Children of the Full Moon

I don't think I will ever forget the first and only time I saw this mini horror movie. It was when I was 12 or 13 years old, and I was up late one night because I just couldn't sleep. I was watching the boob-tube around 1 or 2 in the morning, and I saw the start of this movie on TBS. I am not a big fan or horror movies, but for some reason I stuck around and watched it.

I remember the plot vividly. A young married couple are traveling through a remote part of England when their car stalls. They go in search of help in the woods, and find a mansion filled with children and a kindly old lady (maybe a little TOO kindly). They spend the night at the mansion, and learn that all of the parents of the children living their died mysteriously. One little girl even proceeds to tell about her own mother, who was just a beautiful as the visiting lady. Although the family living there is odd, the lost couple gives in to their agressive hospitality. During the night, a horrific event takes place and the young wife is raped by a werewolf.

The couple leaves the next day. The young wife ends up pregnant (due to the rape) and strangly drawn back to the house. She cannot stop talking about it, which drives a wedge between the woman and her husband. Eventually, near the end of the her pregnancy, the wife goes back to find the house. Her frustrated husband follows. The wife finds the house and is invited back in, and by some odd coicidence she goes into labor. Instead of calling the doctor, the kindly old woman offers to help deliver the baby. The young wife dies in childbirth, and the old woman remarks how the baby, a daughter, will make a fine addition to the family. The husband, meanwhile, gets close to the house and never gets in; a werewolf tracks him down and kills him. As it turns out, the children are wolves, too, and the parents are their prey. The new baby will be a wolf, too.

This movie is very unusual. First, the plot is pretty twisted. The movie iteself is also virtually unknown, as I cannot find any information about it on any other website besides distribution and limited cast information. I don't even remember the names of the characters, and I remember only a little about the old women (I have seen her act before) and the name Simon MacCorkindale, who is one if my favorite actors. I also remember the movie ending just as quickly as it began- it's only 60 minutes long, which is unusually short for a movie.

Overall, I liked the movie and I hope to see it again someday in the future now that I have more information about it. I have no idea why, but I never forgot it.

It was probably watching the Hammer House of Horror TV series as a kid in the 1980's that laid the foundations for my life long love affair for the genre. And this werewolf episode is one of the better ones. Yes, it's predictable and the make up is more old Universal than say The Howling or American Werewolf (which of course were made after this). But it is well acted, atmospheric, creepy and pretty shocking. Having children that are in fact monsters is always going to increase the scare factor. A nice little werewolf tale in well under an hour.

Tom Martin (Christopher Cazenove) and his wife Sarah (Celia Gregory) are taking a country drive when his car loses control.

Stranded in the middle of nowhere, they come across the country house where Mrs Ardoy (Diana Dors) is the over friendly housekeeper.

She invites them in to use the phone. With night encroaching she asks them to stay the night.

Also staying in the house are eight creepy children, they are fostered according to Mrs Ardoy. They have a taste for raw meat.

Sarah also develops a liking for raw meat after she was attacked by something in the middle of the night. While Tom ended up in hospital after he tried to clamber in from the outside and fell.

It is just now raw meat Sarah now like. She also now has a strong sexual appetite and a yearning to return to the country house.

Slightly sinister as the ever cheerful Mr Ardoy talks about her family's Hungarian roots. It is a werewolf story with a dark ending but I did thing it was flawed.

There was no reason to keep Tom alive after he fell. Even when Tom meets the the woodsman and his big chopper. You would think he would get the hell out of there.

While driving in a lonely road with his wife Sarah (Celia Gregory) for their honeymoon in the cottage of his partner, the just-married lawyer Tom (Christopher Cazenove) has mechanical troubles with his car almost losing control. He parks the car and decides to walk in the woods with Sarah trying to find a telephone. They arrive in an isolated mansion and are welcomed by the bizarre Hungarian owner Mrs. Ardoy (Diana Dors), who lives with two dogs and eight foster children. Sarah and Tom are lodged to spend the night, when weird events happen. On the next morning, Tom is in a hospital recovering from a car wreck with Sarah and concludes that he had dreamed. When they return to their daily life, a pregnant Sarah has an intense sexual appetite and cooks only meat, while Tom is intrigued with his dream.

This episode of "Hammer House of Horror" has a promising premise, but in the end limits to be predictable and flawed. The first scene, with the blonde little girl in the woods with the dogs, discloses the secret of the plot. Tom has an inconsistent behavior, afraid while escaping from the beast, and climbing the window to investigate the surrounding area. Further, he initiates a discussion unarmed about werewolf with an odd woodsman with an ax in his hands. Anyway, this werewolf tale entertains. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa do Terror 3: Filhos da Lua Cheia" ("The Houses of Terror 3: Sons and Daughters of the Full Moon")

Note: On 04 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.

Newlyweds Tom and Sarah set off for a small break in the country, their car spins out of control, and they end up seeking help in a nearby House, owned by the strange Mrs Ardoy.

Love it or hate it, Children of The Full Moon is without a doubt one of the more memorable episodes, it is loaded with atmosphere, it's decidedly eerie, but it doesn't take itself too seriously.

The game changer, the element that made this one a little different, for me, was the children, they're all so well presented and innocent looking, they somehow manage to unnerve.

One gripe, it's get another out of control car, it seems almost every other episode features a car that's gone out of control.

The makeup is a little on the raw side, so don't expect any kind of special effects, all I'd say is that the makeup team did a fine job with the resources they had to hand.

Hammer did Cannibalism, voodoo, and possessed children, as well as several other expected themes, it was kind of obvious that there'd be a werewolf theme, but it works well.

Christopher Cazenove and Celia Gregory are very good here, Diana Dors stole the show for me as Mrs Ardoy, what a glorious actress she was.

Thoroughly enjoyable, 8/10.