Hammer House of Horror

For those like me, who have become a little jaded by monotony TV which seems to have taken over the schedules with dumbed down shows or shows that contain mere gloss, Hammer House of Horror could be a welcome change. Revisiting HHoH twenty six years later I found that it is still on the whole a good series with a character and atmosphere you rarely come across nowadays.

The quality of the thirteen episodes varies from very good to poor due to the use of different directors and writers. My personal favourites are 'The House that Bled to Death', 'Rude Awakening', 'The Thirteenth Reunion' and 'Guardian of the Abyss', while 'Carpathian Eagle' and 'The Two Faces of Evil' are the low points of the series, which is unfortunate because they both had great potential. These two failed to make me believe that the principal characters (Detective Inspector Clifford & Janet Lewis) were real thinking individuals rather than actors diligently following a hastily developed script.

Hammer Productions excelled in making highly watchable low budget fare and HHoH is no exception. The storylines are wonderfully diverse, refreshingly original and entertaining instead of being predictably formulaic. There has been a distinct lack of British horror anthology series since Hammer House of Horror, I hope one day the genre will be resurrected.

Director: Don Leaver
Writing Credits: Anthony Read
Cast: Jon Finch, Patricia Quinn, Prunella Gee, Ian McCulloch, Lennard Pearce & Margaret Anderson

During a thunderstorm at night David Winter (Jon Finch) discovers a witch by the name of Lucinda Jessup (Patricia Quinn) in his stable. The woman invites herself into his farmhouse and informs David that she was born there in 1627. Later that night Lucinda seduces David into sleeping with her. David's wife Mary (Prunella Gee), who spent the night away supposedly because of work commitments, returns home much to Lucinda's displeasure and so the witch uses her powers to get rid of her rival.

Director: Peter Sasdy
Writing Credits: Jeremy Burnham
Cast: Julia Foster, Dinah Sheridan, Richard Pearson, Norman Bird, George Innes, James Cosmo, Warren Clarke, Gerard Kelly, Michael Latimer, Barbara Keogh, Paula Jacobs, Roger Ostime, Peter Dean, Louis Mansi & Kevin Stoney

Journalist Ruth Cairns (Julia Foster), is sent on an assignment to find out what is going on at weight loss classes called 'Think Thin' at the Chesterton Clinic, after rumours of irregular methods being used. While she is there she meets and becomes friendly with a man called Ben Faraday (Warren Clarke) who dies unexpectedly the same evening that the pair had dined together. She later finds out, with the help of a mortician, that his body has gone missing and this is not the first time that strange things have happened at the undertakers. Somehow it is suspected the Chesterton Clinic is also involved, so Ruth endeavours to uncover what is at foot and hopes for a tasty story to report.

Director: Peter Sasdy
Writing Credits: Gerald Savory
Cast: Denholm Elliott, James Laurenson, Pat Heywood, Lucy Gutteridge, Eleanor Summerfield, Gareth Armstrong & Patricia Mort

Sometimes in dreams our innermost desires are revealed, and sometimes our destinies may give us nightmares... An Estate agent called Norman Shenley (Denholm Elliott), feels trapped in a loveless marriage and lusts after his young attractive female colleague. Every night he is awakened by nightmares in which he dreams that he has murdered his wife or that he himself is murdered. He is disorientated by these recurring nightmares. He doesn't know what day it is, what is fantasy or what is reality.

Director: Francis Megahy
Writing Credits: Nicholas Palmer
Cast: Barbara Kellerman, Gary Bond, Norman Beaton, Tariq Yunus, Matthew Blakstad, Christopher Reilly, Daphne Anderson, Michael Hughes, Karin Scott & Geoffrey Beevers

After the death of their son, Terence (Gary Bond) and Laurie Morton (Barbara Kellerman) decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage. Their new son William is an odd precocious lad who asks strange and morbid questions but doesn't exactly know why or where the thoughts are coming from. As soon as Laurie Morton picks him up from the orphanage bizarre and disturbing incidents start to happen. These include a cuddly toy rabbit given to William being found on the floor with blood and entrails next to it as if it had been gutted, the steering in Laurie's car developing a mind of its own and the family's pet dog running amok.

