Hammer House of Horror: The House That Bled to Death

 "House prices are ridiculous these days..."

Ah, 1980. When, apparently, a hospital porter and a housewife could get a mortgage on a house that needed doing up... or could they?

This has the finest title so far, but despite some nice twists, a nicely creepy and mysterious Milton Johns, and some nivce set pieces with loads of blood, it drags a bit and, for me, doesn't quite manage to pull it off or, indeed, grab the attention. I suspect that has much to do with the relatively flat direction, as well as an uninspiring performance from Nicholas Ball as William, a character who needs to be portrayed with much more nuance in order for the conclusion to work.

Spoliers. Read on only if that's ok.

The twist at the end sort of works, although surely the shock of William and Emma not being married must surely have been old-fashioned even in 1980. But the clues that they are not really a couple, at first, are nicely and subtly done. And the ending is appropriate as the couple get their comeuppance.Yet the set pieces don't really work visually, and the miscasting of Nicholas Ball is a disaster.

I don't think it's the fault of the script. But this one, I'm afraid, is a relative dud.

The Walking Dead- Season 2, Episode 6: Secrets

"There's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant!"

This is an episode of revelations and, again, a very well written treatment of the characters but... isn't this season going awfully slowly?

We now know why Herschel wants Rick and co to leave so quickly- he's keeping his zombie family members in the barn from a heartrendingly stubborn belief that they're just sick people who can one day be cured- an attitude that has been much hinted at; he's a good man, but not the kind of good man this new world needs. Especially as Glenn is pants at keeping secrets.

There's an underlying theme here, established visually at the start, of carnivorousness and the food chain, an ominous metaphor. This apparent stability at the farm now seems all the more illusory with all these secrets. It's hard to adjust to this new world, as we see with Lori and Rick arguing over whether Carl should learn to shoot- and whether Lori should keep the baby. It's unquestionably Rick's; her angst, it seems, is far more existential. What sort of life could the baby have? Yet humanity must endure.

Maggie is furious at Glenn and therefore, this being TV drama with all its attendant tropes, ends up aggressively kissing him as the prelude to some no doubt angry sex. Shane, fresh from kissing his shooting pupil Andrea, is accused by Dale of not telling the truth about Otis; showing a truly dark side. I doubt either of them will survive the season.

It's a heartwarming ending, though, with Lori and Rick coming to terms over the baby- and he knows, of course he does, about her and Shane, and understands. Rick is a good man.

All this is plenty of evidence of good writing, I suppose. I just wish something would happen.