Review of The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

An interestingly historical and enjoyably deductive episode of this yearly series adapted, as were several entries, from an M. R. James short story – which apparently also inspired the Dario Argento production THE CHURCH (1990) – about the search for a treasure hidden away years before in a monastery catacombs. The seekers are a current member of the religious order (Michael Bryant) and his enthusiastic young pupil; the latter's mother often employs the services of a would-be medium to conduct séances with the object of contacting her late husband but, in an early highlight, Bryant exposes the proceedings as a sham by interrogating the spirit – supposedly of a past man of the cloth – in both Latin and French to confirm or disprove his veracity. Their investigation of the treasure's whereabouts take them to a chapel with tell-tale illustrated windows and stony gargoyles seemingly pointing to the hidden loot. Since the clues are given out in the form of Latin riddles or quotations, it can prove somewhat heavy-going at times and the scenes depicting the attacks of the slimy guardian are very hurriedly dealt with, the panic-stricken Bryant being left with the burden of projecting the real horror of what he had in fact confronted. The climax – in which Bryant is about to get his comeuppance by supposedly meeting the abbot face to face while convalescing wheelchair-bound in a garden – takes place off-screen but still provides a satisfyingly creepy coda.