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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.