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Kate (Kathleen)
Username: Kathleen

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 93.96.181.75
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 12:24 pm:   

This is one of those great British classics I'd just never caught up with. I'd seen clips from it (including the scariest bits on some "100 Scariest Moments" show), but after hearing Peter Sasdy talk about it at FantasyCon I was keen to watch it all the way through.

It's histrionic and dated, but it holds up amazingly well. I tried to imagine myself watching it in 1972, before the idea of recording all of Wagner's Ring saga on a ball bearing was do-able. I'd been exposed to the Stone Tape concept before, in The Legend of Hell House and other stories, but none are as well done or tightly plotted as The Stone Tape itself.

The ending is genuinely chilling. I love the breathing sounds that accompany Jill's sighting of the glowing red eyes. I also love the way they'd set her up to be dismissed as just a hysterical female from the start. That made the coda so much more disturbing.

I'm frankly amazed no one's tried to remake it (or if someone has, I don't know about it), as it seems so ripe for a modern treatment. But the magic lies in the slow unravelling of a mystery and the story is pure atmosphere and claustrophobic dread until the climax. You certainly couldn't pitch it to Hollywood without promising over-the-top CGI FX and lashings of gratuitous sex and violence. Still, I imagine someone will try. Look what they did to The Haunting.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.131.109.69
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 12:26 pm:   

So noisy, though. Long stretches of just noise.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.253.174.81
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 12:29 pm:   

Don't forget to read the script of The Road that comes with the DVD for more Nigel Kneale brilliance that was ahead of its time
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Mark West (Mark_west)
Username: Mark_west

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.39.177.173
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 12:46 pm:   

Saw bits of it on the "Ghost In The Machine" doc on BBC4 the other day and it looked very good. I wonder if it'll be re-released on DVD?
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Kate (Kathleen)
Username: Kathleen

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 93.96.181.75
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:03 pm:   

Lord P, it's YOUR DVD, remember? And there weren't no script in it. Just a Virgin receipt with your credit card number on it.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 82.38.75.85
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:09 pm:   

I saw The Stone Tape for the first time at the Fantastic Films Weekend a few years ago. It certainly is a good, creepy tale, but I found the datedness and sexism in it was so apparent it kept getting in the way of a good story. I think you're right, Kate, that you have to try to watch it as if it is still 1972. I'm not one of these rampant feminists, and I like all kinds of un-PC stuff, but the "hysterical female" line in this just grated on me so much.

Having said that, it's a great film for the time. I think anything you watch of Kneale's nowadays really does look dated (eg. Year Of The Sex Olympics, Beasts), but there's no doubt he was a brilliant writer for his time and he's left a tremendous legacy with so many other writers having been influenced by him.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.82.44
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:13 pm:   

THE STONE TAPE is quite shouty and unsubtle in places, but Kim Newman says this was because television screens at the time were so small, which I'm not sure I believe. That would imply that everyone THE TWILIGHT ZONE was screaming.
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Kate (Kathleen)
Username: Kathleen

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 93.96.181.75
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:14 pm:   

BEASTS had some great episodes, which I just saw a few of recently. "During Barty's Party" was brilliant, especially as you never actually see a single rat. I'm not scared of rats at all and the story still creeped me out, so I consider that a success. It also surprised me by not ending the way I was expecting it to - with the rats invading the radio station.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.74
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:17 pm:   

Jenny and I loved it when we saw the first broadcast. We've seen it subsequently and it still works for us, despite the primitive special effects. After that, sadly, Kneale's original work became much less worthwhile.
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:21 pm:   

I saw 'The Stone Tape' on telly a few years ago and loved it, as I do all of Kneale's material (particularly the Quatermass serials).

The final scenes actually made me realise I had seen it before as a young child and been scared stiff by it... seeing it again after such a long gap and with such hazy but still potent half-memories was as spooky an experience as the programme itself.

