UK, 13 September 1980-6 December 1980
1 series, 13 episodes, average 50m each
35mm film, colour, 4:3
mono, English
A British anthology horror series from Hammer Film Productions, their third – and most successful – attempt to launch a television series following the failed pilot Tales of Frankenstein (1958) and a previous anthology show, Journey to the Unknown (1968-1969). The series was first announced in the British trade journals as early as June 1973. 1CinemaTV Today no.10034 (2 June 1973) p.26
Premise
Thirteen tales of horror and the supernatural made by Hammer Film Productions.
Credits
Regular Crew
© MCMLXXX [1980] Chips Productions Limited
Jack Gill presents [opening credits] A Jack Gill presentation [closing titles]. For Chips Productions Ltd. A Cinema Arts International production in association with Hammer Films for ITC Films International
Executive Producers: Brian Lawrence, David Reid
Produced by: Roy Skeggs
Alternative Titles
Yöjuttu – Finnish title
La Maison de tous les cauchemars – French title
Links
See also
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984)
Episodes
Witching Time (13 September 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Don Leaver
Screenplay by: Anthony Read
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor : Chris Barnes
Music Composed by: James Bernard
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Jon Finch (David); Patricia Quinn (Lucinda); Prunella Gee (Mary); Ian McCulloch (Charles); Lennard Pearce (Rector); Margaret Anderson (sister)
David Winter finds a young woman hiding in a barn near his farmhouse. She claims to be a with from the 17th century who has escaped being burnt at the stake by transporting herself through time. Winter soon finds both his marriage and his life on the line as the witch tries to possess him.
The Thirteenth Reunion (20 September 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
Screenplay by: Jeremy Burnham
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor : Peter Weatherley
Music Composed by: John McCabe
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Julia Foster (Ruth); Dinah Sheridan (Gwen); Richard Pearson (Sir Humphrey Chesterton); Norman Bird (Basil); Warren Clarke (Ben); George Innes (Cedric); James Cosmo (Willis); Gerrard Kelly (Andrew); Michael Latimer (Dr Bentley); Barbara Keogh (Joan); Paula Jacobs (Joyce); Roger Ostime (the butler); Peter Dean (Charlie); Louis Mansi (Rossi); Kevin Stoney (Rothwell)
Journalist Ruth Cairns investigates the sinister Think Thin slimming treatment being practiced at the Chesterton Clinic. She joins one of the groups and finds that one of the other members, Ben, is killed in a car crash shortly after taking a slimming pill. Even stranger, his body disappears from the undertakers and is replaced by a dummy…
Rude Awakening (27 September 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
Screenplay by: Gerald Savory
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor : Bob Dearberg
Music Composed by: Paul Paterson
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Denholm Elliott (Norman Shenley); James Laurenson (Mr Rayburn); Pat Heywood (Emily Shenley); Lucy Gutteridge (Lolly); Eleanor Summerfield (Lady Strudwick); Gareth Armstrong (Dr Melbury); Patricia Mort (maid)
Estate agent Norman Shenley finds himself trapped in a seemingly never ending cycle of nightmares from which he appears never to wake. Each dream features his secretary Lolly and the near derelict Lower Moat Manor. He has to wake up some time – but will he be able to tell what's real and what's dream?
Growing Pains (4 October 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Francis Megahy
Screenplay by: Nicholas Palmer
Director of Photography: Norman Warwick
Editor : Peter Weatherley
Music Composed by: John McCabe
Sound Recordist: Stuart Edwards
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Alan Brownie
Hairdresser: Betty Sherriff
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Barbara Kellerman (Laurie Morton); Gary Bond (Terence Morton); Norman Beaton (Mr Ngenko); Matthew Blakstad (James); Tariq Yunus (Charles Austin); Christopher Reilly (William); Daphne Anderson (matron); Michael Hughes (mechanic); Karin Scott (nurse); Geoffrey Beevers (gravedigger)
William Morton dies after eating a diet supplement, GT28, that has been fed to rabbits by his scientist father, Terence Morton. Terence and his wife Laurie adopt a boy called James from an orphanage who seems at first to be rather remote and distant. When Laurie cooks dinner only to find the food alive with maggots and a stuffed rabbit turns up disemboweled, they begin to suspect that William may be back from the dead and looking for revenge.
