Borley Rectory

Wraith No More

Borley Rectory
UK 2017 Directed by Ashley Thorpe
Carrion Film Blu Ray Zone B

Borley Rectory burned down the same night in 1939 that my mother was born, so it’s always had a kind of special place in our hearts in this family. And here’s yet another movie about the place once named “the most haunted house in England”. This one’s a pretty good one though, as it happens. It’s not a full on drama and it’s something a little more than a documentary... so a docu-drama maybe? I’m not 100% sure what to call this thing, to be honest (and I don’t care). 

What singles this one out from many others, apart from being presented only in black and white (and resident shades and spectres of grey), is that the live action dramatisations are combined with a heck of a lot of animation. Indeed every frame is an animation with the live footage inserted and then worked over with various layers of animated detail to make a fairly unique viewing experience. It’s a little like the old technique that Peter Greenaway used for Prospero’s Books but with less obfuscation to the clarity of the message and, given it monochromatic status, it doesn’t threaten to overpower the audience while still throwing a lot at the frames. 

The documentary, for that is how I shall now refer to it from hereon, is narrated by the late Julian Sands, who would go on to play one of the real life characters in this in a later film based on this ghostly riddled piece of real estate (there have been so many made). Joining him are a fairly large cast for a relatively small scale project like this but the main two cast members were the only ones I recognised. The film stars Reece Shearsmith as newspaper man V.C Wall and the great film historian Jonathan Rigby as ‘ghost hunter’ Harry Price. I have to say, I’m used to seeing Rigby pop up in various physical media documentaries over the years but he’s always good to see live too, especially when he’s actually doing some acting, such as when he hosted and starred in the stage read through of Vampirella a few years ago (reviewed by me here).

The acting style from both these fine craftsmen and, pretty much the rest of the cast, is a bit over the top... quite deliberately I would think. Everyone gives this just a little more flamboyance with a stylised performance which I would expect is something which needed to happen to be able to match the quiet ferocity of the animated material going on all around them (and indeed, over them... I don’t think it quite gets to rotoscoping, at least not as far as I am familiar with it as a technique... but there might be some of that going on in here). So it’s a good call and, as far as I’m concerned, makes for an enjoyable series of performances throughout the film’s short, 73 minute running time. 

And it’s very well done, managing to create and maintain an atmosphere comprising lurking, sinister spirits who seem to be constantly watching this or that tenant of the property through various stages of the house’s history. I saw it, due to circumstances of who I was watching it with, in a fairly well lit room on a fairly large TV so it didn’t quite hit all the scares and fog the mind completely but, I imagine that if I’d seen this under slightly less well lit conditions or, ideally, at a cinema, then more of the scare moments would have landed better. 

The animated miasma of creepiness is done particularly well and with obvious relish, as little details which either illustrate or riff on the narrative commentary are brought in as needed. There was a nice visual allusion to the work of director Dziga Vertov fairly early on in the piece which was a cool moment, I thought. Similarly, the writing is pretty good and also pays respect to various works which, perhaps inarguably, were possibly influenced or inspired by the much publicised ghostly phenomena that surrounded the place. For instance, there’s a nice reference to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting Of Hill House, not just name checked at the end of the piece but also in terms of some of the lines, such as referring to the various spectres as those who “walk alone.” Indeed, it immediately made me think of Julie Harris delivering the line in the original 1963 adaptation, The Haunting (which I reviewed here). 

So, yeah, a short shout out of a review for Borley Rectory but it’s definitely one I would recommend to those interested in such things and, yeah, certainly one of the better movies about the place. The Blu Ray edition comes with a raft of extras concerning the film and the events it’s based on and, while I haven’t watched these as yet and usually skip most of the extras on these things (seriously, who has the time these days, much as I prefer to have them) I have left the disc out before removing the covers and disc for a space saving filing exercise, so I can sit down and work my way through these at some point soon, because they seem really interesting. Certainly, I can’t recommend the physical release of this one enough. Definitely worth a look if you are into other worldly delights. 

Wallace And Gromit - Vengeance Most Fowl

Gnome With The Wind

Wallace And Gromit -
Vengeance Most Fowl
Directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham
UK/France 2024
BBC/Aardman Animation
Airdate: 25th December 2024

Warning: Very minor spoiler.

