The Asphyx

Robert Stephens - Sir Hugo Cunningham
Robert Powell - Giles Cunningham
Jane Lapotaire - Christina Cunningham
Alex Scott - Sir Edward Barrett
Ralph Arliss - Clive Cunningham
Fiona Walker - Anna Wheatley
Terry Scully - Pauper

Slow and sombre, The Asphyx is a chilling little Victorian period piece starring Robert Stephens and Robert Powell. The compelling if unspectacular gothic tale in the best tradition of Hammer horrors focuses on Stephens' Victorian scientist, who is convinced that there is a force in the body that is aroused when the subject is near death. Produced for Glendale by John Brittany, it was written by Brian Comport and directed unimaginatively by Peter Newbrook, a veteran cinematographer in his first and only directorial assignment. The Asphyx was painfully out of date when released, by the early 1970s Hammer had sexed-up their films and The Exorcist (1973) had redefined the horror genre, as a result the film vanished without trace commercially and only returned to public awareness decades when its DVD release produced a reappraisal.

The Asphyx opens in 1970s London when the police are called to the scene of a head-on car crash – amazingly the tramp sandwiched between both cars is still alive. The film then flashes back to Victorian times and the estate of scientist and philanthropist Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens). Sir Hugo experiments in psychical research and photographing the dying at the very moment of their passing; somehow he captures images of the victims' souls leaving their bodies. But when he unfortunately records on moving film the accidental death of his son Clive, he discovers the apparition he has captured on film is moving toward the victims rather than away from them.

Sir Hugo theorizes that it must be the mythological spirit known to the Ancient Greeks as the Asphyx, thought to appear just before the moment of death to claim the living. His theory is proven to be correct when he inadvertently, but only temporarily, prevents one such eerie creature from reaching the body of man being executed at a public hanging. Realising that if he can trap and contain an Asphyx indefinitely, he can render its owner immortal, Sir Hugo becomes obsessed by his quest for the secret to everlasting life. Accordingly, Sir Hugo is determined to bottle and trap his own life force, and also that of his daughter Christina (Jane Lapotaire) and assistant Giles (Robert Powell). Christina is initially reluctant but eventually acquiesces, and it is this experiment that brings about the destruction of their house, and the death of Christina and Giles. The film subsequently returns to its opening in contemporary London and the street tramp walks away unhurt from the scene of the crash.