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A Victorian era scientist discovers a way to capture the spirit of death.

Love this movie. First saw it on late-night TV as a teenager. Found a copy on eBay a few years ago. Has a nice Hammery feel to it.

A couple of things stand out for me with this movie, most notably that our gentleman scientist, much like the Legion of Doom, is only allowed to use a plan once. The electric chair worked perfectly. It was controllable, easy to stop, and wouldn't necessarily kill quickly. It was a complete success. So, what does he do? Build a trick guillotine. When that fails catastrophically, does he return to what worked? No, he builds a gas chamber.

Of course, the gas was part of Giles' plan, but nobody seems to consider that they are jumping through a lot of execution devices.

Was that, perhaps, the movie's gimmick? You get to see people hanged, electrocuted, beheaded and gassed, not to mention blown up and smooshed between two colliding cars.

Did find it interesting that although Cunningham is immortal, he still ages. Assuming he recovers from the car accident, maybe he'll turn into the Face of Boe in a few hundred thousand years. That is, if he doesn't get his head chopped off by Clancy Brown in 1986. Actually, that would seem like a logical part of the process. :teddyr:

And this "brilliant" scientist didn't see that coming? I mean it's a freaking guillotine it cuts off peoples heads! If the experiment HAD worked, wouldn't he have ended up with a "Jan-In-The-Pan"?
I think that mad scientists need friends who talk LESS about "tampering in God's domain" and MORE about "what happens if...." :twirl:

The guillotine had a brake on it, to stop the blade just short of doing the job.

Makes you wonder though. The Asphyx seems to be smart enough to know what a guillotine is, or at least that it is dangerous. But the critter is not smart enough to know about the safety mechanism, or that Sir Hugo has no intention of beheading anyone.

Judging by the outcome, maybe it's just smart enough to recognize that Sir Hugo is a complete numbnuts.

I found the preview for this movie on YouTube a couple of nights ago. I had a nightmare about it the very same night. Either I'm very easy to scare, or this is proof that old British horror movies can still pack a punch.

I like the film and think it has both interesting ideas and some truly creepy parts.  My vote is that, while it has some funny flaws, it is a well-crafted story and that is the goal of most any movie.