This deliciously off-beat, uncommonly gripping British feature remains a fascinatingly multifaceted cinematic jewel, and why this macabre, ruthlessly unsentimental examination of murderously sociopathic school boys remains so obscure is quite beyond me! A feral rush of pure cinema, 'Unman Wittering & Zigo' is dynamically directed with consummate skill by John Mackenzie, with truly chilling performances from a sublime young cast, and yet another bravura turn from the mercurial acting genius David Hemmings ensures that no fright fan's skin shall go uncrawled as they watch satisfyingly shuddersome 70s shocker, 'Unman Wittering & Zigo'.
Maestro Mackenzie's profoundly disquieting thriller can sit quite uncomfortably alongside equally unsettling creepy classics, 'Village of the Damned', 'Symptoms', and 'The Wicker Man' as one of British genre cinema's all-time doomiest, black-hearted horror films! A razor-edged, highly charged nightmare with a palpably disturbing atmosphere. As the genuinely unnerving narrative unfolds, ace director Mackenzie mercilessly ratchets up the pulse-quickening perversity, memorably orchestrating a vivid number of sinister sequences, culminating starkly with an especially distressing dénouement that remains no less potent long after the credits have rolled! (FYI, the ICA or NFT really should give this masterpiece a full bells & whistles screening!) 'Unman Wittering & Zigo' is highly recommended, this oppressively downbeat psychodrama's emotional impact reverberates no less devastatingly today than upon its original release in 1971!
Maestro Mackenzie's profoundly disquieting thriller can sit quite uncomfortably alongside equally unsettling creepy classics, 'Village of the Damned', 'Symptoms', and 'The Wicker Man' as one of British genre cinema's all-time doomiest, black-hearted horror films! A razor-edged, highly charged nightmare with a palpably disturbing atmosphere. As the genuinely unnerving narrative unfolds, ace director Mackenzie mercilessly ratchets up the pulse-quickening perversity, memorably orchestrating a vivid number of sinister sequences, culminating starkly with an especially distressing dénouement that remains no less potent long after the credits have rolled! (FYI, the ICA or NFT really should give this masterpiece a full bells & whistles screening!) 'Unman Wittering & Zigo' is highly recommended, this oppressively downbeat psychodrama's emotional impact reverberates no less devastatingly today than upon its original release in 1971!