Young Elizabeth (Elicia Osborne) and Robert Hagar (James Baskett) were tasked with burying one of the three crowns of England at a secret place at the shoreline of Sussex, to protect the country from invasions of all kind - but that was centuries ago, and maybe a legend anyhow. However, the Hagars have always taken the task of guarding the secret of the hiding place very seriously - but by the 1980s, the last of the Hagars, William (Ian Kear) had died more than a decade ago, and nowadays, the locals only keep up the traditions of guarding the crown to attract tourists ... and of course the occasional treasure hunter, like Dr. Blackman (Bill Johnson), who has disappeared though trying to locate the crown. And after the police has come up with no clues regarding Blackman's whereabouts, his wife Dolores (Caroline Munro) hires private detective John Knightley (Tom Malt) to track him down. But when questioning the locals, Knightley is quick to notice that they're quick to hush up when the crown or Hagar are as much as mentioned. But he also feels he's followed by someone who might be the ghost of William Hagar, and every now and again he runs across a friendly young girl, Alice (Holly Roberts), who advises him to leave - and who might actually be the ghost of William's deceased sister. Eventually, Knightley finds an ally in local barwoman Lyn (Sarah Maur Ward), who lets him into many of the town's secrets, which includes a secret society sworn to protect the crown who will go out of their way to do just that, including murder. And eventually they're even rewarded for their efforts with William handing over the crown to them. Too bad that they haven't been totally honest about the actual "protection" of the crown then and would rather sell it to the highest bidder since it's worth a fortune or three. And suddenly, Knightley, who has so far been a minor nuisance at best, has gotten into their way and needs to be dealt with ...

An in the best meaning of the word old-fashioned blend of folk horror and murder mystery that's deliberately slowburn but all the more effective for it as it manages to masterfully build tensiona and atmosphere, place its jump scares very well, and really keep surprise twists and turns coming throughout its running time. And a competent cast of course helps to bring everything across just beautifully, as do properly eerie locations and the film's certain predilection with the macabre, making this one very worthwhile genre ride.

By the way, while this film is in story a sequel to the director's A Curious Tale from two years prior, it works perfectly well on its own merits as well.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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