SHORT SHARP SHOCKS
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RELEASED OUT NOW! 1949-1980 | 18 | Blu-ray
Directors Theodore Zichy, Brian
Cummins, Lindsey Vickers, Nigel Finch
Cast Stanley Baker, Alexis Kanner, Julie Peasgood, Terence Alexander
Master of the English ghost story Algernon Blackwood had the air of an Oxford don who had once confronted the power of Satan – and would tell you all about it over a glass of port. You’ll find him here in two short films from the ’40s (16 minutes/13 minutes), part of a double-disc set of spooky supporting features curated by the BFI. While it’s a rare chance to see a genre legend captured like ectoplasm on celluloid, he proves an uncomfortable screen presence, recounting fireside tales that feel just on the edge of rambling.
More effective is The Tell-tale Heart (1953, 21 minutes), a shadow-drenched take on the Edgar Allan Poe story. Trapped in a candle-lit garret, Stanley Baker seems genuinely haunted by Poe’s words – “I heard many things in Hell” – and some off-kilter angles conjure a creeping madness.
1958’s Portrait Of A Matador (23 minutes) is a hot-blooded tale of paranormal revenge, all flamenco guitar and curses, while Death Was A Passenger (18 minutes), from the same year, offers a suspenseful wartime flashback that’s only borderline supernatural – “the workings of divine providence” take credit instead.
Disc two shifts into colour. Twenty-nine (1969, 26 minutes) is a genuine oddity, a semi-coherent study of a man suffering the ultimate morning after. Starring The Prisoner’s Alexis Kanner, it’s more of a straight psychological thriller. 1978’s The Lake, meanwhile (33 minutes), plays like an arty episode of Hammer House Of Horror, a richly atmospheric tale of formless menace, bleak, oblique and rather terrifying.
1973’s The Sex Victims (37 minutes) – has there ever been a more shameless title? – feels like stumbling upon a sun-baked copy of Mayfair in the woods. Reeking of Silk Cut and denim, it’s a clumsy piece of supernatural softcore that manages to simultaneously telegraph its twist while fumbling its big reveal.
Best of the set is the final entry, The Errand (1980, 29 minutes), a gripping, artfully directed tale of a military exercise gone wrong. There’s nothing otherworldly about it, but the pay-off delivers the most palpable shudder here.
Extras In a highly entertaining chat (42 minutes), David Mcgillivray discusses writing/ producing The Errand as well as his involvement in such ’70s sleaze gems as Frightmare and House Of Whipcord. Other interviewees include producer Peter Shillingford (41 minutes), The Lake star Julie Peasgood (17 minutes) and 90-something Renée Glynne, reminiscing about her stint as continuity girl on Twenty-nine.
Also included are featurettes on the recent rediscovery of The Tell-tale Heart (eight minutes) and the history of Adelphi Films (30 minutes). Galleries present behind-the-scenes stills, press cuttings and other ephemera, including scripts for The Lake and The Errand, along with the “short story” (more a synopsis) behind the latter. A booklet provides useful context. Nick Setchfield
The Lake director Lindsey Vickers was an uncredited assistant director on six Hammer horror movies (and one Amicus).