Out Of The Darkness

'Out Of The Darkness' is a surprisingly effective Children's Film Foundation mash up of 'Lost Hearts' and 'The Wickerman' set in delightful Derbyshire. It was written and directed by John Krish, an under-rated stalwart of domestic film and TV who is personally responsible for a number of iconic moments in British culture, not least of which some great documentaries and chilling public information films like 'The Finishing Line' and 'Last Minute'.

The story concerns three annoying kids on holiday who, one by one, see the ghost of a boy from the 17th century. The boy was an inhabitant of Eyam, a nearby village stricken by the black death when a contaminated roll of cloth was sent up to the local tailor from that London, causing an outbreak that eventually killed 75% of the inhabitants. Bravely, the village chose to quarantine itself and wait out its fate (this all actually happened, by the way, making Eyam is an extremely interesting place to visit). In this story, however, one young man escaped, only to be driven to his death by the terrified inhabitants of the next village. Once every hundred years, his unquiet, dirty faced spirit returns in search of redemption and a Christian burial.

Atmospheric, very occasionally hallucinatory, the film benefits by surefooted direction and by being a lot grimmer than the CFF's usual knockabout fare. The Derbyshire landscape, with its wide open spaces and dark confined places is nicely exploited, and there's a genuine sense of mild panic as the story reaches it's climax although, perhaps in order to stop any potential nightmares in its youthful audience, the film ends happily and with a big old tea party. Good stuff, and nice looking sandwiches.

Unseen Things

‘Unearthly Stranger’ is a short, sharp, smart science fiction thriller from 1964. In it, the world’s scientists are close to a breakthrough on space travel – not by rocket, but by harnessing the power of the human mind, a sort of intergalactic astral projection. That’s the theory, anyway, and it’s an interesting one, although every time anyone gets near to cracking the formula they die from a cerebral haemorrhage.

Will British scientist Dr. Mark Davidson (John Neville) finally find the answer, or will he be too distracted by gorgeous new wife, Julie? On the subject of Julie, why does she frighten children, or not need oven gloves to touch white hot casserole dishes?  And why does she never blink? The answer may or may not surprise you, but it’s extremely well done, and the conclusion is supremely unnerving.

An unsung gem, ‘Unearthly Stranger’ really is genuinely very good – tense, atmospheric and, most of all, intelligent. It certainly made me look at my wife in a new light.

Unearthly Stranger

The Finishing Line

As a child, I used to live next to a railway line. To be honest, it was a lot more fun than 'The Finishing Line', a relentlessly grim educational film produced by British Rail, would suggest. It makes the most impact in the first few minutes, then runs on for another quarter of an hour making the same point in slightly different ways. That said, the relentless monotony of death and dismemberment is its own message - it's like the futile slaughter of the trenches transported to Hertfordshire.

Director John Krish was also responsible for the gut-wrenching 'Last Minute'. He clearly took his responsibilities very seriously.

Last Minute