The Appointment

source: The Appointment

A young girl is abducted by an evil force in the woods and 3 years later another 14 year old girl, besotted with her father, is upset that he will miss her music concert because of a last minute appointment he has to drive to. Evil forces visit the family in the night causing all sorts of unpleasant dreams as well as seemingly affecting the family car. Whilst there is a lot wrong with this in terms of stilted acting and dialogue and a plot which is no doubt filled with clever metaphors which I missed, there remains plenty to admire here. The whole thing is rich in atmosphere and whilst it is clear where it's all heading, you are really drawn in. The plot itself makes little sense and the fairly shocking beginning and post climax scene feel like a disconnected afterthought and the 'haunting' of the car, a bit bewildering. Again, this is compensated for by carefully pacing and strong focus on scenes leading to an exciting, extremely well crafted climax - Hollywood should take note.

Three years ago, the 12-year old Sandy Freemont disappeared after taking a shortcut through the woods. The mystery is yet to be solved. 'The Appointment' is an interesting film. There are supernatural elements, but very subtle. Then there are the creepy dogs. One never really knows whether they are related, but both forces are frightening in their own right. The film also contains family drama, with Ian (Edward Woodward) having to leave town for an appointment on the same day of his daughter, Joanne's first classical concert. Joanne is upset when she realizes he will miss the concert, and throughout the evening she keeps nagging him about it. There are suggestive moments that makes one believe Ian fooled around with his daughter, or still is, but this never surfaces. Some scenes linger on purpose to create an unnerving suspense I haven't felt in a movie in a while. Ian's sleepless night before he had to leave, was incredibly suspenseful - thanks to clever photography and editing. That night - which seemed to go on forever (in a good way!) - had me on the edge of my seat. Soon we realize his dreams were actually a premonition, with Ian's fate being sealed. 'The Appointment' is a horror movie without blood, guts and gore, but it is horrifying in a psychological sense - and creepy as hell. You have to read between the lines to fully understand it, though. There's more going on here than you might think.

There is a strange moment of a girl lost in the woods, abducted violently. Three years later a man cannot go to his daughter's violin recital and has a terrible dream and a crash that may be connected. However this doesn't really work out or make enough as a film. The actors seen okay but the dialogue is not good enough and nothing really makes any sense. It is all very slow and although there are the odd now and again moments it is just not enough.

Unlike some other reviews, I didn't find this particularly strange or ambiguous - especially if you have watched a few classic horrors/thrillers from around that time. It is dated in the build-up, and could have done with some editing to keep the tension tighter. But without giving the plot away, I think it is fairly explicit about what is going on and why - and with a little thought, what had happened 3 years earlier. The acting is terrific, and the film is inventive in how it tells the story, making exceptional use of what must have been a limited budget with some lingering set pieces that I will never forget to boot. I would class this as a slow burner thriller with horror elements, based primarily around 24 hours in a family's life. A slow, sometimes very slow journey, but a rewarding detour nonetheless.

Edward Woodward stars in this 1981 obscurity about a teenage schoolgirl violinist with an insatiable need for attention from her father. The opening five minutes are super creepy, and the movie breaks with the tradition of British Horror that is the old gothic castles and flowing black cloaks, by focusing on a contemporary family living in the suburbs. The flat TV movie feel of the production also adds to the overall creepiness, giving the whole thing a dream like atmosphere. Unfortunately the story is hard to follow and makes little sense, and the super scary prologue seems to have no relevance to a plot which ultimately sees Woodward drive his Ford Granada off a cliff top.

This movie is good and bad. Very, very strange and unsettling is the best way I can think of to explain this British horror film. It was scary, shocking, and made my skin crawl with the typical quiet, non-gory British horror. It also features one of the most bizarre and agonizing car wrecks in the history of films! The drawback is there is virtually no plot development. There was no explanation as to what the evil was, why is was there, or what happened to it at the end. And why was the father the main target? It was basically a family going about their daily life and these scary things happening to them. Good on the scare value, blah on everything else! This a rare film to find, at least here in the states. I caught it because it used to be on A&E (Arts and Entertainment) on TV about ten years or so ago.

