The Asphyx, a 1972 horror film from the UK, opens in what would have been the film’s modern day.  A horrific accident occurs when two cars collide.  The drivers are both dead, with one of the them rather grotesquely hanging out of a shattered windshield.  And yet somehow, an elderly pedestrian who was trapped underneath the two cars is still alive and able to shuffle away from the accident.

The film then jumps back to the Victorian-era.  Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) is a scientist who is studying what happens at the exact moment of death.  Taking a look of several pictures that were taken of people as they died, he spots a dark smudge that seems to be hovering near the subject of each photograph.  Later, while making a home movie with an amazing new device called a motion picture camera, Sir Hugo can only watch in horror as his son Clive (Ralph Arliss) and Clive’s fiancee, Anna (Fiona Walker), both drown in a boating accident.  When Sir Hugo later looks at the film, he notices a ghostly blue light that seems to be hovering over both his son and Anna.

Sir Hugo speculates that the light could be what the ancient Greek called the Asphyx, a force that comes for everyone’s life in the moment right before death.  Hugo theorizes that everyone has their own individual Asphyx and he also comes to believe that if one were to capture their own Asphyx before it takes away their life, the result would be immortality.  Working with his reluctant adopted son, Giles (Robert Powell), Hugo sets out to capture an Asphyx.  Unfortunately, to do so means that someone has to be on the verge of death so that their Asphyx will show up.  Giles is not happy about the idea of strapping Hugo into an electric chair or of sitting in a gas chamber himself but he agrees to do so in return for Hugo’s permission to marry Hugo’s daughter, Christina (Jane Lapotaire).

(Before we all say, “Ewwww!,” let us remember that Clive is only adopted.  Still, it does feel a bit strange.)

The experiments lead to both tragedy and success.  Heads roll, literally.  And while Giles’s doubts continue to grow, Hugo finds himself more and more obsessed with the idea of living forever.

The Asphyx is a rather low-key horror film.  No one is going to mistake this for one of Hammer’s bloody and flamboyant films.  The horror is less in what is seen and more in what is implied.  That said, the premise is an intriguing one, the film’s plot unfolds with a good deal of intelligence, and both Robert Powell and Robert Stephens overact so grandly during the film’s final few minutes that those who are just looking for a campy British horror film will be satisfied.  Robert Stephens gives a very good performance as Sir Hugo, a scientist who claims that he’s just tying to make the world a better place but who is actually motivated by his own megalomania.  (He reasons that he deserves to be immortal because he’s a scientist and his contributions are too important to be ended by a mere death.)  Robert Powell’s somewhat wooden acting style actually makes him ideal for the role of Giles, who is written to be, at least in the beginning, a somewhat boring person.  The film’s best performance comes from Jane Lapotaire, whose reaction to discovering how far her father is willing to go to capture an Asphyx is simply heart-breaking to watch.

The Asphyx is a great pick if you’re looking for an off-beat and intelligent horror film this scary season.