User Reviews

Having just watched the CARMILLA (1989) episode from the "Nightmare Classics" TV series, I quickly followed it up with this which was actually its first episode. Stacked against the distinguished actresses that had played the main role of the governess before her – Ingrid Bergman and Lynn Redgrave (on TV) plus Deborah Kerr (on film) – I must say that the usually decorative Amy Irving makes a surprisingly good impression; David Hemmings as the children's very broad-minded uncle is another asset here, despite the relative brevity of his role that relegates his appearances to the start and end of the production. Where this particular version gets stumped is in the casting of the other roles: the children are decidedly unsympathetic from the start so when they start showing their true colors, it registers as less the evil influence of the ghosts and more the whims of the spoilt kids! Compared to the earlier 1959 version I watched, with regards to Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, the former's "Riff Raff" (more on this later) looks are distracting and not as menacing and the latter is better-looking but not as moving; nor does the all-important sinister atmosphere of the house come off as strongly. Having said that, one of the pleasures of watching several adaptations of the same tale is noting the narrative differences between them: the boy is absent at the start here because he is at the market buying a stallion, which he rides on a rainy night against the express wishes of the new governess, and which also costs the life of the uncle when he is summoned by the latter, who also seems to become possessed by the spirit of her predecessor in the very last shot! Interestingly enough, the director credit here belongs to the Australian editor of such fragmented Nicolas Roeg classics as DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976), as well as...wait for it...the cult phenomenon THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)!

I was totally impressed with this filming. It is the most effective of all the versions of the story, which is surprising since it's only a TV episode. Not your everyday TV series fare, it's a quality British film like so many other great films from there. Amy's voice must have been dubbed since it is a perfect English accent, I don't know. The locations and other actors are British. The atmosphere is spooky, the scares are well done. The relationship of the ghosts to the characters is well explained and depicted, unlike the vague lame interpretation in The Innocents. Movie books say there is nudity, but that only refers to statues and paintings on walls and in books, so that's quite a laugh. There is sexual content but it's more implied than explicit. The second best version I've seen is 1992 with Patsy Kensit. I haven't seen more recent ones. The books say there's nudity in that too but I didn't notice any.