“All I wanted to do was create a bit of mischief”.
And that he did. Despised by the majority of British filmmakers during his active years in the industry, goremiester Pete Walker enjoyed a short-lived but productive career making the kinds of pictures most critics would readily burn at the stake. His filmography began innocently enough with soft-core adult numbers during the late 60s before steadily taking a turn toward the macabre in the early 70s with the underrated House of Whipcord, firmly establishing his name as a down and dirty exploiter. Though perhaps his best film came in 1974 with the demented family drama Frightmare, still packing quite a bloody punch today as a film with more substance than one might initially expect of its type.
THE LOWDOWN: In a black & white pre-credits sequence flashbacking to 1957, two young lovers are judged before a court for several acts of homicide and sentenced to a mental institution until legally fit for re-entry into society. Cut to the present day of 1974, makeup artist Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) is struggling to keep things together with her family - her teenage sister Debbie (Kim Butcher) is a rebellious loner hell bent on causing habitual mischief while her father Edmund (Rupert Davies) enlists Jackie’s help in dealing with her emotionally fragile mother Dorothy (Sheila Keith). As the fabric of each relationship begins to deteriorate – particularly that of her mother – secrets are soon revealed that call into question Jackie’s ancestral past and the potentially murderous nature of her parents.
THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: Marketed by local distributors as a bottom-of-the-barrel exploitation film and featuring grisly artwork that garnered an immediate reputation, this psychologically dense shocker is surprisingly intelligent and far more thoughtful than many films dealing with similar subject matter. Part psycho thriller part family drama, Frightmare’s gloomy title and grisly veneer are merely a disguise for a film that addresses very real issues surrounding family and 'insanity' as well as reflecting 70’s sensibilities toward the horror genre.
A rare trait in low-budget horrors is a tightly structured and carefully plotted screenplay. Walker’s film is a mystery at heart - cautiously paced and revealing only the most necessary of information when needed before unleashing the true horrors in the final reel. When first introduced to Jackie’s parents it seems they are simply trying to deal with an onset of depression – particularly in the case of Jackie’s mother, Dorothy, a former patient at a mental facility. Living under the care and supervision of her husband Edmund, Dorothy’s disposition is initially delicate, only occasionally suffering nervous breakdowns and emotional stress. But as Jackie’s investigation into her parent’s dubious past becomes more disturbing the movie finally delivers the true lunacy it hinters at in its early stages. The systematic revealing of secrets not only makes the suspense more palpable but also greatens the impact of the concluding twist. It is this patience of storytelling that makes Frightmare so watchable and inadmissible as a typical exploitation film.
DOOMED CHARACTERS: With the exception of fledging psychiatrist – and potential love interest - Graham (a solid performance by Paul Greenwood) every character in the film is emotionally wounded by events in their past. Unlike many horror films that deal with the birth of a developing threat and the gradual deterioration of characters over time, Frightmare begins its first frame with characters whom are already doomed by fate and thus have almost no hope in escaping the oncoming disaster befalling them. The Yates family exist in murky and ethically vague waters, forever struggling to embrace their true homicidal natures. When Jackie’s worst fears about her mother and father materialize, she displays none of the typical heroics exhibited by conventional movie wisdom but rather succumbs to the hopelessness of her eventual demise. This inherent misfortune creates a psychological complexity seldom seen in genre films that deepens the impetus, especially for the film’s villains.
And speaking of villains, who can forget Sheila Keith’s unpretentiously frightening performance? A gifted actress in every sense of the word, her portrayal of a pathetically feeble elder concealing the mind of a ruthless psychopath is as compelling and skillful as any memorable madman in the genre. See the film if not for her performance alone.
THE LOOK OF FEAR: Hitchcock once said, “television has brought back murder into the home -- where it belongs”. With this alternative in mind Walker’s choice to set the unbridled domestic mayhem within the little English countryside village of Haslemere is a stroke of true genius. From its inception the seemingly cosy landscape also carries with it a potent sense of dread, an effective mislead into a falsely safe world. The Yates home and its cave-like geography is almost always fashioned to be dark and laden with deep shadows, giving the impression of a rickety past in comparison with the brighter surrounds of Jackie’s lifestyle. In many ways the foreboding homely sets of Frightmare bring to mind those of the Bates family residence in Psycho, the ultimate dwelling for family dysfunction. Peter Jessop’s cinematography is also lush and still slick by today's standards (bar a few dated snap zooms).
And being a horror film, let's not forget the grue. Cinema veteran George Partleton dishes out a small but effective number of makeup effects, each surprisingly graphic for their time (the pitchfork to the face is particularly nasty) and successful in illustrating the Yates’ unquestionable urge for brutal violence. Common of most shockers of the time, these kills were what eventually drove the film’s marketing campaign thus giving Frightmare its unfairly negative reputation.
THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Recalling the unholy music of euro shockers by the likes of Argento and Bava, Stanley Myers’ menacing score breeds a classically threatening tone only found in the slow-burn thrillers of the period. The main title theme intimidates and unsettles, alluding to the narrative unrest soon to come. And by the time the finale rears its ugly head Myers unleashes a shriekingly malevolent final composition that only serves to amplify the Yates’s unspeakable plans for their daughter Jackie.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Like many films of its kind its a shame Frightmare was overlooked at the time by mainstream critics as a disposable exploitation quickie. Walker once described his approach to horror as 'modern Gothique', a disconcerting antidote to the rather safe and predictable Hammer formula. In practice Frightmare stands as a perfect demonstration of this method as a film that takes repressed domestic anxieties and the fear of one’s parental guidance and mutates them into a horrifying drama that rings all the more true for its twisted, social honesty.
Dir: Pete Walker
Writer: David McGillivray
Cast: Rupert Davies, Sheila Keith, Deborah Fairfax, Paul Greenwood
Country: UK
Run Time: 88min
Rated: R18+
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