Lost Hearts

Lost Hearts

Lost Hearts

Lost Hearts

Terrified the life out of me in 1973 and I was scared of the dark for many years after! Even walked around with my arms across my chest too. All these years later it still seems very sinister . . .

Lost Hearts is an eerie atmospheric tale. For a BBC Christmas ghost story, it seemed to be aimed at children though. Stephen is a young orphan who has come to stay with an eccentric cousin, Mr Abney in a country mansion that has two members of staff in the household. Stephen is told that in the past Mr Abney had two other children in the house who ran away in the night, never to be seen again. One was a gypsy girl and the other an Italian boy who played the hurdy gurdy. During his time in the house, Stephen has vision of seeing a young boy and a girl, later he sees these two without hearts. Are these two ghostly figures trying to warn Stephen about his strange cousin who has an interest in the occult and living an eternal life. I did feel that the acting let this drama down. It was odd at times especially the two kids playing the ghostly visions. Maybe that is how the director wanted it to be.

I always remember watching a ghost story with my mam when I was 14 and being scared witless by it but could only remember it had 2 kids with white faces and a hurdy gurdy. As soon as I saw this at Christmas I realised it was the very same one ! Not really scary to me any more, but it brought back a happy memory from long ago.

Lawrence Gordon Clarke was behind the BBC's wonderful "Ghost Stories for Christmas," a series of creepy tales (most borrowed from the writings of M.R. James, though 'The Signalman (1976)' was a Dickens adaptation) to enjoy on a quiet, wintry Christmas night. 'Lost Hearts (1973)' is one of the lesser-known entries, but nonetheless proves a handsome ghost story with more chilling atmosphere in 35 minutes than most feature-length horror movies. Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent) is a young orphan sent to live with Mr Abney (Joseph O'Connor), a kindly, doddering old scholar. From the moment he arrives, Stephen begins to see and hear apparitions of two children – a boy and girl of his age – whose intentions are obscure. Stephen comes to learn that the children are former orphans taken into Mr Abney's home. One thing Clarke does very well is create mood without even a hostile ghost ('The Sixth Sense (1999)' and 'The Others (2001)' would do this very well decades later). The two children, their faces pale and their fingernails talon-like, stand cross-armed outside the house, silent sentries; the boy plays an instrument called the hurdy-gurdy, and walks with an unsettling, lopsided toothy smile. Perhaps the film would have been even better had Clarke withheld the children's identity until the final act. By introducing the previous orphans – not just through dialogue, but images, as well – he humanises them, and their intentions immediately become less sinister. It would have been more effective, I think, if we didn't understand until the last moment that the ghosts were, in fact, trying to warn Stephen, not harm him.

I have been an avid ghost story and horror fan since forever. But this adaptation actually gave me nightmares. The strange thing is that as I watched it I knew it was going to invade my dreams. Although on the surface it's not that scary. But I think it was a combination of atmospheric direction and the strange use of Hurdy Gurdy music that gave it the the creep factor. I recommend this for those who are tired of cliche horror and want a slow burning story of underlying terror.

A few days before his 12th birthday, young Master Stephen is sent to the country to spend some time with his elderly cousin, Mr Abney, who is to be his new guardian, at his country manor. As he nears his destination he sees two young children waving at him in a slow synchronicity, he thinks their movements are odd, but when he takes a second look, they are gone. On arrival, he is shown to his cousin who immediately strikes Stephen as being very eccentric, being a man who writes down every trivial event of the day no matter how menial, Mr Abney seems very excited to learn that Master Stephen will soon be twelve on Halloween night, a fact he immediately leaves to the room to enter in his daily log, much to Stephen's bemusement. Mr Abney we learn is a man of science? his study is full of strange paintings and statuettes and studies it by way of his vast collection of antiquated books, but what exactly his work is, is anyone's guess? although Astrology and the Black Arts are hinted at. Stephen is a bright boy and is soon gleaning plenty of information on his cousin, from cook Mrs Bunch, he questions her about other children staying there, but there are none he learns, but there used to be, Mrs Bunch tells him. There was a young girl some years previously who Mr Abney brought home, he looked after her for a few weeks before she disappeared, Mr Abney's theory being that the girl was a gypsy and had been taken by them, still though he had trawled the nearby lake just to be sure. Then after her, there was an Italian orphan boy, Giovanni, whom Mr Abney found walking nearby, the boy was obsessed with playing the hurdy-gurdy, again Mr Abney took him in but the boy didn't stay long either and disappeared soon after, leaving behind his beloved hurdy-gurdy, a fact Stephen jumps upon as very odd. Stephen's dreams are very soon haunted by dreadful visions of the two children he had seen before, Are they real or ghosts, Stephen is unsure, as he continually catches fleeting glimpses of them here and there around Abneys estate. He also begins to hear voices, he learns he's not the only one either, as Mrs Bunch and handyman Parkes also hear them. On the eve of his birthday, Mr Abney invites young Stephen to a Halloween midnight rendezvous, to experience the gift of a lifetime, Stephen is at first hesitant as he is sure at that late hour he will be too tired, but eager to please his very insistent cousin, he agrees.... It always amazes me how Clark is never mentioned is dispatches, when best horror director lists are being compiled, for he truly had a unique vision on how supernatural films should be filmed and should be better known and admired for his rather obvious talents. Again he delves into M.R.James's Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and ensures the screen equivalent is just as terrifying as the written word. He uses the beautifully stunning English countryside to perfection, as the ghostly children stand transfixed amidst wind rustled trees, as stealthily creeping fog encircles them, their gaze fixed on Mr Abney's manor. The look of the children is quite eerie and unsettling, especially their twisted fingers and elongated fingernails and is added to immensely by Giovanni's rather odd hurdy-gurdy music. Abney himself on the surface seems friendly, but behind the eccentric facade and failed experiments, we just know something dark lingers and its not long before our suspicions of his predatory nature are realized. For its time, the 1890's, James's extremely dark work seems to herald future, more modern concerns and yet still seems to contain even more unspeakable ideas. Stephen's dangerous and fateful midnight meeting, is the subject of the films finale and succeeds in providing us with yet more unsettling imagery. And yet another superb entry in the series is realized.

I've only recently begun appreciating the works of M.R James and this BBC TV series is an ideal place to begin. "Lost Hearts" is a gripping story that focuses on the somewhat eccentric and sinister activities of a boys cousin as the former is an orphan who has been sent to live at his cousin's country estate. I enjoyed this episode all the way through as each scene bears relevance to the plot.