Foreverisacastironmess I've always greatly appreciated and admired this film for how utterly dark and hopeless it is. When it premiered on the Horror Channel in February of last year it was the first time it'd seen the light of day on British television in sixteen years. Now I personally consider Frightmare to be a rare 'pure' horror flick because the horror involved has absolutely no mercy or happy mediums of any kind. It's as unrelenting, inevitable, and inescapable as any nightmare... What really freaks me out about it is its tone, its incredibly bleak, disturbing tone. And what's far more effective than the action that's on the screen, is the way that it has such a great, gritty stark look and quality about it - particularly at the witch's cottage and the surrounding lonely countryside. Everything's so dank and musty and just plain grim looking, and it's this atmosphere that really helps the film the most. And at the searing climax all the brooding gloom and doom blends perfectly with the story and everything just seems to reach such crescendo of hellish proportions that is black as pitch, and positively devours anything even approaching hope... Needless to say. the whole film is profoundly disturbing! I get an instant knot of dread in my stomach every time the prologue opens with the eerie deserted carnival set in the fifties, and the haunting music begins to play. It's not for everyone, it's a slow-burner and very reflective of the decade in which it was made, but as long as you try not to be put off by some of the more obnoxious '70s scenes and keep a respect in mind for the classic old-fashioned feel of the horror, then you'll hopefully like it for what it is. To me it's all the more unsettling because for all the larger than life macabre elements of it, it skillfully maintains a grim-reality feel about it as the harrowing events unfold and narrow down to their terribly final conclusion. There's no sense of any larger evil leading the characters to their grisly ends, they're all just victims of cruel chance and bad luck, and you can just feel the desperation and ominous dread build as the jaws of death slowly close upon them. Deborah Fairfax was a strong enough lead, although I thought she didn't stand out much and was out-shined a lot even by some of the smaller supporting actors. Kim Butcher was a hoot as the bratty little witch who harboured sinister secrets all her own. Her mod boyfriend was probably the worst actor in the movie, but he did get the nastiest death so I guess some might call that an even trade! I liked Paul Greenwood as the cute do-gooder nerd who wanders a bit too close to the serpent for his own good... The character was nice and all, but I must say he was also a big idiot who didn't really see anything beyond his own good intentions and dull point of view, so convinced that he could help fix a situation he knew hardly anything about that he was seemingly blind to the deceptive evil staring him right in the face the whole time until it's way too late. It's an awful shock moment when Jackie discovers his defiled corpse. Now who did I forget... This is a prime example of a film where pretty much one actor carries the whole show and makes it exceptional, and for me in this it's absolutely the fantastic performance of Sheila Keith because any time she's not on the screen, things begin to unravel and grow somewhat tedious, and the moment she shows up again she ignites the screen with her vile magnetism as a depraved vicious animal of a psychotic killer! She was so revolting..almost like a man. They made her seem so physically imposing, completely non-feminine in any way, and her bark was just terrifying. You can feel why a much younger woman just stands there as if paralysed as she impales her with a fireplace poker in one masterfully suspenseful sequence. She's her most chilling in the film as she stares right into the poor soul's eyes as she spirals off into oblivion... It's astonishing how well she plays this big, villainous wicked grandmother with such authority and believability. How did she do it!? They gave her some great fiendish dialogue, and you can tell the old dear was having fun with it! It's a solid suspense horror but without Keith, I really don't think Id even remember it. It would be rather forgettable without her. The betrayal at the end is so unthinkable it's too terrible for words. It chills me to the bone every time I see it. I may not 'like' the way the picture ends, but it is a very powerful and memorable ending that sets it apart from many others of its kind. It just has such brutal impact... It's not even gory, but is truly horrendous because it's what you don't see, you merely hear the sounds of poor doomed Jackie stuck in a room in the middle of nowhere, with these two soulless monsters closing in on her like a pair of spiders, never to be heard... To me they really captured the hopeless fear that real victims of such 'people' must feel in their final moments. This most certainly does leave a bad taste that stays with you for quite a while, but if you want a horror movie where you can actually feel the horror, this one will not disappoint. See ya!

