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Saturday, July 27, 2019

Paranoiac (1963)

Starring Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, Sheila Burrell, Maurice Denham, Alexander Davion
Directed by Freddie Francis
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young woman on the verge of a breakdown due to her brother's suicide eight years before is overjoyed when a man resembling him rescues her, but her family suspects he's an imposter.

One of Hammer Films' suspense thrillers, the picture is well photographed and directed, with a twisting screenplay by Jimmy Sangster.  Scott and Davion make a good screen couple, but Reed makes the most impact as Scott's drunkard brother, prone to screaming fits and acts of violence.  It's a difficult role to play without going over the top, but I think Reed succeeds, and adds a legitimately fearsome character to his filmography.  There's some good suspenseful scenes, particularly one involving an automobile falling over a crumbling cliff, which is well-staged by Francis.  I think that this production ranks well among the other thrillers Hammer produced, and has some memorably eerie and disturbing moments building up to the climax.

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