Rude Awakening

Estate Agent Norman Shenley receives a visit from a man called Rayburn, who's inherited a property known as Lower Moat Manor, when Shenley visits he enters into a nightmarish sequence, he wakes the following morning, but the lines between Reality and dreams are blurred.

This is exactly what happens when the balance of comedy and horror fusses together perfectly. Rude Awakening is one of the best, most memorable episodes of the series. Nightmarish, fun and very atmospheric, this one's a real winner.

You are made to question reality itself, you never feel settled into believing that the events before your eyes are real, you never know whether Norman is awake or sleeping, until the end that is, where he really does get a rude awakening.

There are some genuinely great horror sequences, I loved the scene where Norman visited Lady Studwick, that was so surreal, as was the survey of the block of flats.

Lolly's costume changes were attention grabbing, and helped to drive the story, her flair was such a contrast to Norman's dry demeanour.

A great performance from Denholm Elliott, he put in a memorable performance, James Laurenson and Lucy Gutteridge were both impressive.

9/10.

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.

I really like where the Hammer House of Horror series is going, as the quality level increases with every episode I watch! The first one – "Witching Time" was nothing spectacular but still fun to watch, number two – "The Thirteenth Reunion" – already featured the more typically Hammer trademarks and suspense and this third installment "Rude Awakening" is actually very good! The plot may not be entirely original and plausible, but it's incredibly fast-paced and rich on atmosphere as well as tension. Denholm Elliot, the cool bloke from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", stars as a middle-aged estate agent haunted by a series of hallucinating nightmares… Or perhaps it's just one giant nightmare? Or maybe he's not even asleep to begin with! On Friday the 13th, Norman Shenley is lured to a remote and supposedly abandoned mansion where an uncanny voice tells him that he shouldn't have killed his wife. Suddenly the idea of murdering his wife and run off with his attractive secretary Lolly becomes very tempting, but Norman can't tell anymore whether his thoughts are real or all just dreamed. Peter Sasdy's directing is as surefooted as ever, as he creates confusion even among the viewers by implementing a bizarre dream/reality structure. The secretary's looks and attitude, for example, change in every dream and you never get to know the real her until the short movie's climax. "Rude Awakening" is low on explicit violence and bloodshed, but it oozes a dark atmosphere and most of the characters – especially the supportive ones – are pretty disturbing. It's a fantastic little film that'll keep you glued to the TV-screen for a good fifty minutes.

While not exactly the stuff of nightmares, it is good English macabre fun.

And nightmares are what it's all about. Denholm Elliot has a recurring dream about visiting a house, and hearing someone ask "Why did you do it?" before things all go pear-shaped for him.

But the dream recurs so often, he starts to wonder if he ever actually wakes up from it..

This imaginative conceit is played mainly for larfs. Denholm plays a swinging real estate agent who may or may not be having an affair with the woman of his dreams, his secretary Lolly. Lolly is a hoot, changing appearance with her every iteration, from Marilyn lookalike to Naughty Schoolgirl. And the phrase, "Why did you do it?" does become rather spooky after a while.

It won't necessarily chill the blood, but it may give you an early-80's chuckle.

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.