Scream of Fear (1961)

Director: Seth Holt

Starring: Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, John Serret, Leonard Sachs

More info: IMDb

Tagline: For maximum thrill . . . we earnestly urge you to see this motion picture from the start!

Plot: After narrowly surviving an accident in which she nearly drowned, the wheelchair bound Penny Appleby returns home to live with her widowed step-mother Jane on the French Riviera. She begins to question her sanity after several times seeing her father's corpse around the house and its grounds, and enlists the help of the friendly chauffeur Bob while attending Doctor Gerrard acts in a suitably sinister manner. No one is who they seem in this tale of intrigue and suspense.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? YES!

#15 on Hammer Horror (1957-1976)

OK, so after seeing the slow but decent Hammer thriller STOP ME BEFORE I KILL! (1960), Hammer redeemed themselves with this one, and what a thriller it is! WOW! Ronald Lewis is back and he's terrific. Hell, the performances all around are great and Susan Strasberg especially with hers, the most important role.


What's more than the actors is the wonderfully tight script and direction. The ending took me by complete surprise and I was not disappointed in the least. The big difference between this one and STOP is that STOP stretched out for far too long - like making a TWILIGHT ZONE episode into a feature film. TASTE is only an hour and twenty one minutes and it's lean and just the right length. I get so aggravated with studios and film makers that feel the need to have a 90+ minute run time. There's nothing wrong with 81 minutes as long as it's good and this is excellent.