Hammer House of Horror (TV Series) The Silent Scream (1980) User Reviews

A Claustrophobic and Sadistic Tale

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 15 July 2006]

When Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) is released from prison, he tells his wife Annie (Elaine Donnelly) that he had been visited by an old man, Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing), along his sentence for robbing a safe, and Blueck had given some money for him to help a fresh start in life. On the next morning, Chuck pays a visit to Blueck in his pet shop to thank the support and is invited to work for him feeding his animals in his private zoo while he is traveling. Blueck explains that he trains animals, conditioning then to obey some signals. A couple of days later, Chuck sees a safe in the store, and decide to open it, being trapped in a weird situation and disclosing the truth about Brueck.

"The Silent Scream" is a claustrophobic and sadistic tale about a man afraid to lose his freedom and his captor. The story is intriguing and long, with many twists. Sometimes I had the impression that the film was ending, but actually there was a new plot point. The central trio - Cushing, Cox and Donnelly - has great performances in this attractive good tale. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa do Terror 3: Grito Silencioso" ("The Houses of Terror 3: Silent Scream")

Note: On 04 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.

Cushing's last great performance for Hammer Studios

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 22 December 2016]

After the last Hammer film production bit the dust, the company moved into a different area and began to produce a couple of short-lived television series. The first, under the banner of the Hammer House of Horror, started filming in 1980 and produced many interesting little items. The second series, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, followed shortly afterwards and was more of the same, except with more thriller aspects and less reliance on shock-horror. For many, THE SILENT SCREAM is the best-remembered episode of the first series, mainly because it stars horror legend Peter Cushing in his last role for Hammer productions.

The plot is a fairly simple one with nicely horrific undertones, and the twist in the tale isn't too hard to figure out (I mean, it's not likely that Peter Cushing is be the HERO of the piece, is it?). The acting ranges from good to very good, with Cushing on top form as usual and looking very healthy for a man of his advanced years. A very young-looking Brian Cox gives a great portrayal of a man tormented and mentally tortured out of his mind, while the unknown Elaine Donnelly is also surprisingly adept at playing his intelligent wife.

While there isn't any actual gore on offer here (apart from a surprising shot of a dog exploding), the horror is of the psychological variety and quite powerful; the ending of the film is an extremely disturbing one with its "no-win" situation from which there can be no escape. I found the final shot, of Peter Cushing screaming silently (as the title would suggest!), to be quite haunting and an effective freeze-frame moment. Not bad for a made-for-television film. A simple plot with a macabre idea at the centre enlivened by an excellent performance from one of the masters of the genre...what more could you want?

Dark and sadistic, a claustrophobic's nightmare.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 14 June 2017]

Chuck has just gotten out of prison, home to his adoring wife Annie, he explains how he's now terrified of confined spaces and vows that he's never going back inside. He's received a cash gift, from visitor, and pet shop owner Martin Blueck. On the surface Martin seems a decent chap, a prisoner of war survivor his motives for helping seem honourable, but his back room holds wild animals of all types, all in open cages, armed with electrical guards. Martin entrusts Chuck the safekeeping of the shop when he goes away, but puts temptation in his path, Chuck has no option but to take the bait.

This is definitely one of the best episodes in the series, it boasts a dark and twisted plot, watching it you genuinely have no idea of what's coming next. As you watch you wonder who really is the bad guy and who's the victim,and whether Martin's motives were sadistic or purely scientific, I think that was left rather ambiguous. I think he enjoyed trapping his victims.

The episode benefits greatly from the performances of Brian Cox and the great Peter Cushing. Cushing has an incredible charisma and cynicism, such a strong actor, he truly makes this. The way Cox delivers the scene in which he realises he's trapped is quite brilliant.

Now that really was a twist!

