The Asphyx - DaaVeeDee

The Asphyx (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
99 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1973 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Peter Newbrook

Written By:
Christina Beers (story)
Laurence Beers (story)

Actors:
Robert Stephens ..... Sir Hugo Cunningham
Robert Powell ..... Giles Cunningham
Jane Lapotaire ..... Christina Cunningham
Alex Scott ..... Sir Edward Barrett
Ralph Arliss ..... Clive Cunningham
Fiona Walker ..... Anna Wheatley
Terry Scully ..... Pauper
John Lawrence ..... Mason
David Grey ..... Vicar
Tony Caunter ..... Warden
Paul Bacon ..... 1st Member

Synopsis:

A well-mounted period horror tale, The Asphyx (known also as Spirit of the Dead) focuses on the scientific endeavors of Robert Stephens, whose revolutionary work in the burgeoning field of photography leads him to the remarkable discovery of the title creature -- a soul-stealing demon known to Greek myth which appears at the moment of death to carry the soul away from the body and into the netherworld. By using special lighting techniques, he is able to detect the demon when it appears to steal the soul of a guinea pig, and he manages to capture it in a sealed capsule -- thus rendering the animal immortal. Realizing that the act of imprisoning his own asphyx will grant him eternal life, Stephens starts re-creating his experiment with human subjects. As this is a horror film, his new effort doesn't turn out quite as planned. With a strong, twist-filled script (marred only slightly by occasional talky stretches), The Asphyx is an effective horror fantasy with interesting period ambience and an overwhelming sense of dread.-Hugo is a brilliant turn-of-the-century scientist-loved and respected by his family and friends, admired by his colleagues. But he is a man quickly becoming obsessed with a curious and frightening question... what is the mysterious apparition found in the photographs of his dying subjects? Hugo brings to a family boating party his newest invention-a motion picture camera. The party quickly turns into a disaster as he captures on film the tragic drowning of his wife and son. When the film is replayed later, the same ghostlike presence appears. It flies towards his son, and vanishes inside his dying body. Has Hugo discovered The Asphyx, the spirit of the dead described in Greek mythology? A spirit which lives in constant agony, not finding rest until it takes possession of a human body? Could the spirit, if captured, become the key to immortality? Hugo is compelled to find the answers. It is a ghoulish search, with eternally haunting results.-A Victorian scientist and his assistant discover the secret of death: everybody has a kind of personal 'death spirit', the 'asphyx'; when somebody is about to die, this 'asphyx' comes in to claim his victim. If it can be caught at the right moment, immortality follows! The scientist succeeds in capturing his own asphyx, but when he starts experimenting on his daughter, he accidentally kills her. The assistant, his daughter's fiance, commits suicide; the scientist, wanting to die with them, tries to set his asphyx free again, but has forgotten the cipher code to the safe in which the spirit is kept. He is doomed to live forever .

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 15 November, 2005.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

Heavenly Creatures (DVD)	The Krays (DVD)	Night of the Eagle (DVD)
The Petrov Affair (DVD)	Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (DVD)	The Borgia (DVD)