# Identify British Horror-Type Film (with minimal plot details) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922 "2009-03-10T05:20:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/1 "2009-03-10T05:20:25Z")
Extremely minimal plot details, in fact. Right, this may or may not have been made for television. Television is where I saw it at some point in the mid to late-ish 1980s (which doesn’t necessarily mean that is when it was made. There is a couple on a canal boat (on a holiday trip, I think, rather than permanently living) and they take aboard another guy - perhaps his boat has broken down or something. Sex and violence ensue (wife fascinated by this stranger, that sort of thing.) Not the big loud explosion type of violence - more like sneaky human stuff. I seem to recall there’s a bit of tying people up in dark cupboards - either wife or husband or possibly both at different times. I do not recall if anyone got killed, but I recall it all being pretty dark. Well, it seemed a bit scary to me, but scaring me isn’t difficult. I recall some phrase like “Limit of Navigation” which I thought must be the title, but it does not seem to be. What else can I think of? Let’s see. I do not have the impression that it was ever a particularly famous film/drama/whatever, but I could be wrong about that. No especially famous actors, as far as I can recall. I don’t know why I want to know about this. Really, it is just the maddening annoyance of a bit of useless trivia that I cannot recall. For some reason, I just Googled it, you see, and the only reference I found was someone else asking for identification of what I am sure is the same film. Haha, the answer given to that person involved an Alan Ayckbourn “comedy-horror”. Nope, I don’t think this can _possibly_ have been Ayckbourn, and I don’t recall any comedy. (I found it quite funny that just when one assumes that Google will find anything, all I could find was someone else looking for the same thing). So, asking for no really important purpose, and will very little hope of an answer, but I figure that the Dope has plenty of other people who hate it when they forget a title or writer or whatever, so it’s worth a try. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/2 "2009-03-10T05:28:09Z")
[Dead Calm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Calm_(film))? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/3 "2009-03-10T05:37:10Z")
[Way Upstream](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168249/) ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/4 "2009-03-10T05:51:49Z")
Heh, amazingly fast, there, **elfkin** and I’m grateful. 🙂 BUT in fact the mystery deepens. 1989 is possible, and the plot is _very_ similar, except that my “I wish I had not watched that before going to bed” film does _seem_ to live in my memory as a barge or a narrowboat probably in southern England somewhere, rather than the more exotic yachts-in-the-Pacific thing. Indeed it was probably the familiar sort of setting that helped make it seem upsetting. Hmm, either I am conflating two different films - entirely possible, as I’m not the cinéaste type with a copy of Halliwell’s at my side, OR two different films with very similar plot, which is also possible. (Scratches head) So I’m not much the wiser, but I do thank you for that. It could just possibly be “Dead Calm.”. (And I just nearly invented a whole new film called “Dead Clam” - doesn’t sound so scary, though.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/5 "2009-03-10T06:04:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > [Way Upstream](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168249/) See, that’s the one I discounted because it just did not seem like Alan Ayckbourn, but the general idea of getting mixed up with a dangerous nutter on a boat \*\*is \*\*the same, only I don’t remember much “comedy” involved. Heck, this must be a pretty popular plot. Or I misremember badly. Bah, either of you could be right. I feel very stupid. Thank you both. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/6 "2009-03-10T06:04:44Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > (And I just nearly invented a whole new film called “Dead Clam” - doesn’t sound so scary, though.) 🙂 I don’t know about that. If you’ve ever eaten one that’s gone bad … ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-british-horror-type-film-with-minimal-plot-details/488922/7 "2009-03-10T14:37:37Z")
Back again. I opened two threads on this by accident and did report that. However, it’s academic now, as I now agree that **GuanoLad** is clever and is right about “Way Upstream”. This [http://wayupstream.alanayckbourn.net/WayUpstreamHistory.htm](http://wayupstream.alanayckbourn.net/WayUpstreamHistory.htm) > [@](#): > > … > The play was adapted for television by Terry Johnson and broadcast in 1988. Although a competent adaptation and well-remembered, the film places undue emphasis on the violence of the piece and much of the humour is lost. with mentions of a departure from Ayckbourn’s more familiar style fits entirely. Thank you to everyone. I love it when a seemingly impossible trivia thing can be sorted out. And it will teach me not to trust to my own incorrect preconceptions too. 🙂