Hammer House of Horror

Could you believe that after so long, the Hammer Company could come back and release a show that had as much quality content as the original Twilight Zone? For those who have not seen this, the closest that I can come to describing this gems is to compare to the 1 hour episodes that Rod Serling put out. Even that doesn't do them justice.

There are thirteen episodes in all. The cover lists Peter Cushing, Denholm Eliot, and Pierce Brosnan, but there are stand-out performances by many more in each episode. Jon Finch (Hitchcock's Frenzy) starts off as director editing his film at home when a fierce storm draws near... From the first minute of the first episode, it is apparent that this series was something special. Good direction, tight casting, and fast paced stories are the norm. This is not to say that all will interest, and some have common themes to other episodes, but all are enjoyable. Picture a standard film, and cut out a half an hour of the excess, and you've got these.

Certainly worth the investment, these episodes can be collected in one box set, which is quite well done by A+E. Werewolves, demons, witches, voodoo dolls, and for good measure a demented Nazi can all be found within. Horror fans, and those who miss good television, should take a look at Hammer. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

Hammer House Of Horror, with its Spinal Tap's 'Stonehenge' soundalike theme tune, casts of soon-to-be-famous actors and commendably nasty flair for nihilism and genuine nastiness slithered onto British television (on Saturday nights, too!) in 1980 and carved indelible scars in the collective subconscious of an entire generation. Sure, not all the episodes were up to the same standard, but the ones that worked - well, they were classics.

THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH is one of the most memorable episodes, and rightly so. I think this would have made a decent feature-length film. An apparently unsuspecting family moves into a house with a grim recent past and quickly realize that all is not as it should be. A series of horrible incidents (animal lovers should not even consider watching this episode) culminate in the notorious blood-soaked birthday party and the family moves away, but even that isn't the end of their problems. This episode has one of the most shocking and disturbing final scenes of the whole series and would make a nice companion piece to Romano Scavolini's NIGHTMARE (1981), released the following year. SILENT SCREAM is another excellent series entry, with Peter Cushing at his creepy best as a seemingly innocuous pet shop owner who turns out to be a former concentration camp guard with a penchant for unpleasant experiments involving "prisons without walls". The finale is extremely creepy and haunted my dreams for a long time when I was a child. THE TWO FACES OF EVIL goes all out to disturb, with creepy electronic music, claustrophobic camera angles, dopplegangers, nausea-inducing shocks and another troubling ending. It's the closest the series comes to straight horror for its own sake, and should NOT be watched alone!

After the excellent opening salvo of three brilliant episodes, the rest of the series can seem like a disappointment, but CHARLIE BOY, WITCHING HOUR, GROWING PAINS, THE MARK OF Satan and VISITOR FROM THE GRAVE are all fine stories (the latter boasting a completely wacko final scene that will have you muttering "what the hell was THAT?!"), RUDE AWAKENING is as bizarre as anything the late Dennis Potter ever came up with, THE CARPATHIAN EAGLE boasts the gorgeous Suzanne Danielle, THE THIRTEENTH REUNION is well-acted and macabre if a little predictable, and the remaining few episodes don't quite come off. Nonetheless, it's a pleasingly varied series that's consistently entertaining, and a reminder of a time when television treated adults like adults and had yet to dumb down to the levels of dreck like Freddy's Nightmares.

Hammer House Of Horrors DVD collection is the ultimate collectible when it comes to horror DVD's. I have almost 200 horror films in my collection, and I must say Hammer House Of Horrors is amongst the top 5 in the horror category.

Anyway, Hammer House Of Horrors is one series of films that one can't grow tired of. The episodes are well thought out and executed. The best of all is episode VII – "the silent scream." The episode is everything horror should be, surprise, fright, and regret. I strongly suggest seeing this series of DVD's with an emphasis on episode VII – "the silent scream.

Enjoy!

You could argue that by 1980 Hammer's best years were well and truly in the past, but they had one final hurrah with this series, thirteen episodes of witches, demons, werewolves and possessed children.

It's Hammer, so expect to see blood, gore, nudity and of course Peter Cushing. There are actually several very macabre moments to enjoy.

If you're a fan of the Hammer films, or shows like Thriller, Armchair Thriller and Tales of the Unexpectedly, then this show will definitely appeal to you.

It's a generally very well produced series, it certainly looks good, there are some great props and make up, and some of the camera angles are hugely imaginative.

My only gripe with this show, is that it ran for just one series, overall it's an excellent series, but with so many highlights in the series, surely it had a lot of mileage left.

Everyone seems to remember one scene in particular, the party scene from The House that dripped blood, it's certainly a memorable moment.

There are plenty of great episodes, The Silent Scream is a definite fan favourite, and a personal favourite, but the likes of Charlie Boy and The Thirteenth reunion are very good also.

I wouldn't say any episodes are out and out clunkers, but I would say that Visitor from The Grave and Growing Pains are some of the less successful offerings.

Expect to see some incredibly well known faces, look out for Denholm Elliott, Anthony Valentine, Patricia Quinn, Brian Cox and many more.

8/10.

Last week, the Brazilian distributor London Films released a DVD with three episodes of "Hammer House of Horror".

1) "Witching Time":

This movie is independently listed in IMDb:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090328/usercomments-3

2) "The Thirteenth Reunion"

Ruth, the reporter of the women page of a magazine, is assigned by her editor to participate of a ten weeks course of a new weight organization called "Think Thin". In accordance with the letter of a reader, the system would be very masochist and depressive, destructing the self-esteem of the patient. Ruth makes a friend in the course, and he dies in a car crash. In the funeral, an employee of the funeral house discloses weird events that are happening in his job. In her investigation, Ruth finds dark and macabre secrets.

Although being predictable in a certain moment, I liked very much this short story of "Hammer House of Horror". This film is very well played and directed, has many outdoors scenes, very unusual in Hammer's movies, and is very dark. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A 13a Reunião"("The Thirteenth Reunion")

3) "Rude Awakening"

The real state agent Norman hates his old wife and wants to divorce her to marry his secretary Lolly. When a new client wants to sell an old and isolated mansion, Norman begins to have odd nightmares, and he becomes confused between reality and dream. When Norman awakes, a surprise waits for him.

This intriguing episode has a deceptive conclusion, but anyway I liked it. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Despertar Repentino" ("Sudden Awakening")

My vote for the DVD is seven.

Title of DVD (Brazil): "A Casa do Terror" ("The House of the Terror")