Review: Don’t Go There / Author: Stephen Volk / Publisher: Hammer Chillers / Starring: Tony Gardner, Lizzie Roper, Daphne Alexander, Chris Pavlo, Angus King, Frog Stone / Release Date: July 12th
Bafflegab and Hammer Films bring the Hammer Chiller to a close with a sixth story, Don’t Go There, written by Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, The Awakening).
John Daulby (Gardner) and his wife Laura (Roper) are in Greece; not for a holiday but because their son Andrew is lying in a coma apparently caused by misuse of drugs. While Laura tries to sort out medical care and a return to England for treatment, John becomes more and more desperate to understand what happened. This conflict drives a cleaver straight through the fault-lines of the Daulbys’ marriage as John becomes increasingly distraught and unable to handle the reality of his son’s hedonistic lifestyle.
The mystery revolves around the beautiful Greek girl Stheno (Alexander) who is also being treated in the hospital as an out-patient. John explores his son’s apartment (which is a horror story of squalor in its own right) and becomes drawn into a world of clubbing, drugs, sex and mythology. Much is this is narrated with a heavy sprinkling of swear words by Fergus (King) and much graphic detail is presented. This is definitely not a tale to listen to with children around. Things come to a head (quite literally) as John becomes captivated by Stheno’s charms.
The production work paints a soundscape that never intrudes and helps round out the narrative to convey a Greece full of charm, mystery and horror. The story is so engrossing, thanks mainly to a superb performance by Tony Gardner, that the story concludes almost before the listener realises what is happening.
Don’t Go There is released on July 12th 2013 and full details are available on the Hammer Chillers website for this and the rest of this series. If you haven’t tried these yet, the whole series will be available as a CD Digipack including all six stories, a bonus documentary and access to downloads from July 26th. Don’t Go There is a worthy addition to a series that his impressed from start to finish.
