The Stone Tape – 1972 | 90 mins | Science Fiction, Dramaa | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Nigel Kneale’s classic ghost story The Stone Tape was commissioned as an original ghost story for Christmas and first broadcast by the BBC in 1972. It embodies an authentic merger of science fiction, horror and suspense, and represents some of Kneale’s finest work outside of his justly legendary Quatermass series. Shot entirely on videotape by Hammer veteran Peter Sasdy, the intelligent and effective drama trembles with performances that verge on hysteria as the playful becomes the frightening.

A team of research and development scientists eager to discover a new recording medium take over Taskerlands, a brooding gothic mansion recently bought and renovated by their employers, Ryan Electrics. On moving in, however, project co-ordinator Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) discovers that one vital room remains unfinished, and that the builders refuse to work there. Claims of strange noises and feelings of unease are dismissed as nonsense by all except the psychically sensitive computer programmer Jill (Jane Asher). However the scientists soon discover that the renovation work on the mansion is only skin-deep, and that something lies hidden beneath the stonework of the building, something ancient and malevolent.