Packed with the crème of UK characters, this cookie faux-doc/fantasy has something for everyone.
While foraging for items to sell in their vintage shop in Muswell Hill, Ruth and Megan (real-life shop owners Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson) come across a souped-up dodgem car. It turns out this is a discarded time machine, which they use to go back in time to find truly vintage items. The rarity of these pieces brings them to the attention of an odd-bod society of scientists led by the bureaucratic Martin (Guy Henry). Little did Ruth and Megan know that meddling in time travel could have such dire consequences. The creator of the machine (Brian Bovell), teams up with his estranged sidekick (Johnny Vegas) and the rest of the group to attempt to rescue one of the girls from ‘the Unreason’, a void in time where inhabitants play a vast, often-evolving card game that’s rigged so there’s never an outright winner.
Time Travel is Dangerous! is a low-key (and budget!) movie that punches well above its weight thanks to its eclectic cast and sharp script. Director Chris Reading – who co-wrote alongside producers Anna-Elizabeth and Hillary Shakespeare – makes the most of the limited resources and lets the top-class ensemble carry the load. Syratt and Stevenson are great, playing a version of themselves where they come across as loveable chancers trying to make the most of the situation. The effects may be lo-fi, but that also gives the film an even quainter quality. The first half is a Spın̈al Tap-esque mockumentary (with boasts narration by Stephen Fry), which gives the shop owners the perfect platform for deadpan humour, minor squabbles, and absurdist situations and they hold their own against the seasoned pros. There are elements of Spaced and The Office, and later, in the netherworld Unreason, it veers into Python and Goons territory. It might have a very British sense of humour, but we’re glad to say it does travel (as witnessed at the screening in Trieste).
TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS! screened at the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival and Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween and will be released in 2025.