Wallace And Gromit - Vengeance Most Fowl is, by my reckoning, the sixth proper entry into the series of the two titular characters and, although not especially themed for Christmas (it turns out) it is brand new for Christmas and that’s why I’ve included it in my series of Christmas reviews this year. And, I have to say, I thought this one was mostly okay, easily taking my ‘fourth favourite’ spot of the sixth films in the franchise.

This one follows Wallace and Gromit’s further misadventures after Wallace, known for his Heath-Robinson style inventions, invents a robotic garden Gnome called Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), originally to help out with Gromit in his garden duties but, once he and the general public sees how successful it is... as an invention he can hire to people for Gnome Improvements, so to speak (yep, the film is once again filled with elabourate verbal and visual puns... no wonder this franchise is such a big hit with the British viewers). And what could be more British than Peter Kay reprising his role as Chief Inspector Macintosh from the Wallace and Gromit feature film, The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit?

Meanwhile, however, we have the return of the awesome super-villain from The Wrong Trousers, Feathers McGraw who, using his ingenuity from within his zoo-prison (following on from events in that second Wallace And Gromit short), manages to hack the Norbot robot and change its setting to evil, to help both discredit Wallace and also so he can make good on his escape and return to where he has hidden the blue diamond he stole in the first film. Evil Norbot builds a whole army of evil gnomes and it’s not long before Wallace and Gromit, under suspicion, are chasing after the crafty penguin and coming a cropper of the evil Norbots.

Now let me address the elephant in the room right away... Peter Sallis. Who died in 2017. Now I’ve been watching Peter Sallis in things since I was a kid, my first remembrance of him being from when I was a nipper and seeing him killed in a gory manner in Taste The Blood Of Dracula (reviewed here). And, of course, he was probably the longest serving actor in the long running BBC situation comedy Last Of The Summer Wine for a fair few decades. He was always the beloved voice of Wallace since the very first short film, so I was somewhat trepidatious of some guy called Ben Whitehead stepping into his vocal shoes. But you know what? He does it really well. I wouldn’t have known, if he hadn’t died, that this wasn’t Peter Sallis. My guess here is... and I’m not in any way detracting from the mimicry skills of Mr. Whitehead... that Sallis had such a distinctive voice that it’s slightly easier to get away with parodying his speech, perhaps. That’s my best guess anyway and well done to the new guy for getting it so right.

And it’s all pretty nicely done. From the Cape Fear style scenes of Feathers McGraw preparing himself for his escape from prison (using a close parody of the mighty Bernard Herrmann’s original score for that film) to the smashing denouement featuring a chase on two narrowboats and a villain who escapes to return another day, it’s all pretty good. And talking of the score, regular composer Julian Knott’s themes have been used to full effect by another composer this time around... which seems a shame but the score on this one is by the always excellent Lorne Balfe, so I shall forgive them. And it works a treat, with Knott’s themes referenced in various guises throughout the musical highlights.

A downside perhaps... and it maybe stems from my not realising this wasn’t a 25 minute short when I started watching it... is that for all the wonderful punning, beautful animation and comic timing... it seems a little long for the subject matter, coming in at a walloping, feature length 1 hour and 19 minutes. It doesn’t exactly drag but I did find myself looking at my watch on occasion.

And I think that’s me done with Wallace And Gromit - Vengeance Most Fowl... the ending seems to leave the gate open for another Feathers McGraw led sequel and, since the problem around the voice of Sallis seems to have been surprisingly solved... well... why not? Bring it on, I say.

In The Earth

Putting One’s
Foot In It

In The Earth
UK 2021
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Rooks Films

Warning: Some spoilers buried within.

"It’s a psychological problem with humans. They want to make stories out of everything." - Olivia

You know, I have a lot of time for Ben Wheatley and he always comes across well in interviews. But I do find him a little hit and miss in terms of my reception to his films. Sometimes I find his films absolutely unforgettable, astonishing and worthy of multiple viewings, such as Kill List (reviewed here) and Sightseers (reviewed here). Other times, well, I find certain films of his to be the opposite of that and I don’t ever plan on revisiting them again, such as High Rise (reviewed here) and Free Fire (reviewed here).

His new film, In The Earth is more leaning towards the former camp as far as I’m concerned... I absolutely loved the build up but I found the end to... not be as satisfying as I’d hoped although, when things were similarly left deliberately ambiguous in Kill List, I couldn’t get enough of it.

