The Sound of HAMMER HORROR Comes To An End!!! James Bernard passes on...
Published at: July 18, 2001, 1:56 a.m. CST by staff
Hey folks, Harry here. God I hate writing these things, though I haven't had to write many for composers, thank God.
There was a sound to HAMMER HORROR as distinctive as the type of color and use of lighting. It was a full on equal to the team that was Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It was the heart of the cold chill that ran down the spine of those films. The cold chill was James Bernard...
Hammer Horror was the saving grace to the horror genre... the place that saved horror from being dismissed as just stupid creature of the month teen-parties. Hammer Horror had blood, sex and scares. Hammer Horror had James Bernard, and his scores were the themes of thrills and chills and the morning after.
In the same way that John Williams defines Spielberg musically... Bernard defined HAMMER. Strangely though, he didn't win awards for his breathtaking scores, he did however win an oscar for writing an amazing UK thriller called SEVEN DAYS TO NOON, which is next to impossible to actually see... but is well worth it when you do.
His music had brass resonating... pounding at you, screaming at the top of it's horned lungs... Sweeping violins, cascades of horror and panic. BIG BALLSY HORROR SCORES. Not these underscored pansy themes we get today. BUT big in your face, music. GOD I love listening to Bernard's music...
