Fox Mystery Theater (TV Series) Black Carrion (1984) User Reviews

Flawed, but very imaginative.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 9 December 2023]

Journalists Paul Taylor and Cora Berlaine are tasked with unearthing the mystery surrounding The Verne Brothers, a rock and roll duo that vanished into thin air at the height of their success two decades ago. Enquiries lead them to a small, remote village.

I think there are some great ideas here, which is hardly surprising, writer Don Houghton wrote some incredible pieces of TV, his Doctor Who credits alone are terrific. The problem I had isn't with the plot, more the execution, they didn't make full use of what is essentially, a great script.

This one does have some very nice horror moments, the aged couple being ram raided off the road is rather unsettling, best of all though, that empty village, very Avengers like.

That ending was totally surreal, only in the 1980's would you see that.

A few nice performances, I liked Diana King and Chris Ellison, only small roles for both, but very good.

Could and should have been a 9/10, but it's just too stodgy, imagine what could be done today with a script like this.

7/10.

Strangely compelling

[analoguebubblebath · 7/10 · 19 October 2003]

First viewing: October 1984 / Second viewing: October 2003

The disappearance of the long-forgotten rock'n'roll duo, The Verne Brothers has been a mystery for over twenty years. Time Leigh Lawson had some answers and he gets them - in the shape of assistance from the exotically monikered Season Hubley and an assortment of unpleasant minor characters. The search for an answer leads to the dredging up of unsolved missing person cases and crazy villagers like the ones in "The Wicker Man". For good measure DCI Burnside makes an appearance - as a policeman - and for those eagle-eyed "Brookside"/"Bergerac" addicts watch out for Geoffrey Leesley in the role of an ineffectual constable. A strangely compelling entry in the vastly impressive "Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense" canon. 7/10

Best HHoM&S episode I've seen thus far

[Coventry · 7/10 · 11 May 2022]

After having seen four randomly ordered episodes, the very least I can say about "Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense" is that it has been a disappointment thus far. None of the tales are very inventive or cause any frights, and they are honestly overlong and rather tedious. "Black Carrion" is the best so far, for sure, but still nothing perplexing and most definitely not on par with the great quality of the short films in "Hammer House of Horror".

The good thing about "Black Carrion", compared to the previous three I watched, is that it has a fresh, original, and compelling basic pot. Add to this a couple of utmost atmospheric sequences and a swinging Rock 'n Roll soundtrack, and you at least have a memorable little film worth recommending.

The plot revolves around a freelance reporter and a female photographer hoping to unravel the mysterious and still unresolved disappearance of a rock band. The Verne Brothers (Ron and Ray, ... not Jules) were extremely popular in the early sixties, but then literally vanished in 1963. The search leads to a forsaken little village off the highway, but the closer they get, the more the girl begins suffering from a mental trauma clearly linked to the case.

There's a downright fantastic scene after approximately 15-20 minutes, in which an elderly couple in their car are brutally aggressed by two hoodlums in a truck. The terror-ride ends with a broken car and tangled nerves in a little village where they hope to find help, but they don't realize their troubles haven't even started yet! This scene, and a few others, demonstrates the great director skills of John Hough. The clarifications at the end don't make a whole lot of sense and leave quite a few questions unanswered, but hey, it was different from what I expected and creatively absurd.

Rubbish!

[manchester_england2004 · 3/10 · 20 February 2010]

First, let me say that the other reviewer - Paul English - should not be taken seriously. This is a long way from being "strangely compelling". And comparisons to THE WICKER MAN are an insult to the producers of that movie, which was far better than this tedious waste of celluloid.

BLACK CARRION is one of the worst episodes - if not the worst episode - of the HAMMER HOUSE OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE series.

The TV series in question was a combination of hits and misses. Some episodes had wonderful concepts but became bogged down in very boring 1980s drama styles, with upper middle-class characters exchanging boring dialogue with each other. Most 1980s drama in Britain was executed along these lines. On the other hand, some episodes of this TV series were genuine exercises in suspense, tension and genuine horror. Sadly, BLACK CARRION is an example of the former. Examples of the latter include IN POSSESSION (by far the best), THE CORVINI INHERITANCE and A DISTANT SCREAM.

The plot is as follows - a man searches for a rock band that was popular 20 years earlier. His investigations lead him to a strange village.

