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Armchair Thriller Vol.10 - Quiet As A Nun
RRP: £14.99
Our Price: £9.98 (subject to change)
Boring as hell
Review date: 2008-11-17 Rating: 4 out of 10
I was frightened by this when it came out but it hasn't stood the test of time too well. Very 70s, but in a bad way, with rotten acting and a wooden script. I think most people would struggle to watch even to the end of the first episode. Nice opening credits though.
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Reviews
The best in the classic Armchair Thriller series
Review date: 2008-11-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
Quite simply put this is the best in the classic series Armchair Thriller. It is certainly the one that most people remember. The basic plot concerns a television journalist (superbly played by Maria Aitken) who is asked to investigate the death of a nun in a convant tower. This nun's convant is said to be haunted by the so called "Black Nun". There are several twists in this chilling tale.
I remember watching this when I was younger and the scene with the faceless black nun sitting in a rocking chair is just as chilling now as it was when I first watched it. As I said before this is the best and certainly (in my opinion) the most scary story in the series. A chilling piece of British television and well worth adding to your collection.
Dark Habits
Review date: 2008-09-11 Rating: 10 out of 10
Many things haunted my youth - fluorescent socks, the bittersweet twist of a first and unrequited love, losing six straight games of strip kerplunk and having to roller-skate home in just me vest (uh, those crazy student days) - nothing, however, comes close to THAT chest-tightening moment in Armchair Thriller's "Quiet as a Nun" when Maria Aitken (think Yvette Fielding in a woolly hat) climbs the steps of the church tower to the sound of something rocking eerily back and forth and slowly opens the hatch to find... a very unusual nun indeed. It's this, together with the steady, spine-tingling build-up of tension and a gutsy performance from Aitken, which elevates the efficient murder-mystery to the premier league of classic British chillers alongside the likes of The Signalman, Night of the Demon, Children of the Stones, adventures 2 and 4 of Sapphire & Steel and that bit on The Bionic Woman when the fembot's face falls off (we don't count that though, it's not British).
This six-part series is adapted from Antonia Fraser's novel and stars Aitken as TV journalist Jemima Shore (later given her own series Jemima Shore Investigates with Patricia Hodge as the eponymous heroine) investigating the troubled death of old school friend Sister Miriam and the strange goings-on (at night!) at the Convent of the Blessed Eleanor, and includes Patsy Kensit (Birdseye Peas) in an early role. It's true that it was the talk of the Nation's playgrounds and work spaces - a watercooler moment when the closest people had ever got to a real one was watching Jack Klugman fill his face on Quincey. I was much too young for all that of course and happened to catch it through my mother's womb when the midwife accidentally picked up ITV on the monitor as she was giving her a scan (true).
We've waited a long time.
After 30 years, the Black Nun has returned to stalk our dreams...
Review date: 2008-09-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
I'm sure that there's many a person out there, of a particular age, both happy and slightly uncomfortable about the dvd release of QUIET AS A NUN (I count myself amongst that number). Back in 1978 when this was first shown, it caused something of a stir amongst playgrounds the length and breadth of Britain, the idea of a ghostly black nun (combined with THAT title sequence and theme- thanks for the nightmares, Andy Mackay) resonating profoundly with all who saw it (and some who only heard about it). Well, we're all grown up now, with kids of our own and we're not frightened of such errant nonsense, right? RIGHT?! Buy it and see if it still makes you turn the bedroom light on after midnight...
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
James Laurenson
Brenda Bruce
Maria Aitken
David Burke
Creators:
Maria Aitken (Primary Contributor)
David Burke (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626293949
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-11-03
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 150 minutes