Red-Barracuda You've got to hand it to Pete Walker; he was one of the few British exploitation horror directors to make any impact back in the 70's. The ridiculously stringent censorship climate in the U.K. back in those days most probably put other film-makers off taking a chance in pushing the envelope. But Walker seemed to get his films out anyway, not only this but they do seem to have a bit of quality about them. Both Frightmare and House of Whipcord are good examples of well made exploitation movies with some originality and good acting.In 1957 Edmund and Dorothy Yates are tried and convicted of murder and sent to an asylum. They are released 'cured' several years later but Dorothy soon starts luring unsuspecting folks to her remote farmhouse for tarot readings that end rather grimly.Frightmare really feels like a British variant on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It seems pretty likely that their similarities are something of a coincidence seeing as they were released at the same time but they are both quite specifically about cannibalism and the family. Walker's film may not have as iconic a character as Leatherface but it does have Dorothy Yates. And it does have to be said that she is a seriously inspired creation. Sheila Keith portrays her perfectly in an awesome performance. Keith is one of the truly under-rated horror performers and this must surely be her pinnacle. To be fair though, there are other fine performances, most notably from Rupert Davies as the loyal husband Edmund and Kim Butcher is feisty as their tearaway teenage daughter.There is an impressively bleak atmosphere maintained throughout. This is continued right up to the nihilistic ending. Walker's films seem to share this. They also unusually often share a penchant for elderly villains. In this one they literally eat the younger generation. I have also read Walker also say that he was somewhat conservative when it came to nudity and preferred not to include it – a film like House of Whipcord, for example, would have played up its sexploitation angle much more in other hands. With Frightmare he finally had a chance to not include any sleaze at all, which pleased the director. What he could not avoid though was the mind-blowingly awful British fashion sense of the 70's. In some respects the clothing on display is much more frightening than death by power drill or pitchfork. No, but seriously, this is an excellent movie and one of the best British horror films from the 70's.

PeterMitchell-506-564364 Considering it's subject matter of unreformed mother cannibal, played again such incredible menace by British horror icon, Sheila Keith, this is what half makes it a disturbingly real horror. Hubby who covers up for her again, after they both did a 15 year stint in prison mother, brings the older daughter into the picture with dad, confessing to her that mummy's up to her old tricks again. What's chillingly good about Frightmare is how it pans out, out in the end. The younger sister, a rebellious uncontrollable sort, who hangs out with bikers, is partied not just to a serious incident, where her and her mates bash a guy half to death, that brings the attention of the police, who she fears not, but her families despicable acts which provides another shocking element to this well made British thriller. Keith's performance is enough to send chills down anyone's spine, for starters in this chiller. The film opens surprisingly in a black and white shot, in a fairground, where in her little caravan, Keith is seen reading fortunes, a creepy fortune teller at that. The older sister despises her. She's the total opposite of her younger Sis. Her boyfriend, who's in the field of psychiatry or psychology, even recommends himself, as the one to go over and have a chat with the young one. This horror has suspense at many corners, you so fear for the innocent ones, who you so not want to get caught up in the atrocity. A dark deeply disturbed horror, you may find it hard to contain yourselves, in part.

Indyrod This 1974 Pete Walker classic, is a definite trip into the macabre. A woman and her husband are sentenced to around twenty years for cannibalism and murder. And now, they have been released and are living on a farmhouse, and only their oldest daughter knows, at least that's what she thinks. The younger daughter lives with her Sister, but goes her own way on everything, usually ending in trouble. Meanwhile at the farmhouse, Mama is taking out whoever she can and storing them under the straw in the barn, after she uses her nice little drill to tenderize them a little. None of this is bound to be good about all of this, and as the story moves on, the more demented it becomes. Walker creates a world of "no body gets out of this one alive" kind of theme, even though the ending is somewhat of a surprise, and I certainly liked it. No Hollywood endings in a Pete Walker film. Very nice little bloody British horror film for the holidays, and after all these years, it holds up very nicely. Highly recommended, with a good commentary with Walker himself on the DVD.