Rent Unearthly Stranger (1963)

Eerie - Unearthly Stranger review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Aka - Unearthly Stranger Eerie and very effective British sci-fi - it opens with a man running panicked through the streets of nighttime London , arriving back at his office and dictating to a tape machine - by the time you hear this I will be dead.. He is Davidson (Nevillle) a UK scientist working on mind projection to enable humans to visit other planets without leaving Earth. His boss who was had cracked the formula is found dead with all the blood cells exploded in his head so the head of the project Lancaster (Stone ) promotes him. Davidson is newly married to Julia (Licudi) after a very brief whirlwind romance who raises the suspicions of head of security (Newell). Davidson himself has concerns as she never blinks and seems to know in advance about things about to happen. Slowly the suspicions mount that she may not be who she appears. Made on a minimal budget it’s really gripping with some unnerving scenes - at one point Julia is watching a school playground and all the children stop playing and slowly all walk backwards into the school and the way it’s shot and lit suggests a nightmarish quality. Strong performances with Newall giving a splendidly camp turn - it’s one of those great unknown British films of the era -4/5