The Corruption of Chris Miller

The Corruption of Chris Miller was a hard one to come by for many years, which gave it a mysterious street cred that was impossible to live up to. It's part melodrama and part giallo without really mixing them very well. Besides a splattery opening and a random series of killings right before the final act, it's not much of a traditional giallo or murder mystery and mostly focuses on a woman and her stepdaughter who are charmed by a mysterious drifter who may or may not be a killer who's been going around terrorizing people.

The film is slow as molasses for most of its runtime and you want to tell out "hurry up and get to the good stuff!" I'm normally a person who can enjoy a nice slow burn movie with the rest of them, but there's slow and then there's plotless. Most of the film is just a series of longing glances between the characters or long montages or horseback riding. They seem to be trying to build the tension between stepmother, stepdaughter, and the handsome drifter, but the script never really handles those moments very well. With better dialogue, perhaps those scenes would crackle with sexual tension.

The film is most definitely well shot and the scenes that take place during rainstorms drip with mood, but right as the film starts to get interesting, it ends with no resolution whatsoever. I'm also not a stickler for an ending that's tied up in a neat little bow, but after all that build up, it would have been nice if we were given something a little more interesting.

"La corrupción de Chris Miller" is a difficult film to write about. It tells a story that has many layers. There's the straight story the film tells and there are many undercurrents that are left for the viewer to discern.

Ruth (Jean Seberg) lives with her stepdaughter Chris (Marisol) in an isolated mansion in the countryside. Both of them wait for the same man. He was Ruth's husband and the father of Chris. One day, without warning, he left everything. They don't know where he's at. But Ruth and Chris have different feelings about him. Ruth wants to get even with him for what he has done to her, and for doing this she can use Chris, his daughter. Maybe she can corrupt her. But corruption is a vague word, what does it really mean? And Chris waits for her father as if he were the last hope left for her. A traumatic experience she had, has left its mark on her. Maybe her father is the only good thing left in the world...

But it's difficult to classify the relationship between the two women. It's not a traditional love-hate relationship. The same man links them, but there's much more than that.

Meanwhile a serial killer roams about the countryside. Mysterious murders are happening in the area.

One day a drifter, come from nowhere, arrives in the house. As it happens, he (Barney) is engaged to work in the house for doing the odd jobs. His presence will change everything. Slowly a strange kind of threesome is developed - an atmosphere of suspicion, perplexity ... begins to grow. Who is he? What does he want from them? What do they want from him? Ruth and Chris and Barney? Outside, the murders go on happening.

I won't say more because I don't want to spoil the film for you. "La corrupción de Chris Miller" is a refined psychological thriller. Jean Seberg is very good as Ruth, and Marisol's interpretation of Chris is powerful and emotional.

If you like this one, check out also "El ojo del huracán" (In the eye of the hurricane) - it's seemingly a lighter type of thriller, but don't let yourself get fooled, because under the sun there is light and there are also shadows.

Having been left by their husband and father , a disturbed wife : Jean Seberg and deranged stepdaughter : Marisol hire a drifter handyman : Barry Stokes at their secluded state. While six brutal murders terrorize the town . As a series of killings committed by a psycho murderer starts horrifying the villagers and things go wrong . See it with rains it pours ... blood!. See it with someone you can hold onto!

A thrilling and suspenseful movie about a lurid subject matter concerning two women trapped alone in a locked house and along the way a psychopathic killer is on the loose . Dealing with the peculiar and complex relationships among three main characters played by the French Jean Seberg , the Spanish Marisol and British Barry Stokes . Interesting and twisted screenplay by Santiago Moncada, a prolific and prestigious writer who wrote several stories in all kinds of genres during the 60s, 70s and 80s . Stars Jean Seberg who provides a solid and sensitive acting as the unsettling abandoned wife and the ex- prodigy girl Marisol who is pretty well as the tramautized daughter long time ago suffered a terrible event, while Barry Stokes is nice as as the hunky and suspicious drifter . And a good support cast with some familiar Spanish faces, such as : Perla Cristal, Gerard Tichy , Mariano Vidal Molina , Gustavo Re, Goyo Lebrero, Rafael Luis Calvo and director Juan Antonio Bardem himself.

