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Summary
A sold shocker, this one should be seen by fans of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the like.
Plot:
A single young woman tries dating in hip ’70s England, but the scene goes very, very sour when her ex-mental patient parents reemerge in her life.
Review:
Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) is a young woman trying to navigate the dating scene in Surrey, England: She meets a nice, handsome psychologist doctor named Graham (Paul Greenwood) who could potentially become a great match for her, but Jackie has some serious responsibilities at this particular time in her life that make dating nearly impossible. First, her younger sister Debbie (Kim Butcher) is a 15 year-old juvenile delinquent who is becoming ever more dangerous and unhinged the more she hangs out with a gang that causes trouble in the neighborhood. When Debbie comes to live with her, things get worse for them both when Debbie and a couple of hoodlums beat a bartender to death in an alley, and Debbie throws the corpse in the trunk of a car and stashes it in a garage nearby. This is something that not even the gang members would do, but Debbie is in a whole different league. Also on Jackie’s plate is the fact that her mother Dorothy (Sheila Keith) was just released from a mental asylum after spending decades as a ward of the state after murdering and eating – yes, eating – people whom she invited into her farmhouse when she was younger. Declared cured, Dorothy now lives in the same farmhouse with her husband (played by Rupert Davies) who soon realizes that his wife is not cured at all, but up to her old tricks. As a fortuneteller, she’s a whiz at the tarot deck, but when she suspects that her paying clients might be single and would not be missed by anyone, she kills them and stashes them in the barn to be eaten later. After Debbie seeks solace at her parents’ house from the murder she committed, she joins the cannibal club, which means that Jackie will have to figure out how to get her family situation sorted out before things get even worse, but how can things get worse than this? Trust me, things get worse.
Frightmare shocked the hell out of audiences in 1974, and rightfully so, especially in the era of the British censorship (remember the whole “Video Nasties” thing?), and it still packs a punch today. Director Pete Walker really went for broke here, and there’s a good reason why this movie has lasted the test of time. It’s shocking and “nasty” with artfully played gore and violence, and it’s also a commentary on the justice system and how mental patients with severe disturbances weren’t governed properly and sent back into the world as “cured” even though they obviously weren’t. A sold shocker, this one should be seen by fans of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the like.
Kino Lorber recently brought Frightmare to Blu-ray as part of their “Kino Cult” line, and it’s #40 on the spine. With a nice, vivid transfer and tons of bonus features including two audio commentaries, interviews, and the trailer, plus a slipcover, this one is a keeper.
