Amicus, who had a strong run of anthology horror films by this time (and would continue to have more throughout the ensuing decade) released this film two years after its completion. Its minimalist approach was difficult to market and it sank without much fanfare, and is now extremely rare. It concerns the machinations of Johnnie and Jill, indulging in some bizarre 'young versus old' theatrics (with imagery of teens dressed as Nazi soldiers, gunning down a truckload of pensioners, who are herded like cattle) to frighten Johnnie's rich Gran to death.
Vanessa Howard plays Jill with all the hallmarks of a 1970's wrong 'un. Chewing gum, slightly cockney, indulges in casual sex – definitely bad news. Howard plays her convincingly. A dark dreamer, she wants a better life than the one which currently traps her. And it does trap her. Her boss casually gropes her as a matter of course, and the locations where she lives are dank and littered with grim perpetual winter's drizzle.
Jack is played by Paul Nicholas, who went on to become a successful pop singer – one of his biggest hits was called 'Grandma's Party'. He doesn't want to work ('9-5? Who needs a bloody job?' he asks himself) and provides a comparative voice of reason between them both.
Gran, Alice Talent, is played by Mona Washbourne who refuses to portray her as the sweet, docile old girl this film seems to cry out for. Instead, she is more real, grounded, and not afraid to tell Jack a few home truths now and again. But when she breaks down and declares, "You'd think it was a crime to be old. We can't help it," whilst facing the brunt of Jack's continued lapses into passive aggression, your heart breaks for her.
Like 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1971)', the star of this particular show is Vanessa Howard, who is ice cold throughout but still has some wonderful lines (her departing words to her former employer: "Book yourself a nice cruise, right up your own back passage!"). All performances are terrific, especially when the two youngsters are written as such wholly unlikeable characters.
The story is slow and mostly uneventful, enlivened by the characters and their mounting arguments when their carefully laid plans come to nothing in their drizzly lives of 70's drudgery. The film certainly doesn't deserve it's mostly forgotten status. Whilst hardly a straightforward horror, the concepts are certainly brutal and the slight humour that embraces them is dark indeed.
Vanessa Howard plays Jill with all the hallmarks of a 1970's wrong 'un. Chewing gum, slightly cockney, indulges in casual sex – definitely bad news. Howard plays her convincingly. A dark dreamer, she wants a better life than the one which currently traps her. And it does trap her. Her boss casually gropes her as a matter of course, and the locations where she lives are dank and littered with grim perpetual winter's drizzle.
Jack is played by Paul Nicholas, who went on to become a successful pop singer – one of his biggest hits was called 'Grandma's Party'. He doesn't want to work ('9-5? Who needs a bloody job?' he asks himself) and provides a comparative voice of reason between them both.
Gran, Alice Talent, is played by Mona Washbourne who refuses to portray her as the sweet, docile old girl this film seems to cry out for. Instead, she is more real, grounded, and not afraid to tell Jack a few home truths now and again. But when she breaks down and declares, "You'd think it was a crime to be old. We can't help it," whilst facing the brunt of Jack's continued lapses into passive aggression, your heart breaks for her.
Like 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1971)', the star of this particular show is Vanessa Howard, who is ice cold throughout but still has some wonderful lines (her departing words to her former employer: "Book yourself a nice cruise, right up your own back passage!"). All performances are terrific, especially when the two youngsters are written as such wholly unlikeable characters.
The story is slow and mostly uneventful, enlivened by the characters and their mounting arguments when their carefully laid plans come to nothing in their drizzly lives of 70's drudgery. The film certainly doesn't deserve it's mostly forgotten status. Whilst hardly a straightforward horror, the concepts are certainly brutal and the slight humour that embraces them is dark indeed.