The House That Bled to Death (11 October 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Tom Clegg
Screenplay by: David Lloyd
Director of Photography: Norman Warwick
Editor : Bob Dearberg
Music Composed by: James Bernard
Sound Recordist: Stuart Edwards
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Alan Brownie
Hairdresser: Betty Sherriff
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Nicholas Ball (William); Rachel Davies (Emma); Brian Croucher (George); Pat Maynard (Jean [Evans]); Milton Johns (A.J. Powers); Emma Ridley (Sophie); Joanna White (Sophie (older)); George Tovey (old man); Una Brandon-Jones (old woman); Jo Warne (1st mother); Sarah Keller (2nd mother); Max Mason, Anna Perry (journalists); Marilyn Finlay (sister)
At 42 Colman Road, Albert Clemens poisons his wife and dismembers her. Some time later, the house is bought by the Peters family and are almost immediately beset by strange happenings – doors and windows slam, Emma is nearly killed by a gas fire that can't switch off, Sophie's bedroom walls start to bleed and the family cat is killed in a horrific accident. Soon, Clemens' belongings start to turn up in the house…
Charlie Boy (18 October 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Robert Young
Screenplay by: Bernie Cooper and Francis Megahy
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor : Chris Barnes
Music Composed by: David Lindup
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Leigh Lawson (Graham); Angela Bruce (Sarah); Marius Goring (Heinz); Frances Cuka (Gwen); David Healy (Peter); Michael Culver (Mark); Michael Deeks (Phil); Jeff Rawle (Franks); Janet Clare Fielding (secretary); Michael Stock (armourer); Lee Richards (actress); Andrew Pariss (boy); Charles Pemberton (policeman)
When their uncle Jack dies, Mark is left the house and Graham gets the art collection. Graham's girlfriend, Sarah, decides to take home a wooden African voodoo doll. Graham becomes involved in a road rage incident and drives pins into the doll, apparently leading to the death of the man he argued with…
The Silent Scream (25 October 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Screenplay by: Francis Essex
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor : Bob Dearberg
Music Composed by: Leonard Salzedo
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Peter Cushing (Martin Blueck); Brian Cox (Chuck); Elaine Donnelly (Annie); Anthony Carrick (Aldridge); Robin Browne (police officer); Terry Kinsella (Lionel)
When Chuck Spillers is released from prison, he hopes to make a new life with his wife Annie, but find that money is in short supply. While inside, Spillers was visited by a pet shop owner, Martin Blueck, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, who now offers him a job. In the basement of his shop, Blueck keeps a menagerie of dangerous wild animals, kept in open cages controlled by electric fields. Blueck goes away on business and Spiller spots Blueck's safe – will he revert to his old criminal ways? And if he does, what sort of retribution would the apparently kindly Blueck be capable of?
Children of the Full Moon (1 November 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Tom Clegg
Screenplay by: Murray Smith
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor: Chris Barnes
Music Composed by: Paul Patterson
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Christopher Cazenove (Tom); Celia Gregory (Sarah); Diana Dors (Mrs Ardoy); Robert Urquhart (Harry); Jacob Witkin (woodcutter); Adrian Mann (Tibor); Victoria Wood (Sophy); Sophie Kind (Eloise); Matthew Dorman (young boy); Wilhimina Green (young girl); Corinna Reardon (small girl); Daniel Payne (small boy); Natalie Payne (Ireya); Daniel Kipling (Andreas)
Tom and Sarah Martin are survive a car crash at a place in the English countryside that Sarah feels is somehow part of her destiny. In the surrounding woods they find an old house, the home of Mrs Ardoy and her brood of children. The couple stay over night as packs of wolves roam the woods. They are apparently attacked by a werewolf but wake in hospital. Months later, Sarah has become sexually aggressive – and she's pregnant.
Carpathian Eagle (8 November 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Francis Megahy
Written by: Bernie Cooper and Francis Megahy
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor: Peter Weatherley
Music Composed by: Wilfred Josephs
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Anthony Valentine (Cliff); Suzanne Danielle (Natalie); Siân Phillips (Mrs Henska); Barry Stanton (Tony); Jonathan Kent (Tadek); Matthew Long (Andy); Ellis Dale (police doctor); Gary Waldhorn (Bacharach); Jeffrey Wickham (Edgar); Morgan Sheppard (hospital gardener); Barry Stokes (1st victim); Pierce Brosnan (last victim); Richard Wren (chauffeur); Diana Adderley (policewoman)
Detective Inspector Clifford is assigned to the case of several apparently strong and healthy men who have been found with their hearts cut out after having sex. He learns of the legend of a Carpathian Countess who, 300 years ago, used an eagle to rip out the hearts of her lovers. As the body count rises, Cliff begins to realise that his quarry is a schizophrenic who believes that she is the Countess.
Guardian of the Abyss (15 November 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Don Sharp
Screenplay by: David Fisher
Director of Photography: Norman Warwick
Editor: Chris Barnes
Music Composed by: John McCabe
Sound Recordist: Stuart Edwards
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Alan Brownie
Hairdresser: Betty Sherriff
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Ray Lonnen (Michael Roberts); Rosalyn Landor (Allison); John Carson (Charles Randolph); Barbara Ewing [credited in opening titles but not closing titles]; Paul Darrow (Andrews); Caroline Langrishe (Tina); Sophie Thompson (1st girl); Sharon Fusey (2nd girl); Harry McDonald (auctioneer)
A woman buys a mirror at an auction and is immediately offered £250 by a man named Andrews. The woman's friend, Michael Roberts, offers to look after the mirror and later meets Allison, who claims to have escaped from the sinister Choronzan society. She claims that the mirror is the original scrying glass of astrologer Dr Dee which he used to raise the demon Choronza. The cult's leader, Charles Randolph, needs both Allison and the mirror for his rituals.
