Taste of Fear
(1961), dir. Seth Holt, Hammer Film Productions
Released in the US as Scream
of Fear, Hammer’s thriller was quite shocking for its time and more so when
looking at the company’s later output. It does make one wonder if the company
would have fared better if they had to recapture the magic of this film rather than
churning more vampire flicks.
On a Swiss lake, a team of police discover the body of
missing teen Emily Frencham. Emily was on holiday with her best friend Penny
Appleby (Susan Strasberg), who can only say that her friend left in the middle
of the night.
A while later, Penny arrives at the Nice-Cote d’Azure
airport expecting to be picked up by her father (Fred Johnson), only the old
man isn’t there. The pair hasn’t been very close; in fact Penny hasn’t spoken
to or seen her father in almost a decade since her parents divorced and her
paralysis in a riding accident. Her mother having died recently has more or
less left Penny homeless, but her father was kind enough to invite her to his
home in the south of France.
Of course, this hardly explains why he isn’t there to greet
her, but his chauffer Bob (Ronald Lewis) is; stepmother Jane (Ann Todd) is
waiting back at the house and has gone to some effort to make the girl feel
welcome. This doesn’t explain where her father is though, as the man apparently
rushed out for a business related manner some days ago without giving word. Bob
finds this funny, as the man he works for is so sickly that leaving the house
is a nigh Herculean task. The older man’s personal doctor, Dr. Gerrard
(Christopher Lee) is also suspicious, hanging around the house too much and
seeming far too friendly with Jane.
Penny’s first night there is fine, but as she’s turning in
for the night she notices a light on in the guest house. Curious, as Jane swore
they would be the only people there (Bob living above the garage), Penny goes
to investigate. Her findings: Her father-quite dead.
Panicked, Penny wheels herself out of the house and into the
pool by accident. Jane and Bob fish her out of the pool and take inside. When
she is recovered enough to talk, Jane is quick to dismiss her, as her father
informed her that Penny has always been a nervous girl with an overactive
imagination. Opening the guest house the next morning reveals no bodies, Mr.
Appleby or anyone else. Bob sees, however, a chunk of hardened candle wax, like
the kind that would be left behind if one left a lit candle. Not a hundred
percent convinced but not trusting Jane either, Bob and Penny team up to find out what
happened to her father.
Honestly, this film surprised me. Lee plays his character
with the right amount of care and smug. Is he a friendly doctor or a murderer?
Is Penny correct or is she going mad?
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