Robert Mulligan (director)
Eureka! (studio)
cert 12 (certificate)
100min (length)
23 February 2015 (released)
23 February 2015
This unusual and chilling psychological horror set in depression-era Connecticut starts out on a slow pace and gets creepier as the story unfolds. Directed by Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird) and based upon the novel by Thomas Tryon, the story centres on young twins Niles and Holland – one dead, the other still alive.
Living an apparently idyllic life in the picturesque countryside and surrounded by loving family, young Niles Perry (Chris Udvarnoky) spends a great deal of his time playing in the apple cellar near the house where he allows his fantasy to run wild. But is it really just his fantasy? Niles receives regular ‘visits’ from Holland (Martin Udvarnoky), his twin brother who died in an accident not so long ago. Holland manipulates Niles to play some practical jokes on various neighbours and employees on the farm, all with deadly consequences.
Niles’ mother Alexandra (Diana Muldaur) lives the life of a virtual recluse on the farm, a loving but highly disturbed woman who not only has to deal with the tragic death of Holland, but also the death of her husband who perished following an accident on the farm. But was it really just an accident?
Enter eccentric grandmother Ada (Uta Hagen), a Russian emigrant with psychic abilities who teaches Niles to play ‘the great game’ – meaning the psychic ability to project himself outside of his body in a different guise. It is only when the sinister accidents continue that Ada forbids him to ‘play the game’ but Niles continues to be under the evil influence of Holland and keeps on ‘playing’ – causing a further tragedy when his mother falls down the stairs and ends up being paralysed. In addition, Niles becomes obsessed by a stained glass image in a nearby church, which is referred to as The Angel of a Better Day.
As Ad drags Niles to the graveyard to prove that his evil manipulator Holland is dead and that it is in fact Niles who’s responsible for all the tragedies, the film leads up to its truly disturbing climax – a replica of the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping that occurred around the same time as our story is set in, 1935. In fact, at the beginning of the film Niles pregnant sister Terry and her husband can be seen reading a newspaper with the Lindbergh kidnapping making headlines… not knowing that it is a chilling foreboder of horrors to come…
When Ada decides that the only way to stop the terror is to set the barn in which Niles plays on fire, he confuses her appearance with that of the Angel of a Better Day. Ada perishes in the flames, but Niles mysteriously survives and so does his terrible secret…
In particular Uta Hagen’s performance as ‘witchy’ grandmother Ada adds further mystery to the unsettling events, while the Udvarnoky twins strike all the right nuances in their portrayal of good/naïve versus manipulative/evil.
The Dual Edition ‘Master Of Cinema’ release contains the following SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Beautiful 1080p high-definition transfer on the Blu-ray and a progressive DVD encode
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Original theatrical trailer
• 36-page booklet featuring new writing by critic and programmer Aaron Hillis, a 1972 interview with Robert Mulligan, and rare archival imagery