One of the Ghost Story for Christmas films that the BBC ran yearly back in the 1970s, this is an excellent suspense story which ably succeeds in scaring the wits out of the viewer. The story itself is based on a tale by M.R. James, that master of the ghost story, and authenticity is added in the bleak Norfolk surroundings where the tale is set. The sinister title neatly sums up the contents of this film, where a man is purchased by the sinister spirit of a tramp after digging up a legendary crown.
After giving the character in the story realistic reasons for wanting the crown (he's recently unemployed), the film then propels the viewer into a nightmarish netherworld where he can never be free of the tramp's spirit. Like the recent trend in horror films such as THE SIXTH SENSE and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, this shows that the best horror works when it is subtle and chilling instead of gory and horrific. Just watch the ending, so subtle and yet so frightening.
Peter Vaughan is well cast as the man who digs up the crown and is haunted, and his name lends support to the BBC's production. He is given able support by one Clive Swift, nowadays more recognisable as Patricia Routledge's long-suffering husband Richard in KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. Set in a time and era that can never be recaptured, A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS is, like most of the BBC series it was included in, a forgotten gem of a film which keeps it simple and succeeds in horrifying the viewer, a rare occurrence these days. I'd go so far as to describe it as a chilly visual masterpiece, and one of the most purely effective and primal ghost stories ever filmed.
After giving the character in the story realistic reasons for wanting the crown (he's recently unemployed), the film then propels the viewer into a nightmarish netherworld where he can never be free of the tramp's spirit. Like the recent trend in horror films such as THE SIXTH SENSE and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, this shows that the best horror works when it is subtle and chilling instead of gory and horrific. Just watch the ending, so subtle and yet so frightening.
Peter Vaughan is well cast as the man who digs up the crown and is haunted, and his name lends support to the BBC's production. He is given able support by one Clive Swift, nowadays more recognisable as Patricia Routledge's long-suffering husband Richard in KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. Set in a time and era that can never be recaptured, A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS is, like most of the BBC series it was included in, a forgotten gem of a film which keeps it simple and succeeds in horrifying the viewer, a rare occurrence these days. I'd go so far as to describe it as a chilly visual masterpiece, and one of the most purely effective and primal ghost stories ever filmed.