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The Appointment (Lindsey C. Vickers, 1981)
1981's The Appointment marked Edward Woodward's return to the horror film, and it should have been a stunner; after all, his last horror appearance was The Wicker Man, one of the genre's enduring classics. Which makes me think even more that this film would have been more aptly named The Disappointment. I can't be the only one who thinks so; while Vickers would produce a few things later on in the eighties, The Appointment, her first feature as a director, would also be her last.
Woodward plays Ian, the long-suffering lawyer father of sullen teen Joanne (Mr. Selkie's Samantha Weysom in her final feature appearance), an aspiring orchestral performer (though, we find out, not by her own choice-she charges at one point that Ian "made her take the course", and he does not deny it) with an upcoming recital. The night before, Ian gets a call that summons him to London to take over a case for his partner, who has been called away after his wife is taken ill. This news is received with dismay by his wife Dianna (The Lion in Winter's Jane Merrow, who made one more feature-are you sensing a pattern here?) and anger by Joanne, who may or may not be calling on supernatural forces in a fit of pique. You see, another local girl, also a member of the school orchestra (Hidden City's Auriol Goldingham, who after appearing briefly in this movie would not be seen on a screen again for six years), went missing three years previous and is presumed dead; Joanne, who walks past the site of her disappearance every day, stops and converses with... the child's ghost? Or her own demons?...on her way home from school.
The rest of the film, which is its bulk, shows the following night and morning. Ian and Dianna are plagued by complementary nightmares, but Ian sets out for London the following day, and any suspense the film tries to build is centered around whether those dreams were prophetic or not. Unfortunately, Vickers' script is not nearly coherent enough to build said suspense, leaving us with a series of incidents that can't even really be called interesting. This is one to give a miss unless you are a hardcore Woodward fan. * 1/2
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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Audience Member
Despite starting off well, the chilling beggining actually plays no further roll in the film, from here onwards it becomes a very slow crawl towards a rather lacklustre ending.
There is a amazing sense of dread waeved throughout the film, but it becomes almost frustrating as shots dragg on beyond thier purpose and all tension is lost through boredom of staring at the blank , emontionless face of Edward Woodwood for long periods of time.
If there was a plot, its sadly lost between the metaphorical nonsense and pointless character deaths (all 2, completely unrelated and unnecessary )
I almost feel cheated The begging section was so chilling and atmopsheric, that i watched untill the end in the hope that this mysterious death would be explained. It was not. The ending..quite frankly sucked!
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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Audience Member
the synopsis is not of this film! nevertheless this is a fine piece of british macabre filmmaking
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Audience Member
I have no idea how Rotten Tomatoes came up with that plot description, they must have seen a different movie. This is an English film about a "force" that effects a family, causing premonition dreams. It is spooky at times, but it is slow moving and does not always hold the viewers interest. There are some arresting visuals however. The cast is fine but bland.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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