Do you remember Hammer House of Horror films in the 70s & 80s?

[GreenBiscuitr]

What age range do you think they were appropriate for? Was it strictly adults only? I ask because I've suddenly remembered watching them as a kid.

I used to watch them, would have been 10-11 something like that. Also watched Tales of the unexpected, used to love them, but there was one where a woman planned to escape prison by being buried alive with the corpse of the next person to die, then the elderly grave digger would dig her up. It ended with her in the coffin striking a match to see who was dead in the coffin with her and it was the grave digger, haunts me to this day.

I still remember “The House that dripped blood”
I was around 7 I think and we watched it on a tiny portable TV very late in my brothers room so I’m not sure my parents knew

Hammer house of horror and the hammer films of the 70s are two different things. Hammer house of horror was an anthology series. Some episodes much spookier than others but overall a great series and I'd definitely let my ten year old watch them although he would probably find them pretty tame.
The hammer films are a bit schlocky (think vampires, Frankenstein and werewolf) and there can be a few "boobs" on show in a few of them but again pretty entertaining films.
Me and hub have dvds of all and watch them regularly. Love them.

I watched both the Hammer House of Horror and *Tales of the Unexpected regularly when I babysat in my mid teens.
*Does anyone remember the episode about the policemen’s wife who murdered her husband with a leg of frozen lamb? She then cooked the evidence & served the roast lamb to his investigating colleagues…
I don’t think watching it has had too much of an impact on me, but my choice of outside lanterns definitely is a little gothic, maybe the Hammer House effect?

@Fifiesta , the leg of lamb murder one was brilliant! I wouldn’t really call Tales of the U scary, certainly nothing like the Christopher Lee Draculas, anyway.

The scariest TOTU was Flypaper. That was horrifying and much scarier than any vampire film even if in a completely different way.

Loved it

I was around 13/14 I think when Hammer House of Horror came out
I also watched the Hammer films I recall.

I agree with You

That particular one has stuck with Me, as has The Landlady .

@Aposterhasnoname I remember that one. Also the leg of lamb one. I also remember a Hammer one with Howard from Ever Decreasing Circles in it. I think he was shot and buried the garden, when they went to dig him up he was gone.
Another one I just thought of a couple got trapped in their house when an electrical fault made all the doors and windows live.
Its a wonder we’re all sane.

The house that bled to death scared me absolutely shitless. I'll never forget when the big pipe broke and sprayed loads of blood all over the little girl's birthday table.

I bet I would watch it now and think it's comedy gold but at the time all of these horror shows were quite scary and ground breaking.

I bought a set on DVD recently. Loved them as a kid, as an adult I think they are very dodgy!

They were X rated on cinema release, 16 years old and over. A rite of passage was bragging you had got into the cinema aged 14 or so to see your first X film.

I remember those
The second ones title is The Silent Scream, with the amazing Peter Cushing also in it. One of my favourites.

I adore him too.

But I'm confused by all this "do you remember?" ALL the films and TV shows people have mentioned are on TV all time, Tales Of The Unexpected is on Sky Arts most days, the Hammer films are always on Talking Pictures, Witchfinder General is on yet again this week or next week, Sapphire And Steel is often on ( I watched the whole series for the first time last year)

One of the scariest films I’ve ever seen was an old B&W French one - ‘Les Diaboliques’. Anyone else who’s seen it will know what I mean!!

Indeed
I have watched a lot (TOTU, Hammer House of Horror, Thriller) over on YouTube.

Thriller - TV series was even scarier. I remember babysitting (I was about 14-15) and watched this when my charges were asleep. When the parents got home I had to walk home by myself. Was only about a 5 min walk but I was terrified.

Sapphire and Steel was definitely cult viewing !

@Laiste Alien is still a superb film, I totally agree.

They did have a couple of other elements turn up in Sapphire and Steel. Silver was in a couple of episodes played by David Collings. (I remember wishing they'd keep him in it as he was good and rather cute.) (I just looked him up to check the spelling of his name and found out he died in 2020, how sad, I didn't realise he'd died.)

My mother was a big horror fan in the 70s & 80s. Let's just say I still feel scarred from watching some of them.

Definitely not suitable for kids!

I defintely watched the hammer films as a kid - all the vampires ones. I remember one where they’re fighting on ice in a castle??

My Nan used to let me watch the Abbott and Costello films with the werewolf, vampire and mummy. Absolutely terrified me but I loved them.

The leg of lamb one prompted an acquaintance to remark that it was a better murder weapon than frozen fish i.e. once the frozen lamb was cooked and eaten, the outline of it was no longer visible.

Frozen fish, OTOH, will still have the outline because of the fish skeleton.

Ooooh Silver! Never knew that. You know it's an idea i'm surprised they haven't revisited - considering the current love for superheros. There's over a hundred elements. They could mix and match and make films for years!

Those who watched the old horrors - does anyone remember 'It!' About a big golem coming to life. In a museum perhaps? That scared me silly at about 9/10.

There was also Them! and They! of course 😅