Director: Tom Clegg
Writing Credits: David Lloyd
Cast: Nicholas Ball, Rachel Davies, Brian Croucher, Patricia Maynard, Milton Johns, Emma Ridley, Joann White, George Tovey, Una Brandon-Jones, Jo Warne, Sarah Keller, Max Mason, Anna Perry & Marilyn Finlay

William and Emma Peters (Nicholas Ball and Rachel Davies) and their young daughter Sophie move into a semi-detatched house down Coleman Road. Shortly after moving in disturbing events start to happen including blood dripping from a wall, their pet cat Timmy getting its throat slashed and blood appearing on one of a pair of rusty knives they found in the house when they first moved in. It transpires that a previous occupant of the house, an old man called Albert Clements, had poisoned his wife and hacked her body to pieces. But who or what is causing these strange occurrences?

Director: Robert Young
Writing Credits: Bernie Cooper & Francis Megahy
Cast: Leigh Lawson, Angela Bruce, Marius Goring, Frances Cuka, David Healy, Michael Culver, Michael Deeks, Jeff Rawle, Janet Fielding, Michael Stock, Lee Richards, Andrew Pariss & Charles Pemberton

Graham (Leigh Lawson) inherits this uncle's art collection after he fell to his death from the roof fixing the TV aerial. With the view to selling the collection Graham and his girlfriend Sarah (Angela Bruce) look through what they have inherited. As they do so they come across and decide to keep an Africa fetish carving they name 'Charlie Boy'. It is explained that a fetish carving is like a witches doll which you can stick pins into, causing occult powers to harm an individual. After a road rage incident Sarah suggests using 'Charlie Boy' as a way to lessen Graham's anger over the other driver, so he larks about and sticks a knife in the carving. They both think that it's all just a bit of a joke until people start dying.

Director: Alan Gibson
Writing Credits: Frances Essex
Cast: Peter Cushing, Brian Cox, Elaine Donnelly, Antony Carrick, Robin Browne & Terry Kinsella

After being released from prison Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) returns home to his wife Annie (Elaine Donnelly). He tells her of the weekly visits he had been receiving from Martin Bluek (Peter Cushing), an old gentleman who also kindly gave him some money. Chuck calls round to Mr Bluek's pet shop to thank him properly and is shown round the old man's own private zoo at the back of the shop. Mr Bluek explains that this is his great experiment into creating prisons without walls, zoos without cages using fear instead to keep the imprisoned from escaping. The ex-jailbird notices a safe that would be easy to crack, but could this be some sort of bait?

Director: Tom Clegg
Writing Credits: Murray Smith
Cast: Christopher Cazenove, Celia Gregory, Diana Dors, Robert Urquhart, Jacob Witkin, Adrian Mann, Victoria Wood, Sophie Kind, Matthew Dorman, Wilhelmina Green, Corinna Reardon, Daniel Payne, Natalie Payne & Daniel Kipling

Tom (Christopher Cazenove) and his wife Sarah (Celia Gregory) are on their way to a West Country cottage for a late honeymoon when Tom's car breaks down after speeding out of control as if possessed by some malevolent force. Finding themselves in the middle of nowhere, the couple look for somewhere to phone for assistance. They eventually arrive at a large house where an old woman, Mrs. Ardoy (Diana Dors) invites them to stay. She warns them not to leave their room until morning as her eight children roam about at night.

Director: Francis Megahy
Writing Credits: Bernie Cooper & Francis Megahy
Cast: Anthony Valentine, Suzanne Danielle, Siân Phillips, Barry Stanton, Jonathan Kent, Matthew Long, Ellis Dale, Gary Waldhorn, Jeffrey Wickham, Morgan Sheppard, Barry Stokes, Pierce Brosnan, Richard Wren & Diane Adderley

Detective Inspector Clifford (Anthony Valentine) is investigating a series of murders where the male victims, who had recently been in the company of an attractive woman, have their hearts cut out. He hears on the radio about a new book written by the author Natalie Bell (Suzanne Danielle) containing a storyline that bears similarities to the cases he is working on. So he sets up a meeting with the author who informs him that the character in her book is based on a countess that lived 300 years ago, and that the story was relayed to her by the countess's only living descendant, a Mrs Henska (Siân Phillips). As very few people have heard Mrs Henska's story he suspects one of them to be the murderer.

