During the conflict of World War II, airman Toby Jugg is hit in the spine during an airborne attack. Consequently, he is left a paraplegic. His aunt-in-law Julia Jugg is his only living relative and she sends him to have a rest in a clinic in the countryside. Toby is in love with Julia and he writes several letters to her. She does not respond back to Toby? Toby is haunted by shadows and bugs and Dr. Hal Burns. This is the doctor is responsible for his treatment. Dr. Burns complains that Toby does not open his up feelings to him. One day, an intern goes to town and brings a letter from Julia to Toby. The intern finds out that Dr. Burns is hiding Toby’s letters from Julia. When Julia is informed of what is happening, she comes to the clinic to stay with Toby because he seems to be mentally ill. One night, Dr. Burns gives a razor to Toby and tells him to do the right thing!! Obviously, he is trying to get Toby to commit suicide. But late in the night, Toby discovers there is a secret between Julia and Dr. Burns?
Toby was a fighter pilot shot down in combat. He is now confined to his bed with little hope of walking again. At night, he is becoming increasingly disturbed by a strange presence, a mysterious shadow thrown by the moonlight through a gap in the blackout curtains. He is convinced the shadow is cast by a malevolent and unnatural entity trying to get into his room. Toby is unable to convince anyone of the reality of this entity. He slowly comes to believe that there is a plot against him. Possibly trying to make him mad or to make it appear that he is already mad. Is this some form of hallucination? Is this unearthly creature real or a product of his imagination? Are the people caring for him actually plotting his demise? Or, are they sincerely concerned for a young man whose grip on sanity is steadily weakening? 2 1/2* (this movie is so-so)
68 min, Drama directed and written by Chris Durlacher and also based on a novel written by Dennis Wheatley with Julian Sands, Rachael Stirling, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Ainsleigh, Scott Handy, Melissa Lloyd, Peggy Popovic, Robert Whitelock.
Note: Imdb 4.5* out of 10* with 1922 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 37% with 5000+ audience scores, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 395 reviews, Letterboxd 2* out of 5*, Amazon gives the book titled The Haunting of Toby Jugg 4.3* out of 5* with 97 reviews, Ebay 4* out of 5* with 23 reviews,
Special Note: The source story, The Haunting of Toby Jugg was written by Dennis Wheatley to have much stronger occult themes. The man in charge of the convalescence home (Dr. Burns) is not what he seems to be?? He has a definite personal reason for wanting Toby to be mentally ill. He also doesn’t want to give Toby the treatments that would help him return to the man he used to be!! Toby Jugg was a fighter pilot and he is now confined to his bed with little hope of walking again. He is also the heir to a considerable fortune currently administered by a board of trustees until he comes of age.
Mistakes: The closed captioning on the American DVD repeatedly misspells the name of the convalescence home. It is a Welsh name with a double "l": Llanferdach? When Toby arrives at the home, the darkness is very obviously achieved using filters. You can see the high contrast of the shadows and this indicates it was filmed in bright daylight?
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