PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. (1975) BASED ON THE BOOK BY JOAN LINDSAY. DIRECTED BY PETER WEIR. WRITTEN BY CLIFF GREEN.
STARRING RACHEL ROBERTS, VIVEAN GRAY, WYN ROBERTS, JOHN JARRATT, DOMINIC GUARD, HELEN MORSE, ANNE-LOUISE LAMBERT, KAREN ROBSON, JANE VALLIS, CHRISTINE SCHULER, MARGARET NELSON, KIRSTY CHILD, JACKI WEAVER, TONY LLEWELLYN-JONES, FRANK GUNNELL AND MARTIN VAUGHAN.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
'On St. Valentine's Day in 1900 a party of schoolgirls went on a picnic to Hanging Rock. Some were never to return...'
So reads the blurb on the back of the novel PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, one of the best horror novels I've ever read, and I do class it as a horror novel, though no doubt there are others who'll call it a mystery drama.
Mind you, THE WICKER MAN is still classed as a 'mystery' when it comes on the television, and we all know now that it's the best British horror film ever made, along with maybe NIGHT OF THE DEMON and BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW. So there, haha...!
Anyway, I'd personally put this little belter of a book in the same category as horror novels JAWS, PSYCHO, THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY'S BABY. That's how good it is and that's how good the film is that was created out of its pages.
Having just finished reading the book for the umpteenth time, I can tell you reliably that, except for one or two little trifles, the super-atmospheric film is faithful to the book the whole way through, even to the point of utilising a lot of the book's excellent dialogue.
I have a friend who refuses point-blank to watch the film because she finds the concept of people literally disappearing into thin air for no apparent reason whatsoever so horrifying. Even the sound of the haunting pan-pipe music sets her off. I must agree with her that both the concept of the film and the music that accompanies it are flippin' terrifying. That's what makes this book/film combo such a surefire winner, surely.
What happens is basically this. A party of schoolgirls from the exclusive and snobby Appleyard College for Girls set off into the Australian bush for a picnic with two of their teachers. Their destination is the Hanging Rock, an enormous ancient natural feature that would give you the willies even to look at it. The clue's in the name, people. The Hanging Rock is evil. Evil, I tells ya...!
Four students break off from the main group to go 'exploring.' If they knew they were in a horror movie, they'd surely never have behaved so unwisely. After a period of time in which every one of the students and the two teachers and even their coach-driver falls into a deep sleep on the Rock, only of the girls returns.
Ironically, it's Edith, the fat dumpy chick with the glasses, who's come back. She's hysterical and in shock but without the foggiest notion of what it was about the Rock that terrified her so much or what the hell's happened to the other three students. She's not much use, in other words.
Anyway, you've guessed it, it's the three girls most crucial to the continued success and prosperity of Appleyard College who've failed to come back: Irma the diamond heiress, Marion the academic genius and the beautiful, sweet ethereal Miranda, whom everyone in the school adores and worships. It seems as if simply to see and know Miranda is to love her.
The effects of this fateful day are far-reaching. Everyone in the College is affected by the possibly horrible but unexplained fate that's befallen the three girls and the Maths teacher Miss McCraw, who's unaccountably gone missing too on the hated Rock.
Miss Greta McCraw, incidentally, is portrayed by beloved NEIGHBOURS, PRISONER CELL BLOCK H and THE SULLIVANS actress Vivean Gray, who died recently at the grand old age of ninety-two. Dear old Ida Jessup, Edna Pearson and dear old gossipy Mrs. Mangel are no more, sadly.
The effects of the disappearances on the College itself are disastrous. The old battleaxe of a Headmistress, superbly played by Rachel Roberts, feels like she's going out of her mind as every day the College is the subject of nasty speculation in the press and more and more parents withdraw their precious daughters from the school because of what's happened. Then, miraculously (or is it?), one of the girls is found. Alive...
Every performance in the film is spot-on, but special kudos must go to the Headmistress, whom I've already mentioned and who never appears in public without her 'battledress of steel and whalebone,' and also John Jarratt as Albert Crundall, the handsome coachman to the Fitzhubert family.
The nephew of the family, the rich but lonely young toff Michael Fitzhubert whom Albert befriends, was the last person to see the three girls alive.
Michael's especially affected by the memory of the exquisite blonde Miranda, whose perfect form and possible fate he just can't exorcise from his troubled mind. Michael and Albert make a great pair as they team up to try to discover what's happened to the missing girls.
I also love Wyn Roberts as the unfortunately-named Sergeant Bumpher, the local constable charged with handling the tragic case. He's got his work cut out for him, anyway.
This is such a wonderfully spooky film, visually stunning, with a nightmarish quality to all the floaty dreaminess and a truly shocking climax. If only it were based on a true story, or is it...? For years and years, people thought the events written about in the book were based on real happenings. Joan Lindsay herself is ambiguous on the matter. Here's what she says:
'Whether PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful picnic took place in the year nineteen hundred, and all the characters who appear in this book are long since dead, it hardly seems important...'
Hmmm. It's important to us, Ms. Lindsay...! Whether fact or fiction indeed, seemingly we'll never know. But we can dream...
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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