Child's Play

British TV movie, made by Hammer Films for their second series "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense", does a good job slowly building up the characters' fear without making it feel like things are moving at a snail's pace. Nearly all of its 70 minute run time is spent on the characters attempting various methods of escape and theorizing on who (or what) has trapped them and why.

Other occurrences soon indicate their predicament is even stranger than it appears, such as a mysterious slime oozing into one area of the house, characters suddenly losing feeling/use of a limb for no apparent reason, and total memory loss of major life events.

Always the pessimist, I fully expected the coda to all this to drop the ball. All I'll say is that it definitely does not. If you want to see something a little different and actually driven by its story (something increasingly rare) this is well worth checking out and a perfect example of how horror can best utilize the made-for-TV format.

I may now have given the film Await further instructions such a positive review had I seen this first. All of the creation and imagination was actually done her first.

The idea is fantastic, a family wake up to discover they're walled in, that they're family home is seemingly encased in lead, no means of escape, and it's getting hotter.

We see a symbol on the television, on the tins of food, and even on the badge of the car, it's all very mysterious.

The ending comes as a massive surprise, transmitted in 1984, this is creepy, claustrophobic and incredibly imaginative, in a month of Sundays I wouldn't have seen that ending coming.

It's no wonder they went on to use the premise of the story in Await further instructions.

I've only seen a few episodes from the series, and this is the best of the lot. Loved it. 9/10

First viewing: November 1984 / Second viewing: October 2003

Easily the most memorable of the whole `Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense' series, `Child's Play' is like a stage play. Just three characters (kudos to the beautiful Mary `I shot JR' Crosby) – a nuclear family of sorts – who awake at 4:10AM one morning trapped in their own home. We learn very early on about the steel fortress and the mysterious symbol that constantly appears. A sense of impending doom and claustrophobia pervade throughout and the final scene is shocking in its execution. `A true story. Which has just been told before its time' reads the caption on the final reel. Almost perfect and nineteen years later I'm still amazed. 9/10

When I watched Child's Play I thought it had a Twilight Zone type feel to it. The ending looked very familiar, now it might because I would had watched this episode back in 1984 or 85.

It turns out that the story was based on the Twilight Zone episode 'Six Characters in Search of an Exit.'

The Preston family wake up to discover that their house is walled in. There is no escape. The house is getting warmer and there is gunge in one of the rooms.

They are trapped, with no way to break out. Time is stuck and there is this corporate logo everywhere.

It is an episode where it all makes sense at the end. The title of the story is an obvious clue.

The big problem is that the story was too long and too cheesy. It would have worked more effectively in the shorter format.

"I see a trademark." Stretched out to around 90 minutes with adverts "Child's Play" is an episode from the 1984 TV series "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense". And a good one it is too! A married couple and their young daughter wake up at 04:10 am to find themselves trapped inside their modern home, all of the doors and windows have been sealed with a hard mysterious substance that they cannot penetrate. Furthermore the temperature inside is rising, the couple are losing their memories, a strange symbol is appearing everywhere (including as a tattoo on the man's arm), a green slime is oozing down the chimney and time has stood still. In lesser hands this episode may have felt stretched out at 75 minutes in length but director Val Guest maintains the claustrophobia, tension and mystery throughout. Small cast but well acted. There is a clue in the title but never in a million years did I see the twist at the end coming. And there's not a Good Guy doll in sight!