Esteemed parapsychologist Sir Hugo Cunningham is investigating the strange smudge that is on the photographs of people who are photographed at their moment of death. He concludes that this is, in fact, an ‘asphyx’, a force which comes for somebody when it’s time for them to leave this mortal coil. He then finds through his experiments that if you are able to guide the asphyx away from the dying and contain it, you give that person immortality.

When I see that a horror film is a period piece, a tiny part of my brain makes me roll my eyes and think ‘Oh God! Bustles and three-breasted suits! This is going to be very tame, lukewarm entertainment.’ This certainly isn’t the case with The Asphyx (also known as The Horror of Death). There beats a VERY black heart at the film’s core. The photographs of the dying, the asphyx itself and how the plot very quickly becomes very dark all made this gripping viewing. And I also loved the ‘Ghostbusters’ aspect of the movie of containing someone’s asphyx in a box.

I also love how the start and end of the film take place in the year in which the film was made- 1972.

I don’t want to give too much away but this is a terrific little movie which is quietly demented. Let’s just say that when I got to the scene which involves Hugo’s daughter and a guillotine, I actually said out loud, ‘What the fuck!’ High praise indeed.

4 out of 5 stars