Visitor from the Grave (22 November 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
Screenplay by: John Elder [real name: Anthony Hinds]
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor: Chris Barnes
Music Composed by: Marc Wilkinson
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Kathryn Leigh Scott (Penny); Simon MacCorkindale (Harry); Gareth Thomas (Richard/Gupta); Mia Nadasi (Margaret); Stanley Lebor (Charles); Gordon Reid [Max – uncredited]
Late one night, Penny van Bruton is confronted by an intruder who claims that her lover Harry Wells owes him money. A terrified Penny shoots him in the head but when Wells arrives home, they find that the mortally wounded intruder has staggered out into the woods. Wells identifies the man as his colleague Charles Willoughby. Penny's history of mental illness could lead to her imprisonment so they decide to bury the body in the woods – but Penny is soon being haunted by Willoughby.
The Two Faces of Evil (29 November 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Screenplay by: Ranald Graham
Director of Photography: Frank Watts
Editor: Peter Weatherley
Music Composed by: Paul Patterson
Sound Recordist: John Bramall
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Eddie Knight
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmer
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Anna Calder-Marshall (Janet Lewis); Gary Raymond (Martin Lewis); Pauline Delany (Sister); Philip Latham (Hargreaves); Jenny Laird (Mrs Roberts); Paul Hawkins (David Lewis); William Moore (Mr Roberts); Jeremy Longhurst (Dr Cummings); Brenda Cowling (Nurse Davies); Mike Savage (P.C. Jenkins); Malcolm Hayes (attendant)
While driving through the English countryside en route to their holiday, the Lewis family pick up a hitch-hiker in yellow oilskins. Martin Lewis is attacked by the man, the car crashes and Janet wakes to find herself in hospital. The hospital staff know nothing of any any hitchhiker and a badly injured Martin is recovering but doesn't seem to be his usual self. Janet comes to believe that her husband has been replaced by a doppelganger.
The Mark of Satan (6 December 1980)
Crew
Directed by: Don Leaver
Screenplay by: Don Shaw
Director of Photography: Norman Warwick
Editor: Peter Weatherley
Music Composed by: Paul Patterson
Sound Recordist: Stuart Edwards
Costume Supervisor: Laura Nightingale
Make Up: Alan Brownie
Hairdresser: Betty Sherriff
Special Effects: Ian Scoones
Designer: Carolyn Scott
Cast: Peter McEnery (Edwin); Georgina Hale (Stella); Emrys James (Dr Harris); Anthony Brown (priest); Conrad Phillips (Dr Manders); Peter Birrel (Markham); James Duggan (Simpson); Andrew Bradford (Steve); James Curran (Pritchard); Peter Cartwright (surgeon); Annie Dyson (Mrs Rord); Crispin Gillbard (policeman)
Samuel Holt drills a hole in his head, claiming that he needs to release a disease that he believes has been planted there by the devil who has possessed him. Morgue attendant Edwin Rore numbers Holt's body “9”, then finds the number turning up all the time in his every day life – he wins £9 in a sweepstake, and is stitching wounds on a corpse at a rate of 9 stitches every three inches when he pricks his finger – has he contracted Holt's mysterious disease?
References
Periodicals
Broadcast 3 December 1999 pp.S6-S7 – illustrated short article
Cinefantastique vol.10 no.3 (Winter 1980) p.15 – article
CinemaTV Today no.10034 (2 June 1973) p.26 – note (Horror masters move into TV)
CinemaTV Today no.10035 (9 June 1973) p.22 – article (Now Hammer to drive a stake into the heart of television)
Dark Terrors no.1 (January 1992) pp.13-15 – illustrated credits, article
Dark Terrors no.6 (March – June 1993) pp.34-35 – illustrated credits, synopsis, article
Dark Terrors no.7 (October – December 1993) p.37 – illustrated credits, review
L'Écran Fantastique no.22 (1982) p.76 (France) – article
Starburst no.63 (October 1983) p.42 – review
Starburst no.268 (December 2000) p.83 – illustrated video review
Television Today 3 July 1980 p.18 – article
TV Times vol.100 no.38 (11 September 1980) p.26 – illustrated article
Books
English Gothic by Jonathan Rigby pp.239-240, 259 – review
Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company by Howard Maxford pp.339-351 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
Hammer Films: The Elstree Studio Years by Wayne Kinsey pp.417-421
The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films by Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes 172-173; 190 – illustrated article, review
The Hammer Vault by Marcus Hearn pp.168-169
Horror and Science Fiction Films III by Donald C. Willis p.118-120
Horror and Science Fiction Films IV by Donald C. Willis p.219
