Children of the Stones (1977)

Young Matthew Brake and his astrophysicist father, Adam, arrive in Milbury, a small English village built inside a megalithic stone circle. Adam is there to examine the stones, as his job dictates. Matthew begins to carry out his own investigation into the townspeople, who resemble something from a pagan Village of the Damned.

It's over twenty years since I last saw Children of the Stones. It scared the living hell out of me as a kid, and watching the opening credits again a few days ago it was clear it was going to give me a dose of the wiggins even now. It sure did. It's uncomfortably eerie, and bleeds atmosphere from every twist and turn. It's like Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973) for children, as wrong as that sounds.

It has similar production values to early Doctor Who episodes, so don't expect anything remarkable there or in the prop department.

On the plus side, the direction is surprisingly shrewd, the young actors rarely put a foot wrong, and the adults are similarly believable. In comparison to the interiors, the exterior scenes are shot on location at Avebury and, shitty British lighting notwithstanding, they've aged like a particularly fine wine.

The thing that'll likely remain in your mind the longest after viewing is the eerie music. Haunting doesn't even begin to describe it. It makes me shrink in my skin.

7 episodes, approx 28 mins long each.

4 pretty phantasmagorical things with an F out of 5