The Thirteenth Reunion

This is yet another memorable episode of the classic Hammer TV series that illuminated our Saturday nights back in the final months of 1980.

This time, the action centers on young Fleet Street journalist Ruth (nicely played by the likable Julia Foster) - who's tasked with enrolling at a private slimming clinic in the countryside, in order to track her progress for the paper's women's page.

Ruth soon finds that the clinic's methods are a little unorthodox and, after a man whom she befriends on the course dies in mysterious circumstances in a car crash, finds herself investigating a local funeral parlor - along with a rather skeptical young employee of said parlor who suspects things aren't what they appear to be...

This story plays its macabre theme well, and keeps the viewer guessing right until the end. Julia does a fine job as Ruth - looking to step up her journalistic career - and we also see a fairly early appearance from Scottish actor James Cosmo.

Despite some rather dodgy 'day for night' filming at one point, the story progresses well - and the conclusion is genuinely shocking and surprising. All in all, an original and memorable story that does a new take on the usual horror themes - and one that ultimately leaves a nasty taste in the mouth!

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 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.

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.

The first of three episodes directed by Peter Sasdy in this series, "The Thirteenth Reunion" is an acceptable if slightly overlong horror-drama, with a surplus of recognisable faces that service a storyline that doesn't quite add up.

Ruth (Julia Foster) is a journalist tasked by her editor to investigate a controversial diet technique called Think Thin. At her first meeting she meets Ben (Warren Clarke) who has been attending for a while and they hit it off, but on the way back from their first date he's run off the road and dies. At the funeral, Ruth is approached by Andrew (Gerard Kelly) who works at the funeral home and who suggests that all at Think Thin is not above board.

It's funny, watching these anthology style shows that the pool of actors is such that people are reappearing. I'd seen both Warren Clarke and George Innes in recent episodes of "The Frighteners" I'd watched. This episode had a number of other recognisable actors, including James Cosmo, who still is in high profile projects in 2020, and Gerard Kelly who was a regular on TV until his untimely death in 2010. Julia Foster has the most to do in this one, piecing together the various threads of this story into one complete picture.

And that's perhaps my issue with this episode, it feels like three tangentially related stories pushed together in an attempt to form one, but it makes less sense the more you think about it. The storylines involving the undertakers and the stately home do sort of fit together, but why the Think Thin aspect is involved is less clear, as you'd think that their objectives would be against what the others want? (Sorry if that sounds vague, I'm trying to write without spoilers). An OK episode that struck a nice tone, particularly towards the end, but is perhaps a little longer and disjointed than it really ought to be.