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.

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.

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.

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.