Heading Home
Writer/director Jane Rose has a real feel for Lovecraftian horror, as she demonstrated admirably with her The Statement of Randolph Carter segment in LovecraCked! Heading Home is in a very similar vein but, this time, based on a 1978 short story by Ramsey Campbell, a writer who is widely recognised as one of the masters of horror fiction and one whose early work was very heavily influenced by the work of H. P. Lovecraft.
The film opens with someone – or something – awakening in a basement.
We are then introduced to Marie (Jenny Mundy-Castle) who really wants to know what is going on in her husband, Edward’s (Ean Sheehy) lab. Edward, an aggressively obsessive character, is receiving a steady stream of strange deliveries from The Butcher (Chuck Bunting), whose prices appear to be rising.
Eventually Marie’s curiosity gets the better of her…
Where Heading Home really delivers is in the powerfully oppressive atmosphere that pervades the entire film. Visually the film manages to convey a real sense of menace throughout and this is underscored perfectly with a sparingly used but very effective score.
Told primarily from Marie’s point of view, but with regular reminders about the thing in the basement, Heading Home is a straightforward, but very tightly scripted story. I have to admit to not having read the short story on which this film is based, but it does capture very effectively the feel of Campbell’s Lovecraftian storytelling.
With the emphasis on atmosphere rather than gore, the way that the characters react to what they see and hear is significant. All three of the main characters put in very theatrical performances which generate a real sense that there is something here that we really don’t want to see.
Jenny Mundy-Castle deserves a mention here for bringing real believability to her character. Initially, she is the downtrodden spouse who knows that something is going on but is uncertain as to how she should confront it. Once she does discover the source of the strange sounds behind the door, however, Marie’s attitude changes significantly and it is to Mundy-Castle’s credit that she is able make this transition while retaining the sympathy of the audience.
Superbly scripted, well acted and shot through with a real sense of menace, Heading Home finishes with a surprise ending that manages to not only be very effective indeed, but also neatly pulls together everything that has gone before.
1 comment Tuesday 05 Jun 2007 | Paul Pritchard | Horror
I’m Glad Jane Rose is finally getting the credit she deserves.