Frightmare (1975)

The Family That Kills Together Stays Together

"Frightmare" is a truly horrifying nightmare classic directed by British goremeister Pete Walker. Cannibalism must have been a hot topic in the mid 1970's. "Frightmare" was released in 1974, the same year as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and one year after "Raw Meat."

"Frightmare" asks the question: Can someone be cured of cannibalism? Of course not. Dorothy Yates underwent psychiatric treatment for cannibalism for fifteen years before being declared sane and released. Her totally devoted, spineless husband Edmond, who protected and abetted her in her crimes, was also released. With the help of Jackie, Edmond's daughter from his first marriage, the middle age couple start a new life in a secluded farmhouse. Unfortunately, Dorothy isn't cured and begins luring victims to the farmhouse through her tarot card readings. Even worse, their baby daughter, Debbie, has grown into a young woman who has inherited her mother's propensity for violence.

"Frightmare" has everything I love in a well crafted horror movie: fast pacing, nail-biting suspense, terrifyingly gruesome scenes, and a good body count. Believe it or not, the gore was kept to a minimum. This film is far more entertaining than Pete Walker's earlier films such as "Die Screaming Marianne" and "The Flesh and Blood Show." It is highly recommended for fans of slasher flicks, cannibal movies, and/or Pete Walker. It deserves a strong five stars. Best scene: When Edmond learns where Dorothy has hidden the corpses.
August 12, 2008

You Could Put An Eye Out!...

FRIGHTMARE begins in the black and white 1950s, with a gruesome death and the institutionalization of a married couple of merry murderers. Their crimes include homicide and cannibalism. Seventeen years later, Dorothy and Edmund Yates (Sheila Keith and Rupert Davies) are pronounced "cured" of their illness and released from state custody. Dorothy sets up shop as a tarot card reader, while Edmund takes a job as a chauffeur. Meanwhile, the pair's daughters, Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) and Debbie (Kim Butcher) are having trouble living together. It seems that Debbie is a juvenile delinquent (she's 15, but looks to be in her mid-20s) w/ a penchant for bloody violence. Could she be heading in the same terrible direction as her dear old mum? Director, Pete Walker gives us plenty of reasons to love / hate the Yates clan. Jackie is caught in the middle, as quite possibly the only sane member of the family. The rest are right off the edge! Dorothy is the black soul of this movie, wickedly slaying her way into our hearts. Edmund watches her madness in impotent horror. Debbie grows increasingly uncontrollable. The bodies start piling up. A typical story of inter-family relationships. There's even a psychiatrist who thinks he can help. Oopsy-daisy! I guess he shouldn't have made that housecall! How's THAT for a clever cleaver?! Buy this classic right away... July 19, 2008

Borefest.

Frightmare (Pete Walker, 1974)

It took me four tries to get to the end of this movie; I kept falling asleep. I'm pretty sure the only reason I soldiered on after the second time was to see whether it would get any more irredeemably awful than it already was. The worst part is I can't even say that about it; it just continues on with the baseline of badness it establishes at the beginning, never going anywhere that might make it interesting, even in the worst of ways.

The plot, what little of it there is, centers on Dorothy Yates (Sheila Keith, who would team up with Walker again a decade later for House of the Long Shadows), who was confined to an asylum for fifteen years. After she is released, she and her husband Edward (War and Peace's Rupert Davies in one of his final screen appearances) relocate to a small village on the coast to try and restart their lives. They get mysterious late-night visits from their daughter Jackie (character actress Deborah Fairfax in her only big-screen appearance), whose stepsister Debbie (House of Mortal Sin's Kim Butcher) is chafing with teenage rebellion at Jackie's draconian house rules. There's a lot of less-than-germane stuff about Debbie's rebellion and Jackie's boyfriend Graham (Paul Greenwood, the only one of the principals still working), a young, enthusiastic psychologist who's trying to understand the odd family dynamic. We get back round to the actual plot eventually, but we'd be deep into spoiler territory by the time we got there.

Not that there's a great deal to spoil. The big plot twist (Dorothy's crime) was revealed by most of the reviews at the time, and is common knowledge among those aware of the film, but I'll not reveal it here. But more to the point, by the time we get there, we just don't care any more. So much of this movie has so tenuous a connection to what's going on (and the connection we do get is really straining at its bonds) that we lose sight of the overarching plot within the first half-hour, and it's almost a surprise when Edward and Dorothy pop up; what have they got to do with thugs roaming the streets of London? Not a great deal, as it turns out. When we find out that most of that subplot was nothing more than window dressing aimed at getting one specific character into one specific place, the elaborate machinations of the script get too annoying for words. This one has faded into well-deserved obscurity, and you'd be well served to leave it there. *

July 18, 2008

Under-appreciated Masterpiece

The most famous and disturbing image of Pete Walker's 1974 exploitation horror film "Frightmare," is when psychopathic matriarch Dorothy (Sheila Keith) gleefully and with lip-smacking relish, uses a Black and Decker cordless drill on a poor chaps head. The disgust and revulsion of this sequence is matched only by Dorothy's look of ravenous hunger has she looks forward to a spot of cannibalism (well it certainly beats McDonalds!). This single image effectively signalled the end of Hammer's restricted and regulated gothic milieu and Amicus Studios overly simplistic tales of modern morality. Walker unceremoniously dragged the British horror film into the world of grime, dirt and perversion that "Peeping Tom" had hinted at 14 years before. Walker depicts a modern England of filth, degradation, moral decay, and destroyed social institutions. None of our sacred ideological institutions survive "Frightmare's" scathing and savage discourse. The family, normally presided over by a domineering patriarch, is instead ruled by a cannibalistic matriarch. She quietly dominates her hen-pecked husband who watches on helpless and mute. The next generation are no better; their children are violent, permissive and hypocritical, the older generation securing the possibility of a bleak future. Law and order is made of mockery of, non-existent or doltish, something Walker explored in his earlier feature "House of Whipcord." Most importantly psychology fails, our token hero ending up on the menu. This is social dystopia of the highest order. What makes the film truly special is how Walker extends his nightmare vision to the aesthetic presentation of the film. Dark, dank and dreary naturalist photography swamps the visuals in a drab, colourless shade. Furthermore the film explores issues that are still relevant to this day, and remain alive and well, beneath the surface veneer of society. March 29, 2007

I have a Meegrane.....no wonder

The man and woman who play Mr. & Mrs. Yates are two favorite actors. You can watch her in House of the Long Shadows......she is an excellent actress and you can see him in Dracula has Risen from the Grave. Put these two together in one film and it's a horror fest fun for all. Keith plays a true crazy in this one.....so turn off the lamps, light some candles and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!! December 7, 2006

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