The Two Faces of Evil

A family go on holiday . Stopping to pick up a hitch hiker who then precedes to attack Martin the driver the car then crashes and the family are rushed to hospital .; On her release the mother Janet starts becoming suspicious and that her husband Martin is someone else

A strange tale featuring the doppleganger plot as seen in the likes of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS . A lot of people have stated they thought this was the stand out episode from the series but I personally don't have any recollection of it from its original broadcast or of its repeat a few years later and only saw it via The Horror Channel . It's all rather threadbare and slightly confused . For example if you've no idea of the plot you'll spend much of the time thinking the mysterious hitch hiker who sets up the story is going to make a reappearance at any moment but this doesn't happen . I guess the storyline is trying to be enigmatic and to give it credit it succeeds to an extent . It does have to rely on a stylistic cliché of loud scary music often intruding in to the soundtrack in order in enhance mood and when perhaps slow paced subtlety might have been called for while the lack of explanation as to what's causing this supposed alien infiltration might frustrate some viewers but the combination of a familiar plot done in a mundane way just about manages to work while at the same time delivering a couple of shock moments

I saw this twenty years ago when it was first broadcast - I was a kid at the time and my babysitter let me stay me up late to see it because she was too scared to watch Hammer House of Horror on her own!

Granted, it's got the usual Hammer failings, but nevertheless I don't think I've ever seen any film on TV which scared me as much. Much of this is due to Anna Calder Marshall's intense performance. I agree with a previous reviewer that no other actress could have conveyed the growing sense of hysteria so convincingly - given the plot, the film could very easily have veered off into the ridiculous. It's testament to her skill as an actress that you instead stay gripped for the entire length of the film.

Amazingly, I saw the film again recently and instead of being disappointed (always a danger with revisited memories) this was still excellent.

This is the episode in the TV series 'Hammer House of Horror' that everybody remembers, over 20 years since it was last broadcast. From the spine-tingling initial shot of the hitchhiker to the terrifying twist at the end, it is a minor masterpiece of film craft.

No one could have played the lead role better than Anna Calder-Marshall. Her terrified performance is truly convincing in so many little details. She is a highly intelligent performer whom I wish would appear more frequently on our screens.

When you first read the plot synopsis it seems unbelievable: how can a woman not know if the man by her side is her husband or a crazed hitchhiker? But it works. The viewer is unsettled and unsure. The tension slowly mounts as we keep watching for hints of menace in the man's eyes. The evidence seems to be there one minute but something else happens to restore the balance the next.

The best of a good series, now available on VHS/DVD.

The 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?

A rather offbeat and eerie story with some great camera angles and fine acting - there's plenty of strange images and scenes, adding to that eeriness. There's no explanation to the otherworldly doppelgängers, remaining an enigma.

30 years old but still working those good old Hammer series. This is one of the better ones. It has suspense in it and it has blood in it. remember that it was made for television and not for cinema so gore wasn't allowed but still here we have an example how horror must be done. The camera mostly uses wide lenses and zooms in closely what is given a special effect of the face. Mostly shots are also made from below the face what makes it again a bit spooky. But what works most of all is the use of back-flashes. First you almost see nothing but from then on the woman is seeing more and more until everything is solved we think but it is never explained who the guy with the fingernail is and what his purpose is. still, for the time being it is creepy as stated before, remember that it was for television. Worth watching if you like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.