The story is set in the present day in the UK during a third lockdown of a pandemic... I mean, Wheatley doesn’t actually mention the coronavirus by name because it will obviously date it too much and the virus can be seen as just another part of the fiction in years to come... but it’s pretty obvious. And we have main protagonist Martin (played by the always brilliant Joel Fry) arriving at a Holiday Inn which is set up as a kind of base camp near where a doctor, Olivia (played by Hayley Squires) is supposed to be doing experimental research in the nearby forest, a couple of days out on foot. However, she’s gone missing and Martin is going to be guided to where she is supposed to be by a ranger, Alma (played by Ellora Torchia), a couple of days out on foot. During the process he learns about the ancient, local Earth spirit Parnagg Fegg, gashes his foot open on a piece of deliberately buried flint and also encounters a somewhat mad and dangerous character called Zach (played by Reece Shearsmith). And that’s all I want to say about the plot set up, because I think I want to avoid spoilers but, I can tell you, the film gets quite intense and intriguing as the story wears on.

Why? Well, the sound design for one thing. There’s the constant clatter of snapping twigs and weird bird call in the forest and, at one point early on in the proceedings it gets so in your face... well, in your ears... that I thought the director was doing this so he could use stealth to bring on the scares later on, when our ears get used to the audio mix. Well, as it happens, sound does play an important part in the film, not just in the way it does normally but also in terms of a plot point later in the story.

Secondly, there are the actors. They’re all absolutely amazing in this. If there’s one thing I’ve seen, even in the films he’s directed which I didn’t much care for, it’s that Ben Wheatley can bleed some beautiful performances out of his cast and this movie is certainly no exception to the rule. And there’s an actress in this, the aforementioned Ellora Torchia, who I’ve not seen before but, I can tell you, when she’s on the screen you can’t take your eyes off her. She has real presence in this movie, for sure.

For a film which is set bang up to date, being shot during the corona plague as well as using it as the ‘norm’ of the outside world from which the central characters are shielded somewhat, it also feels like it’s ‘of its time’... but while also simultaneously feeling like it’s somehow teleported itself from the 1970s. I mean, the opening shot of the title card positively screams 1970s folk horror and there are some other moments in the film which really harken back to my childhood years. Also, the way the story themes are  tackled... and I absolutely mean this as a compliment and I’m sure someone like Wheatley would take it as one... it made me think of Nigel Kneale and the way he would sometimes blend modern science with folklore and supernatural elements. There are certainly small hits of Professor Quatermass in here, I think... not to mention a  more than healthy homage to The Stone Tape (which wasn’t one of my favourites of the great Kneale’s work and I think Wheatley possibly does him one better here).

And talking of 70s... there’s a wonderful moment when Martin and Alma are in Zach’s tent and the walls of the tent are a deep red while the lighting of the characters and other objects is mostly a kind of strong, almost lime green. If this colour scheme here make you think of Mario Bava or even Dario Argento... well, yeah, it’s Ben Wheatley at the helm so I’m sure it’s supposed to.

The film features some nice surrealistic imagery and also a lot of ‘altered consciousness’ moments throughout too. One sequence, where one of the characters is trying to get past an ‘obstacle’ in a hazmat suit with a rope attached to her so she can be pulled back if need be (yeah, think The Midwich Cuckoos via Village Of The Damned, the director obviously likes his references) almost felt this was this film makers version of the famous ‘into the monolith’ sequence near the end of Kubrick’s 2001 - A Space Odyssey. I sat there watching it and thinking, yeah, if anybody is in the audience and they’re doing drugs, they’re going to have such an interesting time with this movie.

Finally, the film has a score by Clint Mansell and a) it's very good and b) Invada Records are currently saying there will be a CD release of it soon... which frankly, was the main thing which got me hooked into watching this one in the first place, the potential of a score CD in the works. If there’s a film coming out where the score isn’t available on a shiny disc and another one where a shiny disc is imminent, I’ll watch the movie that’s going to have the physical score release any day of the week.

Wheatley does a phenomenal job here and, frankly, I’ll probably grab the Blu Ray release of this one too at some point (and see if I like the ending better). That ending is, I can tell you now, growing on me a little as I revisit the film in my head while writing this review and, while it can be interpreted any number of ways, I believe, it’s also not leaving things as up in the air as they might have been. If the director had rolled his wonderful end credits sequence just a minute or two early, I feel I would have had a much more negative experience with the film. As it is, In The Earth is another of Ben Wheatley’s ‘great British movies’, as far as I’m concerned and, well, this one will get a recommendation from me to pretty much most people I know, if they’re into horror movies... and possibly a warning to those people I know who get freaked out by the genre, for sure.