Wonderfully twisted 8/10

Hammer House Of Horror: The Silent Scream (Alan Gibson, 1980) (TV) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 27 October 2007]

A very good episode with, for Hammer, an unusual sociological theme – revolving around an original (and fascinating) premise, where a system of 'prison without bars' is tried on an inveterate petty thief (played by a young Brian Cox). The identity of his deceptively sympathetic captor (the ever-reliable Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing in his final effort for the studio which made him famous) supplies a twist eventually which is, frankly, predictable…but, imbued with the star's idiosyncratic pragmatism and authority, the characterization is completely believable – chilling in its implications, but still essentially human. The pet-shop-housing-a-private-zoo setting adds flavor – and excitement – to the already tense proceedings (aided immeasurably by having two such powerful, yet totally opposite, personalities at work); along the way, Cox' wife and even a police sergeant become involved in the situation. Improbable though it may be, the final twist – in which Cox and wife discover they've merely exchanged one prison for another, with rescue a lot harder to come by this time around! – is a real beauty; this is actually followed by yet another involving Cushing's own ironic fate. By the way, the title refers to the sound-proof, electrically-wired booth in which virtually all the characters end up at one time or another. Director Gibson had helmed the last two sorry entries in the Hammer Dracula series; he proves more adept at dealing with psychological - as opposed to supernatural - issues.

Old-fashioned Hammer Greatness!

[Coventry · 10/10 · 8 December 2006]

Of all thirteen Hammer House of Horror episodes, "The Silent Scream" is the one I've been looking forward to seeing the most, understandably because it stars horror legend (and Hammer veteran) Peter Cushing as well as a rather young Brian Cox. All episodes are worth watching, of course, but the presence of two major stars like these always raises your expectations! And with good reason, as "The Silent Scream" is by far the scariest and most intense tale of the entire series! It's a disturbing story with several nail-bitingly creepy sequences and possibly the freakiest climax ever. Brian Cox, still in an early phase of his career here, plays a man freshly released from prison and returning home to his wife. To earn some money, he goes to see a peculiar old pet store owner (Peter Cushing) who frequently came to visit him in prison. The old man, Martin Blueck, offers him a job as feeder of his collection of wild animals he experiments with in the basement. Blueck is working on some sort of advanced guarding system with open cages that electroshock the animals when they come out before the correct bell signal is given. Chuck rapidly discovers that the old man is a sadistic creep who also intends to test his invention on human guinea pigs… Peter Cushing is simply amazing in his role! His character is purely evil personified, yet plausibly disguised as a fragile old man who seemingly loves all of God's creatures. But once he closes the doors of his store, he's a relentless and sick bastard who only cares for his cruel experiments. "The Silent Scream" contains no gory situations or special effects, but the suspense-level is almost unbearably high and constant. I certainly wouldn't recommend this short movie to people who suffer from claustrophobia, as they probably won't survive the 50 minutes of playtime. The script is horror in the purest meaning of the word, meaning that whenever you crave the good characters to get saved, something new and even worse happens to them. This eventually results in the aforementioned climax, which is truly astonishing. It's a fabulous entry in the series, presumably the best even though I still have seven more to see, nicely directed by Alan Gibson ("The Sadistic Rites of Dracula") and stating once more that Peter Cushing was an absolute master.

Effective TV outing

[Matt-131 · 7/10 · 15 August 1999]

This installment from the Hammer House of Horror is fairly effective. The plot concerns a recently released prisoner trying to find work, who falls under the spell of peter Cushing. Needless to say, things don't work out smoothly!

There is a tiny cast of only 5 named characters, but this helps with the claustrophobic feel of the story. Peter Cushing is at his purring best as a pet shop owner with a mysterious past. On the whole, a rewarding, if unchallenging experience.

Are 'friends' electric...

[canndyman · 9/10 · 27 December 2020]

This has always been my favorite episode of this TV series - the one that unsettled us all on Saturday nights in the latter months of 1980.

Having Peter Cushing onboard for this story as the disturbing Blueck is a real boon - as well as future film star Brian Cox, in an early role as former safecracker Chuck Spillers.

With Chuck released from prison and reunited with his wife Annie at their remote cottage, life at last feels sweet again for the couple. But, during his stay in prison, he'd received visits from elderly and mysterious benefactor Blueck and, when the old man offers him a job minding his pet shop while he's away for a few days, Chuck is more than happy to accept. The only problem is, Blueck has a huge and secret menagerie of caged wild animals hidden in his basement for Chuck to take care of. It seems Blueck is keeping them there to conduct cruel and nasty 'experiments' in their behavior - training them to live in fear of (and respond to) bells and buzzers. The only problem is, do his experiments actually end there...

This is an excellently played and tense episode from start to finish - not to mention a rather uneasy watch for animal lovers such as myself!

Cushing excels as the creepy and crafty Blueck - emotionless, cold, and obsessed with his crazed experiments, but giving the air of a kindly pet shop owner to the outside world. As often in these kind of stories, the local police are pretty clueless and indifferent - so it's left to Annie to use her ingenuity when her husband's disappearance is somehow linked to the pet shop.

This one really keeps you on the edge of your seat and guessing till the end - and the actual ending is pretty unexpected too. In all in, a memorable, disturbing and highly-original story from this excellent series, and one that leaves a lasting impression.

Hammer House of Horror: The Silent Scream

[Michael_Elliott · 22 October 2015]

Hammer House of Horror: The Silent Scream (1980)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) gets out of prison and decides to visit Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing) the kind old man who visited him while he was on the inside. Martin offers Chuck a job, which at first sounds great to him and his wife (Elaine Donnelly) but soon they realize other motives. You see, Martin runs a pet store with wild animals who he is training to not need cages. Soon Martin plans to try his experiments on humans.

THE SILENT SCREAM was only the second film I watched from Hammer's series and I must admit that I thought it was extremely good and so good in fact that it probably could have been turned into a feature film with great success. The film is quite a clever little gem and especially once you learn a secret about the Cushing character and there are several twists that happen throughout the running time that kept me off guard and glued to the set as to what was going to happen.

The story itself is very good and as I said each twist will have glued to what is going to happen next but it certainly doesn't hurt that we've got such great performances with Cushing leading the way. The actor was simply perfect in his role and really managed to make you believe that he was this sweet old man and even after he takes the convict hostage you still like him. Once that twist happens your feelings towards him changes but he plays that side perfectly as well. Both Cox and Donnelly are also very good in their roles.

THE SILENT SCREAM is the perfect mixture of drama and horror. Certainly a must see for fans of the studio.

hammertime

[trashgang · 6/10 · 22 April 2010]

What a cast in this part of the series, Peter Cushing and the director of Dracula AD and other Hammer movies. Again you can see that it is an old short movie, slow but again, it works. And again the plot has a typical ending for the series. It never frightened me but still you want to know how it ends and the 50 minutes passes by like nothing. Cushing plays beautifully the weird guy and watch the quality of everything. Camera, lightning, sound, it is all well done. The box of this season is easy to find, not that cheap but worth buying. And the news is out that Hammer has risen from the grave and is back in business from 2010, first movie, The Resident with Christopher Lee, memory lane!!

Superb episode

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 27 January 2017]

Safe cracker Chuck Spillers (a fine performance by Brian Cox) gets released from prison and gets a job working at a pet shop owned by Martin Blueck (marvelously played by Peter Cushing), an old man who visited Chuck in jail and gave him some money to start a new life. However, Blueck turns out to be anything but a nice old man with a nasty penchant for sadistic behavioral experiments on both animals and people alike.

Director Alan Gibson relates the engrossing story at a snappy pace, builds a substantial amount of nerve-wracking claustrophobic tension, and grounds the gripping premise in a believable everyday reality. Francis Essex's meaty script makes a powerful and provocative central point on man's need to control and dominate over other animals and fellow human beings as well as offers a few sharp insights on the psychological and emotional damage wrought by being caged and confined. The excellent acting by the bang-up cast keeps this episode humming: Cox shines in an early lead role, Elaine Donnelly lends sterling support as Chuck's loyal, yet fed-up wife Annie, and the always reliable Cushing excels in his chilling portrayal of a seemingly gentle and fragile elderly gent whose benign exterior serves as a deceptive front for his genuinely cruel and evil nature. The surprise grim ending packs a devastating punch. One of this show's strongest hours.

A strong episode of Hammer House of Horror starring Peter Cushing and Brian Cox

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 9 February 2015]

The Silent Scream is the seventh episode of the 'Hammer House of Horror' TV series. It is one of the most prominent entries on account of the presence of Peter Cushing who starred in many Hammer feature films from the 50's through to the 70's. This was his last appearance for the studio and it's a pretty good swan song, seeing as he puts in a strong performance, playing a pretty sadistic character. The film is also notable for featuring the excellent character actor Brian Cox, who would of course go on to give the very first portrayal of Hannibal Lector in the 1986 film Manhunter. It's got to be said that this episode benefits greatly for having these two strong yet very different actors. It's certainly one of the strongest instalments of the series as a whole.

A convict just out of jail visits an elderly pet shop owner who used to visit him when he was inside. The old guy offers him a job looking after the selection of dangerous animals he keeps in his cellar by way of an advanced security system. Before long he too finds himself incarcerated and realises that the seemingly kindly old gent is far from who he seems.

Many of the other episodes in the series cover standard horror types and themes, this one stands out a bit and is more original than most of the others, in that its story is pretty odd. The idea of an underground zoo and the claustrophobic horror of imprisonment are strange bed-fellows and combine to produce a pretty crazy plot-line that admittedly requires a bit of suspension of disbelief. But it's quite inventively scary, with the idea of being imprisoned by a madman a somewhat alarming one. And of course, the strong leads help matters a lot too. This one, like most of the others ends with another decidedly nihilistic climax, which works very well for these short horror tales.

Brilliant Claustrophobic HHH Episode

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 9/10 · 22 August 2009]

Out of all "Hammer House of Horror" episodes, "The Silent Scream" was the one I was most looking forward to, and for good reasons. This seventh episode generally is the most anticipated one in the series, for starring the iconic Horror deity and Hammer-legend Peter Cushing (in my humble opinion one of the greatest actors who ever lived) as well as the great Scottish character actor Brian Cox (the first Hannibal Lecter). But even apart from the magnificent cast, director Alan Gibson's claustrophobic tale is by far the creepiest and most brilliant part of the 13-episode series, and it also ranks among the most chilling tales ever brought forth by the great Hammer Studios. The episode creates genuine creepiness by appealing to the primal fear of claustrophobia. Ex-convict Chuck (Brian Cox) comes out of prison, and visits Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing), an elderly pet-store owner who used to visit him in jail. Chuck is shocked, however, to find out that the kind old man has a sinister side, and a very macabre hobby... I don't want to give too much away, as all Horror fans should be able experience this macabre and spine-chilling tale for themselves, but I can assure that anyone who likes the show or Horror in general should better not miss this. Cushing is at his best in the role of the seemingly kindly elderly man who turns out to have an immensely sadistic side. Cox is also great in the lead, and Elaine Donelly is very good as his wife. Even though I still haven't seen the episodes "Charlie Boy" (Episode 6) and "The Mark of Satan" (Episode 13), I think it is safe to say that this is by far the greatest "Hammer House of Horror" episode, regarding acting, atmosphere and story-wise and a true must for all Horror fans. Not to be missed!

The downside to the kindness from strangers

[one9eighty · 7/10 · 28 September 2015]

Brian Cox is Chuck Spiller who has been released from prison for safe cracking is looking to make a start on a crime free life, while in prison he had been visited by Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing) and he gives Chuck some money for his new start in his new life. Although his wife Annie Spiller (played by Elaine Donnelly) thinks it's a bit suspicious they can't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth, in fact when Blueck offers Chuck a job as an assistant he accepts it with little haste. It isn't long before Chuck is working at Blueck's pet shop which is a small mild mannered pet shop - but remember this is a Hammer production!! This mild mannered pet shop hides a dark secret for it's here that Blueck trains and conditions animals to obey rules, in particularly one rule that bars do not necessarily make a prison. While working late one night Chuck notices a safe in the 'conditioning' area, a safe of all things, Chuck's achilles heal and the reason he was imprisoned and put in a position to meet Blueck. Can Chuck resist temptation? Who is Martin Blueck and what is he really doing? Will anybody care if an ex-con goes missing?

Peter Cushing and a very young Brian Cox make this Hammer production what it is, both are believable and carry emotions to perfection. This isn't as much a horror as it is a suspense thriller, there is no blood/gore or much in the way of special effects, it's more just panic and claustrophobia with tense moments of fear. Alan Gibson has a great on his hands when you compare it to the other shorts that Hammer produced for TV, the script is wonderfully intense while remaining down beat thanks to Francis Essex.

7 out of ten for this as I want it to stand highest of the Hammer TV shorts I've reviewed so far. You definitely wont be wasting your time watching this beauty.

Really strange Hammer House of Horror episode.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 14 January 2008]

Hammer House of Horror: The Silent Scream starts as safe-cracking thief Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) is released from a two year stretch in prison for, well, safe-cracking & stealing. Back home & within five minutes like a typical woman his missus Annie (Elaine Donnelly) is complaining about the lack of money, Chuck actually has to find a job. He pays a visit to a pet shop owned by Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing) who visited him while he was in prison, rather generously Martin offers Chuck a job feeding his animals while he is way which Chuck accepts. However Chuck sees Martin's safe & decides to break into it & steal Martin's money, unfortunately for Chuck Martin has bobby trapped the floor & Chuck falls into a solid steel square metal room as Martin has unusual plans for him...

The Silent Scream was episode 7 from this unfairly short lived horror anthology series made for TV by Hammer studios & originally aired here in the UK during October 1980, the first of two Hammer House of Horror episodes to be directed by Alan Gibson (followed by The Two Faces of Evil (1980)) this is a really odd entry into the series. The script by Francis Essex takes itself extremely seriously & is certainly different & I don't think I've ever quite seen anything like it before. The idea of Peter Cushing's character trying to train animals & Chuck to behave themselves & create some sort of prison that doesn't need walls or cells is simply ludicrous. I mean who is going to utilise this system if he ever succeeds in making it work? The Government certainly wouldn't because a small thing called the 'Human Rights Act' which prevents torture or electrocution & zoos wouldn't use it either since a cage is much cheaper. The plot is contrived & very silly at times which I couldn't take seriously, there's an early scene when Cushing explains that he 'caught' all of his animals, I'm not being funny but you just don't find grizzly bears, lions, panthers, baboon's & kangaroos running around in Britain! He certainly wouldn't have 'caught' them abroad & got them back through customs either. Also you need to suspend your disbelief at the twist ending when it turns out the Spiller's whole house has been electrified! I don't think so, I really don't. There is some fun to be had here & it's certainly something different but it's so silly, doesn't have any real horror elements & the plot is so full of holes it simply doesn't have the dramatic impact that it wants.

Shot on 35mm film & the experience Hammer had in making feature films means these Hammer House of Horror episodes look really good & very cinematic. The plot here is so silly that it's not scary, there's little tension & the contemporary setting doesn't do it any favours either. The acting is alright & I'm a huge Peter Cushing fan & could watch him in just about anything although this isn't one of his better roles.

The Silent Scream is different from the normal run of the mill horror but that doesn't automatically make it any good does it? It's just so silly & 'out there' to be really gripping & entertaining, still at least it only lasts for an hour & it's probably worth a watch if your looking for something unconventional.

Plot Holes Ahoy

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 19 May 2008]

I believe it was Alfred Hitchcock that came up with the concept of " The ice-box effect " . What he meant by this was that someone watches a film enthralled then after it was over they'd pop in to the kitchen , take a cold beer out of the ice-box and as the dry clean taste of cold beer flows down the throat that someone will suddenly realise " Hey wait a cotton picking minute , that would never happen in real life because .... " The Silent Scream had the ice-box effect on me also

Fellow reviewer Paul Andrews has brought up some very good points . You have to suspend disbelief in order for the story to work but it's impossible to buy in to it . Chuck Spillers is a thief but the whole story set up revolves around Blueck knowing that Chuck will try to break in to his safe . Supposing we swallow this then what ? Mrs Splillers arrives to find Chuck kept prisoner but he doesn't want her to inform the police because he tried to break in to the safe ! Now let me see , you've got a Nazi war criminal who illegally keeps exotic wild animals in his pet shop and who has effectively kidnapped someone and is holding them in a cell and the victim doesn't want to be rescued in case he's accused of being a thief . If he gets rescued then is questioned by the police why not just deny he tried to break in to the safe ? The story also has a massive plot hole at the end when the Spillers return to their house only to find it electrified ? How on earth would Blueck know they'd go straight home instead of contacting the police ? It's also impossible to believe the Spillers would spend the rest of their lives there . Wouldn't a postman come to their house to deliver letters or bills for example ? Wouldn't they throw a chair through the window to alert a passer by ?

Despite this The Silent Scream is one of the better tales from THE HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR which unfortunately means it wasn't such a great series . Not to be too negative it is filmed in an impressive cinematic way . Peter Cushing whilst not an actor with a great range does do what he does best and that's playing restrained villains who seem genuinely affable at first glance . It's also good to see Brian Cox when he was a virtually unknown actor and considering all the characters are effectively illogical plot devices Cox does give a good performance

Elaine Donnelly Buries Cushing & Cox

[TheFearmakers · 8/10 · 11 October 2022]

Ironically the final vehicle for the original HAMMER FILMS wasn't a film but a television series in the anthology vein of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, or in this case THRILLER being of course produced in England, and one episode features Hammer's greatest asset, Peter Cushing as... not to spoil the twist so we'll say he's a scientist working in a surreptitious caged-animal zoo behind a pet store...

And the past legendary Cushing is cast with future horror icon Brian Cox... the latter an ex-con who met the doctor while in prison and now, newly released, answers a letter to make big money for some kind of research which, like any mad scientist venture, winds up an experiment...

But the buried lead is sophisticated, blue-eyed, thin-lipped, porcelain-faced beauty Elaine Donnelly as the ex-con's wife, optimistic for the future but not without a few nags... especially after her once-crooked hubby has plans to ripoff a safe in the zoo's basement, harboring creatures from puppies to panthers....

And he himself winds up in a cage/kennel, providing potential for Cushing to wield torturous vehom... but a majority of the episode has Elaine Donnelly searching around the small town, from police headquarters to the pet score's interior, finding her husband a bit too quickly: and with a few tricks up a somewhat underused Cushing's sleeve, THE SILENT SCREAM is the best of this Hammer series that wound up taking down the entire studio.

"Train you, and I can train anybody."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 11 December 2021]

Until the credits ran at the end of the program, it frustrated me that I couldn't recall the actor's name who was playing the part of Chuck Spillers. I knew I'd seen him before but couldn't place him. There's almost no resemblance between the Brian Cox of 1980 and the present day, unless you look real close, and even then it's a toss-up. Forty years can really do a job on a person!

