Terence Fisher

Terence Fisher 23 February 1904 18 June 1980 was a film director who worked for Hammer Films He was born in Maida Vale a district of London England Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films while mild by modern standards were unprecedented in his day His first major gothic horror film was The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 which launched Hammers long association with the genre and made British actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee leading horror stars of the era He went on to film a number of adaptations of classic horror subjects including Dracula 1958 The Hound of the Baskervilles 1959 and The Mummy 1959 Given their subject matter and lurid approach Fishers films though commercially successful were largely dismissed by critics during his career It is only in recent years that Fisher has become recognised as an auteur in his own right His films are characterised by a blend of fairytale myth and sexuality They draw heavily on Christian themes and there is usually a hero who defeats the powers of darkness by a combination of faith in God and reason in contrast to other characters who are either blindly superstitious or bound by a cold godless rationalism Description above adapted from the Wikipedia article Terence Fisher licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia