I am very surprised, after reading many of these comments, that most of the people commenting don’t seem to realize that MARGAM CASTLE is an intentional homage and that its “tropes” deliberately reference several well known horror movies of the past. There’s THE HAUNTING (both versions), THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE SIXTH SENSE, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE SHINING, BURNT OFFERINGS, and THE OTHERS to name the obvious ones. Then there’s the casting of Hammer actresses Jane Merrow and Caroline Munro with the 85 year old Darren Nesbitt from 1972’s BURKE & HARE. There’s also the inclusion of H.P.Lovecraft’s legendary NECRONOMICON (in a Commemorative Edition no less).
The film was made for TV (It’s rated TV 14) hence the lack of sex, blood, and ultra violence. Apparently the Brits aren’t as sensitive about their use of language as Americans are for their legacy TV movies. It was shot digitally rather than using traditional 35mm film which gives it that flat video look and makes it appear darker on smaller screens. All in all I enjoyed MARGAM CASTLE immensely and would recommend it as it gives you the chance to see the gist of several horror films in one movie and it has a very wry sense of humor as well. The scene with Caroline Munro in the pub is a prime example (Welsh Rarebit anyone?). The smug yet clueless dialogue of the American researchers in the beginning is another.
I’m always on the lookout for a horror film that doesn’t feature gratuitous sex and excessive gore. To say that there have been very few of them since the late 1960s when the Production Code was first scrapped is an understatement. This has been the case for almost 60 years now which is why I prefer ghost stories which MARGAM CASTLE certainly qualifies as. An interesting question would be if MARGAM CASTLE hadn’t been a TV movie would the filmmakers have gone for a hard R rating. There were certainly plenty of opportunities as it would have been easy to spice up the bathtub scene or the burning scene to mention just two. I’m sure they would have but I’m glad they didn’t.
The Capsule Critic 