[42ndStreetFreak]

"Scream of Fear" -
Ho hum.
Has some one or two shock visuals (the swimming pool scene is class) but lacks any real horror aesthetic or macabre content and as such plays far more like a drama/thriller then most of the other 'Hammer' mystery films. Very TV movie like in fact.

Okay stuff, but the plot is muddy (given the planned outcome of the scheme, why all the 'trying to scare her' bits beforehand, unless I missed something) and the bungled way the finale is shot/edited makes it look like everyone, including the police, was simply watching this guy do what he did and said or did nothing to stop him!

Poor Chris Lee had only a few lucky moments with 'Hammer'.
He either has no dialogue, only a tiny bit of dialogue, or has to speak in funny accents when he actually has a lot of dialogue. Hi ho. Must be why he likes "The Devil Rides Out" so much.




"The Whisperers" -

60's British drama that's as dour and bleak as they come.
The barely touched upon at all reason for the titles is that the old lady of our plot , Mrs Ross (superb turn by Edith Evans), hears whispering voices in her house (we don't).
This sounds like a psychological horror premise but its not as these few and far between 'whispering' moments are indeed all in her head (this is never in doubt) and have no more plot importance than any other aspects of her general state of mind.
As such it's a strange, rather misleading, title for the film.

Really this is a grim, 'kitchen sink', 60's drama about an old lady becoming more and more senile and being ignored by and taken advantage of by those around her. Including a seemingly kind middle aged woman (in a shocking scene of blatant cold blooded thievery), her off the rails son (a typical weasel turn by Ronald Fraser) and her wayward Husband (nice scheming turn by the great Eric Portman) and a cold, brow beaten, young neighbour (a good acid turn by the cinematically underrated Nanette Newman).

Director Bryan Forbes (Newman's husband) does a good job guiding the performances and layering the film with grim hopelessness...but it's hardly a barrel of laughs and the overly long running time and deliberate pacing mean it can be a bit of an uphill climb. But worth a look for yet another underrated stab at British life by Forbes.