The abstract concept is actually good but there is little else here that is worth mentioning.

The plot quickly becomes bogged down in a mire of confusion and boredom. And the ending was particularly ridiculous.

The actors do well with what they are given although their talents are wasted.

Season Hubley looks gorgeous in one of the two main roles. However, she is given nothing worthy of note to do.

Leigh Lawson's character came across as incredibly bland and a long way from those of David Carradine, David McCallum and Christopher Cazenove in other episodes of the series. However, the blame should not fall on Mr. Lawson but instead on the writers of this atrocity.

Supporting actors are also wasted, particularly William Hootkins, an actor who usually played comic roles even in straight movies. He could have brought some humour to this but instead he was given if I remember correctly, one scene at the beginning. And he was forced to play the role straight!

The incredible irony of the whole exercise is that John Hough - director of this nonsense - actually directed one of the best episodes of the series - A DISTANT SCREAM. He also directed the horrific masterpiece, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE more than a decade earlier. Where BLACK CARRION is concerned, I scratch my head wondering how Mr. Hough could have got this one so completely off the mark.

The direction is incredibly flat and uninspired. There is no suspense here. And the only mystery is how this garbage was given the green light in the first place. All I can assume is that Mr. Hough realised he was assigned to a second or more accurately third-rate production and as such his hands were tied from the beginning by the producers.

Overall, I recommend everyone who has not seen this work of celluloid torture to steer well clear. Instead, I advise everyone to watch A DISTANT SCREAM, an episode of the TV series where Mr. Hough directs on top form.

Atmospheric & memorable episode of the classic series

[canndyman · 8/10 · 11 April 2020]

I loved watching HH of M & S during the autumn and winter of 1984, and this was always one of my favorite episodes.

This story concerns two missing 60s pop stars - The Verne Bros duo - and the creepy tale of why no one had heard anything from them, or even seen them, since 1964.

The story is quite a slow burner but, once it gets going, it's packed with atmospheric and memorable scenes. It makes good use of the remote village where the story is set, and also of the huge gothic edifice of Knebworth House.

Viewers in the UK also will also be interested to see Christopher Ellison - 'Burnside' in the long-running and popular Thames TV series The Bill - playing the local detective who attempts to solve the mysterious case.

I love the whole atmosphere and intrigue of this episode, and its slightly tongue-in-cheek style. If only modern TV could be half this good! All in all, it's a memorable and original story that definitely stands the test of time, and a fun and macabre addition to this underrated series.

Surprisingly Cheesy

[merrywater · 3/10 · 15 August 2017]

The HAMMER HOUSE of MYSTERY and SUSPENSE series lasted for only one season. If all episodes would have turned out as offbeat as "Black Carrion", the reason for the cancellation of the show would have been self explanatory. However, most of its episodes do keep up a good standard within the British suspense tradition.

What makes this episode fail is the uninspired direction of a particularly nonsensical plot.

The plot deals with a journalist and his female sidekick getting assigned by a music magazine, or something, to unravel a "mysterious disappearance": What happened to a short-lived (one season!) rock duo of the 60s? A truly corny assignment, indeed. There are a number of obvious influences from various sources, among which the movies "All You Need Is Cash" and "The Duel" might be mentioned. (Though supposedly being filmed in 1963, the retained footage of the duo appears in a most unconvincingly crisp clear color . Compare this to the corresponding footage of the Rutles in "All You Need Is Cash" which actually appears vintage.) On top of that, the sidekick seems to have a distressing personal relation to the duo, shown in flashbacks, that she surprisingly did not inform her companion of as they set out for the story.

The rest of the plot is, besides being a bummer, overacted and taking itself too seriously.

A badly aged product of the 80s.

Particular

[gianmarcoronconi · 5/10 · 10 September 2022]

Without a shadow of a doubt, particular and out of his mind, it has the terrible problem of seeming all too disjointed and without the slightest sense because the events cascade without a real logical thread up to an ending with a little too much didactic explanation. Forced and ugly that fails to fit well into the plot. The whole episode has the absurd and seems completely stupid and without any inspiration until the final moments with the explanations that give a plot and a reason to the episode that otherwise would have been an episode of a series on the history of music without too much inspiration, really a pecccato because the ending, even if didactic, taken alone is really valid.