The Frighteners (TV Series) Bed and Breakfast (1972) User Reviews

'Board' and lodgings...

[canndyman · 7/10 · 10 February 2021]

This is definitely one of the most effective and memorable episodes from this odd (and often slightly depressing) early 70s ITV series.

This time it concerns brash couple Anthony and Olive Ashworth - and we find them seemingly seeking a hotel for the night on a rural road trip as the story begins. They pull up outside a remote house, and proceed to nail a board to a tree at the front of the property which they retrieve from their car, indicating that it's a Bed and Breakfast hotel.

They then harangue the house's startled and astonished owners (the elderly Cartwrights) into giving them a room for the night - insisting they must do this due to the sign outside, which of course the Cartwrights have no knowledge of.

This is a claustrophobic and uneasy watch, and the viewer is kept wondering throughout why exactly the Ashworths are harassing the other couple like this. Ian Hendry puts in a good shift as the brutish and slightly menacing Anthony Ashworh - and as the story goes on, the screw gets turned even further.

Will the viewer eventually find out the reasons why? You'll have to see for yourself - but, as with pretty-much all the other stories in this solemn and often disturbing series, please don't count on the proverbial cosy and fluffy 'Hollywood' ending...

A real chiller.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 15 September 2022]

The Cartwrights, and elderly couple living in the middle of nowhere, are woken by a young couple in the middle of the night, looking for a place to stay.

This was such an effective episode, for my money it's one of the show's better offerings. The plots have so far been bleak, there's generally been a sense of unease, this one however offers something a little different, it's an out and out chiller.

It's perhaps the first time that the title, The Frighteners, has felt utterly appropriately, the scenario is genuinely frightening, you feel the sense of terror, unease and claustrophobia.

You're aware that something is afoot, but you won't know what until the end, you are made to wait for the outcome, but when it comes it's quite a rewarding moment.

A real chiller, it's a straightforward tale of revenge, nicely produced, and very well acted, Ian Hendry and Wendy Gifford are equally menacing.

A nasty, but engaging tale, 8/10.

Hotel California

[southdavid · 7/10 · 2 February 2021]

The penultimate episode of "The Frighteners" is a fun little chiller which whilst still not the horror I was looking for from the series as a whole, was darker and more unsettling than most of the rest of the series.

A married couple, Anthony (Ian Hendry) and Olive Ashworth (Wendy Gifford) pull up outside an isolated house in Scotland. Anthony screws a "Bed and Breakfast" sign to the wall and then drives up, demanding a room for the night. The Cartwrights (John Welsh and Gabrielle Daye) are angry and then bemused at the situation, but eventually let them in when Olive's health appears to be fading. Despite saying they understand the situation, the Ashworth's act like the house is a B & B still demanding service. Then there is another knock at the door.

There's a sense of dread about the episode that I found really well done. The Ashworths aren't violent but there's something about their demeanours and refusal to accept the Cartwrights at their word that, combined with the fact we know that they have planted the sign makes them very threatening. It's a home invasion story almost, although the victims do let them in.

The ending reveal, when it comes, is nicely layered into the story and makes sense, even if it's a little bit of a stretch to accept that it would actually happen. (I'm keeping things vague to avoid spoilers). It might have been nice to have seen the story stretched a little longer, maybe even to an hour. I can see the story working as the bones for a stage play even, especially as it's essentially one location.

One more episode of "The Frighteners" to go.