The Stone Tape is an interesting exercise, though trapped by the confines of its production, working on stages and studio cameras, and the actors delivering their lines as if they are performing on stage instead of more restrained performances for film and television.

Written by Nigel Kneale who wrote the Quatermass series/films the story follows a group of researchers from a tech company attempting to come up with a new way of recording things, they want to move away from magnetic tape and vinyl. They’ve taken up residence in a Victorian estate, but things are shakey to begin with when Jill (Jane Asher) has a troubling, paranormal encounter.

Initially skeptical, the team, led by Peter (Micheal Bryant) plans to use all of their recording devices and any new tech they can develop to investigate and document whatever this is.

There is some politics and infighting among the researchers as they begin to understand that it’s not an apparition but a recording in the substance of the building, the stone. A powerful psychic impression leaves a recording on the stone, and this could be the key to the creation of a whole new recording medium.

But what if there is something sinister at work? Peter becomes obsessed with learning the truth about the stone medium and how to control it, as well as what other secrets it may hold. Jill keeps cautioning against his obsession and just doing the work, but when her computer prints off a strange sheaf of papers with strange words, she begins to think there is something else happening, and Peter may be inadvertently helping what is happening.

Jill has a horrifying encounter, the team begins to splinter and Peter just seems to be interested in making the stone tape work, but there are more recordings and more to be found in the stone, and it could not only explain ghost stories, but could also lead to something much more dangerous.

I like the story, I like the ideas at work here, but I’m not a fan of the production. I wish it had been given a theatrical budget and shot on film, with better sets and camera work, but the idea… I really dig that.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise because I really dig Quatermass and the Pit, so I may have to hunt down more of Kneale’s stuff, particularly the other Quatermass tales. I like how it takes possible paranormal things and gives them a really fun, thought-provoking twist.