{"id":7228,"date":"2013-11-05T02:10:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T07:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7228"},"modified":"2013-11-05T02:58:52","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T07:58:52","slug":"tv-hammer-house-of-mystery-and-suspense-fox-mystery-theater-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7228","title":{"rendered":"TV: Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense \/ Fox Mystery Theater (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>H<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: n\/a \/ DVD Extras: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label: n\/a\/ Region: n\/a\u00a0\/\u00a0Released: n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre: TV \/ Horror \/ Hammer Horror<\/p>\n

Synopsis: \u00a0Hammer’s last big production hurrah of the eighties is more supernatural horror than straight mystery & suspense, offering a mix of ghosts, double-crossings, espionage, and twist finales.<\/p>\n

Special Features: n\/a<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

A co-production between Britain\u2019s Hammer Studios and Fox\u2019 American TV division, Hammer House of Mystery<\/strong> represents the studio\u2019s last poke at production before the veteran British studio shuttered and remained dormant for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Broadcast in the U.S. as the Fox Mystery Theatre<\/strong>, the 13 episodes ran a good twenty minutes longer than Hammer\u2019s prior series, Hammer House of Horror<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1980), and each tale starred a recognizable American actor from the small screen, supported by some of Britain\u2019s top talent, albeit not always in top form.<\/p>\n

The assigned directors were more often veterans of Hammer\u2019s theatrical output, but even they seemed to recognize most of the scripts lacked coherence or any genuine dramatic gravitas. The impression of the entire HHMS run is of a concept pitched with a handful of completed and vetted scripts, but rushed into production to meet the more stringent deadlines of Hammer\u2019s American partner, Fox. The great imbalance between pre-production time and onscreen quality becomes evident around the midpoint, with the remaining episodes degenerating into absolute rubbish.<\/p>\n

Val Guest, whose career includes The Quatermass Experiment<\/strong> (1955), Hell is a City<\/a><\/strong> (1960), and The Day the Earth Caught Fire<\/strong> (1961), directed a trio of episodes. \u201cMark of the Devil,\u201d written by Brian Clemens (The Avengers<\/strong> series, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>]) has Dirk Benedict (Battlestar: Galactica<\/strong>) playing an indebted gambler cursed by the owner of a tattoo parlor he murdered for money. As the days pass, a tattoo on his chest begins to grow, revealing details of his heinous crime, and what lies ahead. Jenny Seagrove (The Guardian<\/strong>) plays his fianc\u00e9e, and Burt Kwoul (The Pink Panther<\/strong>) is the tattoo shop\u2019 owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Possession\u201d has Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure<\/strong>) and Christopher Cazenove (Dynasty<\/strong>) playing a married couple seeing ghosts of the former occupants of their flat. Unable to leave the apartment, the couple witnesses the murder which took place decades ago, and are unexpectedly able to communicate with the spirits at odd junctures. The dialogue is terrible, the scenes are labored to extend the material is suitable for a half-hour segment, and the finale is terribly lame. This, however, is not Guest\u2019s nadir.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild\u2019s Play\u201d opens with a peculiar and intriguing Twilight Zone<\/strong> premise \u2013 a family discovers their house has been walled up with a shield of impregnable metal \u2013 but it loses logic as their daughter (Debbie Chasan, giving the worst performance in the series) claims her mother is a phony. Worked into the meandering mess are characters discovering their limbs becoming stiff, objects have been stamped with a strange logo, and a volcanic green goo is pouring from the chimney into their house. The \u2018twist finale\u2019 is hardly a shock, but it\u2019s less grating than Graham Wassell\u2019s terrible dialogue. Nicholas Clay\u2019s performance as the father is pitched far too high, as he invested every ounce of RADA training into what is a cardboard role. The token American star, Mary Crosby (Dallas<\/strong>), is surprisingly strong, but she can\u2019t save this absolute waste of time.<\/p>\n

