Frightmare (1974)
Pete Walker's grisly tale of cannibalism in the home counties is often seen as his greatest work. Starring Sheila Keith and Rupert Davies as a couple recently released from an asylum where Keith was incarcerated for murdering and partially eating six people. However Keith isn't cured and her cannibalistic urges quickly return.
Although low budget Walker filmed it all on location or out of a studio and it's all the better for it. It gives the film that seedy seventies feel following the hedonistic times of the swinging sixties.
Coming over like a kind of British grim and gritty version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Keith's character Dorothy uses all manner of power tools to dispatch her victims at her rural farm house - but arguably better written thanks to David McGillivray's tight script. You never realise that the murders don't begin until the films midway point - It's exact midway point to be precise - as the story and realistic acting draw you in and keep you invested, in particular Deborah Fairfax who plays the couple's London living daughter Jackie. It's Keith who is the main draw, starting off sympathetic she evolves into a scheming remorseless killer and the first time i watched it i quickly found out i'd never seen anything quite like it. How could these nice elderly people do the things they did? It seemed so gritty and scarily realistic. They weren't zombies or vampires just normal folk. Albeit normal folk who stick hot pokers in eyes and pitchfork's into stomachs. On that level the film remains unsettling to this day.
I look forward to hearing McGillivray's new Blu-ray commentary with Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman later this week.
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