To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Nigel Kneale’s classic – if creaky – ghost story, I looked into its themes and legacy for The Companion, in the company of writer Adam Scovell. There are some very scary moments in The Stone Tape, including Michael Bryant’s attempt at an Irish accent, but that’s only the surface layer.
Delve deeper, and you’ve one of the most fascinatingly bleak premises in the genre. Do we really leave anything conscious behind us, or are our spirits just “dead mechanisms”, doomed to repeat our dying moments forever? Not really feeling either of those concepts, myself…
The scientists in this are an unpleasant bunch, with lots of ‘70s sexism and wince-inducing jibes about their Japanese competitors, but that’s deliberate on Kneale’s part. There’s a really interesting subtext here about cruelty, sacrifice and power, and it’s aged far better than the production values.
All together, now: “It’s in the computer!!!”
Gem Wheeler 