London 1649: England is in the midst of a civil war, as suspicions grow of ones neighbours political alliances, so too does it grow for those neighbours who might be practicing witchcraft. Witch hunts and burnings are a regular occurrence as religious fervour and fear spread across the country. Martin, an aspiring artist is persuaded by Daniel Haswell, the head of the local secret coven, to paint a satanic mural on the wall of the local church, in order to negate the churches powers and to empower his movement to greater evil. Soon after though, he is racked by guilt and confesses to Father Ambrey, his part in the evil deed. Father Ambrey promises Martin absolution only if he betrays those in the coven, this he does, all known members are caught except for Haswell, who entraps Martin and buries him alive within an alcove of the church, Haswell knowing his time is numbered joins Martin behind the wall and pledges to return in another life to fulfill his satanic prophecy.
London 1985: The site of the old church is now on government land within a derelict area of London with few inhabitants, Peter Whiteway (Gareth Hunt) has been assigned the task of clearing the land for a new Military Nuclear Base, which includes the imminent demolition of the church, but during this process a worker is strangely killed after boring a hole in a wall within the church, a police investigation ensues, Whiteaway's task is made all the harder by the arrival of Caroline Trent, who wants to check that the church is not a heritage site. With more strange deaths occurring daily in the church, Whiteaway and Trent begin to believe there might be more behind these events than sheer bad luck.
After the success of Hammer House of Horror(1980), it was no surprise that Hammer followed it up with the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, the only surprise being it took so long to commission. As you night expect it boasted the usual array of familiar faces from both sides of the Atlantic, ( a good marketing ploy) and again turned to reliable horror stalwarts like Val Guest, Peter Sasdy, Cyril Frankel and John Hough. For this film The Beast Must Die helmer Paul Annett was entrusted with directing. He adequately builds up a decent feeling of dread about what lurks in the church behind the walls, our modern day characters are given but the briefest glimpses through the small opening in the wall of what seems to be a painting that changes colour and shape, but its probably just the darkness playing tricks with their minds. As the body count increases it soon becomes obvious that within the church there are evil powers at work, is this the time that the prophecy will be fulfilled? The period scenes are done rather well and seem to catch the flavour of the times. Haswell played by Peter Wyngarde with his unusual and striking visage, provides us with a foe of note, his dark robes, piercing eyes and trademark handlebar moustache giving him a notable air of evil. The acting on the whole is pretty good, as are the characterizations which in the limited time frame are given time to flourish. The modern setting provides us with some decent moments of horror, but its all just a little too bit predictable, its not hard to guess whats going to happen, especially as the same actors who played in the period setting return in a modern guise, waiting for some sign or message from the past to trigger some past behaviour in a modern setting. The grand finale set within the church, as good again faces evil in a fight to the finish isn't as slick as it should be from a character stand point, but as the wall collapses in the ensuing fracas, we see that within Haswell's agenda, there is a hidden political message aimed at the contemporary audience, not that surprising for the time the film was made, its quite subtle though so it doesn't quite spoil the mood. The overall feel is quite tame for modern audiences, who will no doubt find it dull as its effectively a cross between Witchfinder General and La Chiesa, still though its nicely played out and fans of this era of British horror will find plenty to enjoy and as its a short TV production there is of course the obligatory surprise twist.
London 1985: The site of the old church is now on government land within a derelict area of London with few inhabitants, Peter Whiteway (Gareth Hunt) has been assigned the task of clearing the land for a new Military Nuclear Base, which includes the imminent demolition of the church, but during this process a worker is strangely killed after boring a hole in a wall within the church, a police investigation ensues, Whiteaway's task is made all the harder by the arrival of Caroline Trent, who wants to check that the church is not a heritage site. With more strange deaths occurring daily in the church, Whiteaway and Trent begin to believe there might be more behind these events than sheer bad luck.
After the success of Hammer House of Horror(1980), it was no surprise that Hammer followed it up with the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, the only surprise being it took so long to commission. As you night expect it boasted the usual array of familiar faces from both sides of the Atlantic, ( a good marketing ploy) and again turned to reliable horror stalwarts like Val Guest, Peter Sasdy, Cyril Frankel and John Hough. For this film The Beast Must Die helmer Paul Annett was entrusted with directing. He adequately builds up a decent feeling of dread about what lurks in the church behind the walls, our modern day characters are given but the briefest glimpses through the small opening in the wall of what seems to be a painting that changes colour and shape, but its probably just the darkness playing tricks with their minds. As the body count increases it soon becomes obvious that within the church there are evil powers at work, is this the time that the prophecy will be fulfilled? The period scenes are done rather well and seem to catch the flavour of the times. Haswell played by Peter Wyngarde with his unusual and striking visage, provides us with a foe of note, his dark robes, piercing eyes and trademark handlebar moustache giving him a notable air of evil. The acting on the whole is pretty good, as are the characterizations which in the limited time frame are given time to flourish. The modern setting provides us with some decent moments of horror, but its all just a little too bit predictable, its not hard to guess whats going to happen, especially as the same actors who played in the period setting return in a modern guise, waiting for some sign or message from the past to trigger some past behaviour in a modern setting. The grand finale set within the church, as good again faces evil in a fight to the finish isn't as slick as it should be from a character stand point, but as the wall collapses in the ensuing fracas, we see that within Haswell's agenda, there is a hidden political message aimed at the contemporary audience, not that surprising for the time the film was made, its quite subtle though so it doesn't quite spoil the mood. The overall feel is quite tame for modern audiences, who will no doubt find it dull as its effectively a cross between Witchfinder General and La Chiesa, still though its nicely played out and fans of this era of British horror will find plenty to enjoy and as its a short TV production there is of course the obligatory surprise twist.
