Revenge

After the funeral of their young daughter, the family learns that the man who was suspected for rape and murder is let go because of the lack of evidence. The father, along with his older son and friend whose daughter was also killed by the same man devise a plan to kidnap and hopefully get the confession out of him. However things turn bad, when one slip after another leads to them turning on each other and having second thoughts that maybe they've got the wrong man.

There's potential there, but the compact, stiff script doesn't really tap into it enough and leaves plenty of the looming heavy-handed themes high and dry. Emotionally the film makes a huge dent, but more so in a bleakly intense and serious tone. The film itself is pretty fundamental and scandalously melodramatic as it rears it ugly head into brusque crudeness. Watching the characters lose control of the situation, and going on to tear each other apart as the misguided kidnapping triggers a disastrous domino effect is strangely gripping and at times rather uneasy. One interesting moment sees an unusual state of sexual tension between two characters, which has you thinking, was there something there before it erupted. Maybe it goes too over-the-top, and in doing so loses some creditability. Sidney Hayers' direction is efficiently workman-like, with little in the way of style, but he manages to draw up a tautly knitted atmosphere and milks out a few ample shocks. The violence and sexual context might not be explicit, but it's gritty and in what matters effective. Ken Hodges' sturdy camera-work is intrusively lensed and Eric Rogers' miss-guided musical score comes off daftly staged. The performances fall into the overacting category, but come off committed. Joan Collins who's no stranger to that tag, is gracefully fine and gives it her all. An edgy James Booth scorns about, and delivers a serviceable job with a complicated character trying to overcome his anger, which eventuates to guilt. Ray Barrett, Tom Marshall, Kenneth Griffith and the gorgeously rich Sinéad Cusack also star with tolerable turns.

There's flaws, but it's decently done to make it a passable cliff-hanger thriller.

This film starts out at a fair pace,but then the writer must have run out of fresh ideas and cobbled together the rest of the lcklustre plot.What is very strange is that top starred Joan Collins disappears well before the end.

Joan Collins stars in this well-crafted British suspense-drama about a grieving family who take the law into their own hands and seek revenge on the man who raped and murdered their young daughter. Sidney Hayers' direction is smooth, the cast(particularly Collins and James Booth) is terrific, and there are some effective shock and suspense sequences, but it's all been done before, and it's pretty dreary and unpleasant stuff.

"Revenge" (also called "Inn of the Frightened People") is a rather limp thriller. It had the makings of a very good film but muddled writing and irrational characters made this one tough going.

The story begins with a young lady being raped and murdered. Despite the family being pretty certain who it was, the police release the man for a lack of enough evidence. So, a group of friends decide to take the law into their own hands....though these are bumblers who really don't have a plan...especially when it comes to what to do with the guy after they kidnap him. Once he was taken into the basement of a local inn, one of the kidnappers beats the snot out of the guy...but doesn't quite kill him. In fact, here's a problem...no one has the stomach to finish the job....so they leave him locked up down there and hope he just dies on his own. They did NOT tie him up nor gag him....because, after all, they are all idiots.

A few days pass...and during that time the kidnappers all are emotional wrecks. Now this leads to a completely inexplicable portion...the wife of the man who beat the alleged killer/sex offender is raped by one of the gang....and she apparently likes it. And, they do it in front of the injured man in the basement. Why? I have no idea...and that brings me to the biggest problem with the film. They never seemed to have a clear idea where it was all headed...both the cast AND the screenwriter. The ending was very good....but it came way too late and seeing the captors being this stupid and disorganized just didn't make a lot of sense. A miss...and a film that should have been a lot better.

Surprisingly, upon watching this, I found that I had never seen it before and that it was most enjoyable, if a little distasteful. The locations, shops and house and pub interiors are most evocative and if some are sets they are very good ones. Joan Collins is also surprisingly good but then she really only has to play at being a barmaid. Gripping from the start, this is a really well paced and intelligently told thriller. Things lurch a little two thirds in but by then we have bought into the rather lurid tale and it was always going to leave something of a bad taste anyway, with little girls being taken on their way to school, so what harm a little incest along the way. Just as the film seems to be loosing pace we have a surprisingly and confrontational ending that leaves you wondering just who the intended audience was for this. Well worth a watch for the open minded.