implies, The Women of Hammer Horror is an alphabetical listing of actresses featured in horror films produced by Hammer Films. Each actress is meant to receive a short biography and filmographies (one listing work within the Hammer family and another listing outside films in similar genres) . Unfortunately, many of the actresses listed do not have much, if any, biographical information included. (Some receive a single line of film credits.) Most actresses, however, get at least a paragraph or two of discussion.

My biggest disappointment with this book is in the photographs. There should be more. They should be bigger. They should be in color. The exterior of the book, with a full color photo of Valerie Leon, is lovely.

I don't imagine I'll be referring to this very often, but it will probably come in handy when a name or film title is on the tip of my tongue or to find some campy entertainment for a rainy day. It's also loads of fun to randomly sift through.… (mais)

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Until I read The Women of Hammer Horror I didn't realize just how few Hammer films I'd watched.

Cotter aimed for a comprehensive encyclopedia, and he succeeded as far as a list of every actress who worked on Hammer films. However, he dropped the ball when it came to complete entries for every actress.

Actresses were listed in alphabetical order by last name followed by their Hammer filmography. Other information - birth, death, real name, birthplace, biography, and other films in the horror genre - was inconsistent. For the well-known actresses, like Ingrid Pitt, the entry was overflowing with details. For others, just a name. I wonder, why even include, for example, Anne Scott (Girl in The Terror of the Tongs, 1961), if he could not provide anything other than her name and the one Hammer film she was in? At the very least, every entry should include birth-death and a photo in addition to her Hammer filmography.

Other than the thorough list of actresses, the best element of this book was the "Hammer Film Credits," which lists all Hammer films as of 2013.

The biggest disappointment, for me, was the lack of color photos. Every photo in the book was black and white.

The Women of Hammer Horror could definitely improve itself in future editions by including more information about every actress and a photo for every actress.… (mais)