After being blinded by a horse-riding accident, the young woman, Sarah goes to live with her uncle and aunt in the countryside for a few days. Soon after a visiting a close friend, she returns back home and then discovers that the family and caretaker have been murdered. Now she's all-alone and the killer returns back to the isolated estate to collect something he has left behind.
Well, a friend of mine lent out the film to me and rated it rather highly. So that in mind, I wasn't terribly impressed by it when I got around to it. Did I expect too much? Though I definitely have mix feelings, as it is a fine thriller with skillful direction, piercing music score and gusto camera-work. On the other hand, it was the film's routine material that just didn't shape up and totally build-up the situation. The straightforward plot doesn't generate too much and it contains so many vague avenues and easy coincidences that feel unfocused. After a somewhat leisurely paced first half that has too many plodding scenes, it makes way by finally maximizing the tight knit and scary idea with some relentless scenes of suspense and blistering images. This is when the uniquely formatted and passionate camera-work, like in a third persons point of view, takes hold and along with a hysterical music score. Then it falls at the final hurdle with a clumsy conclusion that I found to be quite unsatisfying. Director Richard Fleischer manages to give the flick a raw appeal; a few thumping shocks and paints an alienating air from its secluded countryside. Now what gave the flick the emotional pull was the genuine performance from Mia Farrow. She's magnificent in quite a challenging role, which she nails down perfectly. You feel every painstaking ordeal she encounters, because the tension mostly arises from this harrowing factor. The rest of the cast were very lukewarm, but competent.
Curious, but nothing more than a modest thriller with a bravura turn by Farrow.
Well, a friend of mine lent out the film to me and rated it rather highly. So that in mind, I wasn't terribly impressed by it when I got around to it. Did I expect too much? Though I definitely have mix feelings, as it is a fine thriller with skillful direction, piercing music score and gusto camera-work. On the other hand, it was the film's routine material that just didn't shape up and totally build-up the situation. The straightforward plot doesn't generate too much and it contains so many vague avenues and easy coincidences that feel unfocused. After a somewhat leisurely paced first half that has too many plodding scenes, it makes way by finally maximizing the tight knit and scary idea with some relentless scenes of suspense and blistering images. This is when the uniquely formatted and passionate camera-work, like in a third persons point of view, takes hold and along with a hysterical music score. Then it falls at the final hurdle with a clumsy conclusion that I found to be quite unsatisfying. Director Richard Fleischer manages to give the flick a raw appeal; a few thumping shocks and paints an alienating air from its secluded countryside. Now what gave the flick the emotional pull was the genuine performance from Mia Farrow. She's magnificent in quite a challenging role, which she nails down perfectly. You feel every painstaking ordeal she encounters, because the tension mostly arises from this harrowing factor. The rest of the cast were very lukewarm, but competent.
Curious, but nothing more than a modest thriller with a bravura turn by Farrow.