Synopsis: Liz Shaw of P.R.O.B.E. is called in to help the investigation of the murder of a man named Wittaker. He was killed by a blow to the skull, which is not entirely unusual. The reason Liz was called was because of the murder of Whittaker's dog, who was eviscerated and appears to have had its remains set up like some sort of ritual or sacrifice.
Wittaker was the former headmaster of Winterborne, a nearby public school, so Liz and Detective Burke of the regular police go to the school to speak with the current headmaster, Gavin Purcell. He did not know Wittaker very well, so does not have much to contribute, nor does anyone else at the school.
Meanwhile three young students, Christian, Andrew and Luke, are playing football on the school grounds. After they meet up with another student named Georgie, who has a severe speech impediment, they go walking through the woods. There, they find the eviscerated corpse of another dog set up in the same ritualistic fashion. This turns out to be Badger, a dog belonging to a woman working at the school named Barbara Taploe.
With two strange killings of dogs, both with connections to the school, Liz decides to step up her investigation. This starts when Burke brings her to meet with Andrew, who called the police for help. The previous night, he saw Luke get out of bed and start wandering the halls. Luke then disappeared and Andrew claims he saw a 'ghost' in the attic which knocked him out. Now that morning's come, Luke is still missing.
Liz grills Purcell for information, but he continues to state that he knows nothing. Luke shows up soon after, none the worse for the wear, but Liz still isn't convinced that nothing is happening. She is proven right not long after. Today is Luke's birthday, but as his two friends bring a cake to his room, they find Luke strangled to death on his bed with Purcell standing over him.
Purcell is arrested and interrogated by Burke, but Purcell simply claims that he found Luke already dead and had nothing to do with his death. When Liz steps in to interrogate him herself, she presses him for information about the original founder of the school, Sir Isaac Greatorex. Liz has learned that Greatorex used to be involved in dark magic and had formed a cult.
When Liz reveals that coroners discovered the bloodletting wound under Luke's arm, as well as the fact that both dogs had been drained of blood, Purcell finally confesses. He reveals that he is following Greatorex's cult, as was Wittaker. When Wittaker threatened to reveal what they were doing, Purcell had him killed. Luke's and the dogs' deaths were rituals as part of the cult.
Burke is satisfied that they have solved the cult and found their murderer. Liz, however, still feels as if they are missing a piece of the puzzle. As she continues to investigate, Georgie approaches her. He has bravely decided to tell her something that he's told no-one else. Wittaker and Purcell used to involve him in certain dealings to do with their cult, which left him traumatized and unable to speak properly. Most importantly, though, he reveals that there was a third unidentified man involved, who always wore a mask.
Before Liz can go back to interrogate Purcell some more, she stops by the boys' room. Inside, however, she finds only the murdered body of Taploe. When she tells Purcell that Taploe is dead, Purcell finally reveals the actual truth. He had been covering up for this third person, who is the real leader. To everyone's surprise, this person is actually Christian. Christian had been placed under Purcell's care when he was orphaned, and Purcell ended up instilling his beliefs into the young boy. Now, somehow, Christian has gotten it into his head that he is the reincarnation of Greatorex.
Since Andrew is nowhere to be found, Liz and Burke can only assume that Christian has taken him somewhere. With Purcell's help, they realize that it's a pedestrian bridge over a nearby highway. This is significant, as it was the former location of the gallows where Greatorex was hanged. They rush there just in time to find Christian with Andrew tied up. Christian is holding a broken bottle to the other boy's neck.
Liz tries and fails to convince Christian to stop this madness, nor is she able to convince him that he's not Greatorex. Then, Liz tells Christian that he has to stop since this 'ritual' won't work, according to the cult's rules. Christian had used the sacred dagger to kill Taploe and doesn't have it anymore. The crazed Christian realizes this is true, so he drops the bottle and sullenly walks away.
Purcell is there too, having helped Liz understand the rules of the cult. He apologizes to Christian, explaining to him that being a part of Greatorex's cult was only meant to be a game. Distraught over this news, Christian then jumps off the bridge to the traffic below, killing himself. Thankfully, though, this puts an end to the cult. Andrew is safe, Purcell is taken away, and Burke even ends up deciding to join P.R.O.B.E., despite his earlier skepticisms.
Thoughts: It's the second movie in the P.R.O.B.E. series, and it's a big improvement over the first. We both agree on this.
As a story, this one was much improved. First and foremost, it was a whole lot easier to follow. There were no times where we were left confused and wondering what the heck was going on. That said, this does not mean it was a simplistic story. It was well written and quite deep, with lots of interesting backstory to back it up.
The characters were fun. Purcell was played by Peter Davison, whom I'm sure you all know as the fifth Doctor. It was hard to tell at times whether he was insane or not, and also whether he was 'evil' or not. He was such a mystery and it was fun unwrapping him. Christian made for a great antagonist, especially since neither of us figured out that he was truly behind everything until it was revealed. That makes the mark of a good twist.
The story also featured a landmark for the Doctor Who universe. Christian and Andrew were in a relationship and were shown kissing on-screen many times. This is the first time a true homosexual relationship was portrayed in the Doctor Who world. It made things a lot more interesting when Christian went crazy at the end and nearly ended up killing his own boyfriend.
The only problem with this movie has to do with the audio. The budget apparently didn't allow for road closures. Almost every outdoors shot had loud cars zooming by constantly in the background, making it hard to hear the dialogue. There was also a very loud squeaky staircase in the school. Ironically, the scene on the pedestrian bridge right ABOVE the highway had just fine audio mixing.