Review Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984)

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this show.....


Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense is a short-lived (one season) anthology television series produced in Britain in 1984/85 by Hammer Studios. Though similar in format to the 1980 series Hammer House of Horror, the Mystery and Suspense series had feature-length episodes, usually running around 70 minutes without commercials.

The series was a co-production by Hammer Studios with 20th Century Fox Television (as was the 1968 anthology series Journey to the Unknown), and is known in the United States as Fox Mystery Theater. Unlike 1980's Hammer House of Horror, it was first aired in the UK by ITV in 1984, though was not simulcast and was shown in different timeslots (and a different running order) throughout the various ITV regions.


MARK OF THE DEVIL
LAST VIDEO AND TESTAMENT
CHILD'S PLAY
THE CORVINI INHERITANCE
IN POSSESSION
PAINT ME A MURDER
A DISTANT SCREAM
BLACK CARRION
THE LATE NANCY IRVING
CZECH MATE
THE SWEET SCENT OF DEATH
AND THE WALL CAME TUMBLING DOWN
THE TENNIS COURT

 

[Doctor Omega]

In comparison to HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR, this series, to me, somehow missed the mark and fell short (or too long in running time, may be more the problem).

It just somehow lacked the punch of it's forerunner.

I would still like to give it a marathon rewatch - or watch in some cases, as I am sure I have yet to see the full run, but those two box sets are still languishing on my shelf, undisturbed, unlike the 1980 series.