Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Theo Robertson Anthology series featuring stand alone episodes centered around supernatural and horror themes weren't all that common in television in the 60s 70s and 80s and the longest running one was the often dire TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED sarcastically referred to by some people as Tales Of The Bloody Obvious . They do however stick in the mind of a people of a certain age often down to the fact we remember good ones and quickly forget he bad ones . they're often very variable and my personal opinion is that the best anthology show was JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN a syndicated British show produced by Hammer films . Hammer were the world kings of horror film making in the 60s and 70s and mindful of their output they produced this well remembered show which was broadcast in 1980 What struck me about watching this series after a gap of many years is how parochial everything is . Unlike JTTU which due to finance constraints had to shoe in a American lead in to each and every episode , and to a lesser degree Brian Clemens THRILLER from the mid 1970s there's no real attempt to make characters identifiable to an audience outside Britain and the cast are almost exclusively those actors and actresses who you instantly recognise even though their names don't come readily to mind . Possibly the best known actor - and with a nice touch to the studio's past - is Peter Cushing in THE SILENT SCREAM where he appears with a totally unknown Scottish actor called Brian Cox . . This parochial thinking shouldn't be taken as a criticism however and the stories do have a strong though slightly quaint feeling of Britishness rather than trans Atlantic gloss The episodes themselves are some what variable the outstanding episode being The House That Bled and the clear wooden prize winners jointly being held by the very predictable Visitor From Beyond The Grave and demonic child Growing Pains according to opinion here but my own opinion is Children Of The Full Moon being the worst down to it's rather silly storyline . Interesting too that episodes seen divided between macabre mystery and out and out horror tale . Watching the show you're struck by how limited the horror genre is . We thankfully don't get any horny teenagers in peril type stories but much of the themes here have been done before and probably better . This seems to have split opinions on this page quite markedly judging by the comments and I suppose to enjoy this series in the spirit it was meant you'd have to be home every Autumn Saturday in 1980 . A second series was planned for broadcast in 1982 but a behind the scenes production deal led the series to mutating in to HAMMER HOUSE OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE which was financed by 20th Century Fox which meant we had shoe horned American characters and very hap hazard scheduling in Britain which meant that show became very obscure

Robert MacRae (jayhawk-18) My boyfriend was happy to see these available to rent through Amazon. He remembered many a late night as a boy under the blanket in front of the telly watching these. Some childhood memories don't deserve to be revisited though and he said the original thrill of watching these was long gone.We sat through about six episodes in all, cringing at the cheap effects, crap acting and lame pacing. Most episodes had no suspense or intrigue to them whatsoever (some were downright boring) and every twist makes itself known well in advance. Some episodes are nonsensical, even in the 'anything can happen' genres of horror and sci-fi. Doppelgangers in East Anglia? Must be 'normal for Norfolk.' Hospital porters being groomed by Satanists to eat babies? Again, normal for Norfolk, I guess.The acting was hammy to the extreme, like the time travelling witch who does nothing but bare her breasts and cackle (as witches do). The actress who played the American woman suffering from a nervous breakdown deserves a BAFTA, honest. 'I...will be...AVENGED!!!' If you're a unsophisticated teenager or some ironic uni students wanting some cheap entertainment, here's your series. Anyone with a serious interest in creepy thrillers should stay well away.

keel_teek-1 i recall watching this as a kid and when it came out on DVD, i was amazed at how much of this i remember. not really as good as the hammer films of the old days, but worth a watch if ur a fan of the hammer genre. my fav stories where 'the silent scream' with peter cushing & brian cox, 'charlie boy' and 'children of the full moon' with diana dors. the funniest story was 'the carpathian eagle' where suzanne danielle played the killer. the scene where she's in the singles cocktail bar, sitting at the bar exposing her leg and drinking her cocktail, while wearing a blonde wig, white dress. was hysterical..all that was missing was a big sign saying 'MURDERER' above her head, it was so obvious. this episode also had a young pierce brosnan as 'final victim'

boom-10 Could you believe that after so long, the Hammer Company could come back and release a show that had as much quality content as the original Twilight Zone? For those who have not seen this, the closest that I can come to describing this gems is to compare to the 1 hour episodes that Rod Serling put out. Even that doesn't do them justice.There are thirteen episodes in all. The cover lists Peter Cushing, Denholm Eliot, and Pierce Brosnan, but there are stand-out performances by many more in each episode. Jon Finch (Hitchcock's Frenzy) starts off as director editing his film at home when a fierce storm draws near... From the first minute of the first episode, it is apparent that this series was something special. Good direction, tight casting, and fast paced stories are the norm. This is not to say that all will interest, and some have common themes to other episodes, but all are enjoyable. Picture a standard film, and cut out a half an hour of the excess, and you've got these. Certainly worth the investment, these episodes can be collected in one box set, which is quite well done by A+E. Werewolves, demons, witches, voodoo dolls, and for good measure a demented Nazi can all be found within. Horror fans, and those who miss good television, should take a look at Hammer. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.