The Stone Tape

This aged very poorly. The sexism and racism is pretty stout. The premise is interesting but it’s very clunky and everyone is constantly shouting. The only female in the whole thing is sleeping with her married boss and is hysterical literally the entire time. There are much better 70s pieces to spend your time on.

I have always loved this movie. It is not a gorefest as with many modern horrors and does not resort to jump scares but instead uses the growing terror and dread while melding science with the supernatural. The actress who played the deceased maid had one job and she did it well, her screams and terrified look was enough to let you know that you did not want to see what she saw. The end is very chilling and terrifying in its connotations. There is also a bit of a Lovecraftian hint toward the end with The Others. There are no monsters implicitly displayed in this film but you get the hint that what she sees and feels (yes, there is more to just hearing and seeing "ghosts" and they mention the phenomenon in am almost throwaway group of lines). Whatever The Others were, they were so terrifying and old that their memory could drive people to death and warp space. I highly recommend this movie. The acting is good, just be warned this is a BBC telemovie and there is a lot of inexpensive sets and a lot of yelling. The story is from the great creator of the Quatermass movies and series Nigel Kneale (who also ghost wrote Halloween 3). I also highly recommend another Nigel Kneale movie called Quatermass and the Pit (also called Five Million Years to Earth.) You are not going to see much in the way of special effects in The Stone Tape as it is a BBC television project and as such may put off some people, it will remind you a bit of the original Dr. Who series, minus rubber monsters.

A classic tale of a woman in tech being terrorized by her bigoted male co-workers. Also, ghost technology. This film is well done and so unique.

i can see why this is an influential classic of folk-horror. the eldritch and unknown evil from beyond time welling up in the stone itself, confronting science's ability to catagorize, explain, or exploit, commercially. old castles on dank moors and undeground stone chambers... its all there. if you forgive the dated production values and stone age racial and gender mores, I think you will find a film much in keeping with its theme: an arcaic subterranean treasure that most will disregard as junk for not looking beneath the surface.

Also, isn't Japan the worst?