sambson
Nigel Kneale serves up a revised version of his classic Quatermass plot, without the aliens. The basic idea for The Stone Tape ghost phenomenon can be found amongst the numerous brilliant ideas in Kneale's earlier Quatermass stories. Unfortunately this revised take on paranormal phenomenon examined by scientists, falls short of a satisfactory resolution. A major issue with this film is the two lead characters; one of whom is a complete unrepentant bastard and the other of whom walks into any room with resolve but rarely leaves without disintegrating into a dithering idiot. By about the fifth time the woman falls apart and the man screams at her to get over it, you just want to smack the both of them. Michael Bryant's over-acting is at such a gratingly fevered pitch, it's as though he thinks he's single-handedly moving the entire plot forward. The lack of sympathetic characters makes this film far inferior to the amazing performances in something like Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit serial (1958–59).
cowboypsychic1
Nigel Kneale of QUATERMASS fame wrote this intriguing tale of an electronics crew striving to create an alternative recording medium to magnetic tape and inadvertently discovering that a haunted room might provide the solution to their quest. Capably directed by Hammer Films veteran Peter Sasdy, though fairly slow through the first half of the feature and a bit heavy on exposition (and thick British accents). The chilling climax makes up for any initial shortcomings. A must-see for fans of intelligent ghost stories...
gnb
"The Stone Tape" is a real oddity - how can a sci-fi/fantasy drama of this high standard go unnoticed for so long. Transmitted at Christmas in 1972 and repeated the following year, nothing has been seen of this classic piece of TV until earlier this year when the BFI released it on both video and DVD.Written by Quatermass scribe Nigel Kneale and directed by TV/film veteran Peter Sasdy, "The Stone Tape" is an example of all the elements working together to produce a masterpiece.In brief, the story concerns a group of scientists staying in a converted manor house to carry out research into a new recording medium to replace magnetic tape. One of the analysts, Jill Greely, has visions of a ghost in the one room of the house the workmen refused to renovate. The rest of the team then set about surveying this ghost and come to the conclusion that it is the stone of the room which has captured the image of the woman and the presence of certain receptive people, namely Jill, has triggered its playback, hence stone tape.This is a well written and well directed piece of fantasy drama mixing the right amount of moody lighting and music with Peter Bryant and Jane Asher's kitchen sink romance to create something instantly believable as well as disturbing.TV favourites such as Iain Cuthbertson and Tom Chadbon are present to make up the numbers in the impressive supporting cast.A spooky masterpiece - go and buy the video or if your budget will allow, the DVD for Nigel Kneale's interesting and revealing commentary.
grimgrom
I remember seeing the original television showing of The Stone Tape at the tender age of 11 and the vivid memory is of being scared out of my wits. I have never seen it since,I don't think it has ever been repeated except the following Christmas,why I don't know. Early BBC productions may be notorious for thier flimsy sets and low budget productions but the acting skillsbase and quality of material has always remained second to none and this is no exception. Nigel Kneale is a master of his trade and this script (which is well worth downloading before viewing the play)shows why.The idea is original and the viewer(or reader) just cant help but engage thier imagination.No monsters,no fancy special effects(although it does get noisy!) ..just good,honest story-telling at its best. I gave it a 10(well worth it) By the way if you get the chance see Woman in Black,also by Kneale.
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