The Appointment (1981)

Sadly Over-hyped

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

One of the worst movies ever. And I hate Edward Woodward One of the worst actors ever. Boring, Slow, Garbage! Current 6.0 score is a joke!The beginning was great, with the girl walking the path and then suddenly being sucked into the woods. Watch the first 3 minutes then shut it off. That happened apparently 3 years before the rest of this crap. So, 3 years later. No significance to the dates. We are introduced to the boring Mr. Woodward and his mechanic, wife, and spoiled rotten 14 year old girl. All of this is complete trash writing, put forward with crap acting by Woodward and the rest. But Woodward takes the cake for some serious crap acting. He was just as bad in The Wickerman, possibly worse film than this. Christopher Lee should have been ashamed of being in that film. He was also in a lot worse. His Dracula appearances had great presence, but still his acting was always trash. Mr. Lee was more of a fashion model, rather than an actor. Now, Woodward, what a name! Maybe he's the namesake for wooden acting. His character here acts exactly like the Wickerman character. I'm sure if you knew him personally, he probably acted the same.Technically, the cinematography was good. The editing and pacing sucked. Too many repetitive scenes, slow and boring. The music was competent. The sound effects were boring. The story sucked all over the place. We don't know what is going on. There's some dog references, with a truck with dogs with horns painted on it. Nothing is explained. And anything can be implied. Was this some kind of Omen copy? I don't know.So, what we are left with is a boring, slow, crap of a movie. Watch the first 3 minutes, then dream of a better movie in your own head.F, 1 star. Forget-about-it!

"The Appointment" is confusing (the opening scene has nothing to do with the rest of the movie), slow and boring. I watched this movie four times, the first three times I fell asleep. I finally got through the entire movie the fourth time. After the movie ended I wanted to know one thing: What was that (the movie) about? Like I said, the opening scene (a girl getting snatched out of nowhere by an unseen force--the only interesting part of the movie) has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. The rest of the movie is about a spoiled little girl who gets upset with her father because he cannot make it to one of her "concerts." So she decides to kill him using supernatural powers. At least, that's what I think it's about, but I'm not really sure. As I stated earlier in my post, the movie is confusing and makes absolutely no sense at all.

Lindsey Vickers, who scripts and directs this enigmatic film, offers a viewer just enough information to raise questions, at the same time presenting enough plums in the pudding to warrant an alert audience wishing for answers in return, but providentially style triumphs over substance. Vickers constructs an unquestionably suspenseful tale of predestination that revolves about a talented young violinist who manifestly possesses significant preternatural powers, more than sufficient to drastically affect those about her. Action opens with a three year flashback scene as we view a 12 year old girl carrying her casebound violin while walking from her school toward her home, traversing a secluded coppice, Crombie Wood, wherein she is suddenly seized (in a highly eerie scene) by a baleful force that slaughters her. Three years after, Joanne Cameron (Samantha Weysom), a 14 year old student at the same school, and also a violinist of a high order, is seen approaching a now abandoned Crombie Wood (fenced to discourage any who might otherwise trudge through it) where she speaks at the barrier to someone or something unseen just within the enclosure. Joanne's affection for her father Ian (Edward Woodward) is obsessive, and when he cannot attend her solo examination recital because of a business appointment, the child's paranormal facility is apparently utilized in the service of evil, thereby raising nocturnal havoc with Ian and Joanne's mother Dianna (Jane Merrow), as the married pair have nightmares in union that share numerous dire elements. In the morning following the tandem bad dreams, Ian drives to his business appointment in a loaned automobile, as his is being serviced, and it is soon apparent that vital auto related components from within the nightmare are being enacted during the light of day, and a powerful perception of upcoming danger is fashioned through the script. It is this premonition of dread that securely establishes the tension marking the film from its opening scene, a viewer wondering specifically how, or if, Ian will be victimized consonant with the display of frightful events that comprised a large portion of the mentioned dreams. Well-wrought and intense domestically flavoured episodes mingle congruent with scenes of suspense, according credible shape to the whole. Helping to nourish a viewer's interest are nicely conceived passages showcasing visual and aural synchronicity, based for the largest part upon the dream sequences, while a gripping atonal score by Trevor Jones and resourceful camera-work from Brian West provide intensive underpinning to a film that never retreats away from the plot line perception of Vickers. Especial note shall be made of a solo car crash occurrence that is shot and edited in a highly persuasive manner. Acting honours are to the expressive Merrow for her turn as a decisive pivot between her husband and daughter. Filmed to a large extent within scenic Snowdonia National Park of North Wales, this undervalued film had but infrequent theatrical showings before being released to video and has not since emerged in a DVD format.

This movie is good and bad. Very, very strange and unsettling is the best way I can think of to explain this British horror film. It was scary, shocking, and made my skin crawl with the typical quiet, non-gory British horror. It also features one of the most bizarre and agonizing car wrecks in the history of films! The drawback is there is virtually no plot development. There was no explanation as to what the evil was, why is was there, or what happened to it at the end. And why was the father the main target? It was basically a family going about their daily life and these scary things happening to them. Good on the scare value, blah on everything else! This a rare film to find, at least here in the states. I caught it because it used to be on A&E (Arts and Entertainment) on TV about ten years or so ago.