'The Night Digger' is a resolutely creepy, faintly sordid, unusually perverse, hugely atmospheric 70s British chiller, and yet, for reasons obscure, it still remains a surprisingly little-seen shocker! Alastair Reid's tantalizingly weird psychodrama colourfully centres upon the altogether wicked travails of a youthful, initially personable handy man Billy Jarvis (Nicholas Clay). Outwardly a kindly, diligent, softly spoken young chap, yet once finished with his roof repairs, the duplicitous pretty boy Billy evilly exposes himself to be a craven sex killer! The sinisterly scheming protagonist Jarvis is brought to vivid life with a darkly compelling performance by the enigmatic, distractingly handsome actor Nicholas Clay.
The able director Alastair Reid effectively utilizes mordant splashes of Joe Orton-esque humour, and dynamic Hollywood icon Patricia Neal is on fascinating form as downtrodden spinster Maura Prince. With fellow powerhouse Thespian Pamela Brown's no less muscular performance being little short of miraculous, fearlessly playing Patricia Neal's blind, abusive, over-zealous, wholly oppressive matriarch to the very hilt! I greatly enjoyed this off-beat melodrama almost as much as 'Our Mother's House', which shares a similarly eccentric undertone. And it would be entirely remiss of me if I didn't draw attention to the very fine score by maestro Bernard Herrmann. The exceedingly worthy cast also includes many British luminaries from the stage and screen: Yootha Joyce, Jean Anderson, Graham Crowden, and beloved national treasure Peter Sallis. Alastair Reid's earthy, eerily eccentric 'The Night Digger' aka 'The Road Builder'(1971) is an unfairly forgotten fright flick that is well worth digging out! Horror fans might also care to note that the entertaining text is by the legendary scrivener Roald Dahl.
