Psychotronic Drive-In #2

This month at Psychotronic Drive-In we’re covering two distinctive takes on ghosts. While both films were made for television and contain the spooky specters we horror fans love, the similarities only go that far. Considering the spine-chilling heavy hitters that share their genre, such Jack Clayton’s The Innocents, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, and a personal favorite, Elio Petri’s A Quiet Place in the Country, these spirits of the small screen have a lot to live up to. In all honesty, only one film meets the challenge, but the other is whacked out nonsense that we enjoy almost as much. Therefore, we are pleased to provide a recommendation and spoiler-free review of both films hoping you will seek them out and savor the whiplash-like divergence in quality, taste, and effective horror. Tonight's double feature is Amazing World of Ghosts (1978) and The Woman in Black (1989).

Amazing World of Ghosts

We found this film on a bootleg site where it was listed with its charming cover art and tagline “A Fun House Ride.” Having never heard of it, and totally unaware that the film was available to watch for free on Youtube, we purchased the DVD-R and received it several days later. What came in the mail was entirely unexpected. Directed by video artist, cultural theorist, and film professor Wheeler Dixon and narrated by a verbal machine gun named Sidney Paul, this film takes itself one hundred percent seriously and, if shown in a funhouse, wouldn’t accomplish anything aside from making the clowns paranoid. 

The film opens with a boy walking alone at night through an unnamed city as the narrator begins his rant. Infact, Paul doesn't pause for nearly thirteen minutes once he begins talking, so strap in. The city footage, like most of the footage in this film, we will respectfully assume was unrelated film captured by Dixon and not just stock footage. Over this, we are asked in rapid succession “Do you believe in ghosts? Do you think there are such things as ghosts, things that go bump in the night, things that haunt our nightmares with dreams of death and blood, dreams which stagger our imagination as we fearfully contemplate the Amazing World of Ghosts.” Any sensible film fan can imagine the title card appearing over that last bit. However, in what certainly isn’t the last of Dixon’s bizarre choices, we aren't given our title until almost a minute later, where it is presented in the middle of an unrelated sentence.

One thing viewers will notice right away is that this film really wants you to think ghosts are aliens. Just minutes into what was previously presumed to be a strictly ghost program, they are referred to as “Not of this Earth.” An interesting take for sure, but it doesn't stop there. Paul fires another blast, wondering “Are ghosts really the living dead from outer space?” followed by, “Do the planets follow the laws of the mystic spirits?” We are only thirteen minutes into this feature length film and we already have no clue what he is talking about. 

As the film continues, it becomes increasingly obvious that the narrator is extremely, even delusionally suspicious of the ghost aliens. He postulates that the planets are sending signals to each other about attacking the earth. What does this have to do with the cheesy ghost photographs he is showing us, your guess is as good as ours. Paul touches on the Loch Ness Monster, Pazuzu, Lord Byron’s ghost dog, spirit dust, oral ectoplasm production, Voodoo, and spends astronomically too long rambling over footage of earthquake survivors in a foreign country who we are almost certain have no idea they are in a ghost documentary and want to be left alone. 

With the conclusion coming full circle, we are asked “Are ghosts really aliens from outer space? Is the entire ghostly world actually a world of strange aliens assuming other identities to spy on us and perhaps enslave the earth paving the way for an alien invasion?” He doesn't even manage to shut up during the credits. Because of how much detail we gave here, you may be assuming you are off the hook and don’t have to watch this. Well, we didn't even talk about half of the ludicrous mumbo-jumbo spouted in this oddity. It is truly one of a kind and we cannot recommend it enough.

The Woman in Black

Based on Susan Hill’s 1983 book of the same name, this made-for-television gem ranks among the best adaptations of a ghost story ever put to film. Directed by Herbert Wise and starring Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton, and Pauline Moran, this ghoulish tale premiered Christmas Eve on Britain’s ITV station. Following the British tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, BBC One produced a slew of annual television films originally broadcast between 1971 and 1978. In light of their success, other stations also produced ghost stories of their own leading to this film's inception. 

The story begins in London. Arthur Kidd (Rawlins) is persuaded to travel to the coastal market town of Crythin Gifford by his rather impertinent superior at Sweetman, Haigh & Sweetman Solicitors. During his visit, Kidd must attend the funeral and settle the estate of long time client Alice Drablow, a reclusive widow. On his train ride, Kidd meets Sam Toovey (Hepton), a local landowner who enquires about his business in Crythin Gifford after noticing Drablow’s name on a document. Kidd finds Toovey, along with the rest of the townspeople, reluctant to talk about the old woman or her now abandoned estate, Eel Marsh House. 

After arriving at the local inn The Gifford Arms, Kidd attends Drablow’s funeral where he notices an apparent mourner, a woman in black (Moran). The woman seems to disappear from the church after being noticed, only to reemerge later as Drablow’s body is being lowered into the earth. Her presence being in direct contrast to the predictions of both Toovey and the town lawyer Arnold Pepperell (John Carter) who both agreed there would be no one at the funeral, Kidd is quick to inform them. When he does, he finds them cold and dismissive. Now ready to visit Eel Marsh House, a local coachman named Keckwick (William Simons) guides Kidd along Nine Lives Causeway, the perilous route to the estate which can only be accessed at low tide. After showing Kidd around the premises, Keckwick leaves, promising to return to guide him back to town. 

Now alone at the house, Kidd explores the family graveyard where he sees the mysterious woman from the funeral who materializes from nowhere and begins walking slowly towards him. Terrified, Kidd runs inside to continue his work. While looking through Drablow’s papers in the study, Kidd finds two death certificates and some photographs of a young woman who resembles the figure he keeps seeing. Kidd begins to piece together the terrible hauntings experienced by Drablow with the help of various wax cylinder recordings she left, cataloging repeated visits by a ghostly woman.

This is an atmospheric and frightening piece of horror cinema that is drenched in gloom and features excellent performances all around. The many effective scares are paired wonderfully with the eerie sound design featured throughout. There are a few unexpected twists and turns which ultimately lead to a satisfyingly grim conclusion. For us, this is a near perfect film and should be on the watch list of any horror fan who loves a good ghost story.