"Hammer House of Horror" Witching Time (1980)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Don Leaver

Writer:

Anthony Read (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Hammer House of Horror" (1980)

Original Air Date:

12 April 1980 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

At the isolated Woodstock Farm in rural England, workaholic composer David Winter (Jon Finch) is depressed because he feels that his wife...

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Composer | Witch | Possession | TV Series Pilot

Cast

Jon Finch	...	David Winter
Patricia Quinn	...	Lucinda Jessop
Prunella Gee	...	Mary Winter
Ian McCulloch	...	Dr. Charles Henderson
Lennard Pearce	...	Rector
Margaret Anderson	...	Nursing Sister

Runtime:

60 min | USA:49 min (edited for TV) | Germany:52 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16

Company:

Chips Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mary falls down the stairs in her underwear, an apparent stunt double clearly has bare feet, but in the very next shot Mary has sandals or slippers on her feet.

Hammer House Of Horror: Witching Time (Don Leaver, 1980) (TV) **1/2

While I can't say that I was especially looking forward to this series – considering the undeniable drop in quality during Hammer's last years (I did, however, catch at least one memorable episode from its follow-up, HAMMER HOUSE OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE [1984]) – this one certainly sets it off to a pretty good start. Incidentally, it was unusual to have nudity in a TV show of the era, even if – by now – this was pretty much a Hammer requisite. Here, we get a predictable but well-handled plot involving a strained relationship accentuated by the intervention of the supernatural. The 'attacks' on the heroine by the jealous witch and the latter's influence on her husband (causing his descent into near-madness) are, again, par for the course – as is, needless to say, the witch's eventual come-uppance by virtue of the elements (water and fire). The opening episode of this particular series is helped a lot by good casting (notably Patricia Quinn as the witch – alternating between hysteria, sensuality and menace) and the remote countryside setting.