MovieChat Forums > The Nightcomers (1972) Discussion > Seeing this before The Innocents

Seeing this before The Innocents


I just saw The Nightcomers and quite liked it. Liked the slow pace and how nothing seemed to be happening throughout much of the movie. The child-actors were also much better than in many other movies. I had no idea where the story in this movie is supposed to be going because I have not read The Turn of the Screw, nor have I seen The Innocents. I realize now that The Nightcomers is somehow related to these. I plan to see The Innocents some time in the future. I wonder if I have now spoiled it for me?

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You don't need to take Nightcomers literally. In fact, in the matter of




SPOILERS



Quint's death, it contradicts The Innocents.

Also it specifies "exactly what those kids and those two adults were up to", which somewhat dispells and demystifies the dread whispers Mrs. Grose makes to the Kerr character in The Innocents. In a way, having it spelled out, rather than leaving it to the imagination as The Innocents does, makes it less dark and horrific than necessary.

But watching The Innocents with fresh eyes should be a chilling experience, even if it is darkly vague and obscure concerning what went before. The Innocents' Quint is much darker than Brando's version, and Miss Jessel is far more tragic than Stephanie Beacham plays her.

Also, be prepared for a definite supernatural feel, which is barely hinted at in Nightcomers.

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the slow pace and how nothing seemed to be happening throughout much of the movie
That's because it was slow-paced and nothing really happened much throughout most of the movie. 

The funny thing is, if you don't realize or know that this movie has any relation to The Innocents or Turn of the Screw, then the title of it makes no sense. Because nothing in this movie, as a standalone, is at all about anything supernatural, or anyone coming in the night. The only reason the name makes any sense is because this is the origin of the people who become the nightcomers in the next movie. I guess the filmmakers just assumed the audience would all know that.

This movie kind un-creepifies the ghosts by showing you everything & obliterating the necessity for a little imagination in the next movie, which IMO rather ruins it.

🐯

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