Paperhouse ***½ (1988, Charlotte Burke, Ben Cross, Glenne Headly, Elliott Spiers, Gemma Jones, Sarah Newbold, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill) – Classic Movie Review 5573

Director Bernard Rose’s 1988 British movie is a stylish and sinister British psychological horror film about a strange, bright girl called Anna Madden (Charlotte Burke) who is lonely and bored, and has weird dreams about her life and a disabled boy she does not know.

The surreal dreams take place in a house that she has drawn in her school book, and at first she can control the nightmares by altering the picture.

Music-video director Rose overcomes a limited budget and produces scary effects from the disturbing sets and clever use of sound.

The combination of offbeat thriller and intelligent study of adolescent fears and repressed sexuality has earned the movie the deserved compliment ‘the thinking person’s A Nightmare on Elm Street‘.

Matthew Jacobs’s screenplay is based on the novel Marianne’s Dream by Catherine Storr.

Also in the cast are Ben Cross as Dad Madden, Glenne Headly as Kate Madden, Elliott Spiers, Gemma Jones as Dr Sarah Nicols, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill and Sarah Newbold as Anna’s school friend Karen.

It is shot by Mike Southon, produced by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radcliffe for Working Title, scored by Hans Zimmer and Stanley Myers, and set designed by Gemma Jackson.

RIP Glenne Headly (1955–2017).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5573

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