Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

JohnHowardReid Executive producer: Michael Carreras Producer: Jimmy Sangster. Copyright 1 September 1961 by Hammer Film Productions. Released through Columbia Pictures. New York opening simultaneously at the Forum and the Fine Arts: 22 August 1961. U.S. release: 22 August 1961. U.K. release: 4 June 1961. Australian release: 2 March 1962. Sydney opening at the Victory. 7,337 feet. 82 minutes. (Available on a 78-minutes Sony DVD).SYNOPSIS: Paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, beautiful young Penny Appleby visits her father's French Riviera villa for the first time since his second marriage; she meets her stepmother, Jane, Doctor Gerrard, her father's friend, and Bob, her father's chauffeur. Penny is told her father is away on business, but she is terrorized by the mysterious reappearance, in various places in the villa, of his dead body. Jane and Doctor Gerrard try to persuade Penny she is having hallucinations.NOTES: Although it passed with little critical comment and only predictably moderate audience interest on first release in Britain and Australia, "Scream of Fear" was later to develop a considerable cult following, not only in London but worldwide. COMMENT: I'm glad I saw this one on first release. Thoroughly enjoyed it too. High-voltage, edge-of-the-seat suspense, expertly delivered by an ingeniously tension-filled script, sharp, atmospheric direction, and a group of talented players headed by Susan Strasberg and Ann Todd. True, Christopher Lee's fans will be disappointed. He has a nothing role. But Fred Johnson! Absolutely unforgettable — the role of a death-time! I liked Sangster's script. Very neatly constructed, packed with nightmarish incident, plenty of plot twists and shocks, yet believably realistic, thanks to solid characterization and skillful dialogue.Seth Holt's highly imaginative direction, with its phenomenally sharp editing, not only built up the atmosphere to breaking point, but never muffed a single opportunity to hit the viewer right between the eyes. It came as no surprise to find — when Holt was adopted by the auteurists and the corduroy set — that his background was in editing, Scream/Taste of Fear being only his second film as director. (A promising career curtailed by ill-health. He died halfway through shooting "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" in 1971.)

AaronCapenBanner Seth Holt directed this psychological suspense mystery that stars Susan Strasberg as Penny Appleby, a wheelchair-bound young woman whose divorced mother has recently died, and has been invited by her father and stepmother Jane(played by Ann Todd) to stay with them. She befriends the family chauffeur Bob(played by Ronald Lewis) and things are fine, but her father is absent, apparently on business, but Penny sees his corpse repeatedly on the estate, and becomes convinced that someone is trying to drive her insane... Christopher Lee costars as Doctor Pierre Gerrard. Intriguing mystery has good direction and cast, with a most surprising and ironic twist ending. Most worthwhile.

lemon_magic Hammer made its name with colorful horror movies, but this early black-and-white classic shows that their stable of creative talent had some other tricks up their collective sleeves. Writer Sangster and director Roth proved that they could take some elements of "Gaslight" and "Le Diaboliques" and come up with a tight little suspense thriller that manages some excellent twists and turns.I've watched a bunch of movies like this one, and was basically able to determine early on what was going to have to happen for the movie to have a "happy" ending where the good guys win (because that was still a requirement back then).But the actors were so good and the scenes so well staged and managed that it was still great fun to see the plot events unfold. And I will admit - the movie did catch me by surprise a couple of times. That's pretty impressive for a screenplay that's over 50 years old!Even better, the movie manages to play reasonably fair with the audience - there was only one "oh sure" element in the plot *SPOILER ALERT* which asks me to believe that a person could jump from a car which was falling off a cliff into the ocean and still be OK; I hardly think so! *END SPOILER ALERT*I especially liked the actor who played the chauffeur - handsome in an interesting way, but with an enigmatic hardness to him. Is he a good guy, or is he in on whatever is going on? When you find out, you'll be happy.Really,really liked this film. Not great art but Hammer never aspired to "Art"; they just wanted to thrill their audiences. This film is easily one of their best.

sdave7596 I caught this gem of a movie on TCM recently. "Scream of Fear" (or "Taste of Fear") released in 1961, a mystery/horror film that centers around a young woman named Penny (Susan Strasberg) confined to a wheelchair after a horse riding accident. She goes to visit her father, whom she has not seen in 9 years (and it is never really fully explained why). Anyway, her father lives on the French Riviera, and when Penny gets there, he is not there. Instead she encounters Jane (Ann Todd) her stepmother, who is so overly gracious and hospitable that the viewer can tell it is something of an act. There is also a handsome and helpful handyman/chaueffer Robert (Ronald Lewis). Penny becomes suspicious of her father's absence, and then begins seeing his corpse show up in various placed on the immense property. Everyone tells her she is imaging things, except Robert, who appears to be on her side (or is he?). The plot takes some twists and turns that are unexpected. I thought this was going to be a B-type movie, so common to this era of film making, but was pleasantly surprised it was so well made and acted. There are some things that don't quite make sense, like Penny suddenly thinking her father's corpse is being kept in a neglected pool (who would think such a thing?). One interesting aspect of the film is the obvious camera work playing up Robert's good looks -- he appears to be the sex object of the film, unusual by 1961 standards, when actresses were used in this way. In once scene, he appears in a skimpy bathing suit that doesn't leave much to the imagination! Strasberg's performance is calm and yet she can be hysterical when needed. Supporting cast members Ann Todd and Ronald Lewis are both good and Christopher Lee is also on hand as a creepy and sinister doctor. The ending of the film is a complete surprise, and totally blew me away. Check this one out -- you won't regret it.