So many movies involve such predictable situations that you have figured most of them out before the ending. Jimmy Sangster's 'Maniac' starts out with a jarring abduction and then leaves you wondering who the title role belongs to.
Kerwin Matthews is surprisingly good. So is Nadia Gray, playing the quintessential evil stepmother. But lest you think this film is full of cliches, it is not. The screenplay is intelligent, and plot twists abound. It may not be up to the level of a Hitchcock film, but the movie held my interest throughout.
Frankly, I have viewed some of Hammer's 'film noir' attempts and was disappointed. This movie is NOT film noir, but there is something quite sinister in many of its characters. A real sleeper.
Kerwin Matthews is surprisingly good. So is Nadia Gray, playing the quintessential evil stepmother. But lest you think this film is full of cliches, it is not. The screenplay is intelligent, and plot twists abound. It may not be up to the level of a Hitchcock film, but the movie held my interest throughout.
Frankly, I have viewed some of Hammer's 'film noir' attempts and was disappointed. This movie is NOT film noir, but there is something quite sinister in many of its characters. A real sleeper.