I Start Counting

I am another person who can't remember this film in detail - having seen it decades ago. However I still retain the haunting atmosphere and the very believable acting of Jenny Agutter - who was a role model for me after her appearances in The Railway Children and Tom's Midnight Garden on BBC television. I can't put a spoiler in because I can't remember what happened, but I do know I really enjoyed this film and I would love to see it again - perhaps some cable channels might put it on again? Or maybe it could be released on DVD? I remember being very impressed with Simon Dee's creepy bus conductor character as well. A very chilling film.

focuses on the disturbing fear that an attacker can arouse in any decade you care to think of,the fear is heightened by the central child character {played by jenny agutter} troubled by the thought her own father may be the culprit, nasty creepy atmospheric scenes in the woods will have you squirming in anticipation of what might happen,sadly underrated and overlooked.

This movie is awesome. I don't know why it isn't more popular. the cinematography was fab and the lead actress who played Wynne had this real innocence about her, that was so believable. I thought the storyline was great, it was something unusual. the synopsis based it around Wynne's suspicious feelings towards her brother and the murders, but I found it was about something more than that, about the way different people perceive situations and how different peoples duties and commitments can be seen differently in others eyes. The rest of the cast were great. I loved the few parts of humour in the film, that lifted from the somewhat dark and serious theme, and showed how unusual the film is. the theme song I Start Counting was awesome. It was an awesome name for the film I'm totally raving about this film man. It freaking rules! I love it!

Very good but more of a drama Very good movie I've seen it two or three times now has it classified as a thriller it's far more drama there's not a lot of thrills going on here as it goes very slow and there are no killings that you see in action the bodies are already dead.

I saw this film way back in 1980,BBC1 screened it in a late night slot,luckily I taped it.I don't think its ever been re-screened in the UK. I personally find this little gem of a thriller to be Jennys best work.......from her finest period. Just think,three superb films in a row,from 1969 to '70......I Start Counting......Walkabout......and The Railway Children......what a trio! Plus......I was forgetting another lost gem: The Snow Goose from 1971. I do wish that I Start Counting(and The Snow Goose)were available on DVD. I Start Counting touches on the loss of innocence in a rapidly changing world.....catch this film....if you can!

Though I can't remember it in detail, I do remember liking this film a lot and as a teenager going to bed scared, as well as having impure thoughts about Jenny Agutter, (again.) Very atmospheric, very English and very 60s, full of the kinds of faces you seemed to only get during that decade. I don't know why it's hardly ever shown, but if someone were to air it occasionally, I'm sure it would gradually start to pick up a reputation as a bit of lost cult classic (a la the Wickerman.) I did find a fairly negative review in Time Out, but that probably says more about them than this film.

I saw this film for the one and only time on English television back in 1980.At the time I thought it was the best thriller film I had ever seen.Since then to my knowledge it has never been shown again over here (I stand to be corrected on this one !) and appears to have sank without trace.Agutter is excellent as the schoolgirl who thinks her foster brother(Bryan Marshall) may be the local sex murderer and the creepy atmosphere builds up carefully helped by the location work on the wide windy stretches of an English New Town which I believe is Bracknell,Berkshire where Sean Connery's equally disturbing film "The Offence" was shot a couple of years later.Photography ,editing and supporting cast all first class.This film deserves to be better known in the history of British film and indeed the horror/thriller genre and its continued omission in most of the weighty film guides on the market remains ,to me, the biggest mystery and injustice of them all.