Disorderly Conduct: (left to right) Janina Faye and Niall MacGinnis in Never Take Candy From A Stranger, and Kerwin Mathews in Maniac.
NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER(1960) Starring Patrick Allen, Janina Faye and Felix Aylmer
Directed by Cyril Frankel Written by Roger Garis and John Hunter
The most controversial and harrowing film in this DVD set, Never Take Candy from a
Stranger was remarkably ahead of its time in its depiction of an all-too-real nightmare: child molestation. The welcome wagon has barely left when the town’s new high school princi- pal Mr. Carter (Patrick Allen) discovers his ten- year-old daughter (Janina Faye) was coerced into taking off her clothes by Mr. Olderberry (Felix Aylmer), the creepy elderly patriarch of the area’s most prominent family. Largely employed by Olderberry’s son (Bill Nagy), the townsfolk use intimidation to keep the old man’s perversions secret. After a prejudiced court trial ends with the pedophile’s acquittal, Carter is coerced into dropping the charges since there was, techni- cally, no sexual contact. It’s a mistake that everyone lives to regret in this uncompromising morality play that overcomes conventional courtroom sequences to instill real drama with expressive, shadowy cinematography. Aylmer, too, is terrific as the dirty old coot who strikes a defiantly sinister note, despite not having any lines.
THE SNORKEL (1958) Starring Peter van Eyck, Betta St. John
and Mandy Miller Directed by Guy Green Written by Antonio Margheriti, Peter Myers and Jimmy Sangster
One of Hammer’s more unusual outings, The Snorkel is a tale of murder and revenge that
owes an obvious debt to the macabre twists popularized by Bill Gaines’ EC Comics. Swiss actor Peter van Eyck stars as Paul Decker, a calculating killer who offs his rich wife by fill- ing their home with gas and hiding in a specially constructed chamber with the titular breath- ing apparatus. Paul convinces the police that her death was an accident, but his stepdaughter Jean (Betta St. John) isn’t so sure, especially since she claims to have seen him drown her father years earlier. But Paul isn’t going to take such accusations in stride, and begins to bad- mouth Jean to her nanny (Mandy Miller) and arrange for the nosy teen to have her own lit- tle “accident.” The film’s simple premise is maybe a little too thin to cover the long running time, but the pure menace that van Eyck seems to emit from every pore makes this install- ment one of the set’s most memorable.
Starring Ronald Lewis, Diane Cilento and Claude Dauphin Directed by Val Guest
A striking thriller in the classic Hitchcock mould, Val Guest’s contribution to the set
concerns Alan, an accident-shaken race car driver (Ronald Lewis) driven by a psy- chosexual compulsion to murder his wife (Diane Cilento). On a late honeymoon in Southern France the couple hopes will help Alan recover from his accident, the dis- tressed driver meets a psychiatrist (Claude Dauphin) who takes an interest in his case, later helping him unleash the suppressed memory he believes is causing Alan’s blood- thirsty tendencies. But the cure may not have taken – Alan wakes up the next morning to find blood smeared all over the bathroom and no sign of his ever-patient spouse, leading him to believe that the charming doctor was right about him after all. While not as lurid as its title might suggest, Stop Me Before I Kill! is a pleas- antly twisty effort capably handled by Hammer veteran Guest, the director of the excellent The Quatermass Xperiment.
THESE ARE THE DAMNED (1963) Starring Macdonald Carey,
Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed Directed by Joseph Losey
Written by Evan Jones and H.L. Lawrence
This slackly paced Cold War relic from Mc- Carthy-era blacklisted American director Joseph
Losey gears up with a juvenile delinquency plotline that gradually melts away into the realm of fatalistic science fiction. Things get underway with slick leather-clad gang leader King (Oliver Reed), who makes his living robbing hapless tourists such as Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey) with the help of his sexy sister Joan (Shirley Anne Field). But when Joan suddenly develops a nagging conscience, she confesses to Simon and tries to flee with him to escape King’s ruthless grip. Borrowing a few ideas from the then-recent hit Village of the Damned, the plot sees the trio stumbling on a military bunker inhabited by children who appear to have no knowledge of the out- side world. Joan and Simon try to help them escape, but a group of state scientists don’t take too kindly to any meddling – they’re running a top secret genetic engi- neering project to raise irradiated children equipped to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Despite the potential for exploitation thrills, These Are the Damned remains overly sombre and understated, except for the monstrously catchy (and campy) pop song theme, “Black Leather Rock,” by Hammer composer James Bernard.
STOP ME BEFORE I KILL! (1960) Written by Val Guest and Ronald Scott Thorn
27RM
Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
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