The Corruption of Chris Miller

This is one of the few entirely Spanish gialli and probably the only one that doesn't feature Spanish horror icon/werewolf Paul Naschy. It does have the doomed leftist American actress Jean Seaberg (a few years before she was driven to suicide by FBI harassment)and former Spanish child actress Marisol, all grown up here in all the right places. It has a very nasty murder committed by a guy dressed like Charlie Chaplin (I wonder what the late actor's estate thought of that?)and even more unbelievable scene where an entire family is wiped out by a mysterious figure in a rain slicker wielding a scythe. There is also a strange subplot where Chris Miller (the Marisol character) is traumatized by the sound of rain as the result of having been raped in a shower by a weight lifter (which would have made a great cameo for ex-weight lifter Naschy). Her stepmother (the Jean Seaberg character)is taking care of her but is also bent on "corrupting" her to get back at the girl's father for abandoning them (which might explain why she's relocated them to Spain where it seems to rain constantly).

The weak link in the movie is British pretty-boy Barry Stokes (it should have been Ray Lovelock)playing a drifter who insinuates his way into the lives and the beds of the two women and who they begin to suspect might be the mysterious killer. Stokes gives pretty much the same performance as when he portrayed an emotionless alien in "Prey", he is not the least bit menacing or believable as a potential killer, and, to top it all off, he provides the film's only nudity by shoving his bare butt into the camera (oh boy!). On the other hand, the end is pretty satisfying with some nice ironic twists.

This is by no means a perfect movie, but it certainly merits a DVD resurrection (the copy I saw looked like hell and may have been edited). It would probably be best to wait for that, but do check this one out if you like these kind of films.

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 ****

"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.

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.

The Corruption of Chris Miller is often labelled as a Giallo; this is not really the case, although the film does feature some of the trademarks of the genre amongst its multilayered plot. I'd say it falls somewhere between a murder thriller and a psychological drama; and the two main plot lines represent both genres. The film reminded me a lot of René Clément's masterpiece Joy House in the way that the relationship between the three central characters works. The film begins with a grisly murder, committed by someone dressed as Charlie Chaplin. From there, we move on to a house inhabited by two women, a mother and a stepdaughter; who is scared of the rain as she was raped in the shower by a bodybuilder when she was a child. The mother later finds a drifter taking a nap in the barn, and after some convincing, agrees to take the stranger on to do odd jobs for them in return for free board. However, it's not long before the man's presence makes tensions rise among the mother and daughter; and the murders in town are continuing.

The film does not make murder its central plot line, and there's not a lot of blood either. The main plot is the relationship between the mother, stepdaughter and the mysterious drifter, and this takes up the majority of the film. The three way relationship is not disinteresting, although it has to be said that it's a bit long winded and spoiled by some less than brilliant performances. Chief among them is Barry Stokes; who is extremely wooden. Jean Seberg and Marisol so-star and are better, though none of the actors particularly impress. Director Juan Antonio Bardem does succeed, however, in creating a foreboding atmosphere; the countryside setting creates a feeling of isolation and this bodes well with the plot line. The film really does pick up in the final third and the ending is strong, as well as wrapping things up nicely. Overall, while this film is not a Giallo; it will certainly be of interest to Giallo fans and is well worth tracking down.