Recently read the book Puzzle For Fiends and was interested to see how this adaptation compared. The scene has been switched from southern California to the south of France, but the rich suffocating decor of the Friend's mansion is accurately conveyed and for a low-budget movie, veteran Wilfred Arnold's sets are notable. One of the characters describes the rest of the Friend family as fiends at one point, a play on words which accounts somewhat for the alternative title. Casting is excellent, but the script ignores the rivalry between the glamorous duo of Selena and Marnie and the question of who is the most devious, accounting for a considerable amount of tension in the book. And for such a wordy film the full significance of the importance of the poem reading before the hellfire cult leader for example, is not adequately put over. It's watchable, but the audience, the cast, and the art director deserved something amounting to more.
Review of Female Fiends
