Actor Jared Harris has hailed the re-launch of the Hammer Films brand of British movies a huge success, saying it should pave the way for the revival of Ealing comedies.
Harris, 52, plays a professor who refuses to believe in the paranormal in The Quiet Ones.
It is the latest movie — after Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe and Let Me In with Chloe Moretz — made under the Hammer Films name since it was sold to new owners in London in 2007.
The film, which premiered at the Odeon West End last night, tells the story of a professor who conducts an “experiment” with a team of university students on a young girl, played by 20-year-old Olivia Cooke, who is said to have unspeakable secrets. Sam Claflin, from The Hunger Games, co-stars.
Mad Men actor Harris said it was good to make a film with a British identity. “It’s a great thing these guys are doing. Hammer is a brand that people have an association with and a good one. It’s a great opportunity,” he said.
“The other brand that hasn’t been revived but should be is the old Ealing comedies. They weren’t naff romantic comedies, they were socially relevant and had a point.”
Ealing comedies, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and Passport to Pimlico, were named after the west London studios where they were made post-war.
Harris, the son of the award-winning Irish actor Richard Harris, revealed he loved being scared.
“But I don’t love horror movies that are gore fests,” he added.
“What is good about The Quiet Ones as a horror movie is that it makes you think.”
Simon Oakes, Hammer Films chief executive, said they had wanted to avoid the “torture porn route” . “But it’s got to be really scary,” he added.
The Quiet Ones is released on April 10.