British businessman Ian (Edward Woodward) disappoints his young daughter (Samantha Weysom) by telling her that a sudden meeting will keep him from seeing her big violin recital. She is crushed and there is tension in the family all night, to the point that Ian yells at his daughter. This leads to both Ian and his wife (Jane Merrow) both having bizarre dreams involving some hell hounds and Ian losing control of his car. Naturally, this does not bode well for his upcoming drive to his appointment. While this won't replace THE WICKER MAN as Woodward's best horror movie, this is a pretty enjoyable horror film with an incredibly sinister undertone. Basically, the daughter is in cahoots with some kind of demonic force that she unleashes to take out whomever (school rivals, her own father) makes her angry. It should be stated up front that the film is incredibly tempered and anyone expecting flat out scares throughout will be disappointed after a rousing opening where a girl is sucked into the woods by a unseen force. Woodward is good as the pushover father who finally decides to show a bit of backbone and the rest of the cast is fine. And while you will probably map out what is going to happen to Woodward long before he does, the film ends with an absolutely spectacular car crash. It's FINAL DESTINATION for old folks! Director Lindsey Vickers only made this one feature length film and that is really a shame because this is great moody stuff.

Lindsey Vickers, who scripts and directs this enigmatic film, offers a viewer just enough information to raise questions, at the same time presenting enough plums in the pudding to warrant an alert audience wishing for answers in return, but providentially style triumphs over substance. Vickers constructs an unquestionably suspenseful tale of predestination that revolves about a talented young violinist who manifestly possesses significant preternatural powers, more than sufficient to drastically affect those about her. Action opens with a three year flashback scene as we view a 12 year old girl carrying her casebound violin while walking from her school toward her home, traversing a secluded coppice, Crombie Wood, wherein she is suddenly seized (in a highly eerie scene) by a baleful force that slaughters her. Three years after, Joanne Cameron (Samantha Weysom), a 14 year old student at the same school, and also a violinist of a high order, is seen approaching a now abandoned Crombie Wood (fenced to discourage any who might otherwise trudge through it) where she speaks at the barrier to someone or something unseen just within the enclosure. Joanne's affection for her father Ian (Edward Woodward) is obsessive, and when he cannot attend her solo examination recital because of a business appointment, the child's paranormal facility is apparently utilized in the service of evil, thereby raising nocturnal havoc with Ian and Joanne's mother Dianna (Jane Merrow), as the married pair have nightmares in union that share numerous dire elements. In the morning following the tandem bad dreams, Ian drives to his business appointment in a loaned automobile, as his is being serviced, and it is soon apparent that vital auto related components from within the nightmare are being enacted during the light of day, and a powerful perception of upcoming danger is fashioned through the script. It is this premonition of dread that securely establishes the tension marking the film from its opening scene, a viewer wondering specifically how, or if, Ian will be victimized consonant with the display of frightful events that comprised a large portion of the mentioned dreams. Well-wrought and intense domestically flavoured episodes mingle congruent with scenes of suspense, according credible shape to the whole. Helping to nourish a viewer's interest are nicely conceived passages showcasing visual and aural synchronicity, based for the largest part upon the dream sequences, while a gripping atonal score by Trevor Jones and resourceful camera-work from Brian West provide intensive underpinning to a film that never retreats away from the plot line perception of Vickers. Especial note shall be made of a solo car crash occurrence that is shot and edited in a highly persuasive manner. Acting honours are to the expressive Merrow for her turn as a decisive pivot between her husband and daughter. Filmed to a large extent within scenic Snowdonia National Park of North Wales, this undervalued film had but infrequent theatrical showings before being released to video and has not since emerged in a DVD format.

Possible (very) minor spoilers. The Appointment is, it seems, a very obscure film. I don't know if it was ever theatrically released in the States, and the videotape isn't especially common. For most people, the mention of British horror conjures up Hammer-style period images of castles, capes, etc. Here, the approach is decidedly different, as the film takes place in a modern, fairly innocuous Northern suburb and on a series of brightly-lit country roads. Edward Woodward and Jane Merrow are having trouble with their spoiled daughter Joanne (Samantha Weysom), who has ways of getting what she wants. Her pubescent routine is disrupted when Daddy is called away on business, forcing him to miss her school concert. Joanne is not happy...and Daddy, strapped into a rented Ford Granada, is in for a very disturbing journey. The film's dry, uniquely British detachment will make it rough going for some, but it is definitely worth the trip. An extremely interesting look at horror in the places you would least expect it, The Appointment benefits from solid acting and striking use of sound. There are plenty of haunting, surprisingly beautiful visuals--some shocking (the scene in the auto garage), others very subtle, but always with that undeniable disturbance in the peaceful English atmosphere. With an excellent climax, definitely not for the weak-hearted. Too bad Lindsey Vickers never made any other films. Make an appointment to see it...provided your schedule is already clear, of course.