While Hammer Studios usually made horror/sci-fi films occasionally they would make thrillers that were reminiscent of Hitchcock. This story starts out with a female body being dragged out of a Scandinavian lake but later a woman in a wheelchair arrives in France where a hired driver is waiting to pick her up. Susan Strasberg plays Penny Appleby and she had sustained an injury while horse riding so she is now paralyzed. Her parents were divorced when she was young and she has been living with her mother but she died and now she has come to see her father. She hasn't seen him in ten years and he has remarried to a woman named Jane (Ann Todd). Penny is picked up at the airport by Bob (Ronald Lewis) who is very friendly and during the drive he mentions that her father is sick but doesn't know how badly. She arrives and meets Jane who informs her that her father has gone out of town on business.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Once Penny starts to stay on her father's estate she starts to see lights going on in a cabin and when she enters to see what it is she is horrified to see the corpse of her father. No one believes her and Doctor Gerrard (Christopher Lee) suggests that she has an overly active imagination. But Penny keeps seeing her father and Bob tells her that he is probably dead and his body is kept hidden away. Penny and Bob figure out that Jane is out to get the inheritance if she can get Penny out of the way.
This film was made by Hammer Studio veterans and it was directed by Seth Holt who does a very good job of creating an eerie atmosphere right up until the very end. One of the things that I enjoyed were the scenes where there was no music or sound at all. In a very creepy scene Bob goes underwater to check the bottom of a pool that is dark and cluttered with debris and he finds the body of Penny's father. This scene has no music or sound as Bob sifts through the darkness with only rays of light shining down and the suspense that builds during all this could be cut with a knife. Its an incredibly effective scene that may be the best in the whole film. Small parts of the script are a little predictable but there is a pretty neat twist at the end that I didn't see coming. Strasberg is good as the frail Penny and she was a very talented actress that never received enough quality roles. This film is a hidden gem and a lot of fun to watch and it would be perfect to view on a rainy night.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Once Penny starts to stay on her father's estate she starts to see lights going on in a cabin and when she enters to see what it is she is horrified to see the corpse of her father. No one believes her and Doctor Gerrard (Christopher Lee) suggests that she has an overly active imagination. But Penny keeps seeing her father and Bob tells her that he is probably dead and his body is kept hidden away. Penny and Bob figure out that Jane is out to get the inheritance if she can get Penny out of the way.
This film was made by Hammer Studio veterans and it was directed by Seth Holt who does a very good job of creating an eerie atmosphere right up until the very end. One of the things that I enjoyed were the scenes where there was no music or sound at all. In a very creepy scene Bob goes underwater to check the bottom of a pool that is dark and cluttered with debris and he finds the body of Penny's father. This scene has no music or sound as Bob sifts through the darkness with only rays of light shining down and the suspense that builds during all this could be cut with a knife. Its an incredibly effective scene that may be the best in the whole film. Small parts of the script are a little predictable but there is a pretty neat twist at the end that I didn't see coming. Strasberg is good as the frail Penny and she was a very talented actress that never received enough quality roles. This film is a hidden gem and a lot of fun to watch and it would be perfect to view on a rainy night.