Taste of Fear

A Hammer Films production, but not a Dracula or a Frankenstein movie. Actually it's not a horror movie in the true sense of the term, but rather a suspense movie in the Hitchcock tradition, about a young, wheelchair-bound woman who fears somebody is trying to drive her insane. According to Christopher Lee (who has a supporting role as a sinister doctor) this was the best Hammer movie he ever appeared in, the one with "the best director, best cast and best story".

After the fatal accident that turned Penny into a paraplegic, she and her father have drifted apart, and not just in a metaphorical sense: she remained in England while he moved to France. But now, ten years later, she has finally planned to pay him a visit. Upon her arrival on Marseille airport, she's told that her father is on a business trip, but both her stepmother and a local doctor, seem to keep something back from her. And then she starts catching glimpses of her father's dead body in a around the house, but every time the corpse vanishes before she can ask others to have a look at it. The only one willing to believe her, is Bob, her father's chauffeur ...

The Hitchcock factor is undeniable, but story wise the movie is closer to Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques than to any of Hitch's thrillers. There's the enigmatic corpse, there's the villa, the pool and above all the twists and turns that may even lead experienced thriller fans up the garden path. Probably the story will not hold when scrutinized too closely, but that's often the case with this type of mystery thrillers, including the best among them. Only true complaint: the film is set in France, and therefore Christopher Lee speaks English with a funny accent, to make him sound French. Well, it worked for inspector Clouseau ...

Susan Strasberg, who plays the paraplegic young woman, is drama coach Lee Strasberg's daughter.

Aanraders in overeenkomstige genres, volgens Boobytrap:
- The Silence of the Lambs (thriller / horror : 7.5)
- The Horseman (thriller / horror : 7)
- Untraceable (thriller / horror : 7)
- Lo Strano Vizio della Signora Wardh (Blade of the Ripper) (thriller / horror : 7)
- Manhunter (thriller / horror : 7)

Hoe beoordeelt Boobytrap categorie thriller eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hoe beoordeelt Boobytrap categorie horror eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10