An aspiring young painter falls for his patron's niece but forsakes love for ambition when a ghoulish stranger demands her for himself.
Adapted from the chilling ghost story by J Sheridan Le Fanu, Schalcken the Painter weaves a fictional tale of terror around the work of real life seventeenth-century Dutch painter, Godfried Schalcken.
Originally screened by the BBC during the dying hours of 23 December 1979, this exquisitely shot, atmospheric horror film explores the uneasy relationship between art, commerce and erotic desire. The superb cast includes Jeremy Clyde, Maurice Denham and Cheryl Kennedy.
BFI Flipside is dedicated to rediscovering the margins of British film, reclaiming a space for forgotten movies and filmmakers who would otherwise be in danger of disappearing from our screens forever. It is a home for UK cinematic oddities, offering everything from exploitation documentaries to B-movies, countercultural curios and obscure classics, If it's weird, British and forgotten, then it's Flipside.
The Pit (Edward Abraham, 1962, 27 mins): experimental gothic short, adapted from Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum.
Original production sketches for The Pit.
The Pledge (Digby Rumsey, 1981, 21 mins): three criminals pledge to free the soul of their friend from his gibbeted corpse in this short film based on 'The Highwayman' by Lord Dunsany.
Look Into the Dark (2013, 39 mins): interviews with director/writer/producer Leslie Megahey and director of photography John Hooper on the making of Schalcken the Painter.
