Children of the Full Moon

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.

The eighth episode of "Hammer House of Horror" was lacking the usual gore that the series has had previously, but I wonder if it might be that I was watching a cleaned up version. Never the less it was a decent episode, with the typical dark resolution.

A newlywed couple, Tom (Christopher Cazenove) and Sarah (Celia Gregory), lose control of their car on the way to a West Country holiday cottage. Though they escape without injury, the car is unusable, so they wander the woods looking for some form of civilisation. They happen upon a large manor house, in which a cheerful matron, Mrs. Ardoy (Diana Dors) looks after a large number of young children. After accepting an offer to stay the night, Tom is attacked in the woods by mysterious assailant, and on his return to the house - the pair hear the howls of a wolf.

Actually, that's just the first half of the story, I was pleasantly surprised by the mid-episode shift that sees them dismiss all of the above, only for it to return in typical dark fashion. Though the best known stars are in minor roles, that being Robert Urquhart's Harry and Dors' Mrs. Ardoy, it's Cazenove and Gregory that carry the whole episode. Gregory in particular has lots to do and though I thought the scenes when she's being menaced weren't particular convincing, the rest of the time she's an alluring presence. (Although, again, I think the edited version I saw might have made her a little more chaste than I would usual expect from Hammer).

Other than that, it was an OK episode. It's a little unfortunate that the title and pre-credits scene give the Werewolf game away so early, it might have improved the manor house scenes had we not known what was coming. It's nicely done, but not so well that I'd recommend hunting it down.

This is another excellent and well-loved episode of the Hammer series that illuminated our Saturday nights back in the autumn and winter of 1980.

This time, the story revolves around werewolves, and we're given a 'taster' in the pre-credit sequence of what's to come -as we see a young girl in the woods with a bloody mouth - surrounded by dead lambs!

The story then turns to a married couple, Tom & Sarah (ably played by Christopher Cazenove & Celia Gregory), whose car conks out on a remote country lane en route to their holiday cottage in the West Country.

Seeking help, they stumble across a desolate house, and are welcomed in by its owner Mrs Ardoy - excellently played by the wonderful Diana Dors. The house is also full of her family - 8 mysterious young children, whose odd behavior soon alerts the couple that maybe things here aren't quite right. When Tom attempts to retrieve the couple's baggage from their car, he returns terrified - saying he's been attacked by a large & viscous creature in the dark woods. Mrs Ardoy kindly lets the now rather anxious couple stay the night - but could it be their presence there isn't quite as arbitrary as they first thought...

This one plays out beautifully, as we soon realize the couple's benefactor has a bit more in store for them than her home-made red wine and mutton broth. There's a fabulously jumpy moment halfway through - whereby everything unravels for the couple and their fate appears to be sealed. The suspense and tension builds along nicely all the way through, and the viewer can soon sense that maybe things aren't possibly going to end too well for the beleaguered couple.

The house and children are delightfully creepy, and Diana Dors of course steals the show as the mysterious and devious Mrs Ardoy. The whole story is a real treat for Hammer fans who get plenty to howl about!

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.

CHILDREN OF THE FULL MOON is a well-plotted episode of TV'S HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR and one that packs a heck of a lot of narrative twists and turns into its short running time. The storyline involves a young couple whose car breaks down and who subsequently find themselves staying at the home of a friendly old lady who cares for a large brood of children. Before long they find themselves menaced in the woods by hairy beast-men and realise something very odd is going on.

I enjoy Hammer's reworking of traditional horror themes in this TV series and CHILDREN OF THE FULL MOON is no exception. Expect dense plotting, dumb characters, cheap but cheerful make-up effects, and a general spooky atmosphere that works to the movie's advantage. The casting director did a good job with a central role for the effective Diana Dors, Christopher Cazenove playing the out-of-his-depth hero, and an appearance from Robert Urquhart (who starred in Hammer's first horror flick THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN all those years before).