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.

A young newly-wed couple with car trouble wind up at a creepy old house in a forest. It is inhabited by a woman and a large group of odd children. In the night, the couple experience strange dreams of werewolves…

'Children of the Full Moon' is instalment eight in the Hammer House of Horror TV series and is very possibly the scariest episode of them all. For my money it ties alongside 'Rude Awakening' and 'The Silent Scream' as being the best the series has to offer. Like a few other entries did, this one ticks a specific horror box, in this case werewolves. In some respects, this one is closer to the kind of output Hammer feature films tackled, in that it has more of a Gothic horror feel to it. It's the atmosphere that really gives this one plus points. The setting in the woods and the odd inhabitants of the house are really quite effectively sinister. All-in-all, this is a very decent entry in the werewolf sub-genre.

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.

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!