Original subtitles

AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS RUMBLING

DISTANT EXPLOSIONS

EXPLOSION ABOVE MASONRY PATTERS

HUSHED CONVERSATION

EXPLOSIONS CONTINUE MASONRY PATTERS

RUMBLING

QUIET CHATTER

What a bother. Hmm?

I was on my way to a concert. Ah.

Paganini! Yeah.

Oh, marvellous.Is it?

Can't say I've been.

Husband arranged.

PLANES DRONE OVERHEAD Musical concert, I mean.

DISTANT EXPLOSIONS

Gather they can be rather long.

Some.

Good they're still doing them, though, I suppose.

Food for the soul. Hmm.

Well, what else are we fighting for?

LOUD EXPLOSION

Ahem.

Doodlebugs, eh? Hmm.

Whatever next? Are you Navy?

Mm-hm. Oh. Good for you.

And you? Er, reserved occupation.

Coal miner?

No, a...school teacher.

DISTANT EXPLOSION

What about the last show?

Did you fight in that?

Invalided out.

Oh, bad luck.

Flat feet?

No...

Nerves.

EXPLOSIONS CONTINUE

Shall we?

Oh!

I envy him.

Some of the girls I know are like that.

Fall asleep on the edge of a cliff.

RATTLING

Never had that skill myself.

Hmm.

Adolf doesn't make it any easier.

DISTANT RUMBLING

Do you dream?

Beg your pardon?

When you do sleep, do you dream?

Well...

..yes.

No more than the next person, I suppose.

But we all dream, don't we?

Heavens! Even dogs dream.

And have any of them...

..your dreams, I mean - have they ever...

Have they ever come true?

Any of mine? Yes.

Well, I...

I once won 100 on an unfancied nag at Newmarket.

That was a bit of a dream come true.

And, of course, when Alex said, "I do," that was some...

You misunderstand me. No, I'm only pulling your leg.

You mean the night-time variety.

Sleep that knits up the ravelled whatsit, and all that.

Well, I always dream I'm back at school.

My old form mistress, Miss Houlahan...

SHE SCOFFS

..absolute beast.

Taught chemistry. Breath like a serpent.

SHE INHALES Well, I'm stood before her

in the altogether, and I haven't done my prep.

Lord knows what that means! SHE LAUGHS

Everyone has those dreams.Oh.

But sometimes, they're not so easy to explain.

Something you want to get off your chest?

EXPLOSIONS CONTINUE

With my story...

..I can find no explanation.

None at all.

It came out of the dark and...

..into the dark it has gone again.

What did?

HE SIGHS

Well, I was 16...

..when it first came to me.

It began with my being set down at the door of a big house,

where, in the logic of a dream,

I understood I was going to stay.

Tea was being served in the garden.

Everyone there was a stranger to me, except one,

a schoolfellow of mine named Jack Stone.

He introduced me to his father

and a couple of others.

So, you... you knew this Stone chap?

Oh, hardly at all. That's the...

That's the odd thing.

I rather disliked what I did know of him.

But it was someone else that made the greatest impression.

The mother.

In that strange manner of dreams,

we all sat there in complete, uncanny silence.

It was very hot. Oppressive.

And then, at last...

..Mrs Stone said...

Jack will show you your room.

I've given you the room in the tower.

I didn't know why...

..but her words made my heart just...

..sink.

I felt like I had always known

that I should have the room in the tower, and that,

inside it was something...

..something dreadful.

HE GASPS

The dream has occurred to me intermittently...

..ever since.

Exactly the same? Er, not exactly.

Sort of...variations on a theme.

Like Paganini.

SHE CHUCKLES

Most often, it's...

It's the same.

The arrival.

The butler.

The tea laid out on the lawn.

Jack Stone.

The family.

The awful silence, succeeded...

..by that one...

..deadly sentence...

Jack will show you your room.

I've given you the room in the tower.

And always the same ending.

Terror...

..at what was in that room.

Though I...

..I never quite saw what it was.

