GB 2002 1hr 48mins Dir: Nick Willing Starring: Goran Višnjić and Shirley Henderson
A hypnotherapist is caught up in the pursuit of a serial killer
This obscure crime horror has railway scenes throughout, the most notable of which takes place at the beginning. This consists of a young girl throwing herself off a railway bridge into the river below just as a train crosses behind her. The scene, which takes place at night, used the Epping-Ongar Railway and Cripsey Viaduct, with the line’s Class 117 DMU. Class 315 EMU’s and District Line trains of D78 stock can be seen passing in the background of a fair number of later scenes in East London, the former filmed around the Cambridge Heath area and the latter close to Bow Road station, whilst the final scenes are filmed around Canary Wharf with Docklands Light Railway trains passing across the landscape. There is also a surreal sequence filmed onboard a Northern Line train of 1995-built tube stock, plus a scene filmed at The Anchor Pub in Bankside, Southwark, with London Cannon Street station clearly visible across the Thames. Finally, there is an unusual glimpse of a long abandoned level crossing, probably in the Silvertown area. The movie is based on the 1991 book Doctor Sleep by Madison Smartt Bell, Doctor Sleep being an alternative title for the film as well as Hypnotic. This film, and indeed Bell’s book, should not be confused with the 2019 horror Doctor Sleep, which was adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name.
Sophie Stuckey runs across Cripsey Viaduct on the Epping-Ongar Railway
Suddenly out of the dark a train approaches formed of a Class 117 DMU
Cripsey Viaduct once carried London Undeground’s Central Line and this view from track level is looking towards Ongar, once the most eastern point on the tube network
Sophie Stuckey stands on the parapet as the train passes behind. I think that this and the ‘plunge’ down to the water below used CGI for obvious reasons.
A Class 315 EMU crosses the Regents Canal at Cambridge Heath, East London
And in a similar angle from ground level, another pair of 315’s cross the viaduct arches on the approach to the canal
As Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson and Goran Višnjić have a drink at The Anchor on Bankside, Cannon Street railway bridge forms the backdrop. The towers of Cannon Street station are clearly visible on the opposite bank of the Thames.
This is the end of Arnold Road in Bow, and on the other side of the wall, a District Line train of D78 stock works a service just east of Bow Road station. The bridge above the train carries the Network Rail line that links the lines from Fenchurch Street with those out of Liverpool Street and is largely used for empty coaching stock movements.
This is the scene filmed onboard 1995-built tube stock on the Northern Line. A sign is visible through the door as the train enters a station but, as usual, one cannot make out the blurry wording.
Arnold Road, Bow, and another District Line train passes by
And in this final shot from Arnold Road, the front of a D78 train is just coming into view as Goran Višnjić jumps a garden wall. Note the overhead catenary on the link line bridge
Where is this I wonder? The level crossing gates are complete with white paint and red stop boards (out of shot) but the track bed is long abandoned. This may be somewhere around the Silvertown area.
The final scenes take place here, at a fairground somewhere around Canary Wharf. On the viaduct behind, a Docklands Light Railway train trundles quietly along.
As Shirley Henderson and Goran Višnjić tie up the loose ends another DLR train passes along in the background
A final shot of the ever changing Docklands landscape complete, once again, with train…….
