Review of Hammer House of Horror Collectors Box Set

Introduction

Ah, Hammer. The name synonymous with the horror genre making some 150 films starring the talents of Cushing and Lee. Five years after it ceased film production, the Hammer House of Horror name was used to produce contemporary horror for television. 13th September 1980 saw the spawning of its television series, Hammer House of Horror, and produced no less than 13 52 minute episodes. These covered the gamut of the strange, plain weird, supernatural and horror paradigms starring a host of stars including Denholm Elliot, Brian Cox, Peter Cushing, Diana Dors, Simon MacCorkindale and an early appearence from Monsieur 007, Pierce Brosnan.

Hammer`s new headquarters, Hampden House, Bucks was the manor house used for a lot of the production and can be seen in its various guises throughout the series.

Episode Summary:

• 1. The House That Bled To Death: An old house is in a run-down state, unoccupied since it was the scene of a murder, until new occupants move in. It is a house of horror, the shadow of the past bringing new terrors to the couple and a young child, with an unexpected twist at the end bringing even more horror.


• 2. The Silent Scream: Hammer great Peter Cushing plays a sinister pet shop owner and a former concentration camp captor who lures former convict Brian Cox into his shop to feed the animals while he`s away. The wild untamed animals are being trained to react to sounds that tell them it`s safe to get their food just outside their cages, otherwise they face certain death by electrocution. Soon Cox notices a safe and is curious about its contents, only to be trapped in a cage himself when it turns out to be a decoy. Can humans be taught obedience using the same methods as those with the animals?


• 3. The Two Faces of Evil: A family of three, Martin, Janet and son David, are driving through a severe rainstorm when they almost run someone over. They pause a moment and offer the stranger a lift as it`s the least they can do. Once their new passenger is on board however he attacks Martin as he drives and the whole car crashes over. Janet wakes in hospital and checks on her husband. All seems well enough until they return home, when Janet realises that her husband isn`t really him at all and just looks exactly like him. Horror ensues as she tries to getaway. Things are invariable easy as it dawns on her that there are `replacements`, or doppelgangers at every turn.


• 4. The Mark of Satan: There`s a conspiracy abound, or so Edwyn Rord (Peter McEnery) thinks. Everywhere he goes he manages to make links to the number `9`, is it imaginary or for real? What does it mean? The noises in his head get louder and more violent, causing him to be confused. What`s eating the baby got to do with it? Why won`t the noises stop!! The story is somewhat ambigious in its conclusion, but by this token alone it has a chill to it.


• 5. Witching Time: Lucinda, a witch from the 17th century, escapes from being burned at the stake by travelling forward in time. She lands in the present day and finds that where her house used to be is now occupied by a farmhouse. She entrances the current owner and persuades him to kill his adulterous wife.

• 6. Visitor From The Grave: Penny is almost raped by an unknown assailant but defends herself with the nearby shotgun. Harry, Penny`s partner then helps Penny `remove` the body and all traces of his existence. Thus begins the staging of elaborate set pieces to drive her stir crazy and to get her to hand over large sums of money in order to be rid of the haunting where she believes her would be rapist is still alive.


• 7. Rude Awakening: Lecherous estate agent Norman Shenley (Denholm Elliot) keeps having the same recurring dream where he`s haunted for killing his nagging wife. He visits various places such as a condemned council estate and a manor house and is always accused of killing his wife but then he re-awakens and figures it must be a dream since his wife is still alive. There comes a point where dreams and real life intertwine however and he lands himself in trouble.


• 8. Charlie Boy: A young couple Graham and Sarah take possession of an ancient, yet very disturbing looking, African fetish. After a road rage incident Graham curses the driver while looking at the fetish. Later on as a result of an argument he has with his brother, he curses everyone in a photo in sight of the fetish. The driver from the road rage incident is found dead, and before Graham realises what`s going on, the people in the photo are being knocked off one-by-one. He can see who`s next, but can he stop it?


• 9. Children of the Full Moon: Tom Martin (Christopher Cazenove) borrows a country cottage in the West Country for a getaway with his wife. On their way down there they have an accident with their car and are forced to seek help from the nearest secluded home which just happens to be in a forest. All is rarely as it seems however and the young couple are invited to stay with the owner, Mrs Ardoy, and her children since help is a long way off and they`re better off just staying the night. The children are creepy for starters and thus begins a werewolf story.