It contains an intriguing and frightening musical score by the prestigious composer Waldo de Los Ríos who soon after , unfourtunately , committed suicide . Atmospheric musical score by Juan Gelpi, though an adequate remastering being really necessary because of the film copy is washed-out. Being completely shot on location in Comillas, Cantabria, Spain. The picture was competently directed by Juan Antonio Bardem . This director was a good and notorious filmmaker , being his film debut : Esa pareja feliz 1951 co-directed by Luis Garcia Berlanga , after that , he made Cómicos 1953 about stage world , following an enjoyable comedy : Felices Pascuas 1954 . And eventually shooting his big hit : Muerte de un ciclista 1955 . And of course , his another big success : Calle Mayor with Betsy Blair. Some years later, he made this La Corrupcion de Chris Miller that has a rating 6.5/10. Better than average Gialli film. The flick will appeal to Jean Seberg and Marisol fans.

I hate mimes, so I found the start of this film more disturbing when a guy dressed as Charlie Chaplin murders a nagging woman in a house, then continues to act like the silent film actor afterwards while moving the body, before inexplicably unmasking and running off into the night. The stuff of nightmares indeed.

This killer is terrorizing the local countryside inhabited by neurotic girl Chris Miller, who gets really upset every time it rains, and her stepmother Ruth. Both seem to be waiting for Chris's dad to return home, and seemingly spend their days languishing around the place, arguing and what not. Chris especially seems to get really upset at night, having flashbacks to a ballet class (with a weightlifter nearby) and then stabbing the nearest object she can find. Ruth does her best to calm Chris, even if her methods seem a little too familiar...

One day, annoying hippy drifter Baz or whatever turns up, giving Ruth a full frontal in the barn and then generally trying to charm the pants of her...which works! Chris at first seems a little jealous of this set up, but then when Ruth actively encourages Baz to put the moves on Chris, things don't quite add up and not everyone is as innocent as they appear to be...but is one of them the murderer, who has just carved up five people in one house with a scythe?

For a film with three main characters and not a whole lot of side characters to last almost two hours is a bit of an endurance test. There's almost an hour between the first murder and the slaughter of the family, and in between there we get to see the tension between Chris and her stepmother, the hippy guy making eggs, playing acoustic guitar, and bedding Ruth, and find out exactly what happened to Chris's dad and why Ruth seems determined to 'corrupt' Chris. It even goes some way to explain why Ruth lives in a place where it rains so much even though Chris goes nuts every time it does. But come on... At least there's a few mental things that happen later to keep you awake, like a brutal knife murder and a corpse being found due to peas growing from the body and cracking tarmac (and if you've grown peas, you'll know the plants can barely stand up on their own, never mind cracking tarmac!). This is a bit of an obscure one, and for those with plenty of patience. Of course, the bad copy I watched didn't help, as it rendered quite a lot of the dark scenes unwatchable.

This early 70's mystery-thriller from Spain is a film that most genre fans have never heard of, let alone seen, and it's a shame.

A repressed woman living in the Spanish countryside must deal with her disturbed stepdaughter but their world is about to become more troubled when a sexy drifter wonders into their lives. Will he create a void between the two and furthermore does this charming stranger have anything to do with the local family that just got butchered by an elusive killer?

The Corruption of Chris Miller is one slippery thriller. Its wonderfully twisted plot always manages to catch the viewer off guard in every act with some truly surprising turns and revelations. Its one thoroughly well-written tale that's compelling from its sinister opening to its chilling final images. In addition the direction of Juan Antonio Bardem is stylishly done with some nice camera work and lovely filming locations. The lush music score is also a welcomed plus.

One of the biggest highlights here is the cast. Star Jean Seberg is great as the revengeful Ruth, as is Marisol as the lonely and traumatized Chris. The gorgeous Barry Stokes is probably the best of the cast though as his likable, mysterious, and just possibly dangerous character. The supporting cast is solid as well.

For those that take their thrillers seriously The Corruption of Chris Miller is a true lost gem. It has a touch of Hitchcock, a bit of Italian giallo, and even a foreshadowing of the slasher genre. In short it's a wild-card treat for genre fans. Obscure and difficult to find yes, but oh so worth being unearthed!

*** 1/2 out of ****