Reviews

When this film was made I was 10 years old and my father was a truck driver in a small (by today's standards) Bedford truck almost identical to the Dodge trucks used in the film and was operating in the very area the film was made. He and his colleagues witnessed much of the film making and apparently had quite a laugh at some of the antics of the actors trying to move the trucks about! (If they had realised what the actors' pay was in relation to their own and what the future held for the likes of Sean Connery and Patrick McGoohan perhaps they would have laughed a little less!!)

As a lad my greatest delight was to accompany my father for the day and on odd occasions I got to drive the truck about in pits and quarries just like in the film and we would occasionally stop off in one of the numerous transport 'caffs' that existed in those days - with biscuits in glass jars, menus written in chalk, Coca Cola and jukeboxes in every one!! What I can tell you is that, disregarding the 'storyline' with its necessarily exaggerated drama and the near-psychotic behaviour of some of the characters, the atmosphere, scenery and setting of the story is spot on.

The film picks up nicely on the period that I witnessed myself at the time in the UK, when the bleak, post-war drabness was gradually being turned round by hard work and long hours put in by just the sort of drifting, diverse workforce (including ex-POWs) that was portrayed with some pretty fine character studies. The grittiness of their existence and the way they coped with the pressures of the day was depicted very well - pubs sold a lot more ale and a lot less 'chicken in the basket' in those days! It was a time when 'black & white' Britain was becoming 'Technicolour' and little black cars (like the Austin 7 in the film that keeps popping all over the place) were slowly being eased out by the arrival of smart new models which could even be had in *different colours*!! (Ten years from the time this film was made colour was everywhere and Britain had become 'psychedelic'!!)

Obviously the events depicted in the film would not have been allowed to go on long before they attracted the attention of the police but it may interest you to know that, for a brief while, some of the ex-military, petrol-engined trucks that were in use just after the war could be made to run faster than the police cars of the day and if you could get away from them, they couldn't 'nick' you!! Also, one small thing that doesn't seem to be picked up on by any of the comments I have read is that the trucks seemed to be running an awful lot of material into a building site that would have struggled to use it all!!

I have been delighted to read through some of the favourable comments here and agree that this film is an underrated gem - it obviously touched me as it was all like yesterday for me, but it also stands in its own right as a superb 'modern melodrama' with a star-studded cast, action, humour, a love angle, violence, death, road chases and the bad guys *getting it* in the end!!

(And it's now almost *50* years old...!!)

Ten out of ten - for a lot of reasons.....

We have just seen this movie and thought is was quite excellent in many respects. I then came to read the comments to see why it had such a low score and have never seen such a whinefest on IMDb before.

The original was very good and had some very creepy moments - the fog scene enveloping the town and radio station was better, but in all other respects this version beats it into a cocked hat.

The acting, camera-work, soundtrack and action was first class and the storyline was far better. With the possible exception of the clergyman, the characters were fairly convincing and the costumes and make-up well done. The special effects also worked well enough and managed to avoid the usual sense of the ludicrous which very often creeps in at some point and spoils many similar horror films.

All these sort of movies need their own quirky sort of logic to be able to work at all and this one was, at least, no worse than most - the events and action presented us with no particular problems and required no more than the usual 'suspension of disbelief'!!

**SPOILERS**

The burning scene on board the ship was up there with any action movie I would care to name and the last minute twist ending made a refreshing change from all the 'good guys' making it safely through the nightmare.

8 out of 10 for taking a well respected, existing movie and daring to do it better.

...because I haven't seen all of it.

I lasted about 30 minutes before I had to pack it in. A pity because so much of it seemed to be well done - kit, costumes, weapons, scenery (with real snow) were fine and I suspect the vehicles would have been good if I had seen more of it, but the wooden acting (with the possible exception of the Sergeant, played by Peter Holden) and shambling action made it hard to watch. When the character with the ludicrous 'posh RAF English' accent (and I *do* mean ludicrous) arrived, I started to lose it - fast!

The last straw for me was the (almost ubiquitous, nowadays) Sixth Sense rip-off when a ghostly figure flitted across the screen accompanied by the obligatory, scary **chong** sound. After that I really started to look for the flaws and lasted only another 5 minutes or so before I crapped out.

Three out of ten for making an effort with the hardware and scenery and because I have never given a movie with so low a score before - I couldn't go lower without feeling bad towards the people who made it and, no doubt, mostly meant well!!

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Can't see why this perfectly decent little horror flic gets such a bad press. OK, it's a little formulaic, but it's an interestingly different take on the usual 'trapped in a haunted house with a dreadful secret' theme. The inevitable, gradual reduction of the principal cast by various gory/unusual means (with the usual, sole 'good guy/girl' survivor...) is well enough done (without being overdone) and it's well enough acted, especially considering there are no big names here.

There has also been enough effort put into the settings and scenery to make it quite 'believable' without too much reliance on CGI effects given the nature of the film - I had no problem with it at all. All other technical respects (SFX, props, sound, lighting, costumes etc.) are difficult to criticise.

If you just want to be entertained and are not looking for a 'life changing experience' I can recommend it as a good alternative to the usual 'slash and scream' offerings as a film which will not bore you to death and where you will care about the fate of at least a few of the characters.

Easily 7 out of 10....