A Warning to the Curious

Our take

Often called the most frightening of the original films, and the best looking: a flat, endless winter coastline where a dark, distant figure can always be seen a little too far away. Peter Vaughan's desperate treasure hunter is a moving creation, and the ghost, barely glimpsed, is one of television's great horrors. Slow, quiet and not for the easily spooked.

What happens

Paxton, a working-class man recently out of work, comes to a seaside town on the Norfolk coast in winter, searching for an ancient crown he believes is buried nearby: one of the sacred crowns of Anglia, said to protect the country from invasion. A local legend foretells disaster if anyone moves it, and some years before an archaeologist who came looking was killed, his murderer never found. At the guest house the boot boy eyes his battered shoes with scorn, and the locals say little. A carving of three crowns on the village church gives Paxton his clue, and the vicar shows him the grave of William Ager. Paxton digs alone through the night and finds the crown, but from then on a dark, indistinct figure is always somewhere behind him on the dunes and the beach. Dr Black, another visitor, becomes caught up in his fear. In a final shock Ager's ghost, glimpsed by torchlight, returns to snatch back the crown, and Paxton does not survive.

Can the kids watch it?

No BBFC rating found for this film. It is a slow, quiet film with one genuinely frightening scene and a death, so best for older teenagers and adults.

Cast and crew

Starring

• Peter Vaughan as Mr Paxton
• Clive Swift as Dr Black
• George Benson as Vicar

Writer

• Lawrence Gordon Clark

Director

• Lawrence Gordon Clark