Trial Run (1984 film)
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| Trial Run | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Melanie Read |
| Screenplay by | Melanie Read |
| Produced by | Don Reynolds |
| Starring | Annie Whittle |
| Cinematography | Allen Guilford |
| Edited by | Finola Dwyer |
Production companies | Double Feature Investments Cinema and Television Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | New Zealand |
Trial Run is a 1984 New Zealand film directed by Melanie Read starring Annie Whittle.[1] The film is a feminist revision of the thriller genre.[2][3][4]
Rosemary Edmonds, a photographer and runner, must temporarily leave her husband and two children when she moves into a remote coastal cottage to carry out an assignment to photograph a colony of rare penguins. It soon becomes apparent that she is being stalked in the cottage by an unknown tormentor. In a twist ending, the "stalker" is revealed to be Rosemary's own teenage son.[5][2]
Cast
- Annie Whittle as Rosemary Edmonds
- Judith Gibson as Frances Hunt
- Christopher Broun as James Edmonds
- Philippa Mayne as Anne Edmonds
- Stephen Tozer as Michael Edmonds
- Martyn Sanderson as Alan West
- Lee Grant as Mrs Jones
- Frances Edmond as Police Constable Miller
- Teresa Woodham as publisher
- Allison Roe as Allison
- Karen Sims as reporter
- Maggie Eyre as Miss Walsh
- Margaret Blay as ghost
Production
Trial Run was the first New Zealand feature film to be written and directed by a woman,[a] and had a largely female cast and crew.[2][6] Marathon runner Allison Roe and reporter Karen Sims appear briefly as themselves in a television interview seen early in the film.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews. In New Zealand, The Press described it as "enjoyable and satisfying in its small way",[7] while Rip It Up felt the film suffered from a "rather sketchy script".[8] In the UK, critic F. Maurice Speed called it a "fascinating and cleverly worked thriller";[9] Leslie Halliwell and John Elliot found the film generated some suspense but criticised its surprise ending as weak;[10][11] while Time Out and The Guardian found the final revelation of the culprit's motives to be "preposterous" and "verging on the incomprehensible".[12][13]
Several film historians have compared Trial Run to Gaylene Preston's Mr. Wrong (1985), another New Zealand thriller with feminist themes.[14][5][2][15]