Hi all-
This is actually my first post here - and it was this very thread that brought me to this forum. I'm a lover of all things odd and eerie and have a particular fondness for UK TV supernatural dramas from the 70s and 80s. There's just something extra unsettling about their atmosphere can't I cant place... or perhaps its because they bring back memories of childhood, when things still had the power to TRULY terrify you. (The Tales From the Unexpected theme still gives me goosebumps).
There's a show of this ilk that I've been searching for what feels like forever, with no luck. But the people on this thread really seem to know their stuff so I'm hoping that maybe someone can help me out here, because I'd LOVE to see this one again. I remember it as being absolutely terrifying, and if it even lives up to a fraction of what I remember... it should be something of a classic.
It was British and shown on UK TV, sometime in the early to mid 80s I should think. I'm not sure if it was a standalone made-for-TV thing or part of an anthology series... but the atmosphere and filming style was very similar to those 'Ghost Story For Christmas' type shows, although this one had a contemporary setting. I thought it might have been an episode of the later season of Hammer House... but Ive watched all of them now, and have drawn a blank.
I was born in 78, and am pretty sure I saw this when I was between 7-10 years old. The story followed a young couple who got a gig caretaking a school that I think was on an island... or at least was very desolate. I remember lots of eerie fog, etc. For whatever reason, the school was closed up and they were the only ones there. There may have been an old custodian as well, a vaguely remember some creepy older character being involved.
One of the pair (I believe the wife) starts seeing a ghostly young girl around the school, and the husband doesn't believe her. There's some kind of ghost story related to the place, and the husband puts it down to her nerves and imagination, and this starts to put a strain on their relationship.
Although I could be getting some story details fuzzy, the thing I remember with absolute clarity is the terrifying ending: the couple start getting hot and heavy in the school, and this culminates in the husband tying the wife up (yeah, i probably shouldnt have been watching this give the fact I was so young, lol) using (I think) a skipping rope. (side note - If anyone here went to a British school, you'll remember the rows of coathanger we used to have outside the classrooms in some older schools... the low bench type, with metal hangers for coats and bags on top, right? Well, this is what he ties her to.)
So, the husband binds the wife's wrists with the rope to the metal hangers, so she's left facing away from him... and things are getting a bit hot and heavy when - for some reason - he is compelled to run off for a moment. (maybe he hears something and goes to check. Something strange and unepexted happens, anyway). This leaves the wife tied up and freaking out, when - wouldn't you know it - the ghostly young girl appears, and now she's got a sickle in her hand. While the woman begs her to stop, the girl - in proper 'Children of the Corn' style - proceeds to hack the young woman to bits while she screams helplessly.
I think meanwhile, the husband meets some equally terrible fate and although he can hear her screams, he cannot help her and this is pretty much the end. In fact, now I 6hink about it there may have been a frozen lake involved, and he perhaps goes through the ice and drowns while trying to rescue a stuck child who is actually a ghost.
What I do know is that this bloody show freaked me out and gave me severe nightmares at the time. Aside from the vague timeframe, I was in the north west of England if perhaps this might have been some kind of regional production although I doubt it. If anybody has any ideas, I'd love to track this down and see it again. Shows I've thought it might be, but it has turned out NOT to be include A Ghost Story At Christmas, The Frighteners, Hammer House of Horror / Mystery and Suspense, Supernatural, etc.
Can anybody help a nostalgic horror movie fan out? Thanks in advance for any clues!
