I toyed with the idea of buying The Frighteners on DVD and eventually gave in, first up, The Minder. I must admit I found the opening episode a bit of a disappointment, the tagline for the series was 'The Frighteners will chill the spine and is guaranteed to give you the late night horrors,' well to be honest nothing could be further from the truth. After a rather exciting start it delves into a melodrama among thugs, offering nothing in the way of scares. It's well acted, well presented, but too many flashbacks, and a set of characters who aren't particularly appealing. Tom Bell is excellent, Warren Clarke and Brian Glover do a good job also. I'd hoped for something along the lines of Thriller, sadly not. 5/10
3 Reviews
Attack The Block
southdavid26 June 2020
Curious episode this one, a lot of recognisable talent and a decent premise but ultimately not going anywhere.
A group of criminals break their boss Cyril (Kenneth Warren) out of Prison Hospital and sequester him back to a block of flats whilst their plan their next move. The plan was spearheaded by Bender (Tom Bell) and although he thinks the plan is on track, he's alarmed by Cyril's paranoid rantings about Porter (Brian Glover) a rival boss. But is the ranting justified? as we see via flashback that Bender and Porter have had some interactions over the past few weeks.
There's a lot of tense build up here as Bender, nicely played by Bell and his other associate Ronnie - played by Warren Clarke, try to calm their ranting boss down as he gets increasingly paranoid and accusatorial about Bender's reasons for masterminding the escape. All this stuff is nicely performed, if a little tame compared to the language that would be used in a comparable version today. However, though there's enough to the resolution to explain what's actually going on, it's not particularly shocking or memorable conclusion and beyond the performances I'd struggle to find a reason to recommend this to someone else.
A group of criminals break their boss Cyril (Kenneth Warren) out of Prison Hospital and sequester him back to a block of flats whilst their plan their next move. The plan was spearheaded by Bender (Tom Bell) and although he thinks the plan is on track, he's alarmed by Cyril's paranoid rantings about Porter (Brian Glover) a rival boss. But is the ranting justified? as we see via flashback that Bender and Porter have had some interactions over the past few weeks.
There's a lot of tense build up here as Bender, nicely played by Bell and his other associate Ronnie - played by Warren Clarke, try to calm their ranting boss down as he gets increasingly paranoid and accusatorial about Bender's reasons for masterminding the escape. All this stuff is nicely performed, if a little tame compared to the language that would be used in a comparable version today. However, though there's enough to the resolution to explain what's actually going on, it's not particularly shocking or memorable conclusion and beyond the performances I'd struggle to find a reason to recommend this to someone else.
Classy
charlesmodern28 February 2018
Magnificently played by Tom Bell, Kenneth J Warren, Brian Glover and Warren Clarke. The tension is ratcheted up from the start. Normally this sort of material would be set in a 60 minute slot but the shorter play time allows for no loss of intensity.
Tense, stylish and definitely a frightener.
Tense, stylish and definitely a frightener.
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