• 10. The Thirteenth Reunion: Journalist Ruth Cairns is given the task of writing about a weight loss programme at The Chesteron Clinic by attending it herself and playing guinea pig. But there`s something sinister at play here with the disappearance and death of one of the dieters she befriends. She gets a tip off from an undertaker that the dead bodies are not being buried but instead are going somewhere else. Ever the inquisitive journo, Ruth follows the trail to a dinner party where the survivors of a plane crash regularly get together and eat in celebration of their survival. How did they survive for weeks before being found after the plane crash? Just what did they eat for starters...?


• 11. The Carpathian Eagle: Men are being killed by having their hearts cut of their chests. A detective assigned to the case by chance hears of a book where there are killings in a similar vein. The book was about a woman in the Middle Ages who had an eagle trained to kill her lovers by tearing out their hearts. The detective (Anthony Valentine) gets in touch with the author (Suzanne Danielle) to try and understand the motive and reasoning behind the killings. As the case wears on he falls for the author but there`s more to her than just her penchant for writing the macarbe.


• 12. Guardian of the Abyss: Laura Stephens, an antique dealer, buys an ancient mirror from auction for less than £5 only to be offered considerably more by a rival dealer. Her interest piqued, she get`s a friend to check it out and it turns out the mirror is actually a scrying glass. It has magical powers and is now being hunted down by an occult society calling itself, The Choronzon Society, in order to raise demons and results in a human sacrifice.


• 13. Growing Pains: Laurie and Terence Morton are busy people. But when their son, William, dies from a drug overdose taken from Terence`s lab, the couple find themselves in mourning. They soon adopt a new boy, James, but it seems the same pattern of emotional neglect is happening again. William`s soul comes back to haunt the parents in a series of bizarre attacks after a poem brings back a departed spirit.

Video

Hammer House of Horror is presented in its original fullframe aspect ratio and the video transfer is very good. I was surprised by the quality of a series that`s 20 years old. While the colours are muted and give away the golden era of the early 80s, the detail and contrast remain high and is very watchable. Not a digital artefact to be seen.

Audio

Just the original mono soundtrack here, no fancy 5.1 sound to screw things up. All in all the sound was clear with well reproduced dialogue.

Features

This is a four disc set housed witin 2 slim Amaray cases and a cardboard outer sleeve. There are only a few extras:

• Cast Biographies - Each disc has a cast bios page for the stories on that particular disc and are fine without too much detail.

• Slideshow - These are pics showing off the cast with publicity material. Sadly the slideshow is somewhat repetitive across all four discs when it comes to the publicity material, and the cast pics are hardly interesting to watch.

• Production Booklet - There`s a 20-page booklet enlosed which gives you some background on the series and Hammer with pages for other Carlton DVDs and a complete chapter breakdown for all episodes.

• There are English subtitles here that work well.

Conclusion

Hammer House of Horror. Just the mere name itself conjures up distant memories of being scared late at night, watching TV in the dark, in the company of my parents. They wanted to see what a 10 year old was watching on a Saturday night. The only embarrassing scenes had female flesh laid bare, nevermind the gory bits and it was the fact that I had my parents in the same room which was more frightening than what television could do to me.

It was good to see some of these again, but can the whole series still hold my attention 20 years on? Yes and no. There`s a selection of stories here covering the supernatural, mystery and sinister, and some that are blatant attempts at horror, such as The House that Bled to Death or plain sping tingling chillers such as The Two Face of Evil, The Mark of Satan and Children of the Full Moon. Hammer House of Horror covers a range a wide range and it`s good to see that there are no Hollywood endings here either, as it should be. Perhaps this is a little disquieting to begin with, but you soon get the idea of what to expect.

For me the four notable episodes that I remember vividly are The Silent Scream, The Mark of Satan, Charlie Boy and The Carpathian Eagle. Even now I enjoyed watching them and I think these rank as among the better stories here. The other episodes range from below average to okay but it really is a mixed bag and never rises to the point of fantastic.

Would I recommend this? It`s hard to say. While I enjoyed watching a large portion of the episodes here, I`d only watch a few of them again, so replay value is difficult to gauge. If, like me, your memory of Hammer House of Horror is but a distant one of being a scared pre-teen, then you might be better off borrowing a volume from your local just to see for yourself if it`s something you`d enjoy. It`s just not the horror I remember it to be. I have to admit that Tales of the Unexpected and even the original Twilight Zone give me more chills than this Hammer House of Horror collection.