Jeremy Brett is Sheridan Owen, a pompous British novelist who leads a comfortable life with wife Alex (Natasha Parry). Sheridan has just written a horror novel titled "The Ferryman," where the main character is a horrible villain who would assault and drown young women, before being drowned himself and buried.
Sheridan is enjoying both the success of the book, as well as the dumb questions from reporters and weird customers at book signings. Sheridan and Alex take a drive in the country, and get caught in a storm. Their car's windshield wipers break, and they take refuge in an inn called The Ferryman's Rest. The similarity to Sheridan's novel's inn is noted, but the staff also have similar names to his characters' names. The inn's owner, Miles Attingham (Geoffrey Chater), greets Sheridan, who notices his Miles and the real Miles have the same characteristics. As Alex tries to explain everything away as coincidence, a character is introduced at the inn who ends up murdered by the Ferryman in Sheridan's novel. Sheridan is determined to protect them from the Ferryman, whose arrival is only a matter of time.
This is an episode of a British television series in the '80's titled "Haunted," so the running time is only fifty minutes. Director Irvin has enjoyed some success on the big screen, and his eye here is good, too. There is a great sense of menace throughout the film that works without resulting to gore or silly jump shots, save one good one involving a hen. The Ferryman himself is a creepy concoction, with weird makeup and a giant rowing staff. An American production would turn him into a fiendish serial killer right away, but Irvin plays the film for suspense, not gore.
Brett is great as the stuffy horror writer who does not believe in ghosts. His careful analysis of his situation is fun to watch. The supporting cast all do well in small roles. Irvin does mess up the day-for-night shots, however. One sequence has Owen wondering around the inn's grounds at midnight, but the lighting is obviously daylight. Also, in their quest to be extra creepy, the ending is rather muddled. We get to know the inn's characters through Owen's book, but it is not clear how his book ends, or if what happens to him in real life also occurred in the book. Julian Bond's script is confused, and I am not sure if this was the intent of Kingsley Amis' original story.
All in all, "Haunted: The Ferryman" is a good suspenser that delivers chills the old fashioned way- by not getting smug and talking down to the audience. While the ending leaves something to be desired, I do recommend it.
