Better things to do!! - The Secret of Crickley Hall (2012) Discussion

[–] llbrokenmindedll 11 years ago

Can you please spoil the original ending. I had not read the book and was left very let down by the end. It seemed like they worked up to this big finale then boom nothing happened. I honestly don't understand how Cam and Stefan were connected because of their graves. It was obvious Cam had been buried a significantly long time after Stefan so their bodies/souls were not even aware of each other during the families time at Crickley.

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[–] alligatoruk 11 years ago

I honestly don't understand how Cam and Stefan were connected because of their graves.

They're not connected at all - Cam's grave was only put there after all the events at Crickley happened (and his parents found out he was dead). I'm assuming they buried him there because in a roundabout way that's how they found out he was dead.

Eve was able to hear the children at Crickley because she was in a state of grief(heightened emotions) and she was supposed to have slight psychic abilities.

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[–] hannah_dru 11 years ago

Didn't think the acting was terrible at all, the only bad thing was the butchered German. Who didn't you like?

http://www.insanedrusilla.deadtime.net

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[–] scottiew69 11 years ago

The hole nancy getting killed was crap, most of Nancy's acting was not the best! Gabe should of been American and as for the house it should of been in Cornwall near the coast (where it can flood) not on a hill in Manchester ! Cribbing was not the casting either as he should of been older

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[–] senua 11 years ago

Small point, as someone that lives in Manchester, I know it can and does flood quite badly in some areas around here (even those on hills) :)
They'll have filmed it here because of the BBC moving to Salford Quays, location isn't that important to the story (as in it couldn't possibly happen anywhere else) so they'll have decided to save money and do it locally.
I reckon they changed the boy to be a Jewish German kid because that makes the Cribbens seem even worse and him more sympathetic. I've not read the book so I don't know how that comes over in it, I can't really comment on whether it works compared to the original or not, for someone coming in with no assumptions of how it should go it was alright. I can sympathize with people that read it and found it very different though, I hate it when they change things from a book for no good reason.

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[–] ironjade 11 years ago

For Christ's sake it's "should have" not "should of"!

"Make me a baby!
Make me a star!
Leave my coffin slightly ajar!"
- Lesley Gore

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[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] vaughant 11 years ago

I admit that this started off okay in my opinion, but quickly went down hill. First of all, in the book Cribbins was a Nazi Sympathiser which totally changed his dislike of Stefan from his nationality to his religion.

The big change Stefan should have DIED… in fact Stefan’s death after a botched circumcision by Cribbins was the last straw that led to Cribbin’s mental breakdown.

Magda wasn’t stern enough… she seemed almost cuddly compared to the Magda in the book.

There was no horror in the deaths of the orphans by carbon monoxide poisoning this was what showed Cribben had completely lost it when he stomped round the house naked, dragging the children from their hiding places and breaking their necks . Cribbing was just not insane enough.

Where was the ‘Great Flood’? a great torrent that washed people and property into the sea cant really be swapped for a couple of inches of slowly rising water on the floor of Crickley Hall.

The book had the best epilogue I have ever read. The mini-series had an awkward moment with Cribbin standing there almost saying ‘Oh… you can still see me… er… what do I do now? ... okay I’ll stand here a bit longer”.

Nope… I’m going to have to file this in the “Failed James Herbert adaptations” box.

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[–] TheStalkerFang 11 years ago

I havent seen the last episode..is THAT how the children die? wtf don't think I'll bother watching it...

Is this the return to Oz?
The grass is dead, the gold is brown
and the sky has claws.

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[–] vaughant 11 years ago

There is a little bit more in the last episode... but the death of the children is a lot more dramatic in the book.

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[–] Jumbajookiba 11 years ago

It was pretty poor, it was written quite a few years ago and to set it in the present day was a poor idea as the timeline didn't work as both Percy and Morris would be in their late 80's and Donald Sumpter (fine actor that he is)was obviously nowhere that old and David Warner was a stretch too, as for Magda, she would be around 100 years old.
The ending was dreadful, Stefan and Cam buried next to each other although they died years apart? And why was Stefan's real name on the grave when it was changed after he was adopted.
I haven't read a James Herbert book in years, I used to love them when I was younger, so one good thing has come out of this, I shall make sure I read the novel on which it was based, Crickley Hall was educational TV, so bad it made mewant to read the book instead.

I am a four eyed evil genius.

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[–] Camargue 8 years ago

although they died years apart

Stefan only died 2 years before Cam! He lived a "good life" and was married and had grandchildren. Burying Cam near Stefan was one of the few things in this "silly" story that made any sense.

The look on Suranne Jones face when Douglas Henshall was being a "live" ghost (after having been drowned for 70 years), was hysterical. He stood there looking confused, wondering what to do next, while she stood there with her trade-mark "eyes wide-open."

I expected her to become her "Rachel Bailey" character, and confront him with, "ya, well what?"

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