Reviews

There are some good Sherlock Holmes films based on the stories of Conan Doyle. There are some bad Sherlock Homes films based on the stories of Conan Doyle.

This is neither. It's a bad Sherlock Holmes film that has nothing to do with any Conan Doyle story, and instead ropes in Jack the Ripper. I have no idea why the makers of this film ignored the many Conan Doyle stories and instead chose this B-movie screenplay, but for whatever reason it just doesn't work. The cokernee stereotypes would be more at home in a Carry On film (perhaps that's why Barbara Windsor is in it), the plot is poor and Donald Houston is perhaps the worst Dr Watson ever to disgrace the silver screen (and that's saying something, there have been many atrocious portrayals of Watson). The only slightly redeeming feature is John Neville as Holmes - he's not a great Holmes, he's a passable one, but he is head and shoulders above everything else in this.

Really only notable for an early movie appearance from Judi Dench.

If you do not like dark, challenging films, don't bother.

If you are ready for something unlike anything you've ever seen, and are not afraid to confront difficult emotions, give this film a go, you won't be disappointed.

From the start the tone is set. A bleak town in Northern England, like many bleak towns in northern England. With petty, small time drug dealers, like petty small time drug dealers everywhere, vicious and stupid. Then into their lives comes a mysterious figure, in a green parka. And nothing will ever be the same.

It's difficult to describe the movie without spoilers, and I do not want to spoil a single second of what is possibly the most powerful and emotionally wrenching film I have seen for a decade and more (made all the more powerful by the haunting music). Paddy Considine (who wrote and stars in the film) is stunning as, for want of a better phrase, an avenging angel, albeit a fallen one. The menace and tension builds and builds (including perhaps the best depiction of a bad LSD trip ever set down on film - it's an extremely discomforting experience if you've ever been on the wrong end of a bad trip, believe me) until the harrowing climax. This is not a nice film. This is not a fun film. This is, however, an exceptional film, and perhaps more importantly it is an honest film, a true film if such a thing can be said of fiction.

If you want smiles, or empty action, or to put your brain on hold, this is not the film for you.

If, however, you want a film with genuine emotional depth, that makes you think and resonates far after the end credits have finished, then this may be what you're looking for.

Just don't expect an easy ride.

An overused word, but the closest I've seen to a masterpiece for many a long year.

Vincent Price in the role he was born to play. A literate horror film that combines Shakespeare, hammy overacting, murderous tramps and Diana Rigg. Need one say more ? OK, Robert Morely as we'd all like to see him. Enough ? I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It was one of my first encounters with the horror genre (at a tender young age) and cemented my love of horror (but has rarely been surpassed). This is horror in the finest old tradition, this is music hall, melodrama and grand guignol wrapped up in a deceptively sophisticated package. A true high water mark in British horror, and perhaps Vincent Price's finest hour (and if that doesn't whet your appetite, then you really don't know horror).

Murder with a grin and a wink.