Director Peter Sasdy (Hands of the Ripper<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>]) also returns to TV with a trio of slightly better efforts. \u201cLast Video and Testament\u201d has an ailing industrialist suspicious of his wife\u2019s fidelity, and plots an extended torment from his grave. Deborah Raffin (Noble House<\/strong>) is the trophy wife with a strong desire to take over the genetics business of husband Victor Frankham (a very melodramatic David Langton), while Oliver Tobias is the possible clandestine lover who has plans to claim the company\u2019s power positioning full. The episode is an interesting time capsule of video and computer gear, but there\u2019s little of value in this tedium with a banal ear-aching twist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Late Nancy Irving\u201d fares better, since it manages to sustain most of the twist material to the end. Christina Raines (The Duellists<\/a><\/strong>, TV\u2019s Flamingo Road<\/strong>) is a tennis star with a rare blood type who finds herself trapped in a remote clinic after a near-lethal car accident. Raines is unusually strong, showing more range than her prior guest appearances on assorted TV episodes and in minor film roles, and veteran character actor Marius Goring (The Spy in Black<\/a><\/strong>) is almost unrecognizable in a small role.<\/p>\n

Brian Clemens delivered a banal double-cross plot in \u201cThe Sweet Scent of Death\u201d in which a U.S. Ambassador (Dean Stockwell) and his wife (Shirley Knight) sense someone is plotting to harm them after vacationing at a remote English mansion. A former lawyer, Knight fears it may be a man she helped convict, but the entire tale drags on, with Clemens\u2019 script focusing more on ersatz witty dialogue than logical human reactions and behaviour. \u2018An odor of absolute boredom.\u2019<\/p>\n

John Hough (The Legend of Hell House<\/strong>) had his own trio of shockers, starting off with \u201cCzech Mate,\u201d a minor story of secret agents, entrapment, and subterfuge benefitting from excellent locations, and a strong performance by Susan George (star of Hough\u2019s Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry<\/strong>). The mystery of why her husband has disappeared is prolonged, and the odd behaviour by hotel clerks, locals, and the discovery of a body aren\u2019t so neatly plotted out, but the finale is satisfying, making this lone episode the only effort of the 13 which feels like a modest theatrical B-movie.<\/p>\n

Hough\u2019s \u201cA Distant Scream\u201d is a supernatural tale of a woman (Dynasty<\/strong>\u2019s Stephanie Beacham) who sees her photographer lover (David Carradine) in two guises: in his present incarnation, and as an aged, ghostly apparition with whom only she can see and communicate. The twist isn\u2019t unique, but there\u2019s atmospheric use of a rugged, saltwater ravaged coastal resort, and a supporting cast who make do with clich\u00e9d archetypes of hick locals.<\/p>\n

The director\u2019s final tale is the rather ludicrous \u201cBlack Carrion\u201d that begins as an a reporter\u2019s (Leigh Lawson) investigative news piece on a hit band who disappeared twenty years ago without a trace, and the accompanying photographer (Season Hubley) whose sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu depends as the news pair discover why a remote town has become a black hole for strangers who wander off the main road. Moody yet clumsily structured, the story also fails due a maniacally repetitive use of pop songs (which sound more eighties than sixties), and the rather spastic behaviour of the photographer. As one half of the Verne singers, Allan Love avaricious acting style is oppressive, and the finale is wholly dimwitted.<\/p>\n

Among the remaining episodes, only one<\/em> is noteworthy. \u201cPaint Me a Murder\u201d has a clever hook: a painter (Lames Lauenson) fakes his death so his spouse (Knots Landing<\/strong>\u2019s Michelle Phillips) can reap profits from his \u2018last masterpieces\u2019 which he actually crafts while holed up in an attic. The finale is predictable, but there\u2019s good ambiance in Pat Silver and Jesse Lasky\u2019s script, and director Alan Cooke makes good use of the locations, especially the cottage by some striking white cliffs \u2013 seen in numerous other productions, such as the trippy Hammeresque shocker Corruption<\/strong> (1968).<\/p>\n

