Hooptober XII | 29/31 | Extra Credit 1/3
At Hempnell Medical College in England, professor Norman Taylor gives a lecture on belief—namely, that superstitious beliefs are “a morbid desire to escape from reality.” After class dismisses, Harvey Sawtelle approaches Norman about playing bridge that night at his. At home, Norman’s wife, Tansy, dreads the coming evening’s bridge game, with the guests being “petty scholars and jealous, bickering wives.” She dreams of a future return to Jamaica, but Norman jests that she’s dreaming of a warlock named Carubius and his black magic. Tansy scorns him. As Tansy predicted, the night was a strain on her.
After folks have left, she searches around the house, troubled. Norman has trouble pulling out the dresser drawer for his pyjamas and ends up taking out Tansy’s drawer just above it. He happens to look inside the drawer and finds a small porcelain container containing a dead spider. She reveals that it was a gift from Carubius—a good-luck charm. While Norman sleeps, Tansy continues her search around the house. Finally, she finds a poppet tied to a tassel on the lamp, presumably left by Harvey’s wife, Evelyn. Tansy destroys it and sets it aflame.
The following day, the cleaners drop off some dry cleaning. Norman goes to the closet to grab a coat for them, when something pricks his finger. At the collar, he finds a small package pinned to it. He empties the package into his hand — a pinch of grave dirt. This discovery motivates him to return to the good-luck charm and search through Tandy’s things.
When Tansy arrives home, she finds Norman has laid out all of her charms. She admits to practicing conjure magic she learned in Jamaica. Since then, she has used it to help him excel at work. So, Norman forces her to burn it all, so that he can prove it has had no such effect. Tansy accepts it until Norman throws in a locket containing his picture. She grows horrified, sensing something in the air. The cat screeches and runs away—the phone rings. The dead spider crawls out of the fire, alive.
I tell you, Norman, I will not be responsible for what happens to us if you make me give up my protections.
And so begins Norman’s rapid decline. Is it related, or is it all a horrible coincidence?
The US version of the movie adds an opening prologue about the truth regarding magic. It’s silly and totally contradicts the rest of the movie’s tone. So, my review assumes that the prologue isn’t there.
The film does a brilliant job of suggesting magic is real without outright stating it. Like The Innocents, another film featuring Peter Wyngarde, the movie plays with belief and superstition. The film builds a beautiful tension that doesn’t let go. The camera stays close to the characters, making the close-ups all the more grand. As the tension builds, we grow steadily closer, at times claustrophobically so.
It’s pretty remarkable — so many people have to play a sort of manic state, and they all do it quite convincingly! This script could easily devolve into melodrama, but the performances all have specific choices that rein it in. Not that I’m against melodrama, but it just wouldn’t suit this particular picture. Similarly, there’s a sort of knowing tone that particular characters speak with, as though they are in on subtext that no one else is. It helps create a sense of superstition.
Man, I had such a good time watching this movie. What a well-directed piece of horror!
Actor Talk
- Peter Wyngarde is fit! He’s great in this, but I also happen to like it when his shirt is off.
- Janet Blair is perfect in this role.
- Kathleen Byron, who plays Evelyn, is so good as the “jealous, bickering wife.”
- Judith Stott nails a specific sort of conviction.
Tags
amazon-primehooptoberhooptober12britsploitationfolk-horror:-a-studydevil-worshipgothic-horror