The Stone Tape
Directed by Peter Sasdy
A team of scientists visit a haunted Victorian mansion in the hope of preserving past events, but their work unleashes a dark force.
Nigel Kneale's chilling story of ghost detection.
Cast: Tom Chadbon, Jane Asher, Reginald Marsh, Iain Cuthbertson, Michael Bryant, Michael Bates
Member Reviews
better if you don't think it's a horror movie.
I understand this was very influential. Frankly, it's hard to watch and hard to follow. There is a haunted house, and a bunch of British people shouting at each other, including some paranormal researchers and a very hysterical woman who should probably not be there. Yes, I'm sure I missed something. judging from the other reviews, I'm not the only one.
Kind of a masterpiece.
Felt like an old British soap more than anything.
Excellent pacing, terrific ambiance, lovely underuse of a score until it's absolutely needed — mostly dwelling in pregnant silence. Dated prejudices conceded, as everyone has noted — sucks, but a product of its time, perhaps. That being said, there's still a lot of good to be squeezed from this one; if you find the misogyny troubling, remember that the lead programmer is in fact correct in the end, and it's the biased men (one in particular, really) around her trying to pull her ideas down. My elevator pitch to you: imagine an M.R. James story set anachronistically in the 1970s with a small dose of Lovecraft!