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Two passengers arrive, by ferry, on the remote Scottish island
of Inverdee, shortly afterwards the body of a woman is found
horribly dismembered and it looks as if the island is playing
host to a deranged killer. As fog cuts off the island from
any chance of external help the islanders must battle the
killer alone...
The
Nightmare Man
was originally transmitted in May 1981. Dramatised by Robert
Holmes, from the David Wiltshire novel Child of Vodyanoi
and directed by Douglas Camfield, both better known for
their work on Doctor Who, it drew good reviews and
audience figures. Location filming took place in January with
Cornwall standing in for Scotland. Although the show was successful,
it was never repeated on terrestrial television and for a
long time, as it consisted of only four half hourly episodes,
it looked unlikely that the BBC would consider it for a DVD
release.
The
cast are uniformly excellent in their roles, especially Celia
Imrie, who appears in one of her first TV roles. There
are some things, which in our PC world, may strike the viewer
as odd. The two main police men, played by Maurice Roëves
and James Cosmo, habitually drink on the job - to the point
you wonder if they are likely to remain sober enough to catch
the killer. James Warwick plays the main protagonist, local
dentist Michael Gaffikin, who is both the love interest of
Imrie's character, but also helps hunt down the killer, which
may be a side line of most dentists that I was previously
unaware of.
There are no real special effects, apart from seeing the victims
from the killer's point of view, and the Vodyanoi craft itself.
However, this turns out to be a good thing as it is usually
small budget effects which tend to date shows this old.
The
narrative remains engagingly tense even after all this time.
There are some things which spoil the overall atmosphere.
For the first three episodes the identity of the killer is
only hinted at. The film which is developed from the killing
of the ornithologist remains indistinct enough to leave the
audience with the impression that the killer could be either
man or monster. It is the last episode, when the killer is
caught, that really lets it down as the reveal is done in
broad daylight on a golf course. This gives the ending a very
amateurish feel and goes some way to spoiling the overall
enjoyment or an otherwise excellent series.
The disc is of the vanilla variety, having no extras, though
given the age of the program this is not at all unexpected.
It comes with the usual chapter and scene selection as well
as subtitles. The audio is mono but works well and remains
clear throughout. The print shows signs of artefact but has
had little in the way of restoration work done, so the overall
impression is of a very soft picture. The picture quality
also suffers as the original was shot on video tape and not
the usual film stock.
Overall,
apart from some minor quibbles, The Nightmare Man,
remains good solid science fiction/horror television drama,
which due to an excellent cast still remains as watchable
today as it did in 1981.
Charles
Packer
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