Growing Pains

"Terrence and Laurie Morton" lose their son when the latter accidentally takes poison in his father's lab. Barbara Kellerman plays Laurie, a diplomat, while Gary Bond plays her scientist husband. The grieving couple wind up adopting another boy, and he is an evil one, like the kid in the movie "The Omen." Crazy things happen soon after the adopted boy reaches his new home.

Overall, I was disappointed with this episode, expecting a more tense and edgy story than what was delivered. It was a bit flat, and the ending was nothing to rave about. Some of the acting was weak. The son who died was almost laughable when he staggered around in the backyard. It looked so hokey I thought I was watching a young Curly Howard of Three Stooges doing a parody of someone slowing dying. This was early on in the episode and was kind of a omen of the cheesy story that was to follow.

The evil boy who replaced the son was too nerdy looking to be convincing. This sort of storyline has been done numerous times, and far better than this. Yes, it had a few creepy moments but they were few and far between and the 51 minutes of this program seemed more like 151.

Soon after the death of their son, Scientist Terrence Morton and his busy wife Laurie adopt James from a children's. From the very moment that James enters their lives, all manner of accidents and mishaps begin.

Unfortunately, this is one of the weakest entries, it is surely one of the least memorable. It actually has some fine ideas, the thought of a scientist trying to cultivate a protein rich plant, to feed a planet is a good concept.

The main issue I had here, the characters, at no point do any of them seem realistic, they're all caricatures, even during the shocking conclusion, they all just behave in the most bizarre fashion.

There is a certain amount of atmosphere, and there are one or two decent scenes, that sequence in the car was a good one, and instantly tells us that something is up with James, but sadly it doesn't amount to much.

The scene with poor Nipper, as he goes on a doggy attack is absolutely hilarious, it's like something from a Carry on film, with the 'savage' Rotty joining in the jaunt up the garden path.

Matthew Blackstad does a decent job here, making James a little odd, a little creepy, he certainly needles his new parents, but let's get honest, he's no Damian.

Some of the acting is a little below par, there are some very experienced actors here, at times it doesn't show.

5/10.

A couple lose their son due to an accident. They end up adopting a boy who turns out to be evil.

Growing Pains was the fourth episode from the 'Hammer House of Horror' series and up to this point is the weakest so far. It clearly was an offshoot of the 'evil children' horror films which were particularly popular in the 70's, typified by films such as The Omen. The problem with this one is mainly that it's poorly written and pretty badly acted. I honestly didn't think that its story really made an awful lot of sense to be perfectly honest. And the potential that the evil children sub-genre of movie has was pretty much squandered in a messily told narrative. To add insult to injury, I constantly had to ask myself why any couple would ever have decided to have adopted such a monumentally annoying replacement son. He was more irritating and smug than evil. On the whole, not a very good episode.

Barbara Kellerman ("The Monster Club") and Gary Bond ("Wake in Fright") play Laurie & Terence Morton, a diplomat & scientist (he's determinedly trying to solve the problem of world hunger). They lose their son William (Christopher Reilly, 'The Story of the Treasure Seekers') under tragic but bizarre circumstances. They end up adopting another son, James (Matthew Blakstad, "Young Sherlock Holmes"), who has an uncanny ability to sense when people or things are unhappy.

James starts out subtly creepy, and his character keeps getting creepier, in this so-so episode, which is absolutely no great shakes in the entire "evil kid(s)" horror sub-genre. The acting isn't so hot (especially from the child actors), and the horror content pretty mild, even though we have some amusingly gross moments and a formerly docile dog who starts getting bloodthirsty.

More political than other 'Hammer House of Horror' episodes, this still doesn't add up to much, and *is* a comedown from the first three that were aired. Even the ending lacks real punch.

Five out of 10.

This is by no means my favourite episode, my review of Guardian Of The Abyss mentions a couple of others I particularly liked. At the time of writing this one is at the bottom of the ratings, but I quite enjoyed it. The only thing I disliked was keeping the huge rabbits in quite small cages, but at least they were not picked up by their ears. One is not supposed to review other reviews but it's sometimes hard to avoid criticizing critics who unfairly traduce, or go to the opposite extreme of lauding to the skies because of fame or sentiment. Some comments are as bizarre as a HHH plot.

Laurie (Barbara Kellerman) and Terence (Gary Bond) have important professional jobs, live in a large country house, and sound like typical middle class folks. So why the grumbles about "posh" or "exaggerated English" accents when they are no more cut glass than the Peter Cushing character in The Silent Scream? Do I detect a hint of class resentment? Of numerous criticisms of the acting, which I thought perfectly acceptable, most puzzling is the observation that during the out of control car scene, adopted son James (Matthew Blakstad) doesn't blink an eyelid. Could it be this was to convey his abnormality?

Some early adverse reviews seem to have generated a groupthink pile on.