The Appointment
October 31, 2013 3:33 PM   Subscribe

The Appointment is a horror film from 1981, starring Edward Woodward as the father of a family possessed by some sort of malevolent entity. Although it has (probably quite rightly) been largely forgotten, it does have a really fantastic opening scene.

The full film is also on youtube.
posted by dng (36 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
(stopped as suspense built, waiting for someone else to indicate whether it's ok to watch the rest)
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 3:37 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]


Is this gory/violent or just creepy/scary horror?
posted by peep at 3:39 PM on October 31, 2013


What occurs is bloodless.
posted by kafziel at 3:40 PM on October 31, 2013


The clip has no gore - but its pretty creepy.

Ugh - get home Sandy!!
posted by helmutdog at 3:41 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


No gore. That said, while we can't say for sure, I don't think Sandy made it out okay.

That's a creepy/fun jump scare.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:44 PM on October 31, 2013


Beware the synth band in the woods.
posted by roger ackroyd at 3:45 PM on October 31, 2013 [11 favorites]


> waiting for someone else to indicate whether it's ok to watch the rest

Child in peril, creepy laughter, echo chamber, slowest ever 12-year-old, startling "gotcha" moment. You decide.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:45 PM on October 31, 2013


Creeping softly on synth pads...
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:46 PM on October 31, 2013


Note to young people - most people in the eighties would have known to run like crazy once weird giggling children started calling their name in the woods. Even we olds knew that such a thing was bad juju without the Internet to help us.
posted by winna at 3:52 PM on October 31, 2013 [10 favorites]


Are there any other actors whose names sound exactly like a fart in a bathtub?
posted by Wolof at 3:54 PM on October 31, 2013 [5 favorites]


Every bit of woodland in Britain is full of ethereal giggling voices, to be fair. You sort of start filtering it out after a while.
posted by dng at 3:55 PM on October 31, 2013 [29 favorites]


Damn. That's a good jump scare.
posted by brundlefly at 3:56 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


winna: "Note to young people - most people in the eighties would have known to run like crazy once weird giggling children started calling their name in the woods. Even we olds knew that such a thing was bad juju without the Internet to help us."

I knew that pre-80's. But that's what happens when your busy parents enroll you in the preschool prep program at nearby Miskatonic. Oh, do NOT ask about snack time either.
posted by Samizdata at 3:58 PM on October 31, 2013


I bet the orchestra sounds like shit now.
posted by Brocktoon at 4:06 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]


nice, but I think I prefer the first 24 minutes of Evil Dead 2.
posted by philip-random at 4:12 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


EEK!
posted by xingcat at 4:26 PM on October 31, 2013


Are there any other actors whose names sound exactly like a fart in a bathtub?

Bob Loblaw
posted by stenseng at 4:26 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


So I'm the only one that laughed out loud at that? C'mon, it was funny...
posted by fshgrl at 4:58 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


Not bad. So, the rest isn't worth watching?
posted by mannequito at 5:12 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


The Appointment.

Nobody allowed in the theater after the start of this movie.

Cancellations less than 24 hours before showtime will be charged full ticket fee.

Please bring insurance card.

Obamacare! Ooooooooohhhhhh!!!!!
posted by hal9k at 5:15 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


What the hell am I looking at in that last shot?
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:31 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]



So I'm the only one that laughed out loud at that? C'mon, it was funny...

Yep. I laughed, I didn't really get the jump-scare as others have.
posted by Benway at 5:37 PM on October 31, 2013



What the hell am I looking at in that last shot?

Broken transformer symbol? That's all I got.
posted by Benway at 5:42 PM on October 31, 2013


If you use the HTML5 viewer to speed up parts 2-7 to 1.5 and even 2.0 speed in some parts of it, the thing seems almost like a normal paced Hitchcock style TV show from around that era, and about as entertaining as one of the knockoffs.

Also that thing you're looking at is the girl's violin that somehow escaped it's flight case, and some other things that are revealed about 2/3 of the way through the movie.
posted by mcrandello at 6:06 PM on October 31, 2013


Looks like a high school student made this. And not a good student. The blocking and cuts are so incompetent you can never get oriented... more mixed up than a dog's breakfast. I like the occasional artisanal well-aged cheese, but if the sequence above is the best the movie has to offer, I'll pass on this velveeta.
posted by VikingSword at 7:00 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Reminded me of my favorite invisible monster from that era, "The Entity".
posted by surplus at 7:05 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


That's the oldest 12-year-old.
posted by dirigibleman at 7:18 PM on October 31, 2013


Are there any other actors whose names sound exactly like a fart in a bathtub?
posted by Wolof at 3:54 PM on October 31 [5 favorites +] [!]


There's at least one mefite...
posted by klanawa at 8:37 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]


Man, I have a soft spot for 80's tv. There is just something about how it looks that transports me back (90's tv doesn't do it for me).
posted by KokuRyu at 10:06 PM on October 31, 2013


That's the oldest 12-year-old.

heh. Yeah she had an 80's Emmanuelle look.
posted by surplus at 7:05 AM on November 1, 2013


> What the hell am I looking at in that last shot

Her broken violin or whatever it was she was carrying in her white-gloved hands?
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:20 AM on November 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think what makes it so effective is the surprise moves in the wrong direction.
posted by Max Udargo at 10:05 AM on November 1, 2013 [3 favorites]


Yeah. Also that shot is so thoroughly established as the *not* scary bit of coverage. The scary thing should take place in close up or from the prowling POV in the woods or something. It's just such an ordinary wide shot.
posted by brundlefly at 10:17 AM on November 1, 2013


....the then popular shortcut through the woods....

I knew it. I just knew it.
posted by mule98J at 12:24 PM on November 1, 2013


dng: "Every bit of woodland in Britain is full of ethereal giggling voices, to be fair. You sort of start filtering it out after a while."

Well, what with all the 2,000-years-plus of murder, mayhem, and war atrocities perpetrated upon the innocents of history, it's no wonder!

Come to the US' desert West, where lack of water has meant few people settled before modern drilling, and soak in the relative peace of a mere generation or two of tortured souls!
posted by IAmBroom at 1:06 PM on November 1, 2013


Thanks, that was really enjoyable. The film's motifs and atmosphere seemed familar to me—and it turns out that although The Appointment was the only feature film made by Lindsey C Vickers, he did make a 30 minute short called The Lake in 1978 which I happened to catch last year as part of the BFI's Flipside series. There are many similar elements: domestic conversations, ghostly voices in the woods, female premonitions, an MR James-style sense of ancient malevolence, a sort of 'tragic inevitability' (to borrow a phrase from this excellent write-up of the screening I attended), a dog, and a vehicle-related climax that plays out somewhat differently than expected. Unfortunately The Lake doesn't seem to be available on DVD or YouTube.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 8:22 PM on November 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


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