Yes it was dated and studiobound looking but the strength and originality of the story and the comittment of the performances still shone through for me.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.106.220.83
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:23 pm:   

I can recall watching this on first broadcast with my mother - we were both creeped out by the end! I still enjoy it now on DVD, doing my best to look past the 'datedness'.
Kate - the script for "The Road" is a file on the DVD itself...
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Kate (Kathleen)
Username: Kathleen

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 93.96.181.75
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:32 pm:   

Ohhhhh... Thanks, Mick!
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 01:36 pm:   

THE STONE TAPE is certainly available on DVD - I bought it 3 or 4 years ago. I love it. The notion of something being "dated" rarely bothers me (particularly with TV work) because everything is dated a second after it emerges into the world. The play was a product of it's time, and passes the ultimate test of still managing to scare the shit out of me. Brilliant, I say!

I also find the shouty characters very realistic - it's what folk do in real life. Life is often as eries of noisy passages. So, again, that doesn't bother me.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.80.87
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 03:37 pm:   

"I also find the shouty characters very realistic - it's what folk do in real life. Life is often as eries of noisy passages. So, again, that doesn't bother me."

That's an interesting angle. The lead characters is, I think, deliberately obnoxious. The characters in The Willows tried to make as much noise as possible. THE STONE TAPE could have benefitted from a few more quiet scenes to serve as contrast though.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 129.11.76.229
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 03:53 pm:   

Zed lent me this last year. I liked it a lot and think it would benefit from a sensitive remake far more than some of the other that gets cash throw at it.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 04:00 pm:   

THE STONE TAPE could have benefitted from a few more quiet scenes to serve as contrast though.

Agreed, Proto.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 05:14 pm:   

I tried a stone tape once. my car stereo was knackered afterwards.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.252.144
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 05:18 pm:   

Why don't we stone-tape Weber?

As in, tape him to a giant stone. Then run tape as we stone him.

Let the punishment fit the crime (i.e., that "joke"), I say....
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Gcw (Gcw)
Username: Gcw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.167.117.66
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 06:13 pm:   

"Jenny and I loved it when we saw the first broadcast. We've seen it subsequently and it still works for us, despite the primitive special effects. After that, sadly, Kneale's original work became much less worthwhile."

What do you think of the Euston Films Quatermass Ramsey?

gcw
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Kate (Kathleen)
Username: Kathleen

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 93.96.181.75
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 10:03 pm:   

I just read the script of "The Road" - awesome! That would have properly terrified the life out of me as a kid and there's no way the actual filmed version can match the version in my head.

And I wonder... was it the inspiration for "New Road" in Royston Vasey?
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 10:41 pm:   

I was just thinking that Jane Asher's character was so much like Liz from Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and then I found this on Wikipedia:

'Alice Lowe as Madeleine Wool, an actress who plays Dr. Liz Asher'.

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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.80.237
Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 11:17 pm:   

Speaking of Royston Vasey, sort of...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nnq80
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.171.129.74
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 09:51 am:   

I enjoyed Stone Tape. A Doctor-less Dr Who episode in many ways, and the scarier for that. I agree with Gary: a sensitive, considered remake would be a very good thing.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 10:36 am:   

"...a sensitive, considered remake..."

A what now?
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.21.235.87
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 11:11 am:   

I think they're all shouting because the voices were recorded live - no voice-overs.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.23.233.247
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 11:51 am:   

I couldn't stand it. I don't like shouting anyway, so maybe that's why I sold it five minutes after watching.
I got a book in a charity shop recently by Nige - 'Tomato Cain'. Any good?
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 11:59 am:   

You have the collection 'Tomato Cain'? You lucky sod. I've been hunting that for years...it's very rare.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 12:00 pm:   

Please tell me it isn't the hardback: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Nigel+Kneale&bt.x=56&bt.y=12& sortby=3&sts=t&tn=Tomato+Cain

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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 12:13 pm:   

Zed, most of the stories from 'Tomato Cain' have appeared in the Pan/Fontana anthologies and very good they are too.

'Minuke' is his best (so far) for me and one of the most original poltergeist stories I've read.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 82.38.75.85
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 01:01 pm:   

Tony, you found Tomato Cain in a charity shop?! I'm so jealous. Like Gary, I've been looking for that for years. To find it in a charity shop - wow!!
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.74
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 01:12 pm:   

"What do you think of the Euston Films Quatermass Ramsey?"

