The BFI provides another welcome release in their series of strange, eerie, and occasionally positively eccentric short subjects that were intended for the nation's cinema screens back in the day. Like volumes one and two, we once again have a two disc set with a number of subjects from across those decades. So let's take a look at what we get this time:
Disc One:
Return to Glennascaul (1951)
Orson Welles suffers a spot of actor's block on the set of his OTHELLO and sets off for a bit of a drive in his car. He picks up a man having car trouble and then relates to us the story the man told him about picking up two female hitchhikers who took him back to their place. Oscar nominated for best short subject that year, RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL is a slight but entertaining enough tall tale which I'm not going to spoil for those who haven't seen it.
Strange Stories (1953)
Two short stories in 45 minutes, the first related by Valentine Dyall as he drives John Slater to the railway station and telling of the story of a man named Bartleby (the always watchable John Laurie) who applies for a job at a solicitors specifically because it has been there for a hundred years. The second is related by Slater after he has missed his train. This one's an entertaining mini-romp as a murderer and his wife try to escape justice by getting on the slowest boat ever to Tasmania. Familiar faces amongst the cast include Helen Horton (as the wife) whose other credits include PHASE IV, ALIEN, The Benny Hill Show and Dick Emery. What a CV.
Strange Experiences: Grandpa's Portrait and Old Silas (1956)
Two very short (three minutes) and extremely slight weird tales which are worth watching for entertainment value.
Maze (1969)
The only film in the set that may have you scratching your head, MAZE is 12 minutes of a camera following different people around London and documenting their interactions. And that's about it.
Extras on disc one include a fascinating seven minute piece from Vic Pratt about the company that made STRANGE STORIES, while director Bob Bentley discusses MAZE (and does explain it) in a piece that lasts longer than his film did.
Disc Two:
Skinflicker (1973)
A grim and intense forerunner of the found footage subgenre as three 'everyday normal people' - a teacher, a nurse and a parks gardener (played by Henry Woolf who was appearing in children's educational programme Words and Pictures around the same time) travel to the remote country home of 'a public figure' and proceed to kidnap him, brutally beating his wife and child in the process, before bringing him back to their London lockup where they torture and eventually kill him. The whole thing is recorded on a mixture of super 8mm and grainy 16mm footage with plenty of to camera commentary by the kidnappers that makes for an unsettling 44 minutes.
Broken Bottle (1973) and Don't Fool Around With Fireworks (1973)
Where would these discs be without a couple of public information films designed to wedge themselves into your brain in an attempt to deter you from, in these cases, leaving broken glass on the beach and throwing a firework in the face of a pretty girl.
The Terminal Game (1982)
This 33 minute piece is all about the sinister world of computers, and an evil tech company that's been rumbled by someone who has died under mysterious circumstances. His colleague follows in his footsteps and discovers he has to play an early 1980s text adventure game. After that it all gets a bit confusing but at least there's a decent music score from HAUNTING OF JULIA's Colin Towns
Wings of Death (1985)
Originally shown before Wes Craven's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET during it's UK release from Palace Pictures, WINGS OF DEATH features Dexter Fletcher as a young man spending a disgusting, hallucinatory and occasionally seriously creepy night in a boardinghouse. The 20 minute short is actually all about drug misuse, something that 1985 audiences had no trouble picking up, but the rocket-breasted mother and the bit where Dexter pulls off the top of his skull to reveal his brain certainly evoked a response back in the day.
Extras in disc two include three featurettes of about half an hour each in which the respective directors (Tony Bicat, Geoff Lowe and Nichola Bruce & Michael Coulson) discuss SKINFLICKER, TERMINAL GAME and WINGS OF DEATH. Composer Colin Towns talks about the score for TERMINAL GAME and there's behind the scenes footage and an image gallery for WINGS OF DEATH. Finally, the set also includes a 34 page booklet featuring new writing on all the films included in the set.
Short Sharp Shocks Volume 3 is out from the BFI on their Flipside label as a two Blu-ray set on Monday 9th October 2023
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