Maitland Favorites: Unman, Wittering and Zigo
Latest in an occasional series recommending lesser-known, kick-you-in-the-gut classics
Next week we have Clown in a Cornfield, followed by Final Destination: Bloodlines and then a week of two reviews: The Surrender and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. And for this week we have a psychological horror film about a boarding school, as only the English could make.
The range of boarding-school movies is wide and deep, encompassing the excoriating Zero de Conduit (France, 1933), the poignantly idyllic Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), the anarchic If.... (U.K., 1968), the eerie Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia, 1975) and the hugely popular Harry Potter series (U.S./U.K., 2001-2011), which seamlessly integrated academic tropes and the wild world of wizarding.
And then there’s director John Mackenzie’s Unman, Wittering and Zigo (U.K., 1971). I’m probably safe saying that it’s the least known of this diverse batch and also that it shouldn’t be, because it’s a hard wooden ruler across the face.
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