Death Is a Number

First of all, it's rather difficult to disagree with the previous reviewer over much of his comments. However, despite glaringly obvious faults, this little offering is not without some merit. Admittedly, it seems to have been cobbled together one afternoon, when everyone concerned was sheltering from a heavy downpour, but it still manages to convey a certain creepy atmosphere of its very own. This was probably brought about by the very nature of its basic, scraped-together production. In the lead role, Terence Alexander plays the part literally as if he is learning the art of acting by numbers! In spite of the grainy, crackly print, his wife (Lesley Ormond)still manages to look fetching in her best ball gown! The tour-de-force is provided by the butler, who looks and sounds as though he is an escaped mechanical waxwork model from Madame Tussauds!! And, although the narrative is stilted to say the least, and the stock footage decidedly dodgy, the film does manage to steadily move along towards quite an effectively shiver-inducing climax. It is very very difficult to track down but, for any fans of this genre, this brief little oddity is worth a look.

This is almost but not quite an experimental art movie, notable for being created largely in post-production. Its theme, highly unusual for the time, is a horrific mix of numerology and a Romany curse. Its most unsatisfactory and mundane aspect is its narrative. In a cramped set Terence Alexander talks an awful lot about his old university pal (Denis Webb), whose family was cursed by the number nine. But the flashbacks are done with real creative flair. Alexander prowls a ruin of considerable grandeur, probably a haunt of director Robert Henryson, whose CV includes other films about stately homes. The rest of the flashback footage is a blend of stock footage, superimpositions, inserts and still pictures, sometimes overlaid with eerie special effects. Henryson manages to overlay a non-existent "Druid" window on to a real country house and then burn it down by optical work. The lack of credits imply that he did most of the backroom work himself. The impression is of a primitive version of the kind of CGI done without a second thought today in young directors' bedrooms. Horror historians should add this to their watch list. PS Three years later Alexander was back in a very similar role in "Hands of Destiny" q.v.

A good contender for possibly the worst British feature film of all time (although 'Peter's Friends' makes me cringe as well). An interesting plot about a man suffering from a numerological curse is rendered ridiculous by the ludicrously low budget. The film has narration from Terence Alexander throughout as he hangs out in an office relating the plot and all the action occurs off screen, you just have to make do with Terence's rundown and endless shots of him writing mathematical sums on a piece of paper. There is lots of mismatched stock footage and even stills with poor ghostly animation over the top, as if the budget would not even at times stretch to moving images. It's a bit like listening to a radio play while someone projects random images onto a wall. An underwhelming experience.

Is this the worst B film ever made.It is difficult to understand what the producers were up to other than supporting a decent A feature and getting a good share of Eady Levy.There cannot be any other explanation of this utter load of tripe.Difficult to know whether laughable or irritating is the most apt description of this waste of celluloid.The dialogue is laughable woefully acted.Irritating because much of it is narrated by an over made up Terence Alexander.One wonders what the audience in the one and nines would have made about this.Probably chattering nineteen to the dozen,if they weren't bowled over like ninepins.

DEATH IS A NUMBER is a quirky little oddity that clocks in at just fifty minutes and seems to have been seen by very few people. The film's subject matter is numerology, with Terence Alexander the office-bound narrator who gives the viewer an introduction to the subject. Most of the running time is taken up by a lengthy flashback sequence showing how one man's life is affected by one single number - the number nine.

This is very much a sister project to HANDS OF DESTINY, which looked at palmistry and also starred Alexander, although that was more involved. DEATH IS NUMBER is more of a traditional, genteel horror film, in which an innocent character is driven out of his mind when he realises his aspirations in life are to be thoroughly thwarted. There are a few spooky moments here achieved via some basic special effects work, although it does all hold together quite well and is never as poor as you expect it to be.