RARE CHILLS

Two frightfully obscure supernatural dramas are exhumed in this double-header from the archives of lost TV hunters Kaleidoscope.

“The Shadow Of Death” is the pilot for never-made horror anthology show The Fearmakers. It’s an endearingly creaky piece of old-school creepitude, introduced by its star, Jack Woolgar. “Science, with all its sophisticated technology, has still not proved or disproved the existence of the supernatural,” he asserts, his splendid squadron leader’s moustache looming by candlelight.

Woolgar plays a shifty old coot returning to a decrepit hunting lodge to reclaim treasure buried beneath its floor. Full of owl hoots, wind-tossed trees and atmosphere, it’s a straightforward chiller that lurches into something altogether weirder in its final moments. The print looks utterly knackered, which only adds to the mood – a flickering green stripe becomes a hauntological bonus.

“Mrs Amworth” is another pilot that went nowhere, this time for Classics Dark And Dangerous. An adaptation of EF Benson’s short story, it’s a livelier, breezier affair of undead doings in a picture-book village, so deeply English that the only sane response to a vampiric infestation is to call off the afternoon’s golf.

Extras None. Nick Setchfield