That's the seventies TV series, or what's left of it
After years of unavailability, the three surviving episodes from the legendary BBC horror anthology series Dead of Night finally come to DVD, released by the BFI on 28 October 2013, as part of GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film.
First screened on BBC2 in 1972, Dead of Night offered a series of highly personal takes on psychological disturbances, often related to contemporary social anxieties. Rarely seen since its original broadcast, the Dead of Night series has been highly sought by fans of classic TV and British horror for decades. The three films are:
The Exorcism by Don Taylor
In what is perhaps the most terrifying of the episodes, four wealthy, middle-class friends (played by Clive Swift, Edward Petherbridge, Anna Cropper and Sylvia Kay) gather for Christmas dinner in a country cottage, only to find that the past will not rest while they feast.
Return Flight by Rodney Bennett
The professionalism of an experienced and respected airline pilot (played by Peter Barkworth) is placed under scrutiny when he encounters the ghostly apparition of a Second World War Lancaster bomber.
A Woman Sobbing by Paul Ciappessoni
A middle-class housewife (played by Anna Massey – Peeping Tom, Frenzy) becomes increasingly paranoid when her nights are interrupted by the terrifying and unexplained sound of a woman crying in one of the rooms in her new house.
