Hammer House of Horror (1980)
Anthology series, in which each self-contained episode featured a different kind of horror. These varied from witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil worship and voodoo, but also included non-supernatural horror themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers.
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Episode 1 - Witching Time
Release Date: 1980-09-13The beautiful Lucinda Jessop turns up in David Winter's barn, claiming to be a witch from the 17th Century who has escaped being burnt at the stake by travelling forward in time, and it's not long before he is under her spell - much to the alarm of his wife, Mary.
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Episode 2 - The Thirteenth Reunion
Release Date: 1980-09-20Journalist Ruth Cairns is given the job of writing about a weight loss programme at the Chesterton Clinic, a place with a strange reputation. After checking into the Clinic, Ruth investigates rumours of limbless torsos and body snatching.
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Episode 3 - Rude Awakening
Release Date: 1980-09-27Estate agent Norman Shenley has a dream about murdering his plain, bad-tempered wife, which leaves him free to chase his secretary, Lolly. Later that day, a man approaches Norman wanting to sell an old house called Lower Moat Manor. From that point on, real life and fantasy start to become intertwined...
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Episode 4 - Growing Pains
Release Date: 1980-10-04Ten-year-old William tragically dies by eating food intended for his father's research rabbits. His parents, Terence and Laurie, subsequently adopt another boy, James. But James is a weird, aloof child from the beginning and shocking things happen around him.
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Episode 5 - The House That Bled to Death
Release Date: 1980-10-11Emma and William Peters and their young daughter, Sophie, move into an old house that has been empty for many years. Unknown to them, Number 42, Colman Road, has not been lived-in since an old man murdered his wife there. As severed hands and kukris materialize, echos of the house's grisly history begin to terrorise the new occupants.
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Episode 6 - Charlie Boy
Release Date: 1980-10-18A young man, Graham, inherits his uncle's collection of native art, including an African black magic doll which he and his girlfriend, Sarah, call 'Charlie Boy'. Ignorant of its power, Graham inadvertently uses 'Charlie Boy' to kill a dangerous driver but also accidentally sets in motion a fatal curse directed at those closest to him.
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Episode 7 - The Silent Scream
Release Date: 1980-10-25A hard-up young convict, Chuck Spillers, strikes up a friendship with Martin Brueck, an elderly prison visitor who owns a pet shop. When Chuck is released, he is glad to take a job working in the shop where Martin reveals he keeps a number of large cats in cages and is experimenting in controlling animals by electrical force fields and bells. Unfortunately for Chuck, his desperate need for money lures him into danger.
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Episode 8 - Children of the Full Moon
Release Date: 1980-11-01A friend lends Tom Martin a country cottage for a holiday with his wife, Sarah. On the way there, Tom's car runs out of control and he can't stop it. The car ends up at a house in the woods, where Tom and Sarah meet eight beautiful Hungarian children and their Nanny, Mrs Ardoy. That night, they have an experience which will change their lives.
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Episode 9 - Carpathian Eagle
Release Date: 1980-11-08A man is murdered by a female hitch-hiker who cuts out his heart with a sharp hook. While noting its similarity to another recent killing, Police Inspector Clifford hears on the radio about a book by local writer Natalie, concerning a 17th Century countess who kept an eagle that tore out her husband's heart after he locked her up, in addition to her many subsequent lovers. Clifford contacts Natalie to find out more and his suspicion soon falls on Mrs Henska, an elderly European who is descended from the count...
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Episode 10 - Guardian of the Abyss
Release Date: 1980-11-15Australian antique dealer Laura Stephens buys an old mirror in a job lot at an auction. While she and fellow dealer Mike Roberts are looking at it, the sinister Simon Andrews makes a high offer for the mirror, but Laura turns him down. On the drive home, Mike Roberts picks up a runaway called Alison, who says she has escaped from the sinister Choronzan Society. During their chat she identifies the mirror as a 'scrying glass', a fact that leads Mike into a world of human sacrifice and devil worship.
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Episode 11 - Visitor from the Grave
Release Date: 1980-11-22Charlie Willoughby tries to rape Penny, an unstable young American living in England, and in defending herself she shoots and kills him. Her boyfriend, Harry, helps Penny cover things up and buries Charlie's body in the woods. Then, however, Penny thinks she hears and sees Charlie, still alive - but a trickster is up to no good and wants something from Penny.
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Episode 12 - The Two Faces of Evil
Release Date: 1980-11-29The Lewis family, Martin and Janet and their son David, is driving off on holiday. As they go through a severe rainstorm, they almost fail to see a man in the road, missing him by inches. Martin stops and offers the sober-looking stranger a lift. Back on the road again, the stranger suddenly attacks Martin, causing a terrible crash. Janet and David wake up in hospital and find that Martin has also survived, badly scarred and changed... As time goes by, Janet starts to wonder whether the man who is now her husband is Martin at all. Could it be the stranger?
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Episode 13 - The Mark of Satan
Release Date: 1980-12-06Edwyn Rord, a young man working in a hospital morgue, pricks himself with a needle while working on the body of a man who thought he was possessed by the Devil. As a result, the Devil chooses Edwyn as his next disciple - or is it all in Edwyn's mind? In any event, Edwyn becomes obsesses by numerology and kills his mother, and the local Vicar takes a strong line on it all.