Anyway, this was quite the offbeat thriller, with Cox's character having been hand picked as a test subject by Central Pet Shop owner Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing) while a prison inmate. There wasn't really any indication why Chuck Spillers would have been a good candidate for Blueck's experiments on training his wild animal subjects to remain in place, even if their freedom was offered on a limited basis. It seemed a concession to the story that Chuck would behave in a manner to confirm Blueck's suspicions about him, down to knowing Spillers at some point would try to break into his safe. When he does so, he falls through a trap door triggered by the opening of the safe, and becomes the first human victim to undergo the bizarre treatment Blueck has for him.

There comes a point though, and here I agree with some other reviewers, when this story should have been stopped in it's tracks. When Annie Spillers (Elaine Donnelly) discovered how her husband was trapped, she went to the police station, but didn't report what she saw because the detective she wanted to talk to wasn't there!!?? What difference would that have made? The police would have acted on her information no matter what, given the nature of the complaint. From that point on, you just have to hang on to see how it all plays out.

Which it does, to the consternation of both opposing parties. With the Spillers home rigged with an electric force field, and Blueck revealed to be a former Nazi scientist who inadvertently fell into his own trap, the 'Silent Scream' aspect of the title takes on it's own poignancy, as neither party can make their voices heard to anyone, no matter how loud their attempt. Even so, the Spillers had an out, if only they threw something through their living room window!

Watched in 1980, viewed million more tv programs, always remembered this episode, over the millions of other shows - now 2023.

[colinjamesbruce-39266 · 8/10 · 25 April 2023]

A classic As mentioned in review watched in 1980 as a child, now 40+ years later, very pleased to have seen this episode again.

Millions of tv shows, films etc have passed in front of me these past 4 decades but this episode... Unsure why but always remembered bits of this episode? = I saw it once and it stuck in my head, like a unique memory.

Since 1980, has been many moons and my memory declines as age is bestowed upon me.

Sadly, have lost many a treasured moment, my small pc brain memory deleting old files to make space for new / deterioration.

Yet this episode, am clearly going to remember to the grave, probably can count on hand amount of episodes in lifetime which had such impact.

Is not the sfx or graphics or A. I digital stuff, this offers good old storyline, quality classic acting and a cute puppy.

Funny to think this episode would not be possible in these modern electronic internet smart tech times, how the world evolves.

Electric Boogaloo

[southdavid · 7/10 · 4 August 2020]

The casting of not one, but two legendary performers enliven an episode that drags a little in the middle, but has one of the bleakest endings of the series so far.

Chuck Spiller (Brian Cox) is released from prison and returns to his wife Annie (Elaine Donnelly) at their rural home. He has some money, given to him by Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing), whose experiences of the holocaust have left him with a kinship for those behind bars. Chuck goes to see Blueck at his local pet shop, to offer him his thanks, at which point Martin introduces him to his collection of wild animals, most of whom appear to live in cages with open doors. Martin offers Chuck a job, to feed the animals whilst he is away.

Peter Cushing would already have been a legendary figure from his horror movie days, but in his late sixties was starting to wind down his career. It's still a memorable and vicious turn, as Blueck's true intentions are realised on the hapless Chuck. Brian Cox was in his thirties and already with a number of TV credits, but was six years away from his role in "Manhunter" and probably 20 still from when he's start to land the best roles of his career. Chuck is less a genuine character and more a foil for things to happen to, so whilst there's not much for Cox to do with the role, he's fine nonetheless. Elaine Donnelly is the third main character and does well. Brighter than her husband, she susses both that something is wrong, who is behind it and what the rules are much quicker than he.

The double black endings are a highlight, though it doesn't hold up to that much scrutiny, if you really think about it, as electricity appears to be carried by things that aren't metal, still I'm not quite as high on this episode as some of the other reviewers are. It takes a while to get going with its ideas, which you'll work out straight away and sags a bit in the middle. Performances are good though and Cushing is always worth admission.