The Thirteenth Reunion

This episode caps the entire anthology for me. It has genuine horror, thrills, spills and spooky moments to please the most hardened horror fan. Brilliant turns from all the cast, from a very youthful Gerard Kelly to the ever genteel Richard Pearson who for one departs from his usual 'old buffer' roles to a sinister and evil old gentleman. Careful use of locations, mainly in and around Hammer's former HQ of Bray and Windsor add to the atmosphere, especially that the production team showed the patience in this episode to allow for clear skies above so unlike on some other episodes in the anthology, there is little disruption from aircraft noise as Bray/Windsor were very much on the Heathrow flight path as there is in a few other HHoH episodes. Where some episodes fall flat or get swallowed up in trying to be overwhelming in the 'mindtrip' themes of madness or breakdown, this one stands alone and could well have been/Should be a standalone film under the Hammer banner....

The second episode to Hammer's short running series "Hammer House of Horror", "The Thirteenth Reunion" is a truly weird and morbid little tale filled with a great sense of humor - extremely dark humor, that is, I may add. Being a great fan of Hammer's Gothic Horror films, I wonder what took me until recently to start watching the series, but I sure do enjoy finally watching it now. Whereas the episodes I've seen so far (the first four) do not quite deliver the gloomy Gothic atmosphere that makes the films so great, they are all highly entertaining, creepy, and enjoyable, and should therefore not be missed by any true Hammer-enthusiast. This second episode follows reporter Ruth Cairns (Julia Foster), who is investigating undercover in a weight-watchers institution whose clients are brought to loose weight by rather unusual methods. After a fellow client with whom she has just got acquainted dies in a car-crash, his body mysteriously disappears. Ruth decides to investigate in a different direction... The episode was directed by Hammer veteran Peter Sasdy, whom fans should known for the Hammer classics "Taste The Blood of Dracula", "Hands of The Ripper" and "Countess Dracula". And Sasdy, who would direct three further episodes to this series, once again doesn't disappoint. Admittedly, this episode may not be the most unpredictable thing ever made, but it does deliver some surprises, some creepiness, and, above all, an ingeniously dark sense of humor. This dark humor is present from the beginning, when a cruel trainer (played by prolific Scottish actor James Cosmo) goes on an angry rant about a chubby lady. The film has many other moments remarkably dark and morbid humor, none of which I will give away here, since I do not wish to spoil anything. Overall, this second episode is probably my favorite of the first four that I've seen so far (all of which I enjoyed). I guess that I still have the greatest HHH episodes ahead of me, the one I am most looking forward to is the seventh episode, "The Silent Scream" starring Peter Cushing. Even if the series maintains the level of this episode, however, I will be satisfied.

Ruth is a journalist for a female magazine and gets hold of a new miracle diet from an organisation calling itself Think Thin . After the death of a friend called Ben in a car crash one of the funeral directors Andrew who buried Ben visits Ruth and tells her there's something amiss at work and also something that ties in with the Think Thin organisation

This is a fairly efficient episode of THE HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR . It's not exactly ground breaking but in its defence it doesn't contain any supernatural elements which makes it fairly credible . Okay it's not realistic drama but as a standard mystery thriller it just about works . The main problem is that once you know what is at the centre of the mystery involving the funeral directors and Think Thin the cat is let out of the bag and the impact is gone on repeat viewings . It also might work better if there's a fashionable diet in the news . The 13th Reunion was broadcast a few years before the F plan diet and if the cult of dieting had been in the news perhaps this episode might have been better remembered

One interesting aspect is the casting of a couple of Scottish actors in pivotal roles . One is James Cosmo who made a career playing ginger haired Scottish hard men and it's amusing seeing him reducing a dieter to tears " Have ya looked in the mirror recently ? No wonder your husband is working late " . The other actor is Gerard Kelly who would find fame in Scotland playing Willie Melvin in the long running Scottish sit com CITY LIGHTS and he gives a very understated performance here

The second episode in the series is directed by a veteran (albeit a latter-day recruit) of Hammer Films. Again, while hardly outstanding, this is a more than adequate effort – even if, for the most part, the narrative follows a mystery-thriller pattern rather than outright horror. Then again, the studio has had its fair share of films in this style and, in any case, the final revelation is horrific (if not exactly unpredictable) – truth be told, it's more 'shocking' than most of their now rather quaint films! The casting is modest but nonetheless effective: Julia Foster overacts somewhat (particularly when supposed to show bewilderment) as the reporter heroine covering the goings-on at a newly-established diet clinic, Dinah Sheridan (best-known for her role in GENEVIEVE [1953]) is her newspaper editor, Gerard Kelly the young funeral attendant who alerts Foster to his employers' extra-curricular activities (which she discovers have a connection with the clinic), and Warren Clarke (Dim from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE [1971]) gets a nice role as an ill-fated patient who befriends Foster but ends up getting the wrong sort of raw deal!

THE THIRTEENTH REUNION is an odd little episode of HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR because I think it's the only story which isn't supernatural. The storyline concerns a female reporter whose new story is a new-fangled diet club where the participants are subjected to ruthless condemnation by their diet coaches. Soon enough the reporter discovers something more sinister is going on when people start turning up dead and a local funeral home is involved...

I wanted to like this a lot, but I'm afraid the suspense just wasn't there for me, despite the presence of Hammer veteran Peter Sasdy as director. The mystery is never particularly mysterious and the storyline feels a bit bloated despite the short running time, and it doesn't help that the lead characters are rather unsympathetic. Still, there are early roles for James Cosmo (GAME OF THRONES) and Warren Clarke, and the scene in which Cosmo has a go at a dieting woman is unintentionally hilarious.