The Unofficial Hammer Films website broke the news that Hammer Films is set to start filming its first feature-length movie since 1976's To the Devil a Daughter. Titled Beyond the Rave, the new film appears to be about vampires in the rave/clubbing subculture. Rick Warden ("Band of Brothers") has been cast in the role of vampire Strigoli. Cameras roll on September 15th. There are indications that the movie will be released as both a full-length film and also broken up into 20 segments for dissemination on the Internet and mobile phones.

Although the return of Hammer is good news, one wonders if it isn't just a return of the name. The company was bought out from Roy Skeggs (producer of The Satanic Rites of Dracula) in 2000 by a media consortium. It was bought out again this year by a different consortium headed by "Big Brother" creator John De Mol. At this point, none of the names involved in the original Hammer Films appear to be associated with the company. Until evidence of the continued Hammer legacy presents itself, Classic-Horror will be treating this new Hammer as a separate company from the classic Hammer in our database (much as we differentiate between the RKO that produced Val Lewton's films and the RKO that is a co-producing entity on the Cat People remake).