1. Dark And Lonely Water
Central Office of InformationA true classic 1970s PIF that evokes the best of that decades horror movies as chilling as the best Hammer horrors with the nightmarish eeriness of Dont Look Now. Filmed in response to the rising number of child fatalities in drowning accidents the advert mentally scarred a generation of British youngsters. A sinister Donald Pleasance narrates as a hooded death-like figure stalks a misty stretch of water before turning his attentions to a group of children playing in a rubbish dump. As the gang of young kids muck around on a rubble-strewn bank of water the spirit of dark and lonely water approaches and one child loses his footing and his life. The scene then cuts to a larger river as a boy hangs from a branch taking an unconventional approach to fishing as the terrifying hooded figure looms in the background. In the third section of the film the spirit is thwarted by two sensible children who save a young swimmer who has foolishly ignored a Danger No Swimming sign. The spirit disappears leaving his cloak draped on the ground as Pleasance comes over all Arnie Schwarzenegger with the spooky promise, Ill be back! Utterly petrifying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg6IVUvVsAs
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