From the director of Hawaii-Five-0, Gordon Hessler directs this very underrated Thriller. With a star cast of Cushing, Lee and Price, and some rather wooden acting from Alfred Marks as the non-emotional Supt. Bellaver, this film runs as fast as Hawaii-Five-0, with some excellent car chases around England. However Hessler's use of tension is not used to full effect, and the German Nazi sub-plot (with hilarious logo) seems both distant and pointless, and used only as a dig at dictatorship regimes.
Also the music at times seems farcical, with Jazzy-sixty bands playing when the serial killer is attacking his victim. With the serial killers actions of out-running and powering the police, reactions of "he's quite strong" and "Oh he's torn his hand off" seem like tongue-in-cheek, or if not a terrible script.
All in all, this movie is a cross between Hawaii-Five-0, Frankenstein, and Hitchcock's Frenzy, and although it's well worth a watch, the styles don't combine well to give a scary thriller. The viewer is left a little lost with all the scene changing and Christopher Lee's role could have been expanded upon. The viewer should Scream and Scream Again and again and again at the poor direction the movie takes, nice try, but he should have tried and tried again to make it at least scary!!
Also the music at times seems farcical, with Jazzy-sixty bands playing when the serial killer is attacking his victim. With the serial killers actions of out-running and powering the police, reactions of "he's quite strong" and "Oh he's torn his hand off" seem like tongue-in-cheek, or if not a terrible script.
All in all, this movie is a cross between Hawaii-Five-0, Frankenstein, and Hitchcock's Frenzy, and although it's well worth a watch, the styles don't combine well to give a scary thriller. The viewer is left a little lost with all the scene changing and Christopher Lee's role could have been expanded upon. The viewer should Scream and Scream Again and again and again at the poor direction the movie takes, nice try, but he should have tried and tried again to make it at least scary!!