Woodyanders William (a solid performance by Nicholas Ball), his wife Emma (well played by the fetching Rachel Davies), and their daughter Sophia (the adorable Emma Ridley) move into an old rundown house where a brutal murder occurred years ago. Strange and upsetting things start to happen immediately thereafter.Director Tom Clegg keeps the absorbing story moving along at a steady pace, adroitly crafts a creepy atmosphere, makes nice use of the titular crumbling abode, grounds the premise in a believable everyday reality, and tosses in a few nice bits of gore that include a hideously mangled cat and a pipe that sprays blood on a bunch of folks celebrating Sophie's birthday party. David Lloyd's crafty script pulls off a doozy of a surprise twist and concludes on a shockingly nasty note. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps this episode on track: Patricia Maynard as friendly neighbor Jean, Brian Coucher as Jean's helpful husband George, and Milton Johns as smarmy real estate agent A.J. Powers. Norman Warwick's crisp cinematography and James Bernard's robust ooga-booga score further enhance the sturdy quality of this nifty show.

one-nine-eighty If you are familiar with the Hammer TV series you'll most probably know this one or have heard about it at least. "The House that bled to Death" is probably the creepiest of all the TV episode's that Hammer released. If you are watching the DVD box-set of the TV series this one marks the 5th title for your viewing pleasure and is undoubtedly the most out and out horror shorts of the box-set. A young couple and their daughter (William, Emma and Sophie Peters played by Nicholas Ball, Rachel Davies and Emma Ridley) move into a new house at 42 Coleman road in which the previous owner has killed his wife for no explained reason. After moving in and settling down creepy things start to happen, first for young Sophie but soon enough William and Emma experience spooky events too. The straw which broke the ratings for me is the end - I won't spoil it but after a great build up the last few minutes is a bit of a weird twist and ultimately a let down - especially after the amazing birthday party which had been thrown for Sophie. If this wasn't branded and packaged as a Hammer production I'd have some serious concerns about messages of child abuse from watching this as everything that Sophie is dear to gets destroyed or killed off by the end - you'll see! Directed by Tom Clegg and written by David Lloyd this short featured a fairly unknown cast but all manage to deliver excellently. There is a creepy atmosphere throughout the feature, genuinely scary moments with clever twists and turns as well as the occasional moment of dark humour. I'll happily give this 5 out of 10, not the best Hammer production, not the worst, but certainly creative one and manages to bring a flood of crimson to the screen like only Hammer can.

Theo Robertson From memory this was the stand out episode from HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR . If there's any flaws to it then it's a very conscious reworking of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and suffers from obvious and obvious exposition where characters relate things to one another that they'd already know as in " We've been here in California for three years now and ... " but from what I've seen via my recent rewatching of the show this looks like remaining the best of a relatively invariable mediocre set of stand alone horror stories You can perhaps work out what the twist is going to be at the end and to its credit the internal logic of the story states that there's no such thing as the supernatural which is a blatant and undisguised attack on the credibility of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR writer Jay Anson and the Lutz family . There is an element of contrivance in that someone must do something such as faint in order for the plot to progress and someone has to be in the right place at the right time but the credibility just about works , probably down to the fact William Peters works as a hospital porter which gives you a large clue as to how someone can have access to blood and severed hands One amusing back stage story was from Brian Croucher who mentioned that the cast kept corpsing every time they saw the stuffed prop for Timmy the cat , something that's not reflected on screen since the death of Timmy is fairly shocking . It is very noticeable that just before the climatic scene at the children's birthday party the young cast are enjoying the fact that they know what's going to happen next and are enjoying themselves a little bit too much , this sums up the episode which is very enjoyable

trashgang Those good old days of Hammer, aah what a time that was. I remember that my dad used to watch it on air on ITV and sometimes if i had the nerve I watched with him. It must have been my first confrontation with the genre I love now. The season they made in 1980 is available for some time but I was a bit afraid to watch it again, not for the scary parts but when you take a trip down memorylane sometimes it's a big letdown. I had that before by watching Magnum and Dukes of Hazard, my god, so slow. Tales of The Unexpected couldn't deliver what it did when it was broadcasted so after 20 years I tried Hammer again. I will watch them in no particular order because it all stands on his own. Know for not being one of the best parts in the 13 episodes it's what I guessed a bit slow but still it delivers. Children are involved and they will confront a blood bath, a real one. Even dismemberment and a sliced cat passes the episode. If you place it in the time it was aired it was a bit gory for the time being. It isn't a Friday the 13th or like those slashers but is nice to watch. It clocks in at 50 minutes and that's really enough. The plot is what I guessed but with almost no effects it works. Hammer not on his best, but still it's Hammer.