Director: Don Sharp
Writing Credits: David Fisher
Cast: Ray Lonnen, Rosalyn Landor, John Carson, Paul Darrow, Caroline Langrishe, Sophie Thompson, Sharon Fussey, Barry McDonald & Barbara Ewing

With the aid of a scrying glass the leader of a satanic sect, Charles Randolph (John Carson) attempts to summon forth the demon, Lord Choronzon to possess the body of the person looking into the mirror. Charles needs the right victim for this ceremony as it has not been working with those that he has attempted it on so far. Allison (Rosalyn Landor) is to be the next in line for this ceremony but runs away from the sect, catching a lift off Michael (Ray Lorren) who gets drawn into the whole affair.

Director: Peter Sasdy
Writing Credits: John Elder
Cast: Kathryn Leigh Scott, Simon MacCorkindale, Gareth Thomas, Mia Nadasi & Stanley Lebor

Harry returns home to find blood everywhere and his girlfriend, Penny in distress. She recounts to him the previous night's incidents, how she had no choice but to shoot an intruder who had broken into the house shouting for Harry and then how the wounded man had ran off into the night. Harry discovers the body of the man Penny had shot in the woods by following the trail of blood he left behind. Rather than call the police as Penny would have wanted, the couple gets rid of any traces of the murder including burning all the blood stained clothes and burying the body. Over the following days Penny is haunted by visions of the dead man, and fearing for her sanity she seeks the help of a spirit medium and a swami.

Director: Alan Gibson
Writing Credits: Ranald Graham
Cast: Anna Calder-Marshall, Gary Raymond, Pauline Delaney, Philip Latham, Jenny Laird, Paul Hawkins, William Moore, Jeremy Longhurst, Brenda Cowling, Mike Savage & Malcolm Hayes

On the way to their holiday destination Mr Lewis (Gary Raymond) and his family pick up a hitchhiker, who very shortly afterward attacks Mr Lewis causing the car to crash. In hospital Mrs Lewis (Anna Calder-Marshall) learns that her husband has been badly hurt but will make a full recovery and she is asked to identify a body that was found near to where the accident happened. She can't remember much about the accident or the identity of the attacker other than the strange fact that he had one long fingernail on his right hand. The body in the mortuary bears a striking resemblance to her husband and is missing a right hand, how can this be?

Director: Don Leaver
Writing Credits: Don Shaw
Cast: Peter McEnery, Georgina Hale, Emrys James, Anthony Brown, Conrad Phillips, Peter Birrel, James Duggan, Andrew Bradford, James Curran, Anne Dyson, Peter Cartwright & Crispin Gillbard

Edwyn Rord (Peter McEnery) accidentally pricks his finger with a needle as he is sewing up a dead body in the hospital mortuary where he works and becomes convinced he has been infected. Edwyn also becomes paranoid that the number nine he has been noticing everywhere is the universal number for evil and that he is contaminated with a special evil virus that people conspired to have him contract. This is because 'they' want to take over the world! It is obvious he has lost the plot but how will he end his nightmare and save his soul?

Locations

Hammer Films - Archive
Hammer Film Productions (Wikipedia)
The Hammer House of Fashion Presents: Horror in Your Wardrobe

• Movies

Asylum (1972)
From Beyond the Grave (1973)
The Uncanny (1977)
The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
Basic Instinct (1992) (Similar to Carpathian Eagle)
The Devil Rides Out (1968) (Rosalyn Landor)

• Television

Journey to the Unknown (1968 - 1969)
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984)
Armchair Thriller (1978 - 1980)
Thriller (1973 - 1976)
Supernatural (1977)

• Radio

Appointment with Fear (1943 - 1955)
The Price of Fear (1973 - 1983)