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The Asphyx
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by Ventura Marketing
Sales Rank: 75575
Price: $25.00
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When <I>The Asphyx</I> was released in 1973, <I>The Exorcist</I> was about to change the landscape of horror forever, moving the genre away from subtlety and into the realm of graphic effects and makeup. That's one of the reasons why <I>The Asphyx</I> was a box-office flop, fondly remembered by a select few who never forgot this quirky little "thinking man's horror film" (as <I>Variety</I> called it), in which a 19th-century British philanthropist and amateur psychic researcher embarks on a fateful quest for immortality. Sir Hugo Cunningham (nicely played by Robert Stephens) has a morbid hobby of taking photographs of dying people, and this leads to his discovery of a nebulous spirit of the dead--known in mythology as the Asphyx--that appears (only visible on photographic plates) at the moment of death. Sir Hugo becomes obsessed with capturing his own Asphyx and thus ensuring that he cannot die, but of course this is an ill-fated ambition that puts Sir Hugo on a ruinous path to destruction and death.<p> With its talky, literate script, well-drawn characters, and fascinating themes, <I>The Asphyx</I> bears closer resemblance to the Hammer horror films that became passé in the early and mid-1970s. The chills are subtle but effective under the direction of Peter Newbrook, and the widescreen cinematography by Freddie Young (whose credits include <I>Lawrence of Arabia</I>) adds polish and elegance to the proceedings. Filled with foreboding atmosphere, this is an intelligently conceived horror film that relies more on story than shocks, although the screeching Asphyx is eerily haunting. Kudos to Allday Entertainment for producing this DVD--<I>The Asphyx</I> has been rescued from obscurity, painstakingly remastered in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio for discerning connoisseurs of high-class horror. <I>--Jeff Shannon</I>
Viewer Reviews
"The Asphyx" is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Newbrook. It was also known as "Spirit of the Dead" and "The Horror of Death". It stars Robert Stephens and Robert Powell.
It tells the exploits of rich Scientist-Philanthropist Sir Hugo Cunningham, who discovers an unimaginable blur being recorded while he searches the negatives of dying men whom he had recorded. Later on, at a party, he is making a motion picture of his wife and son, who are playing in a pool and ends up filming their accidental deaths as well. At first, Cunningham doesn't realize that he's captured that same misshapen blur on the camera, but once he does, he comes to a conclusion: that the blur is a person's soul leaving the body. It isn't until he re-examines the pictures and film however, that he makes the startling discovery that the blur was not moving away from the bodies of those who were dying, it was moving TOWARDS them. After doing some research, the good Doctor finds that he has found a ticket to immortality through the blur, an ancient Greek spirit known as an "Asphyx". According to legends, the spirit will appear only at the moment of a person's death to take them away to the Underworld. Cunningham, in his brilliant madness soon deduces that if he can only stop this process from happening at all, it would make any person immortal and unable to die... unless their particular Asphyx is released.
The Doctor soon goes to his task and makes a deal with his adopted son for help in perfecting and utilizing the procedures, and, from there his laboratory becomes filled with torturous devices and instruments of death. He soon comes to understand however, that immortality comes at a high price, not easily fulfilled by mortal man.
Creepy, huh?
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The Asphyx
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