Tom (Christopher Cazenove) and Sarah (Celia Gregory) are off on their belated honeymoon, after Tom's work delayed it, Tom's boss has kindly let them use his country home in Somerset for their romantic getaway. On their drive through the remote country lanes they discuss their plans, when suddenly the car strangely begins to speed up, Tom desperately tries to stop the car but the brakes don't work, they brace themselves for a high speed collision but the car eventually slows down and stops in a lay-by. Relieved they both set off to find some help, but as they haven't even passed a car for many miles, they are doubtful they will find help for some time. Walking down the sun drenched leafy lanes they eventually come across an old rusty gate that leads into the forest, as there hasn't been any houses on the way they decide to take the path, the dense wooded path leads them to a large old house where they meet a soft spoken lady of the house, Mrs. Ardoy (Diana Dors), a mother of 8 beautiful children, Mr Ardoy is strangely absent.. More than 20 miles from the nearest town and with night closing in, Mrs Ardoy suggests they stay the night, Tom goes to fetch their luggage from their car, but returns swiftly in a panic, claiming he has seen a hideous creature in the forest, half man half beast, Mrs Ardoy tries to calm him claiming it must have been a stag, as the forest is awash with deer. Tom is scared but tries to hide it from Sarah as they have little choice but to stay, so after some dinner they are shown to their room, Mrs Ardoy suggests they stay in their room in case they scare the children who will be up all night celebrating a Hungarian festival. Tom and Sarah find this a very odd request, but decide to have an early night, but closing the curtains Sarah sees a hideous face at their second floor window, Tom senses they are in danger and climbs out the window to look for the culprit, half way down the drain pipe he hears some bloodcurdling screams from Sarah, he desperately climbs back up to help her, but falls to the ground and is knocked unconscious.
Tom wakes up in a local hospital, with Sarah by his side, Sarah tells him they were both lucky that they had not been killed in the car crash. Tom is startled and questions her about the Ardoys, Sarah laughs at his obviously outlandish dream.
Some time later and back at home, Tom becomes aware of a change in Sarah, her appetite for sex has become insatiable as has her penchant for rare steak. Tom however overlooks it as Sarah has announced they are going to have a child, but when Sarah suddenly disappears, Tom has an inkling where she has gone, it must be to the Ardoys, but do they really exist, Tom sets off to find her and solve this mystery once and for all.
In 1980, Hammer films whose Gothic films had suddenly become less popular in the mid 70's, in a decade that saw extreme horror hold sway, Hammer decided to have one last stab at the genre, this time for TV. For this, They left behind their usual expensive period settings and brought the horror firmly into the present day. It was an instant hit with TV audiences. Children of the full moon is a simple tale of a family of werewolves, that lure unsuspecting people to their home for the purpose of procreating with Mr Ardoy and continuing their werewolf line
oh and of course a wee bit of lunch ,it ends up for the most part being fairly predictable, director Clegg giving away the plot in the first scene and does so again as Tom returns to see if the Ardoy house is there or not. Still though for fans of Hammer and Amicus its good cheesy fun and I guess its not easy to fit everything into an hour. . The leads are fine and look comfortable in their roles but its Diana Dors who steals the film, her calm, quietly spoken character has a twinkle in her eye that gives a repressed air of menace that lurks somewhere inside, that belies her regular iconic public image. The rushed ending also follows the de rigeur big twist finale, not so much with the plot as with the outcome, which I had forgotten, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. There's a nice scene too with a woodsman towards the end, that has the viewer thinking one way and then the other, before Tom finally comes to terms with the horrific reality of the situation he is in. The series is not for everyone, but for viewers of a certain age, Hammer House of Horror is pure gold.
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