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XXII: Rainy Day Women (Ben Bolt, 1984)
Do Plays for the Day count? Probably not, but MGMR and I saw this on the large screen, so yes. Fiction debut of Horror critic David Pirie, set during 1940s. John Truman (Charles Dance) is sent by the Ministry of Information to a fens village to investigate allegations about a spy. Once there he finds a virtual war between the survive men of the village, mostly the Home Guard, and the female doctor, the land girls and the Communist widow of an internee. Invoking The Wicker Man, this is a subtle and rich piece of horror, largely based in fact.
XXIII: The Tell-Tale Heart (Desmond Hurst, 1934)
Curious quota quickie which veers between expressionism and the sort of eo-Romanticism Michael Powell was to use a decade later. It can be read like a silent film – in fact it might have been better to reserve sound for the heart beat of the title – and its (mostly amateur) actors are not served well by the dialogue. A framing device sees the boy in an asylum tell his story – his relationship with an old man neighbour with a strange eye which now he habitually draws. Disturbing and awkward.
XXIV: Frightmare (Pete Walker, 1974)
Family shocker that has resonances with the Bulger case. In the 1950s a man and a woman were sent to an asylum for deeds too ghastly to relate. Fifteen years on a juvenile delinquent is linked to the disappearance of a bar man after a fight, and her sister's psychiatrist boyfriend begins to investigate. Shocking (if hilarious) and disturbing in lots of ways, with a typical 1970s ending
XXV: Blood on Satan's Claw (Piers Haggard, 1970)
The filmic equivalent of a Badger Book – on 1 Jan it was discovered there was studio space available in April, so a script was commissioned. Conceived as three stories connected together, it ended up more unified without quite hanging together. A ploughman discovers a skeleton of something, a girlfriend is driven mad in an attic, an aunt vanishes – oh, and the kids are having sex and worshipping Satan. The cast include a post Doctor Who Wendy Padbury, a pre Doctor Who Anthony Ainley and a pre Frank Spencer Michelle Dotrice. A nasty piece of work, but rather splendid with it.
Totals: 25 (Cinema: 7; DVDs: 12; TV: 6)
Do Plays for the Day count? Probably not, but MGMR and I saw this on the large screen, so yes. Fiction debut of Horror critic David Pirie, set during 1940s. John Truman (Charles Dance) is sent by the Ministry of Information to a fens village to investigate allegations about a spy. Once there he finds a virtual war between the survive men of the village, mostly the Home Guard, and the female doctor, the land girls and the Communist widow of an internee. Invoking The Wicker Man, this is a subtle and rich piece of horror, largely based in fact.
XXIII: The Tell-Tale Heart (Desmond Hurst, 1934)
Curious quota quickie which veers between expressionism and the sort of eo-Romanticism Michael Powell was to use a decade later. It can be read like a silent film – in fact it might have been better to reserve sound for the heart beat of the title – and its (mostly amateur) actors are not served well by the dialogue. A framing device sees the boy in an asylum tell his story – his relationship with an old man neighbour with a strange eye which now he habitually draws. Disturbing and awkward.
XXIV: Frightmare (Pete Walker, 1974)
Family shocker that has resonances with the Bulger case. In the 1950s a man and a woman were sent to an asylum for deeds too ghastly to relate. Fifteen years on a juvenile delinquent is linked to the disappearance of a bar man after a fight, and her sister's psychiatrist boyfriend begins to investigate. Shocking (if hilarious) and disturbing in lots of ways, with a typical 1970s ending
XXV: Blood on Satan's Claw (Piers Haggard, 1970)
The filmic equivalent of a Badger Book – on 1 Jan it was discovered there was studio space available in April, so a script was commissioned. Conceived as three stories connected together, it ended up more unified without quite hanging together. A ploughman discovers a skeleton of something, a girlfriend is driven mad in an attic, an aunt vanishes – oh, and the kids are having sex and worshipping Satan. The cast include a post Doctor Who Wendy Padbury, a pre Doctor Who Anthony Ainley and a pre Frank Spencer Michelle Dotrice. A nasty piece of work, but rather splendid with it.
Totals: 25 (Cinema: 7; DVDs: 12; TV: 6)