How very odd. EXPLOSIONS RUMBLE

I dare say the headshrinkers would have something to say about that.

Hmm? About what it means, I mean.

Hmm.

Yes, what it means.

Hmm. And this has been going on since you were 16?

Hmm, off and on.

Th-There was one time...

HE LAUGHS

..I was in another room playing cards.

Jack will show you your room.

I have given you the room in the tower.

LOUD EXPLOSION OVERHEAD

RATTLING

And then, for months and months,

I didn't have the dream at all, and I started to think, to...

...well, to pray that maybe it had gone for good, and...

...well, to pray that maybe it had gone for good, and...

No such luck?

No.

No...

One night, it came again...

..but this time, differently. How?

My heart leapt!

She was gone.

I wouldn't have to sleep in that dreadful place.

But then...

MRS STONE'S VOICE ECHOES: Jack will show you your room.

I've given you the room in the tower.

It seemed to come...

..from all around...

Her...

Her voice.

But otherwise, it was all...

..as horribly familiar.

Except there was a dreadful odour

of decay in the room.

HE GASPS

Sometimes, I dreamt it two or three nights in succession.

Then months would go by without a peep.

And far from diminishing through repetition, it got worse...

..my terror.

It was...

..strangely consistent.

Death and marriage visited this silent family.

I never, in the dream,

after Mrs Stone had died,

set eyes on her again.

And it was always her voice that told me that the room

in the tower was prepared for me.

You began your story by asking me

if any of my dreams had come true.

HE SCOFFS

Yes.

It was a few years back...

Ahem.

It was during that strange period when we all thought that Chamberlain

might actually bring it off. SHE CHUCKLES

Peace, I mean.Hmm.

I had arranged to play tennis with my friend John Clinton.

And it was a warm day.

We'd had a thoroughly nice time,

and he said he would stand me tea at his place,

a place that I had never visited.

And...

..on the way there, I nodded off in the car.

Wake up, Rog. Hmm? We're here.

The old homestead.

Come on.

Ma will be waiting for us in the garden.

But it was different. MUSIC PLAYS

There was no silent

and somehow terrible family,

but a large assembly of very friendly people,

many of whom were known to me.

And you know Ted, of course.

Ah, Ted...

And his plain sister, Jessica.

THEY LAUGH It's lovely to meet you.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal him away.

I'll bring him right back.

This is the darling Bedda,

who's been in the family as...

Well, as long as I can remember. Hello.Hello.

And this...

This is my mother.

Oh!

Jack's told me so much about you.

So very glad to meet you at last.

And you. HE CHUCKLES

Please. Thank you.

Mama. Mwah!

LIVELY CHATTER

Hmm. Huh.

Lovely day, isn't it? Hmm.

So, we thought we'd have tea on the lawn.

Yes, indeed.

I do wonder if we shan't have a storm later.

You think so? Hmm.

Well, what can I get you?

Indian or China?

Oh, erm...

And there's Battenberg, and some sort of sponge...

Not Cook's forte, alas! THEY LAUGH

The tea pursued its cheerful course.

And then, at last...

THUNDER ROLLS

Dear me, I believe you are right, Mr Winstanley,

and we are going to have a thunderstorm.

How dark it has become.

THUNDER RUMBLES Hmm.

Jack will show you your room.

I've given you the room in the tower.

Yes, of course. Right up at the top of the house.

But I think you'll be comfortable.

We're absolutely full up.

Would you like to go and see it now?

Just this way, Rog.

Just keep going, old chap.

I'll let you get settled in.

DOOR CREAKS OPEN

The room was just as in my dream,

except for two things.

A portrait of Jack Stone.

Older now.

And facing him...

Mrs Stone, it was.

And all the...

..the horror of my nightmare came flooding back.

There was a dreadful exuberance and vitality

shining through that envelope of withered flesh.

An exuberance that was wholly malign.

A vitality that foamed and frothed

with unimaginable evil.

SIGHS

"Julia Stone by Julia Stone."

KNOCK AT DOOR

Got all you want, old man? Rather more than I want.

