House of Hammer

The House of Hammer was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn, almost every issue of the magazine featured a comics adaptations of a Hammer film, as well as an original comics backup story, such as the long-running feature Van Helsing's Terror Tales.

Contributors to the magazine included some of the UK's top comics talents, such as Steve Moore, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Trevor Goring, David Lloyd, John Stokes, and Brian Lewis. Lewis painted most of the covers, usually featuring the Hammer film being adapted in comics form in the interior pages. Regular columns by Denis Gifford and Ramsey Campbell were also part of the mix.

Known colloquially as "HoH", the magazine endured a few name changes, becoming Hammer's House of Horror, then Hammer's Halls of Horror, and then simply Halls of Horror. (Adding to the confusion, the U.S. edition of the magazine was originally known as House of Horror.) HoH was published from 1976 to 1978, went on hiatus for more than three years, and then returned from 1982 to 1984. Originally published by Williams Publishing (formerly known as Thorpe & Porter), the British publishing arm of Warner Communications, the magazine was later produced by Skinn's own company, Quality Communications. It published 30 issues in all.

In assessing HoH, media historian David J. Howe notes that:

The format that Dez instigated: reviews, photographs, features and news on all aspects of the genre (covering films, television, magazines, books and fan-related happenings) is still with us today. . . . House of Hammer was one of the best magazines of its time, and is fondly remembered by all who bought it. It had a style and a look all of its own, and the combination of Brian Lewis' covers and John Bolton's comic adaptations made it an essential collector's item for all fans of fantasy artwork.

Before coming to Williams Publishing, Skinn had been an editor at IPC Magazines, where in 1975 he created and edited a horror/science fiction-themed magazine called The Buster Book of Spooky Stories (which Skinn had originally wanted to call "Chiller" and which only lasted two issues).

When Skinn moved to Williams in 1976, one of the other publications Skinn oversaw was the fold-out poster magazine Monster Mag. Frustrated by the lack of editorial pages in that publication, Skinn revived his Chiller idea with the new company. Realizing, however, that the Columbia-Warner House building where he worked was down the street from the Hammer Film Productions offices, he decided to make his new magazine tie in with Hammer films. Hammer's script editor, Christopher Wicking, was a comics fan familiar with Skinn's work, and through Wicking and other connections, a licensing deal was made and The House of Hammer was born.

The House of Hammer debuted as a monthly in October 1976, published by Top Sellers Ltd, a Thorpe & Porter imprint. The magazine was distributed nationally in the United Kingdom through newsagent's shops.