After the huge success of BFI Flipside’s Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the archives have been raided once again for Vol. 3, the third compelling collection in this BFI Flipside series that revisits the heyday of the supporting programme, with a compendium of eerie and eccentric British short films presented for the first time in High Definition.

Settle in for a strange cinematic journey through uncanny stories, twists in the tale, low-budget weirdness and oodles of atmosphere. Plus there are brand new interviews with some of the directors of these films.

THE FILMS:

RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL (Hilton Edwards, 1951)
An atmospheric, Academy Award-nominated tall tale, recounted with relish by Orson Welles one spooky Irish midnight not so long ago.

STRANGE STORIES (John Guillermin / Don Chaffey, 1953)
Screen, stage and radio legends John Slater, Valentine Dyall and John Laurie excel in this eerie vintage miniportmanteau chiller.

STRANGE EXPERIENCES: GRANDPA’S PORTRAIT and OLD SILAS (Derick Williams, 1956)
Two peculiar micro-budget episodes of unease from a long-forgotten television show. 

MAZE (Bob Bentley, 1969)
An enigmatic meditation upon multiple mysterious London entanglements, with a groovy soundtrack by friends from the English prog rock group Family. 

SKINFLICKER (Tony Bicât, 1973)
Three dissidents plot to kidnap a government minister and document it on camera in this harrowing shocker which frighteningly foreshadows the ‘found footage’ horror genre.

COI: BROKEN BOTTLE and DON’T FOOL AROUND WITH FIREWORKS (1973)
Two horribly haunting Public Information Films from that dangerous decade: the 1970s. 

THE TERMINAL GAME (Geoff Lowe, 1982)
A computer programmer investigates a colleague’s suspicious death in this long-lost, ominously prescient tale of the perils of big corporations and new technology.

WINGS OF DEATH (Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, 1985)
Derek Jarman snapped up Dexter Fletcher for Caravaggio after he saw his outstanding performance in this provocative painterly supporting subject, originally screened with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Half myth, half allegorical, it’s a story that crawls through reality and delusion.

Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 3 will be released on 2-disc Blu-ray by the BFI on 9 October 2023 at the RRP of £24.99.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• A Vandyke Production: Roger Proudlock and Strange Stories (2023, 7 mins): the BFI’s Vic Pratt looks back on the tiny post-war independent film company that produced Strange Stories
• Getting Lost (2023, 20 mins): interview with Bob Bentley, writer and director of Maze
• Touch a Nerve (2023, 26 mins): interview with Skinflicker director Tony Bicât
• Actor Henry Woolf’s personal pencil-annotated copy of the Skinflicker script by Howard Brenton
• A Game of Two Halves (2023, 28 mins): interview with  The Terminal Game writer and director Geoff Lowe
• Playing Music (2023, 8 mins): renowned composer Colin Towns looks back  on his score for The Terminal Game
• The Terminal Game original trailer
• Wings of Death: Behind the Scenes (2023, 7 mins): co-director Nichola Bruce’s chronological edit of her 8mm footage of the shoot
• Flying High (2023, 31 mins): the directors of Wings of Death look back on the film
• Rare photographs taken on the set of Wings of Death by Steve Pyke
• Image galleries for Maze, Skinflicker, and Wings of Death
• Newly commissioned sleeve artwork by renowned illustrator Graham Humphreys
• First pressing only: Illustrated booklet with an introduction from the BFI’s Vic Pratt, William Fowler and Josephine Botting, an essay on Skinflicker by Sarah Appleton, notes and credits for each film and for the special features