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reincarnation of dreams
Rickey 2022-10-27 19:10:25
It's a weird movie, a group of people hide in a dark room and tell ghost stories, but the atmosphere is different. The horror temperament of this movie is closer to Hitchcock. The paragraph-style plot, although completed by the four directors, has a very coherent atmosphere. What's more, a parody-style supernatural inserted in it is equally creepy. The best part is about the legend of ventriloquist, the puppet used in the film has become a model of British supernatural film and is used frequently by later generations. The ending of the movie is also very good, I don't know if it is the beginning or the end of the dream, everything is reincarnation.
Extended Reading
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[Sally's mother has shown up to drag her away to a party for her godfather Edwin]
Sally O'Hara: But, Mother, I can't! You see, this is Mr. Craig, and I'm one of the characters in his dream!
Mrs O'Hara: [shakes his hand briskly] Oh, how do you do? Such fun, charades! So, you do understand, don't you, and poor Edwin's so terribly sensitive. Now, come along!
Sally O'Hara: Mummy, you mustn't! You see, Mr. Craig's going to hit me - savagely!
Mrs O'Hara: Oh, well, I'm sure he can hit somebody else instead. Now, come along, dear!
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Dr. van Straaten: [removes his eyeglasses] Ah. No doubt you thought it would be very amusing to watch my cherished disbeliefs being shattered.
Eliot Foley: [sarcastically] Mm, very clever of us, I must say. I wonder if we have any more surprises up our sleeves.
[the camera focuses on Dr. van Straaten's hands as he fiddles with his eyeglasses]
Walter Craig: That's it - your glasses!
Dr. van Straaten: What about my glasses?
Walter Craig: It's later on. We're having drinks. You break those glasses of yours, and then, quite suddenly, the room goes dark. And then, Foley, you say something, something about the death of a man I've never heard of. And that's where my dream becomes a nightmare. A nightmare of horror.
Joan Cortland: Horror? What sort of horror?
Walter Craig: I feel my will power draining away. I feel I'm in the grip of a force that's driving me towards something unspeakably evil.
Dr. van Straaten: It shows that you have some heavy weight on your conscience. Now, in my opinion...
Walter Craig: I'm no longer interested in your opinion, Doctor. You shook me at first, with your ingenious theories. I thought perhaps the whole thing was a delusion. But Mrs. Grainger's arrival has altered all that. I have been here before, in my dreams. For some reason, I was given foreknowledge of the future. Why? I don't know. I want to know! I must know!