Alas, I found it very disappointing - nowhere near as inventive as the other Quatermass serials.

Kate, Jenny actually saw The Road on its original broadcast and found it very frightening.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.55
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 01:34 pm:   

I just read the script of "The Road" - awesome! That would have properly terrified the life out of me as a kid and there's no way the actual filmed version can match the version in my head.

Good stuff my girl! I read it on a sunny day in my parents' garden and the ending chilled me in all the right ways.

I CAN'T BELIEVE Tony found that book in a charity shop - I'm very very jealous indeed!

The Euston films Quatermass has problems for all sorts of reasons - a late 60s script being rushed into production in the late 70s being one and Barbara Kellerman (who subsequently went onto jobs in The Monster Club and behind a checkout till in the Bath branch of M&S) being another. Refusal to allow filming at Stonehenge didn't help, as it would have had a lot more impact than 'Ringstone Round'.

But I still like it.

Huffity

Puffity

Puff...
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.192.152
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 01:48 pm:   

That's some find, Tony. My copy is the British edition (I think) in red cloth (no dust jacket, alas). The US edition had slightly different contents. This is a collection that could do with a reissue!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.131.109.69
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 03:37 pm:   

I got it for a pound two weeks ago. PB.
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Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch)
Username: Mark_lynch

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.74.96.200
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 06:07 pm:   

Why hasn't Peter Crowther or someone reissued TOMATO CAIN? Has Kneale left some note saying he doesn't want it to be reprinted or something?
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.21.235.87
Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 06:35 pm:   

I CAN'T BELIEVE Tony found that book in a charity shop - I'm very very jealous indeed!

It happens from time to time. An American Lovecraft collector I used to know picked up his copy of The Outsider for a measly 10 dollars. In the nineties, too.
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Gcw (Gcw)
Username: Gcw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.167.117.66
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 08:16 pm:   

The Euston Films Quatermass IS flawed but still has many fine moments....

Quatermass's very moving appeal on the TV show at the start....The old people 'making do' in their little shanty town...Joe Kapps breakdown...the football stadium after the 'lovely lightning'

And the very touching end.

It is a shame the series wasn't made by the BBC in 1972 (?) as the hippy element seemed a little dated in '79.

I wish they put '1990' out on DVD, I saw it when it was first shown & also read the books...I remember it well.

gcw
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.201.179
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 08:36 pm:   

Quatermass's very moving appeal on the TV show at the start....The old people 'making do' in their little shanty town...Joe Kapps breakdown...the football stadium after the 'lovely lightning'

Haven't seen it, but these snippets make it sound unmissable. I shouldn't watch it.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 82.38.75.85
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 09:27 pm:   

Funny you guys should mention that particular Quatermass film. I still have the director, Piers Haggard, "on hold" for an interview with him about that film. I was meant to be doing it for Pantechnicon - and then it all went pear-shaped (Pantechnicon did, I mean). I haven't had the will to do any interviews myself since - just can't seem to get the motivation to do any, and I've been up to my eyes sorting out the last few Pantechnicons anyway.

Do you guys reckon anyone would want to publish such an interview if I did it (if he's still on board with it, that is)? To be honest, I wouldn't really know how to go about pitching an interview like that to another publication. Maybe I do need to get off my backside with regards to interviewing again and actually do something about it though ...
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.0.106.15
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 10:38 pm:   

Piers Haggard of 'Blood On Satan's Claw' fame no less - one of the most genuinely frightening British horror films ever made imho.

And that fourth series of 'Quatermass' was brilliant too - unfairly maligned. John Mills was perfectly cast in it and I have nothing but happy memories of watching it in my schooldays when first broadcast. Gritty, unsettling and highly intelligent like all of Kneale's TV scripts.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 11:18 pm:   

I agree.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.186.172
Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 04:13 am:   

I liked it too, but not as much as the early Quatermasses, especially Quatermass and the Pit (which was his masterpiece, in my opinion).

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