Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema

From The Curse of Frankenstein to The Horror of Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera to The Mummy, and The Curse of the Werewolf to The Devil Rides Out, Terence Fisher was Hammer's acclaimed Gothic specialist, and is celebrated across the globe for directing many of the greatest horror movies of all time.

Fisher began his career in 1933 as 'the oldest clapper boy in the business, ' aged 29, and went on to become an editor on a variety of classic British features. In 1948 he directed his first picture for Rank and then found that he was more comfortable directing for independent companies, where he worked on films in a variety of genres. During this period Terry honed his skills so that when Hammer offered him his first job as director, The Last Page (1952), he had already established a style and a reputation. However, it wasn't until Hammer allowed him the chance to direct The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, that he discovered his true forte in horror and with it - and a host of other classic films that followed - Fisher indelibly stamped his unique talents on the horror film genre that continues, in large part because of Terry's Hammer classics, to be so influential and popular today.

TERENCE FISHER: Master of Gothic Cinema is the result of five years of research and writing by renowned author Tony Dalton, a long-time friend of Terence Fisher and his family. This fully authorised biography includes an introduction written by Fisher's daughter Micky Harding.


About the Author
Dalton, Tony: - "Tony Dalton worked in the film and television industry from 1969 to 2015. He started at the British Film Institute and then was film programmer at The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, London. In 1977 he became the publicity officer for Leslie Halliwell at Granada Television following which he went into film research working on documentaries and feature film projects for Granada. In 1992 he became a freelance film researcher working for various independents production companies and the BBC. He has worked for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) during which he worked on various film tributes. In 2002 he published AN ANIMATED LIFE about friend and special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen, after which he published four more books about Harryhausen - THE ART OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN (2005), A CENTURY OF MODEL ANIMATION (2008), RAY HARRYHAUSEN - A LIFE IN PICTURES (2010) and RAY HARRYHAUSEN'S FANTASY SCRAPBOOK (2011). In 2013 he wrote FREDDIE FRANCIS - THE STRAIGHT STORY FROM MOBY DICK TO GLORY about cinematographer and director Freddie Francis. His latest book is about friend and director Terence Fisher called TERENCE FISHER MASTER OF GOTHIC CINEMA (2021)."