House of Hammer review: Unravelling the horrors of the Hammer family

3.5/5

Story: In 2021, a series of online posts exposed the horrific misdeeds of Hollywood actor Armie Hammer, which included sexual abuse, nonconsensual BDSM, and even cannibal fetishism. He denied the allegations raised against him and dropped out of multiple projects. However, it seems that there is more to the story than what is out already.

Review: “Magnify Succession (HBO series) a million times and it was literally my family,” says Casey Hammer, Armie Hammer’s aunt while describing the horrors of her family’s past in the latest discovery+ docuseries House of Hammer. Even though news about Armie’s depravity came to light only last year, the docuseries unravels disturbing and dark secrets about the Hammer family as it turns out that Armie was not the only man among the Hammers who indulged in violence, sexual abuse, and BDSM. With the help of interviews and dramatic re-enactments, directors Elli Hakami and Julian P. Hobbs take a deep dive into the various crimes committed by four generations of Hammer men, starting from Armie’s great-grandfather Armand Hammer.

The first episode of the series titled Love Bomb focuses on how Armie’s text messages to several women and his then girlfriends describing his sexual fantasies resulted in his downfall. We are introduced to Courtney Vucekovich, Armie’s ex-girlfriend whom he dated for a few months in 2020. Vucekovich puts on a brave face as she recalls her foremost interactions with the actor, their meeting in Los Angeles, and the three weeks they spent together in Twentynine Palms. It was then that Vucekovich was introduced to Armie’s unconventional and violent sexual fantasies. Vucekovich’s description of all that happened while she was with Armie is deeply troubling and hard to digest. She claims that Armie wanted “complete control over her” and “absolute compliance”. Julia Morrison, a New York-based artist, also has a similar story to share. Armie sent text messages asking her to be his “own personal little slave”. When these messages came to public light in 2021, they had the potential to end Armie’s Hollywood career.

Things get more serious in the second and third episodes, Sins of the Father and Follow the Money, when Casey gives a detailed insight into her family and adds that Armie’s “behaviour is deep-rooted”. It all began with Armie’s great-grandfather Armand Hammer, an oil tycoon who wielded absolute control over his family. Armand was so powerful and wealthy that his parties were attended by high-ranking officials, politicians, and even British royals Prince Charles and Princess Diana. He even pleaded guilty in a case related to an illegal financial contribution to Richard Nixon's Watergate fund, for which he was pardoned by George H. W. Bush in 1989. Armie’s grandfather and Casey’s father, Julian hammer, frequently assaulted his wife and was charged with murdering his friend Bruce Whitlock. He also organised elaborate rave parties and orgy sessions, and has even held a gun against his own daughter. Michael Hammer is Armie’s father and Casey’s brother. Michael and Julian had an on-off relationship with each other that deteriorated further when Michael inherited most of Armand’s wealth after his death.

Casey’s revelations are both shocking and eye-opening. She gives a descriptive account of the drug-fuelled parties that were organised by the three men. They all possessed guns and treated women as mere objects who would submit to their sexual demands. Reportedly, Michael had a seven-foot tall ‘sex throne’ with a hole in the seat and a cage under it.

The end of the second episode will surely leave you shocked, and make you want to move to the next one almost immediately, albeit a very disturbing watch. The transition between the various interviews, clips, and re-enactments are extremely smooth, and the makers deserve praise for the same. They have also succeeded in creating empathy and understanding among the viewers for the women who have shared their stories.

Verdict: After watching the docuseries, one would ask themselves if this is the same man who played the role of Oliver, a sensitive man, in Call Me by Your Name. House of Hammer is not an easy watch, but it is certainly engaging and keeps one invested in the story throughout as horrors of the Hammer family unravels.