David McCallum (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.<\/strong>) struggles to give life to \u201cThe Corvini Inheritance,\u201d a clumsy pastiche of a serial killer mystery, jewel robbery, and a reclusive security expert who may be getting too close to his pretty recently assaulted next-doo neighbour (Jan Francis). The twist is rubbish, and the only interesting element is the clunky video gear McCallum uses to track passersby at home and visitors at the art auction house where he\u2019s employed.<\/p>\n

Barbi Benton may have appreciated a rare non-bimbo role as an expert on Medieval vernacular churches, but \u201cAnd the Wall Came Tumbling Down\u201d is a meandering, badly acted supernatural tale of a painting with a bloody history unearthed during the demolition of a church, and old spirits who return to the present for revenge. Paul Annett\u2019s direction is undistinguished, but so is the writing. Only the grimy locations offer some interesting colour.<\/p>\n

The last stinker in the series is \u201cTennis Court,\u201d where the jealous spirit of an aged pilot housed at a senior\u2019s home is able to exert fearsome and lethal damage on his former love, and anyone that dare enter the tennis court where he once played with his former best friends. Peter Graves (Mission<\/strong>: Impossible<\/strong>) is the ex-best friend \/ priest with a dark past, and Hannah Gordon plays the woman loved by two men. Cyril Frankel\u2019s direction is very buoyant \u2013 his camera and editing are very energetic \u2013 but his efforts to maintain momentum and mystery are thoroughly for naught when the wrap-up is a laughable clich\u00e9, and the last shot is starkly lame.<\/p>\n

HHMS had great potential, especially since Hammer\u2019s prior horror series often had concepts which could\u2019ve been expanded to feature lengths, but for many of the stories here, at 70 minutes the worst episodes drag before they reach a contrived twist. Like its horror cousin, HHMS was largely shot on location, and the best episodes take full advantage of the locales in & and around London. It\u2019s especially amusing to see \u201cLast Video and Testament\u201d filmed in the glassy corporate office which served as the American Ambassador\u2019s HQ in Omen III: The Final Conflict<\/strong> (1981).<\/p>\n

The episodes don\u2019t suffer from the U.S. casting \u2013 the writers managed to make their inclusion among British co-stars and veteran supporting actors feel quite natural \u2013 but in being tailored for the American market, none of the risqu\u00e9 tone from the horror series was carried over. Even in stronger, atmospheric episodes like \u201cCzech Mate\u201d and \u201cDistant Scream\u201d there are one or three too many sequences where actors hurry between locations, providing obvious padding for another set of ad breaks.<\/p>\n

The music scores are highly inconsistent in quality, and in many cases they sound like stock music rather than original scores meant for a snug dramatic fit. (The recording quality is also weak, adding a shrillness to some material, especially the rather whiny series theme.)<\/p>\n

HHMS deserves a proper DVD release (an OOP Region 2 edition reportedly contains an hour of fresh extras), but there may be a need for some restoration work if the broadcast masters in current (and rare) circulation are on par with wanly coloured 16mm prints. Should a proper set emerge, one hopes there are some solid featurettes and interviews on the series making, ill-executed compromises for the U.S. market, and its reception in the U.K. and the U.S. during its original broadcast.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB<\/a><\/p>\n

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Vendor Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \"\"—New movie releases on iTunes<\/a>\"\"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/<\/em>\/\u00a0H<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ H . Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: n\/a \/ DVD Extras: n\/a Label: n\/a\/ Region: n\/a\u00a0\/\u00a0Released: n\/a Genre: TV \/ Horror \/ Hammer Horror Synopsis: \u00a0Hammer’s last big production hurrah of the eighties is more supernatural horror than straight mystery & suspense, offering a mix of ghosts, double-crossings, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2333,2331,2329,2334,2335,2328,1518,2330,1814,2332],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1SA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7228"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7234,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228\/revisions\/7234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}