Out of the Unknown: To Lay a Ghost starts as fifteen year old schoolgirl Diana (Lesley Anne-Down) walks through some woods on her way home but is stopped & raped. Jump forward several years later as Diana & her successful photographer husband Eric Carver (Iain Gregory) move into a large country house, Diana having felt an instant connection & falling in love with it from the moment she first saw it. At first Diana & Eric are happy there but after taking photographs & having them developed Eric notices a strange man in the pictures neither he nor Diana saw at the time they were taken. Local paranormal investigator Dr. Walter Phillimore (Peter Barkworth) is called in & believes an evil ghost haunts the house & that it's feeding off Diana's sexual repression...
Episode two from the fourth & final season of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this was directed by Ken Hannam & like season four as a whole To lay a Ghost abandoned the traditional sci-fi story in favour of psychological horror firmly based in reality, while To Lay a Ghost (a great title relevant in more ways than one...) may not be to everyone's taste I did quite like it's rather twisted theme & story. While not overly graphic the unsettling & nasty in tone opening sequence of a schoolgirl getting attacked & raped is a shocking start to what then seems like is going to be a straight forward haunted house with a bad past tale but the twisted very unpolitically correct ending in which Diana wants Eric to rape here because she enjoyed being raped when she was fifteen is bad enough but then add in the final twist as the rapist ghost gets to fulfil her fantasy after Eric flees the house & we have the sort of fifty minute horror show that surely would attract some very ugly headlines from the moral crusaders. In fairness To lay a Ghost isn't that graphic as the vulgar themes & plot twists are delivered through a tight script that includes several near death experiences for Eric while Diana is possessed several times too. All in all To Lay a Ghost isn't the most graceful or polished piece of British television history it is a nice change where the makers tried to be daring but ended up making something tasteless, vulgar, somewhat shocking & actually pretty good that doesn't seem to follow any rules of etiquette.
Originally broadcast during April 1971 this hasn't aged that well with some truly hideous 70's decoration & fashion, just look at those matching pink his & hers nightwear Eric & Diana wear during the first night. Quite nicely shot there's one scene at the end in which Eric runs down stairs after Diana tells him she wants him to rape her & he knocks the 'wall' which actually wobbles as he brushes past it. The filmed sequences on location look much better including a rundown old shed & a dangerous game of archery. The acting is alright, Lesley Anne-Down went on to have a long acting career but probably doesn't list this one at the top of her resume. To Lay a Ghost is the first surviving episode from season four of Out of the Unknown as the previous episode Taste of Evil (1971) was wiped & no longer exists, season four saw a departure from fantasy sci-fi to psychological horror & also saw a new bizarre title sequence featuring seemingly random images of an egg, a flame & a face along with some very forgettable new opening theme music.
To Lay a Ghost is a rather vulgar & somewhat unpleasant piece of horror television but I still liked it for it's morally outrageous twists & story involving schoolgirls being raped & ghost rapists on hand to satisfy their lust & desires. We are told that we shouldn't like stuff like this but I think most people will despite the questionable morals on show.
Episode two from the fourth & final season of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this was directed by Ken Hannam & like season four as a whole To lay a Ghost abandoned the traditional sci-fi story in favour of psychological horror firmly based in reality, while To Lay a Ghost (a great title relevant in more ways than one...) may not be to everyone's taste I did quite like it's rather twisted theme & story. While not overly graphic the unsettling & nasty in tone opening sequence of a schoolgirl getting attacked & raped is a shocking start to what then seems like is going to be a straight forward haunted house with a bad past tale but the twisted very unpolitically correct ending in which Diana wants Eric to rape here because she enjoyed being raped when she was fifteen is bad enough but then add in the final twist as the rapist ghost gets to fulfil her fantasy after Eric flees the house & we have the sort of fifty minute horror show that surely would attract some very ugly headlines from the moral crusaders. In fairness To lay a Ghost isn't that graphic as the vulgar themes & plot twists are delivered through a tight script that includes several near death experiences for Eric while Diana is possessed several times too. All in all To Lay a Ghost isn't the most graceful or polished piece of British television history it is a nice change where the makers tried to be daring but ended up making something tasteless, vulgar, somewhat shocking & actually pretty good that doesn't seem to follow any rules of etiquette.
Originally broadcast during April 1971 this hasn't aged that well with some truly hideous 70's decoration & fashion, just look at those matching pink his & hers nightwear Eric & Diana wear during the first night. Quite nicely shot there's one scene at the end in which Eric runs down stairs after Diana tells him she wants him to rape her & he knocks the 'wall' which actually wobbles as he brushes past it. The filmed sequences on location look much better including a rundown old shed & a dangerous game of archery. The acting is alright, Lesley Anne-Down went on to have a long acting career but probably doesn't list this one at the top of her resume. To Lay a Ghost is the first surviving episode from season four of Out of the Unknown as the previous episode Taste of Evil (1971) was wiped & no longer exists, season four saw a departure from fantasy sci-fi to psychological horror & also saw a new bizarre title sequence featuring seemingly random images of an egg, a flame & a face along with some very forgettable new opening theme music.
To Lay a Ghost is a rather vulgar & somewhat unpleasant piece of horror television but I still liked it for it's morally outrageous twists & story involving schoolgirls being raped & ghost rapists on hand to satisfy their lust & desires. We are told that we shouldn't like stuff like this but I think most people will despite the questionable morals on show.