Fanny Lye Deliver'd

Think back to those films that left a distinct chill in your bones...The Wicker Man, Witchfinder General, The Devils and the ilk...this is the territory where Thomas Clay is going with this one.

Alas...a hodge-podge of style and theme is the result. As they say, less is more...and, Mr Clay dishes it out in great big generous dollops...in other words, he throws everything at the screen...some material sticks and some...lands on the floor with an audible splodge.

There are two couples, one spewing religious repression, the other extolling the virtues of free and unbridled love...cue: Lesbian/bisexual pas de trois. And...rather graphic it is too...with Freddie Fox displaying [in the blink of an eye] a rather large, engorged, prosthetic willy...only to be upstaged [and blinded] by his gleaming white teeth. Dentistry in 1657 was state-of-the-art, it would seem!

Not only do we have these co-habiting, incongruous couples...throw into the mix, a badly acted, laughable [for all the wrong reasons] comedy duo...as Cromwell's law-men. They dish out the law with neither remorse nor compassion...nor any credulity whatsoever.

With a strong start, a [too] theatrical middle, a rather rushed, ultra-violent ending and an epilogue that ought not to have made it into the final cut...Fanny Lye delivers too much more and not enough less...rather than feeling a chill in your bones, you will feel as if you have been walloped across the face with a muddy shovel.

Trailer...