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| Hammer House of Horror BFI Collections,
Pal VHS |
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| DVD,
Justin Harries,
15 January 2001 |
Rating: F4
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Most people remember Hammer as a maker of literary horror movie classics. All the favourites (Drac. Mummy etc.) were wheeled out again and again to ever decreasing affect.
In an attempt to literally keep abreast of the times, the studio degenerated from such reasonably restrained beginnings to tits and gore malarkey over a reasonably short period. Pretty soon it was all over horror, with the advent of Halloween et al had gone all urban on us.
In the early 80's, the green, rolling fields of merry olde England were a place of terror no longer. Hammers response was thus a TV show that contained all the above, albeit in a modern, though English setting. Most of the shows were shot around the Home Counties, my spawning ground, and so were incredibly and literally close to home (I even had the honour of seeing a few episodes being shot). And all, pretty much, are remembered with very fond recollections from those young enough to be impressed at the time.
These few episodes burnt themselves indelibly into the minds of all adolences watching. First of it gave what every pre-pube relished but rarely
saw - the staple diet of sex and violence. I vividly remember spluttering forth my Cornflakes during the first episode when a gamely witch disrobed.
Of course, as my parents were in the room at the time I had to draw attention to the poor lighting and sound design. Next day at school tales of wanton (and often, made up) nudity spread as fast as lice, very soon camps were set between those allowed to watch and those denyed - of course creating a witch hunt of our own. Next up, and far more plentiful, was the
gore factor. Entertaining high lights included impalement by farming equipment in the voodoo doll episode, frying puppies in the one starring Peter Cushing, and most entertaining and well remembered of all, blood spraying from the pipes of the well titled "House that dripped blood" during the children's birthday bash.
For all the tack, the series did produce a few episodes that actually could stand the withering test of time. The Cushing episode featured an ex Nazi experimenting with entrapment - the theme oozed with unease. The ultimate shock factor occurred for me during the Diana Dors werewolf episode. Without giving the game away lets say that this with the combination of the appearance of Danny Glick in Salems Lot led to me living in a bedroom sans window for a year. Healthy. Creepiest of all was the doppelganger episode
"The Hitchhiker", featuring a partially terrifying pre credits sequence, that made good use of the desolate rural atmosphere. It's these elements that have been retained in my mind the most - let's see if they compare to the real thing twenty years down the line.
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