Aired in 1973 as a British public service announcement against drowning, Dark and Lonely Water is modelled as supernatural horror in which a dark spirit oversees children drowning.
A surprising amount of effort went into one and a half minutes of TV, with Donald Pleasence voicing the spirit. It is seen ominously in the background as children fall into the water through carelessness. Its narration is sinister and eerie; the Spirit shows no obvious joy in seeing children die, but appears to benefit from or even cause the accidents. It is remarkably cold. Of course, simply falling into water won't necessarily kill a child; also, swimming into a water for one child is foolish while others swimming into the same water is "sensible," and the difference isn't exactly spelled out. Still, the short is spooky, evocative of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973), and gets a point across.
A surprising amount of effort went into one and a half minutes of TV, with Donald Pleasence voicing the spirit. It is seen ominously in the background as children fall into the water through carelessness. Its narration is sinister and eerie; the Spirit shows no obvious joy in seeing children die, but appears to benefit from or even cause the accidents. It is remarkably cold. Of course, simply falling into water won't necessarily kill a child; also, swimming into a water for one child is foolish while others swimming into the same water is "sensible," and the difference isn't exactly spelled out. Still, the short is spooky, evocative of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973), and gets a point across.
