A curse on the House of Fengriffen, due to an evil deed caused by Henry Fengriffen(a devilish Herbert Lom), a descendant of Charles'(Ian Ogilvy), to woodsman Silas(Geoffrey Whitehead, playing both men of the past and present). This dangerous scary deed, and the curse deriving from it, is discussed by no one as virginal Catherine(Stephanie Beacham, whose ample bosoms wish so desperately to fling themselves on us)experiences horrifying images of a man whose eyeballs are missing, who has a stump where his hand should be. About the Fengriffen house is a severed hand which crawls to and fro..anyone who dares explain the curse gets strangulated by it! On their honeymoon night, a terrifying occurrence may've happened to poor Catherine who is being held down by the very evil man she sees ghostly apparitions from..she's also possibly impregnated by it! As Catherine begs for answers regarding a mysterious woodsman who has a home on the land of the Fengriffen estate nearby, no one will provide them..and who is this ghost, who may've raped her, that is terrorizing her? Enter Dr. Pope(Peter Cushing), a "scientist of the mind" called in by the confused Dr. Whittle(Patrick Magee)who can not help Catherine in her present state of hysteria(..she had sliced the portrait of Henry's to pieces while also falling down the stairwell). Pope begins finding the answers Catherine sought so diligently for and they produce an ugly history the Fengriffen family would soon forget.
Despite it's ludicrous premise, the flick still remains watchable thanks to a strong cast. I felt the film really starts humming once Cushing's Sherlock Holmesian Pope enters the film because he can get to the truth with little the resistance Catherine faced time and time again. The "severed hand killings" is a bit much, but when you have such a strong cast backing you, bringing a sophistication and seriousness to the rather odd material, it can still make it out somewhat with a professionalism and class most films with this hokey story couldn't. I did feel Beacham overdoes it a bit with the whole "hysteria" act especially when she encounters ghostly haunts. Guy Rolfe appears briefly as Maitland, the family solicitor, and first victim who is killed before he can assist Catherine in her goal to find out what the mystery regarding the woodsman is all about.
Despite it's ludicrous premise, the flick still remains watchable thanks to a strong cast. I felt the film really starts humming once Cushing's Sherlock Holmesian Pope enters the film because he can get to the truth with little the resistance Catherine faced time and time again. The "severed hand killings" is a bit much, but when you have such a strong cast backing you, bringing a sophistication and seriousness to the rather odd material, it can still make it out somewhat with a professionalism and class most films with this hokey story couldn't. I did feel Beacham overdoes it a bit with the whole "hysteria" act especially when she encounters ghostly haunts. Guy Rolfe appears briefly as Maitland, the family solicitor, and first victim who is killed before he can assist Catherine in her goal to find out what the mystery regarding the woodsman is all about.