[J Harker]

The Appointment. Lindsey C.Vickers. 1982.

Dreamlike. A word that's get thrown about a lot in horror cinema. Yet I can only name a handful of films I think it truly applies to, whatever the back of the box may tell you. Jordan's The Company of Wolves, Herk Harvey's Carnival of Soul's, Theodore Dryer's Vampyr are a few I'd say the term has a place describing. Then comes along The Appointment. A British film I'd until recently never heard of. A film that truly encapsulates the transcribing of a nightmare onto celluloid in a way I've honestly never seen before.
Family man Ian finds himself reluctantly having to disappoint his precocious daughter Joanne when a business trip means he is unable to attend her school violin recital. That's sort of it as far as actual plot goes.
However there's a lot more going on here. It's weird that a film should start on a wierd rather ferocious freaky opening sequence (that I'm not spoiling here) then descend into borderline kitchen sink drama for a good chunk of the running time. The Appointment is never ever less than gripping though. There's a sort of disjointed coherence that runs through the whole thing right up to the horrific conclusion.
Edward Woodward in the second best thing I've ever seen him in (I'll let you guess the first) is superb in his blah-ness. He's the, perhaps too doting dad, who seems genuinely pained letting down his oddly attached daughter, the doorknob sequence sticks with you....something's off here.
The Appointment truly had me. One of the most original and unexpected things I've watched in a long time. Gets under the skin tremendously.