The Wyvern Mystery (2000)

Originally Written

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Not a big fan of the Masterpiece Theater and British BBC production films, but I must express how surprised I was that The Wyvern Mystery did not bore me to tears. Naomi Watts plays Alice Maybell, adopted by the Squire Fairfield of Wyvern Manor after her father died when she was a child. Now a young woman, Squire Fairfield begins to send out the signals that he's interested in taking her as his bride... quite disgusting! Alice isn't too keen on that idea and runs off and marries his older son Charles, which is still a little weird in my opinion since I would think he would have been more like a brother to her.

Charles and Alice go into hiding from the enraged psycho Squire, taking up residence in a sparsely furnished home that seems to hide some deep dark secrets. Turns out the Fairfield’s including her husband, have quite the checkered past and some dark history Alice was never aware of, and now she's getting to close to uncovering it all.

As a whole, I thought the film was pretty well done; Naomi Watts gave a grade A performance and had some pretty emotional scenes of both fear and despair. This was a good role for Watts; one that was probably was good practice for The Ring. The film manages a couple spooky scenes that honestly might make you catch your breath or jump in your seat. You'll be able to pinpoint when they're about to happen but you still can't imagine what it's going to be. On a lighter note her character's husband, Charles, could have been the older brother of Conan O'Brien, and I half expected him to bust out the string dance or shout out "stay cool my babies!" I found it rather humorous and laughed every he was on screen.

Overall, my only problem with the film, and its pretty big, is that it confused me. Why is the film entitled The Wyvern Mystery when the characters are only at Wyvern in the beginning and end of the film? If anything it should have been called The Fairfield Mystery since it's the family that had all the issues, not the house. Aside from that the whole "mystery" is still rather vague to me. The film sparks many interesting questions yet never answers them, leaving me to wonder what exactly was the mystery and why did the Fairfield’s do what they did? Was the whole mystery that which was hidden in the dungeon below Alice & Charles home? Why did Squire Fairfield lock Alice upstairs every night? These were only a few of the many questions never answered. Aside from that the story is still quite entertaining, especially once you realize many of The Wyvern Mystery will stay a mystery. It's worth a watch if you have Netflix or its playing on TV, and especially if your a fan of Naomi Watts, or BBC mysteries.

6/10