110 year old Palin is haunted by his Indian maid, who murders people and leaves lots of water everywhere (as she was drowned). Hmm. Well acted though. Michael Palin needs a really good dramatic part in something, he's good. So are Jodie Comer (Dr Foster, Rillington Place, My Mad Fat Diary, Jed Mercurio's TV Lady Chatterley) and her brother Jamie Rooney-West, and investigating detective Mark Addy. With Julia Sawalha, Mina Anwar, Tony Pitts. (Pitts and Addy were both in Red Riding.)
A dark production with such a proliferation of moody skies you start to wonder if they've been digitally added, with scene transitions punctuated by supposedly super-scary rushes of sound. Some nice Scarborough locations including the imposing Grand Hotel, opened in 1867 and badly damaged by the German navy in 1914 - it sadly now seems somewhat declassé with 'rooms from £24' and an almost surreal recent history of illness outbreaks. The Spa, with its black and white tiles and colonnaded sea view also makes a great location (it was used in the Rik Mayall episode 'Dancing Queen' with Helena Bonham-Carter, and also appears in the Scarborough-set Little Voice).
Photographed by Tony Miller (Fleabag, Peter and Wendy, Small Island). The Yorkshire settings and historical background help ameliorate the daftness. (You could argue that most horror films are daft.)
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