In the three-part Discovery+ docuseries “House of Hammer,” about allegations against actor Armie Hammer, someone makes a sharp observation: “Nobody cared about anything but the word ‘cannibal.’” That’s because text messages — allegedly from Hammer (who declined to be interviewed for the series) to women with whom he was intimate — were made public last year, in which he talks about his cannibalistic fantasies. But those interviewed for the series are clear about other concerning aspects of his personal conduct they describe as manipulative, coercive, violent, abusive and possibly criminal.
“House of Hammer” also delves into the backstory of the Hammer family itself, a saga of power and wealth going back several generations. Casey Hammer, who is Armie Hammer’s aunt, provides her own account of the family’s dynamics and inner workings, and why the allegations against her nephew sound, in her words, “familiar.”
Hammer first came to prominence playing the double role of twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in the 2010 Facebook origin story “The Social Network,” later gaining a higher profile for his performance in 2017′s “Call Me By Your Name.” But by early 2021, in the wake of allegations first aired on social media, he was dropped from upcoming projects — and by his representatives as well.
The aims of “House of Hammer” appear to be similar to those of the 2019 Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” giving alleged victims an opportunity to tell their stories. Sexual sadism is a recurring theme. The whiplash of effusive compliments and near constant attention — love bombing — and then pushing women to go along with situations they say they found frightening or unsafe.
Directors Elli Hakami and Julian P. Hobbs adhere to Discovery’s true-crime house style, which tends toward lurid stylistic choices. Some interview subjects are seated in front of a background that suggests an artfully lit concrete bunker. The ominous musical score is full of grinding metallic sound effects. I find it all so offensive and unnecessary because it detracts from the seriousness of the endeavor. This is an upsetting and complicated story, period — it doesn’t need window dressing to underscore any of it.
“House of Hammer” most prominently features Hammer’s ex-girlfriend Courtney Vucekovich, who is based in Dallas. Early in their relationship — long before meeting in person — Hammer was planning a cross-country road trip and wanted to stop and see her. But she had already made plans to be out of town. That apparently didn’t stop him. He went to Dallas anyway, found her building and texted her photos of it.
The series shows the ensuing conversation through screenshots of their messages, and it’s worth noting that you, the viewer, assume what you are seeing is real because it looks real. And maybe it is. But I’m uncomfortable treating the series as a journalistic endeavor, no matter how sympathetic I may personally find Vucekovich’s story.
When she saw the photo, she texted: “Leave. Why are you there?”
“Trying to find your scent,” he replied. And then: “Going in. Nothing you can do to stop me.”
He allegedly leaves a note at her building that says: “I’m going to bite the (expletive) out of you.”
Vucekovich is insightful about why, at the time, she didn’t cut off contact altogether. “As crazy as it sounds, I took it metaphorically, not literally. I thought he just wanted the intimacy, the closeness … (but) when I told my friends about us talking, I left that part out. I think that says a lot. I think when you really care for somebody, it’s kind of crazy what your mind is willing to look past or justify.”
After that, things got both better (a weekslong romantic getaway to the desert in California) and much, much worse — she’s too rattled to talk about a particular sexual encounter that she says left her so shaken, she ultimately ended things between them.
Another one of his alleged victims interviewed points out that Hammer “used BDSM as a smokescreen ultimately to hurt women and inflict pain on women, which is the scariest part.”
There is also an explicit rape allegation made by a different woman, a client represented by attorney Gloria Allred, the latter of whom is interviewed here. Allred makes the distinction that if you’re engaging in BDSM (bondage, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism), it “doesn’t mean that anyone can do anything to anyone during a sexual relationship. If she withdraws her consent and he continues, that’s a crime. Simple as that. Kinky is not against the law. Rape is.” (Hammer has not been charged with any crimes.)
The portions featuring Casey Hammer, who is in her early 60s, provide context that paints a picture of violence in the home growing up (she says her father Julian was physically abusive to her mother; that would be Armie’s grandparents), dysfunction (the men of the family were unfaithful to their wives and dog-eat-dog to one another) and includes possible statutory rape (she remembers parties her father would host in his home in the ‘70s after her parents divorced; the guests were often teenage girls and she presumes he was having sex with them). There were always loaded guns in the house, sometimes they were pointed at Casey herself. Her father shot and killed someone in 1955, but ultimately nothing came of it; Julian claimed self-defense and it is speculated the family’s influence ensured the matter simply went away.
The oil tycoon Armand Hammer — Armie’s great-grandfather — is the one who accumulated the family’s enormous wealth and exerted control over everyone in his personal and professional life. “Magnify ‘Succession’ a million times and it was my family,” says Casey. She also claims her grandfather had a file on anyone she (or other family members) dated or were associated with. He was connected to Richard Nixon’s Watergate break-in and pled guilty to making illegal contributions to Nixon’s reelection campaign. Hammer would later make sizable donations to causes championed by Prince Charles, allegedly in an effort to whitewash his reputation, before George Bush ultimately pardoned him in 1989.
“In terms of controlling people and making them dance his tune,” a former employee observes, “there is no comparison.”
While Casey gives her insight into what life was like inside her family, the series has less to say about her brother Michael, who is Armie’s father, once he got married and started a family of his own.
What were things like inside the home in which Armie was raised? No one here is able to say.
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'HOUSE OF HAMMER'
2.5 stars (out of 4)
How to watch: Discovery+
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