The Living and the Dead (2006)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Simon Rumley

Writer:

Simon Rumley (writer)

Release Date:

24 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror by good intentions.

Plot:

A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh...

Plot Keywords:

Barricade | Nurse | Supernatural Power | Mirror | Headbanger

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Donald Brocklebank
Leo Bill	...	James Brocklebank
Kate Fahy	...	Nancy Brocklebank
Sarah Ball	...	Nurse Mary
Neil Conrich	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

The Living in the Home of the Dead (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

Argentina:83 min | Germany:83 min (European Film Market)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Australia:MA (2008) | Argentina:13 | UK:18 | New Zealand:R18

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Giant Films

Trivia:

The Longleigh House location was once a World War I hospital, the Hawtreys School for young men, and then was run as a drug rehabilitation clinic. Local reports are that at least three ghosts, an old woman, a soldier, and a child who fell 75 feet while sliding down the banisters, still inhabit the Tottenham House near Savernake, England.

Quotes:

James: When you leave, I'm the one to look after our house, I'm the one to look after Mummy.

This film disturbed the s**t out of me

I saw this film at Fantasia quite recently and it completely blew me away. Me and my girlfriend were gonna take in The Lost afterwards but were so exhausted that we just went an' had a few drinks afterwards. This is an extremely unusual film - about a retarded kid who looks after his really ill mom when the dad goes away on business - and incredibly bold an gutsy I think. It starts slowly using locked off wide shots, establishing characters etc, kind of like a poor man's Merchant Ivory (the family in question are on their last legs and so there's next to no furniture etc), and then when you think you've got a hold on it Rumley says f**k you and takes it in a completely stylistic direction with crazy editing, music, camera etc. Initially this is quite jarring but it works within the context of the characterisation and the mental break-down that the retarded kid's going through that in the end I thought it's quite a brilliant device. Ultimately the film is a real emotional grind and deeply tragic but it tackles, albeit in an extreme, visceral way, what most of us at some time, I guess, will have to go through and that's having to look after ailing parents or relatives. There's no monsters in the closet or serial killers here, it's just a very stark consideration of the scariest thing around: the reality of death. This film disturbed the s**t out of me - and I wouldn't recommend it to the feint-hearted but definitely check it out if you're hard enough