Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

MartinHafer "Deadly Strangers" is a very poor suspense movie--mostly due to bad pacing and really bad writing. I know several of the reviewers really liked it...but I just couldn't get past many odd dangling plot points. The story begins with a maniac killing some folks at an institute for the criminally insane and disappearing. The next scene, Belle (Hayley Mills) is at a pub...trying to hitch a ride with someone. A truck driver takes her...and soon tries to molest her and she escapes. Soon, Stephen (Simon Ward) arrives and offers to take her the rest of the way. What follows is a very LONG cross country trek where OFTEN Stephen does criminal activities that simply make no sense AND Belle complains...but ultimately stays with him. By the end, you learn which of them is the psychotic murderer...and this really does NOT explain away a lot of what you'd previously seen!The other problem with the film is that BOTH Stephen AND Belle keep having flashback scenes...far too often. It's just plain sloppy and the film left me frustrated because I wanted to see a good suspense picture....and didn't!

info-627-664439 1975's "Deadly Strangers" is a chilling must-see for Hayley Mills fans wherein she delivers a superlative performance as a hitch-hiker being pursued by a mysterious stranger played most effectively by Simon Ward. This film, directed by Sidney Hayers outdoes for Hayley's career what the Boulting Brothers did for her in "The Family Way" and "Twisted Nerve" in the late sixties. This film, despite its low-budget, makes the most of the economical script by Philip Levene and the expert use of Graham Edgar's cinematography and film editing by Barry Peters with music by Ron Goodwin. I think it completely shed her Disney image successfully, but finding a decent copy to share it with friends is perhaps the biggest outrage that the film subjects viewers to. Sterling Hayden is also in the cast in an unusual role. It does not seem to have been officially released in the U.S. except on VHS. Well worth the effort; it is entirely stylish and packs a wallop. I believe the director is also known for "Burn, Witch, Burn," but I'm not sure. Proof you can make cinema magic out of next to nothing.

punishmentpark Well, I read two very enthusiastic reviews (not on IMDb, but elsewhere) and got a little enthusiastic myself... I'll admit it's not all bad but still, this is no must-see thriller.First off, the 'kills' are pretty much a joke. Which is not a big problem, if the story is gripping and convincing. Though it has some clever elements and twists, the most important one (SHE is the killer) was pretty obvious to me after a good forty minutes. Furthermore the film balances between a proper production and a b-movie all too often. The biggest fun is to be had with a surprising attendance of the legendary Sterling Hayden, as some sort of rugged, bearded baron with overly grand posture to match... hilarious? Or cringingly painful? I still can not decide - maybe both.Anyhoo, this has killed my time reasonably sufficiently, but that's about it - Hayley Mills is véry pleasant to look at. 5 out of 10.

Theo Robertson A violent psychiatric patient escapes from a mental hospital . Nearby the next day Belle Adams is stuck in a roadside café . Accepting a life from a trucker she finds herself victim from unwanted attention by the trucker . Escapiing his clutches she staggers in to the road and his nearly hit by a car driven by Stephen Slade . Accepting a life from him she quickly becomes aware that he is doing all he can to avoid the police roadblocks searching for the patient !!!!!! MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!!! Sometimes someone comes up with a great idea that confounds all expectations . Reading the synopsis to this relatively unknown British thriller you'll be asking yourself why anyone wants to go out of their way to watch it because it has predictable written all over it . Innocent young woman accepts a lift from a stranger who is psychotic . The way the story is told is equally predictable . The producers don't have faith in the premise and therefore it gets padded out by having flashback scenes as if there's an agenda of employing as many actors as possible in a minimalist story . The cynicism extends to having Sterling Hayden appear wearing a comedy beard in order to appeal to American distributors and one constantly finds oneself asking why instead of melodrama we couldn't have had film confined to a slow burning tale involving two talking roles where the tension is slowly but surely cranked up until the shocking end This has a relatively high average user rating . It's easy to see why because the ending is totally surprising and one that I didn't see coming . The problem is when you recall the rest of the story proceeding it then it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense whatsoever . When the patient escapes at the beginning they overpower a female nurse in an unpleasant scene that alludes to rape so we jump to the conclusion that Stephen is the escaped patient . When the cops arrive at the final scene they arrest Belle and it's rather obvious that by their reaction it is she who is the escaped patient who the authorities are hunting in a blaze of publicity . This was made in the mid 1970s when we didn't have 24 hour TV news broadcasting but yet every single character in the film knows there's an escaped maniac on the loose but unaware that she's female . The internal logic and continuity of the scenario doesn't hold up the slightest piece of scrutiny when given any thought . There's also another unpleasant scene where Stephen leaves Belle sleeping in the car , goes in to a shop and the young female counter assistant is murdered . We see the murder entirely take place through the murderer's POV then it cuts to Stephen going back to he car . You might think there might be a bit of ambiguity to this scene but it's almost certain Stephen carried out the murder , so we have a story about an escaped psychopath on the run from the police getting a lift from a serial killer . So what's the chances of anything like that remotely happening in real life ?