A Widowed father with a young son is dispatched by his law firm to the NorthEast for a last chance to keep his job by clearing up the affairs of a dead woman with a mansion full of old documents. The locals immediately try to get rid of him but naturally, in true Hammer Horror style, won't talk to him so he doesn't know why. So he goes to the house in the middle of a tidal estuary and bad things start to happen.
The film is a masterclass in how to create suspense and shock without resorting to gore, violence and constant loud bangs. Glimpses of things in mirrors, early flash backs of dreadful events, and an oblivious solicitor leave us to guess at the real nature of the haunting. Then things start to happen. Who knew how creepy a rocking chair could be? And relief doesn't come from leaving the house as the events spill into the village. So when our dauntless man heads back to the house we gasp in union "why?"
Don't be put off by the 12a rating. There are 18 rated horrors much less scary than this. Do be advised though that 12a really does mean 12, unless you like 10 year olds having nightmares.
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