Escape into Night - The Complete Series

I have wanted to see this television series ever since I read the book upon which it is based "Marianne Dreams" by Catherine Storr. There was a film made in the 1980s also based on the book entitled "Paperhouse" which was a very good film but which only took certain elements from the book and made extensive changes to the basic story. The DVD is in black and white but this actually enhances the atmosphere and eeriness of the production.

Following a riding accident (an illness in the book) Marianne is confined to bed for six weeks. After finding a pencil in her grandmother's workbox she draws a house in her sketchbook. She then has a dream in which she finds herself in a desolate landscape with nothing but a sinister house offering a refuge from it. However she is unable to enter the house as there is no door handle and the house appears to be empty. When she wakes she realises that the house she dreamed of is the one she drew in her sketchbook and so she draws a door handle and someone at the window so that she will be able to enter the house.

This is the beginning of a strange dark journey for Marianne. The figure she drew at the window materialises in her dream as a boy named Mark and they have an antagonistic relationship caused by their fear of the surroundings and the fact that Mark is ill and can't walk. As the series continues and Marianne discovers through her home tutor Miss Chesterfield that there is a boy called Mark in the "real" world who is ill her dreams grow more sinister and frightening. One day when she is in a temper Marianne draws stone sentinels with one eye outside the house in her sketchbook and of course they appear in all their grim horror in the dream. The increasingly frightened children must put aside their differences and try to escape from the house before the malevolent stones completely entomb them or break into the house to kill them.

This television series is one of a kind. The atmosphere and sense of pervading evil is reminiscent (to me) of the film "The Innocents" (although the stories are completely different). There are no highly technical special effects but the camerawork, lighting and sets generate extreme menace and create images that stay in the mind. I would recommend this series to anyone, not just for children, as it is a thought provoking and imaginative story and if you bear in mind that it was produced for television in the 1970s you may be amazed at how quickly you can become immersed in the events depicted and also be reminded that gore and sudden shocks are not needed for something to be truly frightening.

This series has crept up in conversation over the years with the usual "girl drawing stones/house/boy" references and after some research found it was called "Escape into Night". At the time it was unavailable but found clips on you tube. I still wasn't sure what the fascination was. I bought "Picture House" because it referred to Catherine Storr's book "Marianne Dreams" and even bought the book. Still wasn't sure what it was that made this series stand in my poor memory for so long.
At last its been released! I didn't even question the price, which is excellent value anyway. Put it in the old machine to watch and did it in two sessions. The first three episodes tell the story of a bed ridden girl who discovers a pencil with magic properties. A bit childish for a 48 year old? Maybe. The end credits then reminded me of a gripping moment in time when I was about 9 years old. The drawn faces turn into real people. Brilliant! Simple! The images gripped me but the insane whistling reminded me of a child doodling and making up tunes as they went along...Next evening I'm into my second memory trip. It is only when the stones voices come out of the radio in "Dalek like" ring modulating tones that I realise what the fuss was all about.
I wont ruin the story for anyone who doesn't know it but quite simply this is a massive nostalgia trip well worth taking. The quality is very good for the time. monochrome, not really a let down as it was originally in colour because we only had a monochrome set at the time and was all the more authentic for it.When the ATV emblem pops up at the beginning I'm almost prepared for Crossroads but saved from reliving that experience.
Obviously this DVD has found its way next to my collection of Timeslip and Doctor Who classics. The Tomorrow People I hide under the bed...I do have standards you know!
Oh and the delivery was first class!

Like "PaulD" I too remember this from when I was a kid. I was a bit older though at 10, but it still made a powerful impression on me. I watched the film "Paperhouse" a few years ago, and it didn't ring the same bell. But now the original has finally been re-released, and I can finally see what scared the pants off me all those years ago.

And it didn't disappoint. Although the directing is not what audiences today are used to (very long takes, slow pans across rooms), the children are good actors and there are some genuinely startling moments in there. The effects aren't great, but then they don't have to be. There's no need for flashy CGI or even primitive CSO, as this programme is all about atmosphere. The world of Marianne's dream is a house on a moor, dark and musty, with cobwebs on the wooden stairs, and (like all dreams) there is a sense of lurking menace from the very beginning.

We didn't have a colour TV when I watched this, so I'm not missing anything by this release only being in B&W. In fact I can't see what colour would add. Most people appear to dream in monochrome anyway.

I think the best recommendation is that I watched this with my 11-year old son. Brought up on a diet of Star Wars, new Doctor Who, and SpongeBob, I thought he'd be bored, but he genuinely enjoyed it, and at some points was actually scared ("...a little bit.").

"Not The Light! Not...The...Light!