See No Evil

AKA "Blind Terror", which I think is the better title. Mia Farrow plays Sarah, a young woman who has lost her sight. She is staying with relatives at their mansion in the English countryside but things go terribly wrong when an unknown maniac enters the house. A tense game of cat and mouse ensues when she is left alone with the killer after he has killed the other occupants. This is a bit of a slow burn but is worth the watch. Sarah really does suffer and Farrow delivers a fine performance, she is the best thing about this film. There are plenty of effective moments of terror on offer. Sarah is unaware that her family members have been murdered, unable to see the corpses scattered around the house but we can see them and it really is quite horrific. Great camera work, good cast - some very familiar faces to British audiences in particular - and plenty of groovy 70's fashions and tunes. The identity of the killer is not revealed until the end, with a red herring thrown in. My only criticisms are that the film is a bit slow at times and I could see no explanation as to why the events took place, but overall a good, tense chiller.

I recently viewed See No Evil (1971) on Tubi. The plot centers around a blind woman returning home after a long absence, only to unknowingly find herself in a house where everyone has met a grim fate. When the perpetrator realizes she's in the house, her life might be in grave danger.

Directed by Richard Fleischer (Red Sonya), the film stars Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby), Dorothy Alison (The Third Key), Norman Eshley (Warship), Robin Bailey (The Diplomatic Corpseg and Paul Nicholas (Tommy).

This movie had great potential, featuring a unique premise, well-established circumstances, and an excellent performance by Farrow. Regrettably, it fell short in delivering the horror elements I anticipated, relying heavily on Farrow's acting to portray the blind woman rather than creating a genuinely eerie atmosphere. Notably, the use of cowboy boots added a playful touch, and the depiction of the corpses was commendable. The bathtub scene in the finale was a standout moment in the film.

In summary, See No Evil is worth a watch for horror enthusiasts, but it missed an opportunity to truly distinguish itself in the genre. I would rate this a 5.5-6/10 and recommend considering Audrey Hepburn's Wait Until Dark as a more captivating alternative.

Well made horror/suspense movie from the early 70's about a woman (Farrow), blinded in a horse-riding accident, who goes to live with her Uncle in a house in the English countryside. While she is out with her old boyfriend, something is happening to her Uncle and the rest of her family back in the house. But on returning, how can she know when she cannot see?

Good suspense - sometimes the viewer is a step ahead of the blind woman, other times we are as blind as she is, a great score and good acting by all makes this a wonderful movie for a rainy afternoon. Interesting to see Michael Elphick and a young Paul Nicholas along for the ride too.

Beautifully photographed and directed.

5 out of 5.

The appearance of Brian Clemens' name in the credits of any film or television production is, for me, kind of like a Seal of Approval. From the hit '60s TV show "The Avengers" to such marvelous horror films as "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" ('72) and "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter" ('74), the man has never let me down. And, I'm happy to report, his "See No Evil" ('71) is no exception. In this one, the recently blinded Sarah, superbly played by Mia Farrow, comes to live with her aunt's family...a family that is soon butchered by a "maniac on the loose." All we know for sure is that this wacko sports a pair of gold-starred cowboy boots, which knowledge has us glancing suspiciously at the footwear of every male character in the film, natch! It is almost agonizingly suspenseful watching poor Sarah putter around her aunt's home, unaware of the bodies lying so close to her, and that suspense is only ratcheted up several notches when she finally does learn what has happened, and that the killer is on his way back to the house. I don't think the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, could have squeezed any more tension out of this scenario than writer Clemens and director Richard Fleischer have done. Besides this wonderful setup, which may have viewers recalling such other "handicapped women vs. psycho killer" films as "The Spiral Staircase" ('46) and "Wait Until Dark" ('67), the film gives us some beautiful views of the autumnal Berkshire countryside and another fine score by the great Elmer Bernstein. But this is Farrow's show all the way, and she is utterly convincing as the blind and fragile, yet spunky and surprisingly resourceful Sarah. My stomach was in knots by the end of this British wringer, and I would have to say that "See No Evil" is one that you absolutely must see....

There's been quite a few rainy afternoons when I've dusted down my copy of Blind Terror and settled down to watch it again, and every time I'm left with the same feeling: something isn't quite right about this movie, despite obvious skill in places.

Brian Clemens is hardly an intellectual writer, but as a writer of simple television thrillers he's a legend. And like many of the best TV writers, his success as a screenwriter is varied. Both Blind Terror and And Soon The Darkness point the way forward to Clemens' THRILLER TV series of the Seventies, which effectively exploited the "girl in peril" situation. What makes these two movies different is their rather unpleasant, slightly depressing feel. "Darkness" is very slow and rather uneasy in its voyeurism, whilst Terror is a little too nasty to be a wholly enjoyable thriller.

Perhaps the most telling and interesting sequence is actually the opening credits, with Bernstein's enjoyable but somehow inappropriate music accompanying the faceless killer leaving a cinema that is showing "The Convent Murders" and "Rapist Cult", an only slightly exaggerated take on early Seventies exploitation movies in Britain. He then walks along a street where every shop seems to be selling violence: a TV shop has a set displaying a murder taking place, a toy shop sells toy guns and a newsagent displays grim headlines.

From there the movie is rather predictable, and unfolds at a slow pace (nothing really happens until about 50 minutes in) but is somehow pretty watchable all the same. Along the way there are some fascinating glimpses of Seventies Britain to be enjoyed. But from the inexplicable massacre at the house onwards things feel a little sluggish and the killer is so one-dimensional we do not have much interest in his actions. And why does he try and find the bracelet again at the end, as if Sarah would still have it! The ending is terribly abrupt and nothing is explained.

Fleisher's direction though is careful and he uses a fantastic trick of keeping the camera close on Farrow during her long escape sequence so that we cannot see where she is heading either.

There are also a couple of good moments of surprise but the movie is lacking a real scare and the overwhelming impression is one of gloom.