The Appointment (1981)

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.

This film is unique - the horror of the situation derives more from what is implied rather than what is seen. A young girl violinist who is has an insatiable need for attention from her father invokes a dark force to eliminate her rival, thus granting her the star spot in the orchestra. But when her father informs her that he cannot attend her performance due to an "appointment" - she invokes the mysterious force against him.The visual/audio effects are incredible: some very Hitchcockian touches throughout, especially the "invasion of the house" and the "restaurant" scene. The car crash scene is a masterpiece of surrealism. The film wisely does not plunge us right into the bizarre but slowly draws us in - until it is too late to escape.Only one flaw: why is the dark force invoked against the mechanic? Her father would have left for the appointment in any case. And why the missing part on the roadway? Worth seeing though.

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.