Paranoico

... was the above-average British Hammer/Universal production PARANOIAC . This first directorial effort by famed cinematographer Freddie Francis is full of intensely creepy atmosphere, beautifully lit and shot in black and white CinemaScope.

Oliver Reed stars as a faded family's dissolute son trying to drive his sensitive sister insane so he'll inherit the entire fortune, but then a long-lost brother who supposedly had committed suicide years before suddenly shows up. It's a well-done blend of elements from PSYCHO with THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER and THE OLD DARK HOUSE, among others, maintaining an almost Hitchcockian sardonic undercurrent to the gothic thrills. PARANOIAC is a film that deserves to be better-known.