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Dark Places (1973 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Dark Places' is a 1973 British psychological horror film directed by Don Sharp and starring Robert Hardy, Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114171212/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/12490 BFI.org]
Plot
After the previous owner Andrew Marr dies, Edward Foster inherits his mansion. Despite attempts to scare him out of the house, that is rumoured to be haunted, he decides to renovate and inhabit it.
Unbeknownst to him, Marrs former physician Dr Ian Mandeville and his sister Sarah compete with solicitor Prescott in trying to locate two suitcases of money rumoured to be hidden on the large estate, that he hopes to claim for himself.
Edward, later revealed to have been recently released from an asylum, soon starts hearing voices and begins to have flashbacks of the life of Andrew Marr, slowly witnessing the latters marriage to his mentally unstable wife Victoria fall apart. Andrew had planned to leave her for the younger and more attractive governess Alta. In desperation Victoria had encouraged the two equally psychotic children to murder the governess whilst she attempted to seduce Andrew in the bedroom. Hearing the children murder Alta, Andrew strangled his wife and killed the children with a sword before bricking all four corpses up behind a wall with the two cases of money.
Edward, driven mad by the constant flashbacks and unable to distinguish between himself and Andrew, accidentally strangles Sarah while experiencing the murder of Andrews wife. He kills Dr Mandeville with a pick axe and attempts to kill Prescott before being arrested and led away by police, who also seize the money.
Cast
* Christopher Lee - Doctor Ian Mandeville
* Joan Collins - Sarah Mandeville
* Herbert Lom - Prescott
* Jane Birkin - Alta
* Robert Hardy - Edward Foster / Andrew Marr
* Jean Marsh - Victoria
* Carleton Hobbs - Old Marr
* Roy Evans - Baxter
* Martin Boddey - Sgt. Riley
* John Glyn-Jones - Bank Manager
* John Levene - Doctor
* Jennifer Thanisch - Jessica
* Michael McVey - Francis
* Barry Linehan - Asylum Gatekeeper
Production
Don Sharp was under contract to a studio at the time, Scotia, who loaned him out to make this film. He said "apart from one slow sequence" near the beginning, the movie "had some super stuff". Sharp said it was "a very strange production all the way through" in part because producer James Hannah was eccentric. "Nobody could figure out why he was making a movie," recalled Sharp, who said there were rumours the film was being made as a tax loss.
The film was shot at an old asylum near Uxbridge.
Release
There were delays in releasing the film. "There were rumours it had disappeared," said Sharp, who said twenty years after filming was completed he started receiving cheques from the film being sold to cable in Switzerland.
Home media
The film was released for the first time on DVD by Film 2000 on 20 November 2006.Reception
TV Guide awarded the film 1/5 stars, calling it 'mediocre in all respects'. Dave Sindelar from 'Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings' gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's "sluggish" pacing, repetition, and final act. Sindelar did however, commend the film's performances.
References
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