Persecution

I saw this as Graveyard in a mediocre copy. The thing is producer Kevin Francis, I'm told, won't allow these movie he produced to be released now. Turner is good so it Bates, but the ending confrontation really goes on and on and drags out so much that when the very appropriate ending comes it lacks the impact it should have. Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of music and too talky a finale. The story is more disturbing than scary but the beginning is really the best part, then after an unexpected kill the movie becomes slower and less interesting. Deserves to be seen and seen in better form. Of the three horror films Francis produced I'd put this in the middle, The Ghoul is worse, the final Werewolf film is the least original but the most satisfying.

Well, it has a couple of interesting camera angles and a sexy performance by the actress who plays the woman paid to seduce the hero, but the slow pacing causes it to drag too often, the editing is astonishingly bad at times, and the "plot secrets", when revealed, turn out to be totally insignificant. But it's in the last 15 minutes that the movie really jumps off the rails, and comes up with a silly and far-fetched conclusion. (*1/2)

It's so sad to watch Lana Turner who made amazing drama and romance to do a horror movie at England in twlight's career, as l'd read somewhere that the most of critics deemed the 70' as lost decade to the cinema, l don't agree certainly but they had some reasons to said that, like this movie that is so unexplainable and disturbing, Lana plays a machiavellian mother who mishandle your son in extreme way of without regret, acceptable plot although it wasn't to every taste indeed, while the results in final could be understood as insane is funny to see a horrible revenge, probable the audience will be glad to see it!! the official DVD released here in Brazil's market was a bad copy, needs a upmost new restoration!!

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First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.25

I believed I was knowledgeable of movies like this. I thought I was on top of all the B exploitation efforts by faded Hollywood actresses, from the high profile flicks of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Olivia De Havilland to forays by the likes of Ava Gardner, Jeanne Crane, Ann Southern, Veronica Lake, Ruth Roman, and Wanda Hendrix. I thought I knew most of the misfires from these faded ladies from Hollywood's golden era. Except for this one. I've never heard of this one. Ever. Not in my readings of tomes on exploitation and horror films, not in the film commentaries on DVDS, not mentioned in passing by ANYONE on YouTube or in chat rooms. Zilch. Which surprises me, because this film is ripe for that kind of thing. Lana Turner is not a name that springs to mind in regards to this kind of movie, but she made at least another exploitation title(THE BIG CUBE), so she dabbled in this genre a little. The movie itself is rather slow-moving, more like a gothic soap opera than a full-on horror movie. Turner herself looks great (think a late 1950s Lana, as she looked in her IMITATION OF LIFE/PAYTON PLACE era), and a large chunk of the production budget probably went into keeping Ms. Turner coiffed and dressed in the high Hollywood style to which she was accustomed. Turner does an admirable job as the icy Carrie Masters, an overbearing mother who dominates her adult son. It's more psycho-drama than camp, which makes for a slog of a viewing experience. This may be why it isn't remembered today.

1974's "Persecution" was the debut feature of producer Kevin Francis and his Tyburn Films company, a short lived outfit that doesn't exactly hit the ground running with this sluggish psychodrama ("The Ghoul" and "Legend of the Werewolf" are clearly a step up). Born and bred on the great Hammer tradition (his father was cinematographer-turned-director Freddie Francis), the younger Francis sought to keep the British end up with Tony Tenser's Tigon out of the way, and both Hammer and Amicus on the wane, but this initial effort was universally panned and suffered numerous title changes that hurt the box office ("The Terror of Sheba" and "The Graveyard" to name but two). Actor Robert Hutton had virtually retired in front of the camera since relocating from Hollywood to England in the mid 60s, most often seen in movies by director Freddie Francis ("They Came from Beyond Space," "Torture Garden," "Trog," and "Tales from the Crypt"), and decided to turn his dislike of cats into a script that went through numerous other writers before it was shot by director Don Chaffey ("Jason and the Argonauts," "One Million Years B. C."). It's sad to think that what emerged on screen was deemed suitable by any self respecting filmmaker, but Hollywood glamor queen Lana Turner signed on to play the lead (a former glamor queen), what amounted to yet another 'horror hag' outing begun by "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (more recent efforts cast Agnes Moorehead in "Dear Dead Delilah" and Debbie Reynolds in "What's the Matter with Helen?"). 52 year old Lana Turner still looks majestic as Carrie Masters, a woman still clinging to her wealth and fame, still bitter over being crippled by a jealous husband (Patrick Allen), and continuing a reign of terror over her illegitimate son David (Ralph Bates), whose irrational fear of cats led him to drown her favorite feline in a bowl of milk as a child, because the love she had to give was lavished upon it rather than him. The boy's idea of an appropriate Christmas gift was a handmade ashtray that he was quite proud of; in response, she offered him a coffin to bury the cat in a pet cemetery filled with felines, all of whom bear the name Sheba. David knows nothing about Carrie's husband nor the reason he left her, and is unaware that she has been blackmailing his real father (Trevor Howard) since the day he was born, unwanted by both self-serving parents. The now grown-up David has done quite well for himself, wed to loving spouse Janie (Suzan Farmer), with his own infant son to keep them busy and happy together. Unfortunately, they still live next door to the possessive, unrepentant Carrie, who freely admits that she finds babies 'too helpless,' her birthday celebration turning into a funeral for the defenseless child, suffocated by the current Sheba. Reeling from this disastrous turn of events, the grieving parents are further divided by Carrie's idea for a 'nurse' to take care of Janie, a seductive minx (Olga Georges-Picot) whose physical charms are meant to entice David into a compromising position. Though everything goes according to Carrie's diabolical plan, things just won't end well for anyone in this isolated dysfunction. Among the actors, the only disappointment is Ralph Bates, who made very few theatrical films, and wears the same dour expression from start to finish, but in his defense that sums up his character's downtrodden existence. There aren't any surprises in store even for patient viewers, and this unrelenting catalogue of misery was soundly rejected by audiences and critics alike, Lana herself labeling the picture a 'bomb,' as did Trevor Howard. Tyburn had nowhere to go but up, yet after barely one year only three feature films resulted from their efforts, two of which never even crossed the Atlantic; Kevin Francis deserved better, but so did the entire British film industry as well.