This prequel to "The Innocents", the film version of Henry James' 'The Turn of the Screw', doesn't come remotely close to the poetry or the terror of Jack Clayton's extraordinary film. In fact, Michael Winner's "The Nightcomers" reputation as something of a dog in justly earned since nothing here works. Surely the evil that permeated "The Innocents", enough to perhaps bring the corrupters of the children Miles and Flora back from the dead, deserved better than a grunting, miscast, (as an Oirishman, no less), Marlon Brando and a prim but panting Stephanie Beacham as the embodiment of all that's bad, (at worst, they just come across as a couple of free spirits who enjoy kinky sex).
So what's the reason for "The Nightcomers" since it adds nothing to what we already knew about the characters of Quint and Miss Jessell. It's certainly not a horror film nor, despite the grunting and the panting, a sex film and as a vehicle for Brando, in what may be his worst performance, it's an insult. As for the 'children', (Verna Harvey was 19 when she played Flora), I would have dropped the proverbial 16 ton weight on them five minutes into the film. Even the great Thora Hird can't save this crock. Definitely one to avoid.
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