Anthony Johnson(Uwe Bohm)doesn't know that the old tenant who lives on the top floor above him is the Kelbourne killer, a London strangler of several women on and off for 25 years. That tenant's name resembles his, Arthur Johnson(Anthony Perkins, still quite able to convey torment, agony, and insanity)and Anthony has no idea that this man is reading his letters from a married wife of a wealthy jealous husband. Having a secret contempt for their adultery, Arthur re-writes a fake letter to Anthony as if his lover wishes for their relationship to end. We also see what none of the other characters around him don't see..inside his tormented mind due to a overbearing mother strict on his being a neat, mannered person, grilled into him as a child to the point where women seemed nothing more than a possible threat which could explain his emotional impotence towards them..he also is quite repulsed at "loose" women, but if Arthur encounters other women alone on some dark, empty street corner at night, all gloves are off. Arthur's past childhood memories, not to mention his mother's burdensome forceful voice and barking face, often remind him of how he's supposed to behave. He's an emotional handicap..a crippled mess of a man who only shows appearances of normalcy. When he kills the wife of a tenant in the building he lives, a police investigation seems right at his doorstep. But, he gets really sloppy when Arthur attempts the strangulation of what he believes is a woman only to find that it's a skinny, long-haired male in a fur coat. That man retaliates with striking blows to Arthur's face leaving marks and bruising..even worse is that man has given a good identifiable sketch of his face meaning that the idea of his capture is a reasonable one. But, his life might even take another turn for the worse when the jealous husband of the wife who leaves him for Anthony mistakes him as the lover!
Okay psycho-drama with one of Perkins' final performances can not escape similarities to PSYCHO and Norman Bates especially considering the angle of a man traumatized by his monstrous upbringing and father-less childhood where his mother's influence emotionally damaged him. The film works best when we see the dementia setting in and those frightened faces of female victims Arthur claims continually haunt him, sneaking into reality as the guilt of his crimes slowly overwhelm him.
Okay psycho-drama with one of Perkins' final performances can not escape similarities to PSYCHO and Norman Bates especially considering the angle of a man traumatized by his monstrous upbringing and father-less childhood where his mother's influence emotionally damaged him. The film works best when we see the dementia setting in and those frightened faces of female victims Arthur claims continually haunt him, sneaking into reality as the guilt of his crimes slowly overwhelm him.