Uneven early 1980's supernatural horror that features some sublime shocks amidst the tedium. A small rural up town bemused and shocked by the disappearance of a teenage schoolgirl, erects a fence around the area where the girl vanished to avoid history repeating itself.life goes on in the town with businessman Ian (Edward woodward) and his family, wife Dianne and highly strung daughter Joanne going through the motions of a mundane middle class existence, until everything suddenly and dramatically changes. The main problem I have with this movie is the underwritten threadbare screenplay. At times it felt like I was watching an episode of iconic British tv show 'hammer house of horror' albeit stretched out to feature film length ,thanks to many unnecessary and uneventful scenes that rather than drive or add anything to the narrative, instead come across as attempts to pad out the running time It's a shame really because when lindsey d Vickers debut feature gets it right, it really gets it right. Unlike a lot of supernatural shockers of the period, this movie contains some genuinely effective scares, I can think of at least two that weirded me out a while after watching, it's just when the director has you by the balls, he lets go too often. This movie would have been better as a short film, with all the extraneous celluloid gristle removed, as such it's still an slightly above average chiller. It just could have been so much more.

Unlike some other reviews, I didn't find this particularly strange or ambiguous - especially if you have watched a few classic horrors/thrillers from around that time. It is dated in the build-up, and could have done with some editing to keep the tension tighter. But without giving the plot away, I think it is fairly explicit about what is going on and why - and with a little thought, what had happened 3 years earlier. The acting is terrific, and the film is inventive in how it tells the story, making exceptional use of what must have been a limited budget with some lingering set pieces that I will never forget to boot. I would class this as a slow burner thriller with horror elements, based primarily around 24 hours in a family's life. A slow, sometimes very slow journey, but a rewarding detour nonetheless.

A young girl is abducted by an evil force in the woods and 3 years later another 14 year old girl, besotted with her father, is upset that he will miss her music concert because of a last minute appointment he has to drive to. Evil forces visit the family in the night causing all sorts of unpleasant dreams as well as seemingly affecting the family car.

Whilst there is a lot wrong with this in terms of stilted acting and dialogue and a plot which is no doubt filled with clever metaphors which I missed, there remains plenty to admire here. The whole thing is rich in atmosphere and whilst it is clear where it's all heading, you are really drawn in. The plot itself makes little sense and the fairly shocking beginning and post climax scene feel like a disconnected afterthought and the 'haunting' of the car, a bit bewildering. Again, this is compensated for by carefully pacing and strong focus on scenes leading to an exciting, extremely well crafted climax - Hollywood should take note.