Director: Lindsey C. Vickers
Script: Lindsey C. Vickers
Cast: Edward Woodward, Jane Merrow, Samantha Weyson, John Judd, Alan Stewart, Aurial Goldinham
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 1981
Certificate: 15
Beginning with a nicely creepy vignette, where a schoolgirl, while taking a shortcut home from school, is yanked into the woods, to the side of the path, by an unseen force. The incident is narrated by a police report from the time. Apparently the girl was never seen again.
The film then moves forward in time, three years, and we’re introduced to teenager Joanne (Weyson) and her parents, Ian (Woodward; Callan; The Wicker Man) and Dianna (Merrow; Night of the Big Heat), who are clearly upper middle class, judging by the house and area that they live in. Ian upsets Joanne when his work schedule means that he’ll be out of the county on the night that she will be involved in a school recital, playing the violin. She’s not interested in his excuse, that he’s got an important meeting to attend; she only wants him to herself, clearly.
After sharing a vivid dream involving him being in a serious car accident with his wife, Ian reluctantly heads north towards his date with destiny, following on from some evil-looking dogs having first watched them while sleeping.
The Appointment is a slow-burn chiller that feels more like a short film extended to feature-length rather than an idea that definitely deserves such a lengthy time in order to be explained. However, the film is still well worth a watch, being nicely directed by Lindsey C. Vickers who sadly only ever made one other film of note, namely the short film, The Lake, which I recently reviewed as part of the BFI Short Sharp Shocks series.
Acting-wise the film is well represented by the mostly excellent duo of Woodward and Merrow, who are sadly failed a little by some rather clunky dialogue. Unfortunately, some of their hard work is also undermined by newbie, Samantha Weyson, whose more ‘common’ accent alone makes it difficult to believe that she’s their daughter. However, she does give out a slightly ‘off’ vibe, which is probably why Vickers cast her in the first place.
The main theme of the film is also quite an ‘off-kilter’ one, focussing very much on the relationship between father and teenage daughter. Clearly there’s something unhealthy going on, whether it’s her rather unhealthy obsession with him or that there might even be something more sexualised between the two of them; a feeling highlighted, for me at least, by the scene where dad pauses by her bedroom door, unsure of whether to go in or not, knowing that his wife is fast asleep in another part of the house. It could be that he’s just reluctant to check on her in case he wakes her up, but I felt there was something more sinister going on. But it’s probably only me. I guess the ominous and creepy music score doesn’t help matters!
After the genuinely shocking opening sequence, the film is very slow burn all the way until the amazingly horrific car accident at the end of the film, which apparently was a bit of a nightmare to shoot up in the Llanberis Pass in North Wales. Nowadays it would all be done via computer, but back then it was all done with in-camera effects, which still stand up well even today, apart from a couple of less convincing shots.
It’s great that the BFI are actually putting obscure films, such as this one, out on Blu-ray, with lots of special features. Long may it continue…
The Appointment is being distributed by BFI on Blu-ray on their Flipside label. There are plenty of extras on the disc including:
Vickers on Vickers (41.5 mins) – Writer/director Vickers talks about his upbringing and how he got into the movies, despite not knowing anyone initially. Apparently, he attended courses run by the BFI and worked in the projection room at a cinema initially. Lindsey comes across as a nice, genuine guy who, alas, didn’t have the breaks he clearly deserved so there’s a tinge of bitterness there. But he’s a great guy to spend time with so this is definitely a recommended watch after you’ve seen the film. It was nice to hear that the film did get a very brief theatrical release, although only screened in one cinema…
Appointments Shared (6.5 mins) Jan Vickers (Lindsey’s wife) talks about the film and the affect it had on her husband and on missing it’s only TV screening. This is a nice touch as it gives a different perspective. Apparently they originally met on a Hammer Films set since she worked for a wig company who were hiring out toupees to Hammer.
Remembering the Appointment (10 mins) – Interview with Gregory Dark, the assistant director on the film. Greg remembers that the film was funded by the Coal Board Pension Fund and that the Wales shoot was held up for four straight days due to, yes, you guessed it, rain!
Splashing around (18 mins) – Actress Julie Peasgood reflects on the short, The Lake, which is also included as an extra. Julie is a charming interviewee and has fond memories of the shoot, and remembers her co-stars fondly, especially Condor, the dog.
Another Outing (16.5 mins) – Interview with Jane Merrow who talks about her days at RADA before moving into film with the likes of The Lion in Winter. She signed up to The Appointment mainly because Woodward was in it, as she loved him in Breaker Morrant.
Framing the Appointment (19 mins) – Vic Pratt interviews the director on camera and goes through lots of photos from the film and the shoot, and they chat about them. There are lots of nice little anecdotes that come out of this session such as the fact that the prologue was tacked on the front of the film, and they’d just made it all up on the spot. It was also interesting to learn that Woodward did some of his own stunts.
The Lake (1979) (with and without commentary with Vickers) – I watched this with the commentary on this time. It was good to hear Vic Pratt and Vickers just chatting about the short in a relaxed manner. We learn that the film was self-funded, with the intention of it being seen as a calling card, to go on and make features, and that they had to remove the car’s engine before they could run it into the lake to stop polluting the pond. It remains a good ghostly short.
Galleries (The Appointment – 16 mins) – Lots of black and white shots of the cast, crew, director, etc. and also the scripts (with and without annotation). We also get more galleries for The Lake, again with script (with and without annotations).
