This is one of the best reference books about hammer films that I have read. It has biographical and filmographical information on every actress that has worked for hammer. It also has a bibliography of almost every movie hammer made. If you are a horror movie fan it is definately worth tracking down. ( )

A good reference book that lists the women, along with biographical entries, who have started in Hammer Horror films from the 1950's until present day. While the entries tend to be a bit lopsided (some entries are single names with dates, while others list longer biographical entries), this is a useful and fun book for those who are only being introduced to Hammer films and others who have seen the majority of the films in this collection. ( )

As its subtitle implies, The Women of Hammer Horror is an alphabetical listing of actresses featured in horror films produced by Hammer Films. Each actress is meant to receive a short biography and filmographies (one listing work within the Hammer family and another listing outside films in similar genres) . Unfortunately, many of the actresses listed do not have much, if any, biographical information included. (Some receive a single line of film credits.) Most actresses, however, get at least a paragraph or two of discussion.

My biggest disappointment with this book is in the photographs. There should be more. They should be bigger. They should be in color. The exterior of the book, with a full color photo of Valerie Leon, is lovely.

I don't imagine I'll be referring to this very often, but it will probably come in handy when a name or film title is on the tip of my tongue or to find some campy entertainment for a rainy day. It's also loads of fun to randomly sift through. ( )

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Until I read The Women of Hammer Horror I didn't realize just how few Hammer films I'd watched.

Cotter aimed for a comprehensive encyclopedia, and he succeeded as far as a list of every actress who worked on Hammer films. However, he dropped the ball when it came to complete entries for every actress.

Actresses were listed in alphabetical order by last name followed by their Hammer filmography. Other information - birth, death, real name, birthplace, biography, and other films in the horror genre - was inconsistent. For the well-known actresses, like Ingrid Pitt, the entry was overflowing with details. For others, just a name. I wonder, why even include, for example, Anne Scott (Girl in The Terror of the Tongs, 1961), if he could not provide anything other than her name and the one Hammer film she was in? At the very least, every entry should include birth-death and a photo in addition to her Hammer filmography.

Other than the thorough list of actresses, the best element of this book was the "Hammer Film Credits," which lists all Hammer films as of 2013.

The biggest disappointment, for me, was the lack of color photos. Every photo in the book was black and white.

The Women of Hammer Horror could definitely improve itself in future editions by including more information about every actress and a photo for every actress. ( )

Being a fan of Christopher Lee, and having seen a smidgeon of his Hammer Dracula movies, I figured I would enjoy The Women of Hammer Horror by Robert Michael “Bobb” Cotter (McFarland Publishing), but what I didn’t realize was just how many Hammer films I haven’t seen.

The book is arranged as biographical entries in alphabetical order, and Cotter went as deep as he could, including nearly every female who ever appeared on screen for Hammer, whether as the star or just some bit part that no one except her mother would remember. Obviously for the smaller roles there wasn’t much to say, but for the more familiar and famous actresses, Cotter does a nice job with their entries, often revealing what they are doing now and what affect they had on the studio and its films.

Scattered throughout are plenty of pictures, and it is packaged in a nice hardback with a shiny cover of a publicity still of Valerie Leon from the movie Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb. If you have an interest in Hammer films and feel a bit nostalgic for those late night horror films from your childhood, this is the trip down memory lane you’ve probably been looking for. ( )