Rude Awakening

This was a hoot!

"Norman Shendley" (Denholm Elliot, of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fame), plays a man both haunted and delighted by his dreams. The dreams are so real that he, and we, aren't sure what's reality and what isn't. However, we can see the purpose of the "dream" as the story goes along: getting a man to murder his wife and run off with his hot secretary! The dreams are a combination of sexual fantasies and nightmares.

Regarding the fantasies, Lucy Gutteridge is the most fun to watch and gives a perfect demonstration on how wigs and clothes can make a woman look totally different. In each dream sequence, she's always "Lolly" but with a totally different look and character, although always the bimbo until the real and normal Lolly appears at the end. She does a great comedic job with this role.

James Laurenson's facial expressions as "Raburn" are funny and Pat Heywood gives a realistic performance as Norman's wife "Emily." She reminded me a bit of Anne Ramsey in "Throw Momma Off The Train," but not as gruff. Actually, the more the story went on, the less of a villain she appeared. She and Norman, frankly, deserved each other! I won't say more because I don't want to give away everything in this very inventive episode. I've only seen a few of these Hammer TV episodes, but this is my favorite so far.

This was a great mix of horror, comedy, fantasy and suspense, with a heavy emphasis on the humor.

The beginning is very weird, in fact it's just like the trailer of this episode. We see things happening that we couldn't place and even when the episode really starts you never know if it is happening of if we are in a dream. It's very well done, no special effects but it's the editing that makes this episode. You have to watch very closely to sort all things out. Once you do you will be fooled again. It reminded me a bit of what they did later in Hellraiser 6, there we were in dreams too and just when you think it's all over well... The performances are great here especially Lucy Gutteridge, she appears in all kinds of persons and even has to do some nudity if you watch quickly. Anyway, typical Hammer.

An odd, dream-like episode of the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR TV series. RUDE AWAKENING stars the late, great Denholm Elliott in a role that seems to have been tailor-made for the actor. He plays a sleazy estate agent who can't keep his hands off his secretary and who harbours fantasies of butchering his nagging wife. He's disturbed by a recurring nightmare involving a body concealed in a posh manor house and a building falling down, and in the day to day course of his life that nightmare begins to come true.

Director Peter Sasdy contributes an effective dream-like atmosphere to the whole episode even if the plotting is a little vague. It's best watched as a series of sinister vignettes involving bizarre characters and haunting situations. I think my favourite scene involves the one being trapped on a building about to be demolished, which is effectively realised on what is obviously a very low budget.

Elliott is unsurprisingly strong as the lead, but the supporting cast also features some solid players, including Lucy Gutteridge who seems to get through more costume changes than Mr. Benn! There's a minor role for the ever-weird James Laurenson (THE MONSTER CLUB) and strong direction throughout which makes the slight story watchable.

Norman Shenley, an estate agent, has a dream about murdering his plain, bad-tempered wife, which leaves him free to chase his secretary, Lolly. Later that day, at a scary old house called Lower Moat Manor, Norman hears a voice say ""You shouldn't have done it, Mr Shenley... You shouldn't have killed your wife"". That evening Norman kills his wife for real - but then he wakes up and finds it was all a dream again. Somehow, real life and fantasy are becoming intertwined...

Quite a bizzarre, wacky and humorous episode that boasts a fine performance by Denholm Elliott as the Estate Agent who is confused - as we viewers are - whether dreams are real or not, Lucy Gutteridge as his secretary who dons various garbs in the dreams, and Pat Heywood as the nagging wife. The ending is quite a hoot, though a little predictable.

A real estate agent has a series of inter-connected dreams where mysterious events happen. The only constants are him having an affair with his secretary, being informed from various sources that he should not have killed his wife, which he insists he hasn't and the presence of a mysterious stranger called Mr Rayburn.

Rude Awakening is the third episode of the 'Hammer House of Horror' TV series and it's the best so far. What really works most in its favour is its imaginatively told storyline. Its dreams within dreams framework allows for an agreeably surreal approach to the material where strange events can happen and nothing ever needs to entirely make 100% sense. In this way its dreamlike nature ensures that it has quite a nicely off-kilter atmosphere. It begins very oddly with a series of clips showing a montage of events yet to come not unlike a trailer for the episode and then it kicks into its strange plot-line.

There are several interesting vignettes in this one including scenes in a remote mansion, a telephone box and in a block of flats about to be destroyed by a wrecking ball. The really impressive thing is that unlike some much bigger budgeted movies it actually quite often successfully captures the weird abrupt absurdity of dreams. Director Peter Sasdy definitely needs to be given a fair bit of credit here, he was quite experienced in genre film-making at he shows a sure hand with this material. Also of note is Denholm Elliot who starred in a few other Hammer and Amicus productions in the 70's. He's very good here as the central character and the whole film revolves around him really, seeing as it's a psychological horror film in essence. He is also ably supported by Lucy Gutteridge who has fun playing an array of character types in her role as the secretary. She appears in various costumes and haircuts and is a constantly surreal presence. Anyway, events are eventually resolved in a somewhat satisfying manner, with a prologue that neatly ties everything together rather well.