Oh, yes.

HE CHUCKLES Her.

Hard-faced old bird had the place before us.

Hmm...

On her own, as I recall.

She hasn't flattered herself, has she?

It's scarcely human.

Well, it certainly isn't very pleasant.

Hardly conducive to a good night's sleep.

I mean, we hid it up here to get it out of the way.

I can have it taken down, if you want.

If you would.

Are you all right, old man?

I will be.

THEY CHUCKLE Yeah.

HE STRAINS Yeah...

By George, the old lady's a weight!

Ah...

Down here.

I wonder...

..if she had something on her mind!

THEY LAUGHS Yeah.

Oh...

Er, I seem to have cut my hand.

My God! Me, too.

Not a scratch.

How queer.

DOG WHINES

WHIMPERING

MUSIC PLAYS QUIET CHATTER

Is there something on your mind, Jack?

No, no.

Come along. We know each other well.

Something's been troubling you all evening.

HE SIGHS

Thomas, the one who helped us with the picture...

He had blood on his hand, too.

Did you notice? I did.

I asked him if he'd cut himself.

He said he supposed he had.

But he could find no mark of it.

Now, where did that blood come from?

It's damned odd!

DOG WHINES Jack...

..do you dream...?

Now, here's another odd thing.

Toby does that about half a dozen times a day.

It's as if he can...

..see something out there on the lawn.

WHINING CONTINUES

Something bad.

TOBY BARKS

And there's nothing there?

No.

No.

THUNDER RUMBLES

GRUNTS

THUNDER RUMBLES

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

THUNDER RUMBLES

THUNDER RUMBLES

HE BREATHES SHALLOWLY

RASPING VOICE:At last!

At last!

HE SCREAMS

UNEARTHLY SHRIEKING

Oh, Roger!

What on earth is...?

LABOURED BREATHING Good God, man! Come here.

Good God, Roger! What's happened?

HE PANTS

It's her...

It's her. HE GASPS AND PANTS

The...picture.

Oh... Roger...

Stay here.

HE GROANS

HE COUGHS

COUGHING CONTINUES

LABOURED BREATHING

HE SIGHS

Well?

There's a thing...

..on the floor...

..all spotted with earth.

Like...

Like what they bury people in.

about a case in the newspapers

ten years ago or so.

An attempt was made to bury a woman

who had committed suicide. An attempt?

Three times they tried.

And each time, after a few days,

the coffin was found protruding from the earth.

At last, it was decided...

...they should bury her in unconsecrated ground.

You can guess where.

DULL THUD

The woman killed herself in the room in the tower.

Her name was Julia Stone.

SCREWS SQUEAKING

CLATTERING

HE RETCHES

COUGHS AND RETCHES

Ugh...

Oh.

SHE GROANS

Did you...

Did you tell your friend about the dream?

No, I've...

I've never told anyone before tonight.

And the house, what happened to the...?

Oh, it's been requisitioned.

It's a cottage hospital now.

Not far from here, as it happens.

A-And the dream, the recurring dream...

..it ended, yes? You don't have it any more?

Erm...

..no.

It's an extraordinary thing.

Really is.

You should write it down, or tell the papers, or...

I don't think so.

PLANES DRONE OVERHEAD

Not going to make that concert.

Yes.

Well, erm...

..will you be all right?

Is there anything I can do for you?

HE SCOFFS Like what?

Oh, I'm not sure, exactly.

It's just the sort of thing one says, isn't it? I'm sorry.

PLANE DRONING STOPS

SILENCE

CRASHING

MASONRY PATTERS

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

ALARM BELLS RING

HE GROANS QUIETLY

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

DOOR CREAKS SHUT

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

HE EXHALES Thank God.

HE SIGHS

For a moment there, I...

MRS STONE'S VOICE: I knew you would come

to the room in the tower.

RASPING VOICE:I have waited...

..long for you.

At last...

..you have come.

RASPY BREATHING

Tonight...

..I shall...

..feast!

HE SCREAMS