Growing Pains

Storywise, the fourth episode to "Hammer House of Horror", "Growing Pains" is the weakest of the first five I've seen so far. This is not to say however, that the film has no redeeming qualities. On the contrary, it does feature many creepy moments and it builds up atmosphere and a certain level of suspense. After the death of their own son, successful married couple Laurie (Barbara Kellerman), a diplomat, and Terence Morton (Gary Bond), a scientist, adopt a boy named James (Matthew Blakstad). Even tough the boy is polite and well-behaved, something seems to be wrong with him, however. Shortly after he moves in with his new parents, mysterious thing begin to happen... The child-possession theme had been made vastly popular in the 70s by films like "The Exorcist" or "The Omen", and it is therefore clear that the Hammer Studios would devote at least one episode of their short-running 1980 TV-series to a similar theme. Which is all fine, of course, but it is also obvious that this particular episode looses a lot of its impact due to sloppy writing. The episode is quite atmospheric and there are some genuinely creepy moments. Furthermore, it has to be appreciated when a child actor succeeds in playing a sinister part, and Mathew Blackstad does here, without exaggerated overacting. Yet this does not fully excuse the weak story which is full of holes and inconsistencies. You won't hear me complain that the concept, which had been used many times by 1980s, is unoriginal, but merely that it could have been thought through a little better. Yet, "Growing Pains" isn't all bad, and while it is the weakest H.H.H. episode I've seen so far, it is still entertaining enough for its approximately 50 minutes.

After the death of their son William Morton (Christopher Reilly), the diplomat Laurie Morton (Barbara Kellerman) and her husband, the scientist Terence Morton (Gary Bond) adopt a boy, James (Matthew Blakstadt). From the moment James moves to Morton's house in the country on, weird things happen with the family.

"Growing Pains" is a scary tale of Hammer House of Horror, and in many moments I felt nervous with the happenings in the house. Unfortunately, I found the conclusion very disappointing for such a good story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Dor Intensa" ("Intense Pain")

Note: On 02 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.

After the unexplained death of their son Terence and Laurie Morton adopt a boy called James . James is a strange boy , very withdrawn and unexplained occurrences start happening

This is a very obvious reworking of THE OMEN where new found surrogate parents start suffering all sorts of unfortunate events that escalate . I found THE OMEN a very enjoyable and atmospheric horror movie so despite being somewhat formulaic this type of story isn't necessarily a bad one . The problem with this episode - and it's a big one - is what has cropped up from nearly all the comments on this page and that is it suffers from really dreadful acting

First of all the cast all talk in pronounced posh middle class accents that make the Queen and her brood sound like chav scum in comparison . It's the sort of accents you rarely hear outside of film and television and draws your attention that you are watching a film or television show . Barabara Kellerman was a relative prolific actress at this time and almost always played the same type of whiny girly character and over acts in a scene where she can't gain control of a steering wheel in a car . This over acting is magnified by the opposite effect of her fellow cast member Matthew Blakstad as James who being a passenger in a car veering wildly out of control doesn't literally blink an eyelid . No matter what happens to James he goes through the entire episode with an entirely gormless inexpressive expression on his face

If there's one saving grace to the episode the opening pre title sequence contains a Hammer trade mark and that is obvious day for night filming . This involves sticking a dark lens over the camera dimming he amount of light seen . It was never that convincing but did become a traditional aspect of British horror film making , but that's hardly a reason to seek out this episode of the show

Originally broadcast fourth in the series of 'Hammer House of Horror', this episode gets off to a bad start when William Morton (Christopher Reilly) breaks into his father's lab, drinks some poison, and dies, badly. Staggering around on a lawn pretending to choke isn't horrifying, it is just funny.

Fast forward and William's parents, Laurie (Barbara Kellermann) and Terence (Gary Bond) adopt an odd boy called James (Matthew Blakstad), who stares a lot, speaks in a monotone, and is fairly unpleasant.

Once James arrives in the house, odd things start to happen. Things come to a head when Terence has a visit from some African dignitaries keen to hear more about how his plants and genetically modified rabbits can solve the food crisis in the Third World.

This story just doesn't go anywhere. The editing is quite poor, particularly the scenes involving the dog who goes berserk. From an early promising scene where James and Laurie are coming home which does have some chills, you expect the episode to take a different direction. It doesn't. And the ending is trite.

I have to defend the actors a bit though. The children, especially Reilly, probably suffered from poor direction. As the parents of this new devil child, Barbara Kellermann looks lost and Gary Bond looks embarrassed at the stuff they're given to do. Both were fine actors who would be given opportunities to do good work outside of this series.

I tried to like Growing Pains, and differently edited and cast it could well have worked, without the copout ending. As it is, it is only OK. It passes the time but has little else going for it.

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.