Inn of the Frightened People

Being a filmmaker myself, not just a die-hard movie consumer, I know better than anyone that there is no such thing as a perfect film. There are exceptionally good films, true masterpieces, good films, less good films, bad films, very bad films and catastrophically bad films. I would not put this film in any of these categories because it has elements that place it in at least two of the categories, unfortunately not the masterpiece one. Let's call it an almost decent English film, with certain shortcomings. I love the British films of the '50s, '60s, '70s. In those decades, masterpieces were created with the best and most beloved actors and directors. I know them all and others like me know what I mean. Specific about this film: the script is the one with shortcomings, the actors are all very good, excellent I would say, the director Sidney Hayers did a very good job on an imperfect script, the cinematographer supported him with skill, the music is very good. The final product leaves much to be desired, to get something better the entire script should be rewritten, the potential is there. Sidney Hayers has much better films to his credit, I warmly recommend "The Firechasers" (1971), "The Southern Star" (1969) and the absolute masterpiece "The Trap" (1966), with the exceptional Oliver Reed and Rita Tushingham.

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.

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.

Revenge goes by a lot of names, After Jenny Died, Behind the Cellar Door, Inn of the Frightened People and Terror from Under the House.

Starring Joan Collins and James Booth this neat little thriller really impressed me.

It tells the story of a young girl who is kidnapped, raped and murdered. Her father along with son and best friend conspire to murder him in an act of revenge but things don't go entirely to plan.

Wonderfully written, this tense thriller may go in a couple of silly needless directions but get's to the point and thoroughly delivers including a fantastic finale.

With a title like Inn of the Frightened People I assumed I was in for a dumb horror, instead Revenge is a a great little thriller that I would solidly recommend.

The Good:

Well written

Great ending

The Bad:

A couple of needless additions to the plot

Some parts stretch the imagination a tad

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Small village pubs have rotating lamps

This movie almost made me want to work in a pub

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.