Frightmare is set in England & starts in 1957 as Edmund (Rupert Davies) & Dorothy Yates (Sheila Keith) are tried & convicted of cannibalism, they are sentenced to be locked up in an asylum until they are 'cured' & ready to return to society. Fourteen years later & Edmund & Dorothy are living in a small cottage near London, their daughter Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) know's the truth while her younger sister Debbie (Kim Butcher) is unaware of her parents notoriety & culinary tastes. Jackie has kept the family secret hidden from Debbie & she doesn't even know her parents are alive let alone living nearby, Jackie visits her parents & gives her mother raw animal brains to try & keep her happy but Dorothy has a taste for human flesh & is soon luring people to her house in order to kill them & feast on their flesh. Jackie finds out & Dorothy convinces Edmund that she must be silenced as she know's too much...
This British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker & is maybe his best known film, not that Frightmare is particularly well known but it's probably less obscure more widely remembered than his other work. This is the third Pete Walker film I have seen & is about on par with The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) with The House of Whipcord (1973) the better of the three, while Frightmare isn't terrible & has it's moments I can't say I liked it that much. Walker's often used theme of corrupt or ineffectual system, here the rehabilitation & care services are made to look inadequate, look to have been manipulated & their shortcomings are held responsible for the release of a dangerous cannibal as the men in white coats are convinced she is 'cured' & of no further harm to society. It's a fair point, there have been several real life high profile cases of mental patients released from care who went on to carry out senseless murders but what does Pete expect? Maybe we should just lock these people up & throw away the key, maybe we could just execute them for both their's & our own convenience? Sure, Walker highlights the problem but never suggests any answers or thought provoking alternatives. It's because of this that I felt Frightmare was a little empty, sure there's build-up but it goes nowhere & Frightmare never really satisfied me on any level. At just under 90 minutes Frightmare moves along at a fair pace but takes a while to get going & then never really takes off, the horror aspect isn't that impressive neither are the psychological ones involving family, the system, trust & betrayal. There is one weak twist that is never explained, if Jackie didn't tell her just how did Debbie know about her parents?
Filmed in real locations in 70's London this has a certain look & feel that I liked but the film itself isn't so good. The gore is actually quite tame, there's a battered head in a car boot, someone is beaten up, someone is killed with a hot poker off screen, someone is stabbed with a pitchfork while a dead man is seen with a bloody face but generally speaking Frightmare isn't that gory. The film Jackie & Graham are supposed to be seeing is Blow-Out (1973) but while in the cinema the soundtrack heard is from Walker's earlier film House of Whipcord.
Filmed mainly in Haselmere in Surrey here in England. Probably shot on a low budget Frightmare looks quite good actually, it's fairly bright & the production values are decent. The acting is pretty good, Sheila Keith gives a demented performance while Jackie is suitably vulnerable.
Frightmare is one of those films that I didn't love but didn't hate either, it's just there. Sure it will pass 90 odd minutes but there are better ways to spend that 90 minutes. I just feel a bit impartial & unmoved by it, I doubt I will remember much about it in a few days.
This British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker & is maybe his best known film, not that Frightmare is particularly well known but it's probably less obscure more widely remembered than his other work. This is the third Pete Walker film I have seen & is about on par with The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) with The House of Whipcord (1973) the better of the three, while Frightmare isn't terrible & has it's moments I can't say I liked it that much. Walker's often used theme of corrupt or ineffectual system, here the rehabilitation & care services are made to look inadequate, look to have been manipulated & their shortcomings are held responsible for the release of a dangerous cannibal as the men in white coats are convinced she is 'cured' & of no further harm to society. It's a fair point, there have been several real life high profile cases of mental patients released from care who went on to carry out senseless murders but what does Pete expect? Maybe we should just lock these people up & throw away the key, maybe we could just execute them for both their's & our own convenience? Sure, Walker highlights the problem but never suggests any answers or thought provoking alternatives. It's because of this that I felt Frightmare was a little empty, sure there's build-up but it goes nowhere & Frightmare never really satisfied me on any level. At just under 90 minutes Frightmare moves along at a fair pace but takes a while to get going & then never really takes off, the horror aspect isn't that impressive neither are the psychological ones involving family, the system, trust & betrayal. There is one weak twist that is never explained, if Jackie didn't tell her just how did Debbie know about her parents?
Filmed in real locations in 70's London this has a certain look & feel that I liked but the film itself isn't so good. The gore is actually quite tame, there's a battered head in a car boot, someone is beaten up, someone is killed with a hot poker off screen, someone is stabbed with a pitchfork while a dead man is seen with a bloody face but generally speaking Frightmare isn't that gory. The film Jackie & Graham are supposed to be seeing is Blow-Out (1973) but while in the cinema the soundtrack heard is from Walker's earlier film House of Whipcord.
Filmed mainly in Haselmere in Surrey here in England. Probably shot on a low budget Frightmare looks quite good actually, it's fairly bright & the production values are decent. The acting is pretty good, Sheila Keith gives a demented performance while Jackie is suitably vulnerable.
Frightmare is one of those films that I didn't love but didn't hate either, it's just there. Sure it will pass 90 odd minutes but there are better ways to spend that 90 minutes. I just feel a bit impartial & unmoved by it, I doubt I will remember much about it in a few days.