Feb 29th
The Woman in Black** (12A)
Odeon Colchester

A young widowed lawyer is sent to settle the account at a cursed town in a far from dead house with its sinister woman in black...
The Hammer studio makes a welcome return (in name at least) with this much performed stage ghost story, now adapted into a gloomy film with most of the usual creepy sudden jolts, which are quite predictable in places but still effective, with the star mostly required to react in a startled manner like the bland Hammer heroes of old.

d: James Watkins
s: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, Roger Allam, Misha Handley, Sophie Stuckey, Liz White, Jessica Raine

Feb 23rd
The Great Muppet Caper**
GB 1981. ITC. 97m.

Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are twin brother detectives(!) on the trail of jewel thieves to London.
Adept mixture of musical spoof of the crime caper combined with Muppet tomfoolery in a style reminiscent of the Road movies, with in-jokes and guest stars aplenty, only some of whom don't look too upstaged. Good, nonsensical fun.

Written by: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Jerry Juhl, Jack Rose.
Producers: David Lazer, Frank Oz.
Director: Jim Henson.
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Diana Rigg, Charles Grodin, Jack Warden, Robert Morley, John Cleese, Joan Sanderson, Peter Falk, Peter Ustinov.
Photography: Oswald Morris.
Music: Joe Raposo.

Feb 21st
The Science of Sleep*
original title: La Science des Reves
Fra 2006. Partizan/Gaumont/France 3 Cinema/Canal+/TPS Star. 105m.

A calendar maker returns home to Paris and spends half his life as dream.
Surreal romantic comedy from the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, rather more indulgent and less skillful in its imagination, but the main performances help to engage.

Written and Directed by: Michael Gondry.
Producers: Michael Gondry. Georges Permann, Frederic Junqua.
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Aurelia Petit, Sacha Bourdo, Emma De Caunes.
Photography: Jean-Louis Bampoint.
Music: Jen-Michel Bernard.
Art Direction: Pierre Pell, Stephane Rosenbaum.

Feb 17th
X the Unknown**
GB 1956. Exclusive (Hammer). 78m. bw

A remote research laborartory in Scotland is threatened by a radioactive flesh-eating lava from within the Earth's core.
Sparing but effective horror sci-fi with low-key special effects but a good assemblage of actors and situations to put the horror across, patterned after the success of Quatermass.

Written by: Jimmy Sangster.
Producer: Anthony Hinds.
Director: Lerslie Norman.
Starring: Dean Jagger, Leo McKern, Edward Chapman, William Lucas, John Harvey, Anthony Newley, Ian MacNaughton, Kenneth Cope.
Photography: Gerald Gibbs.
Music: James Bernard.

Feb 13th
The Miracle Worker*
US 1962. United Artists/Playfilms. 106m. bw

Young Helen Keller struggles to communicate with the outside world until fellow former afflicted child Annie Sullivan arduously coaxes her out.
A powerful and absorbing fact-based play is adapted as slightly stark melodrama with some effective moments but acting often verging on the hysterical. When it calms down some the play's subtler moments remain, focusing mainly on the teacher-pupil tension with raw energy.

Written by: William Gibson, from his play.
Producer: Fred Coe.
Director: Arthur Penn.
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine.
Photography: Ernest Caparros.
Music: Laurence Rosenthal.


THE MIRACLE WORKER. Arthur Penn's surprisingly brittle adaptation of William Gibson's acclaimed stage play, which at least had the good sense to keep the original's lead players: Anne Bancroft and the (by then) teenage Patty Duke.

Feb 1st
Scanners
Canada 1980. Avco/Filmplan International. 103m.

Telepathic beings known as scanners are threatened by a sinister organisation attempting to wipe out dissenters.
Unpleasant paranoia thriller with notable shock effects (including exploding heads), with the director at his most excessive. One to turn the light on straight after watching.

Written and Directed by: David Cronenberg.
Producer: Charlie Heroux.
Starring: Patrick McGoohan, Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, Lawrence Dane, Robert Silverman.
Photography: Mark Irwin.
Music: Howard Shore.
Make-up Effects: Dick Smith.