The Contraption (1977)

A balding and bespectacled man (well played with quiet intensity by Richard O'Brien; Riff Raff in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") feverishly concentrates on putting together an elaborate contraption in his dank basement for an extremely bleak and shocking reason. Writer/director Richard Dearden does a sterling job of creating and sustaining a tremendously suffocating claustrophobic atmosphere and a pervasively cold, clammy, and ultimately chilling tone which culminates in a startling surprise bummer ending that's capped off with a perfectly harsh and snippy lone closing line. O'Brien's excellent acting really holds this offbeat short together; he's totally riveting and convincing as he works on his gloomy project with a certain grim resolve and unwavering sense of steely determination. Starkly shot in a single cramped and confined setting, further enhanced by a terrific use of amplified sound effects (the constant dripping water is genuinely unnerving), and done mostly in tight close-ups with a strong mood of compelling ambiguity and a spare'n'spacey score, this supremely freaky gem packs one hell of a wickedly potent and unsettling wallop.

I saw this long forgotten gem on the old late night cable show Night Flight, on US television back in the late 1970s. It played once or twice and that was the only place I ever saw it.Without spoiling it all I can say is it is well done. A gentleman retires to his basement workshop and continues on a project building an unknown object. His wife continually berates the man, unseen but heard from the top of the stairs all the while. In the end, he finds his escape in "The Contraption".Richard O'Brien was a hot commodity then as the Rocky Horror Picture Show was at perhaps it's peak here in the Midwest. Tim Curry went on to do a few albums and several more mainstream films like Clue here in the US. I owned a copy of his album Read My Lips. Susan Sarandon became quite big and Barry Bostwick made a name again with Spin City years later.If anyone out there knows where I can beg, borrow, buy or otherwise find a copy of this short, please e-mail me. [email protected] should get to me.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I don't know much about who, what or why this was produced but it was cool. A small bit of drama, short (I think 15 minutes) and concise. Richard O'Brien whiles away his time at bulding a rather complex device, cutting and planing wood, drilling, bending metal pipes and such, and all for what? Well, I believe this little gem is lost in the annals of videoland, so it will probably never air again so I'll tell ya. He completes the device and we see a large and menacing mousetrap, just the right size for...him. And with that he lays himself down on the trigger and snaps his neck in the trap. Cold, chilling, and quick. I believe this was part of a group of shorts, but I cannot remember as it aired on HBO and a few other cable channels before it became completely lost to time.

This almost wordless short is visually gripping. It is, effectively, a 5 minute one-man play that will leave you stunned.