Film Review
It was the phenomenal success of Hitchcock's
Psycho
(1960) which motivated the British company Hammer Films to make
Taste of Fear, the first of its
psycho-thrillers. The film's popularity would help establish the
sub-genre as a major strand of Britain cinema over the ensuing decade,
paving the way for today's slasher movies. Hammer had, by
this stage, already scored some notable successes in the Gothic horror
genre, with its reinterpretations of Universal's classic horror
offerings
Dracula and
Frankenstein. The
psycho-thriller would provide a lucrative sideline for a film
production company that was fast becoming a world leader in the horror
genre.
Taste of Fear is undoubtedly
the best of Hammer's psycho-thrillers, a suspenseful, ingenious and
relentlessly creepy thriller that clearly owes much to H.G. Clouzot's
Les
Diaboliques (1958). The plot may not be entirely
original but there are enough red herrings and diversions to keep the
spectator guessing, courtesy of Jimmy Sangster, the ace screenwriter
who penned several of Hammer's best films. Sangster's Hammer
offerings range from the first of the company's Gothic horrors,
The Curse of Frankenstein
(1957), to the groundbreaking thriller
Nightmare (1964). Sangster
would later rework this film as
Fear in the Night (1972).
The film was directed by Seth Holt, a former editor who had previously
only made one film, the Ealing crime drama
Nowhere to Go (1958).
Although his filmmaking career was brief (tragically curtailed by a
heart attack when he was 47), Holt was undoubtedly one of Britain's
most creative directors. As can be seen in this and his two
subsequent Hammer films -
The Nanny (1965) and
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
(1971) - Holt knew instinctively how to compose a shot for maximum
visual and emotional impact, and this is why his films are so
inordinately compelling and stylish.
The many chills and shocks that
Taste
of Fear offers the unwary spectator are all the more effective
because of Seth Holt's inventive direction and Douglas Slocombe's
dreamlike photography. The recurring appearances of the heroine's
dead father become increasingly horrific, culminating in the remarkable
underwater sequence, which probably stands as the most frightening two
minutes of any Hammer film. The almost noir-like cinematography
imbues the film with a stifling sense of confinement, effectively
amplifying the mounting paranoia of the main protagonist. When
the climax comes, it is both shocking and genuinely surprising.
The film doesn't disappoint on the acting front either. The leads
- Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis and Ann Todd - bring a stark realist
edge to the drama which helps in building the sense of neurotic
tension. After his great success in Hammer's previous
Dracula
(1958), Christopher Lee returns to the Hammer fold in a surprisingly
effective character role, convincingly playing a sinister French doctor
(and sounding remarkably like Charles Boyer). The
spellbinding contributions from these four performers draw our
attention from one or two imperfections in the script (which are only
noticeable on a second or third viewing) and help to make
Taste of Fear one of Hammer's most
riveting thrillers.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Not long after the dead body of a young woman is fished out of a lake
in Switzerland, Penny Appleby arrives at her father's house in the
south of France, hoping to make a reconciliation with her estranged
father Penny is surprised to learn that her father is away, but
her stepmother, Jane, gives her a friendly welcome. Penny is
wheelchair-bound, having damaged her spine in a horse-riding accident,
and so is dependent on her hostess and her chauffeur, Bob. On her
first night in the house, Penny goes exploring and, to her horror, sees
her father sitting in a catatonic state in the summer house. She
alerts Bob, but when they return the old man is no longer there.
When the incident is repeated over the next few days, Penny suspects
that she is the victim of a plot to drive her out of her mind.
Convinced that her mother is the culprit, in league with the mysterious
Dr Gerrard, Penny enlists Bob's help in searching the house for her
father's body. She finds far more than she bargained for...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.