Finally, a film where the pay-off really is worth the build-up to the event. This is one of those "omen" style films, a movie which starts off slowly and gradually builds the tension, retaining it to the final, horrific, edge-of-your-seat climax which will take time to fade from your memory. It's that good. Completely forgotten these days, this is a minor gem of a film, which, without the aid of any fancy special effects trickery or violence, creates a vivid atmosphere of suspense and genuine fear.For the most part this is just typical character-orientated drama, with a few mysterious events happening occasionally to keep the pace going. The opening is a real eye-opener, and has an evil force similar to the one in THE EVIL DEAD lurking in some bushes before pulling a young girl through the air (achieved very realistically via a dummy and some string) to her death. This is a really spooky, perhaps even frightening, scene, and you expect the rest of the film to follow suit. It doesn't. We are then introduced to Edward Woodward and his family, and the pace slips back down into neutral until the final half an hour.Woodward is the kindly family man who finds himself being haunted by weird dreams involving dogs attacking his car while outside the house real-life dogs prowl around. Woodward, familiar to genre fans from his role in THE WICKER MAN, is pretty good here, playing a typically matter-of-fact guy who might well be your next door neighbour. He is supported well by a cast of unknowns. Well, actually there are only three other main characters in the cast - his wife, his daughter and his car mechanic, whose sole presence is to die a horrific THE OMEN-style death involving a car, in a show-stopping scene which is unlike anything I've ever seen before.Samantha Weysom, who plays Woodward's daughter, has never been in anything else and is actually very good in her role. There are some really tense exchanges between the pair, and perhaps even hints of some incestuous desire lurking in there too: their scenes together are compelling and powerful, where much is left unsaid and you can almost feel the electricity in the air between them. Is Woodward's daughter a vengeance-seeking witch or innocent to the evil forces surrounding her? We never find out, and it's left up to our imagination - more effective that way.The ending of this film is almost unbearable to watch, as you know what's coming, yet are unable to look away. Woodward undergoes the most arduous car journey in existence, travelling through some bleak-looking Welsh mountains where the isolated locations add to the spooky atmosphere. There then follows one of the most accurate, horrific car accidents I've ever seen put on film which has to be seen to be believed, it's a work of visual artistry. After this comes yet another nail-biting scene, which I won't spoil, except to say that the tension isn't relieved until the very end. This is the kind of film they don't make anymore, is completely gripping throughout, and well worth tracking down.

This movie reels you in right from its opening scene where a girl is sucked into some bushes. Then you watch expecting something else creepy like that first scene, but do you get it? The answer to that my friends is a resounding 'No'! This is a very dull movie, and if there is one thing I can't stand a horror movie to be it is for it to be dull. A bunch of dream sequences and this and that and then an event happens the next day where there is a car wreck and then the payoff. The main problem is I do believe this premise was stretched out a bit too much. This might have been a rather good short story, but there was just not enough stuff here for an hour and a half movie.

This film is unique - the horror of the situation derives more from what is implied rather than what is seen. A young girl violinist who is has an insatiable need for attention from her father invokes a dark force to eliminate her rival, thus granting her the star spot in the orchestra. But when her father informs her that he cannot attend her performance due to an "appointment" - she invokes the mysterious force against him.The visual/audio effects are incredible: some very Hitchcockian touches throughout, especially the "invasion of the house" and the "restaurant" scene. The car crash scene is a masterpiece of surrealism. The film wisely does not plunge us right into the bizarre but slowly draws us in - until it is too late to escape.Only one flaw: why is the dark force invoked against the mechanic? Her father would have left for the appointment in any case. And why the missing part on the roadway? Worth seeing though.

Possible (very) minor spoilers.The Appointment is, it seems, a very obscure film. I don't know if it was ever theatrically released in the States, and the videotape isn't especially common.For most people, the mention of British horror conjures up Hammer-style period images of castles, capes, etc. Here, the approach is decidedly different, as the film takes place in a modern, fairly innocuous Northern suburb and on a series of brightly-lit country roads. Edward Woodward and Jane Merrow are having trouble with their spoiled daughter Joanne (Samantha Weysom), who has ways of getting what she wants. Her pubescent routine is disrupted when Daddy is called away on business, forcing him to miss her school concert. Joanne is not happy...and Daddy, strapped into a rented Ford Granada, is in for a very disturbing journey.The film's dry, uniquely British detachment will make it rough going for some, but it is definitely worth the trip. An extremely interesting look at horror in the places you would least expect it, The Appointment benefits from solid acting and striking use of sound. There are plenty of haunting, surprisingly beautiful visuals--some shocking (the scene in the auto garage), others very subtle, but always with that undeniable disturbance in the peaceful English atmosphere. With an excellent climax, definitely not for the weak-hearted. Too bad Lindsey Vickers never made any other films. Make an appointment to see it...provided your schedule is already clear, of course.