Marco makes films. You wouldn’t like them. The lighting’s shoddy, the sets are cheap and the sound’s appalling. But there’s an audience for them. Because they’re films in which bad things happen to women.
Marco’s latest venture is based on real events. Events which took place in Fetch Priory many years ago. It’s an anthology piece, and Marco needs one final victim. But the last victim is not who anyone is expecting.
Death has returned to Fetch Priory. And Death is no-one’s victim.
TORCHWOOD: NIGHT OF THE FENDAHL
Big Finish’s Torchwood range has really made a name for itself through bold, imaginative storytelling that actually pushes the boundaries of the series we saw on television. So, naturally, in this new series of monthly releases it’s time to… put them up against a bunch of Doctor Who monsters? The first of these is “Night of the Fendahl” by Tim Foley, which attempts to put a darker spin on “Image of the Fendahl” and somewhat succeeds. A small group of horrible people makes snuff films, but when they film their latest effort at Fetch Priory, the Fendahl is awakened! Eve Myles stars, and Gwen spends the vast majority of the story under the influence of the Fendahl, until she… just decides she doesn’t want to be and easily overcomes its control. So, there’s not much to the plot, but the atmosphere and themes are fairly compelling. It’s an incredibly dark story – only Gwen is a decent human being among the entire cast – that really wants to take a stand against exploitative treatment of women. Yes, this is accomplished as all of the exploiters are brutally murdered, but it still doesn’t feel right, largely because the script is constantly leering at Gwen. This is mostly done through the eyes of the filmmakers, but occasionally Gwen herself comments on just how revealing her costume is. Yes, we get it, she’s half-naked. The story is perhaps best at reflecting the banality of evil: none (well, almost none) of the snuff producers are cackling evil villains, they’re just human beings doing awful things to make money. It’s disturbing, it’ll make you feel a bit unclean, but it doesn’t go as far as some of the other stories in the range and it feels exploitative in spite of itself. Fortunately, Eve Myles rescues it with a fantastic lead performance, but otherwise this isn’t a great start to the new release year.
6/10