Agents of Order

This chapter will assess the relationship between order and disorder in the film through a detailed examination of the key authority figures: the Judge, the Squire, the Curate, and the Doctor. The figure of the Judge receives particular attention as a contentious and problematic figure. In considering these authority figures, the chapter will develop a reading of the film as playing out the tensions of the 18th Century setting as Britain moved from an age of superstition into an Enlightenment age of reason. The chapter will explore the film as an example of, what Andrew Tudor has called, a paranoid horror narrative, and a contrast will be made with examples of secure horror narratives. This chapter will consider how this paranoia is expressed through the fundamental flaws, limitations and weaknesses of these authority figures.