I've enjoyed other Phelps' adaptations before, including And Then There Were None and the one with Bill Nighy, but this one is complete nonsense.
Firstly, as with equally abominable The ABC Murders, this only has the loosest of loose associations with the Christie original, taking the character names, witches supposedly committing murders, and The Pale Horse Pub from the book. Everything else is invention.
But even knowing that, this one is difficult to swallow. Our hero is an unlikable sod, for one, and for two I have literally no idea what was happening throughout.
I'm sure it has something to do with real witchcraft and supernatural elements, but even with that, nothing makes any sense. The story seems to go through themes of purgatory, guilt, and other such things, and there's something to do with dreams.
Other than that, I haven't a Scooby, old son.
This would have done better had it either been entirely it's own thing, or if it had stuck to the book. By taking the license, they set up fans for a bad adaptation and confused everyone else. Not sure what the overlap is with Christie fans and fans of supernatural musings on guilt. I imagine it can't be very much.
I guess I fall into that overlap. However, even then, I can't with this thing. I'd love a real adaptation of The Pale Horse. And maybe the plot of this adaptation done well?
As it is, it is as if Phelps wrote her first draft using stream of consciousness, and never went back to fix it. They just filmed whatever was on the page.
And the script is the issue here. A load of absolute nonsense from a fever dream.
Firstly, as with equally abominable The ABC Murders, this only has the loosest of loose associations with the Christie original, taking the character names, witches supposedly committing murders, and The Pale Horse Pub from the book. Everything else is invention.
But even knowing that, this one is difficult to swallow. Our hero is an unlikable sod, for one, and for two I have literally no idea what was happening throughout.
I'm sure it has something to do with real witchcraft and supernatural elements, but even with that, nothing makes any sense. The story seems to go through themes of purgatory, guilt, and other such things, and there's something to do with dreams.
Other than that, I haven't a Scooby, old son.
This would have done better had it either been entirely it's own thing, or if it had stuck to the book. By taking the license, they set up fans for a bad adaptation and confused everyone else. Not sure what the overlap is with Christie fans and fans of supernatural musings on guilt. I imagine it can't be very much.
I guess I fall into that overlap. However, even then, I can't with this thing. I'd love a real adaptation of The Pale Horse. And maybe the plot of this adaptation done well?
As it is, it is as if Phelps wrote her first draft using stream of consciousness, and never went back to fix it. They just filmed whatever was on the page.
And the script is the issue here. A load of absolute nonsense from a fever dream.