This is a clumpy prototype of the slasher films which were to become so ubiquitous by the late 1970s and '80s. It starts off promisingly, setting up the story with Susan George arriving as the babysitter for a slightly odd couple the mother clearly on edge to the point of neurosis and, after they leave, becoming spooked by the thuds and shudders of an old, time-worn house. However the script is clumsily constructed, so moments of tension are dissipated by switching back and forth between the house and the couple's evening out. The repressed virgin routine that Susan George goes through, also, has dated pretty badly and probably seemed fairly risible even in the early '70s when the film was made. Ian Bannen as the ex-husband gone homicidal does not ring true the moments when he growls like an over-excited terrier are as frightening as he gets; a shame because he's so good in such films as 'Tales from Beyond the Grave' (Amicus) and, much later, in 'Gorky Park' and 'Hope and Glory'. As for Susan George, her character simply turns into a sopping wet, quivering pulp of nerves as if she were in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' instead of this very plodding drama. The DVD was only available as a Region 1, so unable to view it as a rental - I bought it on the strength of its cast. Don't make the same mistake. Alas, I found myself in the end so uninvolved that I passed the time noticing how many times the music score (by Harry Robertson) ripped off Prokofiev's atmospheric Third Symphony.
