The Living and the Dead (2006)

A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh House for London to find a way to pay for the medical treatments for his wife Nancy. ... See full summary »

Director:

Simon Rumley

Writer:

Simon Rumley

Stars:

Leo Bill, Roger Lloyd Pack, Kate Fahy

10 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Leo Bill	...	James Brocklebank
Roger Lloyd Pack	...	Donald Brocklebank
Kate Fahy	...	Nancy Brocklebank
Sarah Ball	...	Nurse Mary
Neil Conrich	...	Policeman
Richard Cotton	...	nurse Mike (as Richard Wills-Cotton)
Alan Perrin	...	nurse Bob
Richard Syms	...	Vicar
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hilary Hodsman	...	Auntie Pat

Storyline

A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh House for London to find a way to pay for the medical treatments for his wife Nancy. Alone, his over-protected, delusional, adult son, James, fancies himself in charge of the manor house with his terminally ill mother, and barricades the two of them into the house for a series of ever more panicked home treatments, mistakenly protecting her from the arrival of Nurse Mary and any outside help.

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Plot Keywords:

nurse | barricade | domineering mother | bedridden mother | supernatural power | 

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Taglines:

Terror by good intentions.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Entre vivos y muertos

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£650,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Giant Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Donald Brocklebank: [answering phone] Hello? Hello? Yes, yes I know. No, I didn't know that. No, that's not good at all. No, she doesn't know. Hmm. Hmm. Exactly. Okay, goodbye.
James: They going to make it?
Donald Brocklebank: No, they're not.
James: Can I look after mummy this time.
Donald Brocklebank: I'm not going away.
James: But you always say that, you always do.
James: [knocking] Some one's at the door!
[starts running]
Donald Brocklebank: Stop James, I said stop!
[...]

User Reviews

Rumley succeeds where others fear to tread.

Imagine a retelling of "The Shining" (1980) by Stanley Kubrick - but instead of Steven King's menacing snow storm and ghosts of the dead at the Overlook Hotel - this nuclear family is threatened by the bankruptcy of the landed aristocracy by health care, death by terminal cancer, and an over-protected adult son who is permanently child-like and requires vast infusions of anti-psychotics. Add to this helplessness, depression, anxiety, guilt, anger, and an oedipal-complex repressed by English manners, and you have the explosive makings for "The Living and the Dead" (2006).

Kubrick's famous emotional distance from the story is replaced by Rumley's intense personal need to pull the audience into the madness which modern medicine creates with false hopes and budget efficiencies, and especially, its patent inability to assist the emotional needs of both the terminal patient and their families. Rumley succeeds where others fear to tread by plunging the audience into the thick of it.