The Magic Toyshop

Caroline Milmoe - Melanie
Tom Bell - Uncle Philip
Lorcan Cranitch - Francie
Patricia Kerrigan - Aunt Margaret
Kilian McKenna - Finn

Sinister adult fairytale of fantasy, horror and eroticism from the novel by Angela Carter about three orphans who go to live with their menacing uncle and his family in a London toyshop. The uncle makes life-size mannequins and forces the family to watch as he portrays them in violent, sexual scenes. There are a lot of very disturbing themes to this film including incest, abandonment, and murder as fantasy and reality blend into one.

Set in 1950’s England, after their parents are killed, three children: two girls, one aged 16, Melanie (Caroline Milmoe), and her much younger brother and sister, leave their Cheltenham home go to live with their creepy Uncle Philip (Tom Bell) and his young flame-haired, mute Irish wife Margaret (Patricia Kerrigan) in a London toy shop. His wife also has two brothers who live with them; Finn and Francie. The children's uncle is a domineering authoritarian who forces his young wife to wear a silver collar whilst she watches a marionette show put on by him and her brothers in his toyshop.

The eldest girl and the younger Irishmen, Finn (Kilian McKenna) develop a love for each other whilst they live in the same house. The girl helps her Aunt Margaret out in the toy shop whilst her brother helps his uncle to make things in the basement workshop. The family members eventually rebel against their uncle on Guy Fawkes Night when his stage props blend into a dream-like world of disputed reality.