JEFFREY COMBS
JIMMY SANGSTER
"Jimmy Sangster is a screenwriter and director mainly known for his scripts for Hammer Studios. Sangster began his career in the film industry in 1949 as a production assistant. He soon was serving other duties such as assistant & second unit director and production co-ordinator. At a brainstorming session for an upcoming film,
X...the Unknown, Hammer exec Anthony Hinds noticed that Sangster was contributing most of the ideas. Hinds suggested Sangster be writer of the script. "I'm not a writer- I'm a production manager," Sangster protested. "Write it. If we like it, we'll pay you," was Hinds' reply. This was the beginning of a great chapter in horror film history.
Soon Sangster was writing scripts full-time for Hammer. The next big assignment called for a new version of the
Frankenstein story. They had a script that had undergone numerous rewrites but nobody was satisfied with it. The studio liked Sangster's script but the British Board of Film Classification did not. They made this comment:
"We are concerned about the flavour of this script, which, in its preoccupation with horror and gruesome detail, goes far beyond what we are accustomed to allow even for the 'X' category. I am afraid we can give no assurance that we should be able to pass a film based on the present script..."
A decision was made to film the script as it was, anyway.
The Curse of Frankenstein was a revolution in horror filmmaking. It was the first film to show copious amounts of technicolor blood. The realism of the gory experiments was shocking to the audiences. but they loved it. The film was a success, but the next film,
Dracula (
Horror of Dracula in the USA) broke even more taboos and more records. Here's what the BBFC had to say about Sangster's script this time:
"The uncouth, uneducated, disgusting and vulgar style of Mr Jimmy Sangster cannot quite obscure the remnants of a good horror story, though they do give one the gravest misgivings about treatment..."
Horror of Dracula broke box office records in Britain, USA, Canada and worldwide. Hammer now had a successful formula- a Sangster script, direction by Terence Fisher and stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and plenty of blood and sex. Sequels to the
Frankenstein and
Dracula films followed, as well as a
Mummy series and
Phantom of the Opera. Sangster wasn't just a monster creator though. After seeing
Psycho he was so impressed he wanted to try his hand at a more psychlogical story. He proved to be as adept at this type of film, providing scripts for
Taste of Fear, Maniac, Paranoiac, Nightmare, and
Hysteria. Sangster has always said these were his favorite types of stories to tell.
Altogether Sangster has had sixy-seven scripts filmed, including
The Nanny and
The Anniversary, both starring Bette Davis. He has also directed three films-
Fear in the Night, Lust for a Vampire and
The Horror of Frankenstein. His "Gothics," as he refers to them, revitalised horror film industry worldwide. They are the bridge between the classic horror era and the modern era. Quite an accomplishment for someone who never had any training as a writer and never thought he would be one. Jimmy Sangster remains one of the few true icons of the genre." -
NeverEnding
JOHN CARPENTER
JOHN CARRADINE
JOHN SAXON
