This is more an arty mood piece than a fully fledged horror outing by Stephen Weeks, one-time British genre hopeful and director of the equally idiosyncratic I, Monster and Gawain and the Green Knight. In England in the 1930s, a trio of friends are invited to test whether an ancestral mansion is haunted or not. One of them comes under the influence of an enigmatic doll, which relays psychic images of past events, including the incarceration of an innocent woman in the local asylum. Unexceptional special effects and an all-too-subtle handling of the dislocated terrors make this an interesting failure. The fascinating cast includes pop star Marianne Faithfull, comedian Penelope Keith and Hammer icon Barbara Shelley.

Several old college friends converge at a mansion, ostensibly for a pleasant reunion. Larry Dann, the most easygoing of the bunch, comes to the conclusion that all is not well in the old dark house. For one thing, he's run across several people whom he's never met. For another, they all seem to be of a different time and place.