Identify British Horror-Type Film (with minimal plot details)

Cafe Society
1

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. :slight_smile:
On preview - ah, I am being stupid - it needn’t be a canal. It might just as well be the Norfolk Broads or similar. Hmmm.

2

Could it be Dead Calm? Australian, though, not British. Starred Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, and Billy Zane.

3

Hm… Except for the non-famous people, it sure sounds like Dead Calm, with Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane.

on edit: damn you, Manduck! :slight_smile:

4

Oh woe! It begins to look as though I have opened two threads by accident. Hmm. I will report it and ask what can be done. Sorry, everyone.

Thank you both - the “Dead Calm” plot is very similar but I am sure I remember a barge or a narrowboat instead of the more exotic yacht-in-Pacific thing.

5

It sounds like Knife in the Water , although you probably would have noticed that it was in black and white and the dialogue was in Polish. And it’s not really a horror movie, but it is pretty dark and has the threat of violence hanging over the characters most of the time.

ETA: And it’s not British! But other than those minor details, it’s exactly the movie you’re looking for.

6

I do think it was in English, and I would probably have remembered if it was Polanski, but I’m just getting more confused now.

And I am going to stay away from boats and water!:smiley:

7

Long time lurker, but I know this one! I watched it as a young kid as it contained boobies and downloaded it a few years ago. It’s on my computer at home and I’ll check the title tonight. It’s something like “way upstream.”

8

Thanks, JacobSwan, and welcome out of lurkerhood. :slight_smile: I begin to think it has to be one of those, but my problem is that “Australian” (Dead Calm) doesn’t fit, and “Alan Ayckbourn” comedy (Way Upstream) doesn’t really fit either.

As I said, I seem to have started duplicate threads but have reported this and either this thread or Identify British Horror-Type Film (with minimal plot details) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board will probably be killed off. Or they might be merged.

In the other thread, someone had suggested “Way Upstream”, but the little I can find to read about it seems to suggest something a big lighter than I remember.

So I remain confused, but I’m grateful to everyone for their help. :slight_smile:
(I’m amused by the honesty of JacobSwan’s reason for watching , but it actually makes more sense than "because it was what happened to be on television at the time) :smiley:

9

Its ‘Way Upstream’ alright. All the elements are there. 2 Couples hire a narrow boat. Give lift to stranger. Bondage and boobies in a cupboard. Limit of Navigation sign at the end. It sounds light and fluffy but had some dark overtones and a rather surreal ending as well as classic english farce elements.

10

There’s your problem Celyn. You watched it wrong. :smiley:

11

Well wow. Perhaps it is. I don’t recall two couples, only one, but the "Limit of Navigation"sign at the end fits. Ye gods, if that was a comedy-horror, my job must have been depressing me more than I knew.

Aha, nope, it all makes sense now.
From: http://wayupstream.alanayckbourn.net/WayUpstreamHistory.htm

Aha, that fits. That will teach me not to rely on old preconceptions. :smiley:

Heck, yeah, not much humour. (Except that now I am amused by the story of flooding its production flooding the National Theatre.)

Now, WHY I did not check that particular piece earlier, I do not know - was doing other things and, as I say, trusting too much to my own preconceptions about Ayckbourn’s style.

So, now I get to learn the actual factual answer AND a useful lesson. Two for the price of one. :slight_smile:

Thanks to all to replied and well done, the “Way Upstream” people. :slight_smile:

12

Haha, I certainly did! I like that phrase and will remember it. :slight_smile: Odd, I would normally like the way the thing sounds, but I just didn’t like it at the time. Perhaps I was always out of the room cooking or fetching beer when the comedic moments happened.