Terror en el bosque

During the 60's and 70's – when Hammer Studios ruled the industry – the vast majority of genre movies that got released in the United Kingdom were either Gothic tales (practically all Hammer films), horror omnibuses (Amicus) or provocative exploitation films (courtesy of Pete Walker & Norman J. Warren). At the same time in Italy, a very different sub genre of horror was extremely popular and overflowing the market; namely the Giallo. This is basically a whodunit type of thriller, interlarded with sleaze, graphic violence and bizarre plot twists. Usually each country stuck to its own specialties, but "Assault" is one of the truly few films crossing the countries' borders of styles. What we have here is a British Giallo, containing all the rudimentary ingredients that define the genre: luscious under aged school girls, rape & strangulation, perverted elderly suspects and a grotesque climax. A vicious rapist dwells the forestry area surrounding an all-girls school building. With one girl dead and another one traumatized for life, the school courageous art teacher Julie (Suzy Kendall) volunteers to act as bait in order for the police to unmask the culprit. There are quite a number of suspects, including the headmistress' uncanny husband and maybe even the helpful police doctor who's friendly with Julie. "Assault" may perhaps feature all the trademarks of a genuine Italian Giallo, it still remains a "light" version of the real thing. The plot is extremely textbook, the red herrings are very transparent and the action sequences are unspectacular and soft. There's very few sex & violence and then still most of it takes place off-screen. Still, the atmosphere is a little disturbing because the girl victims are very young and clearly vulnerable. One sequence is particularly questionable & gratuitous, as it involves a sleaze middle-aged guy fondling a young girl whilst she climbs up a ladder in the library. The most interesting aspect about this film is to witness Italian styles mix with typically British characteristics. Even the most perverted blokes behave very British and talk with a sophisticated yet arrogant tone of voice. Suzy Kendall was probably the best casting choice imaginable, as she played in some actual Italian Giallo highlights such as "The Bird with Crystal Plumage", "Torso" and "Spasmo". It's a remotely interesting cinematic 'marriage' between two nations with solid reputations in the horror genre, but definitely not the best movie in its type.

The film is typical of its time, with the lighting, camera work and fashion giving a clear indication of 1969 to 1971 British cinema.

It is not scary, but there is reasonable suspense and enjoyment.

My main reason for commenting is has anyone else noticed the very strong similarities with the brilliant (but sadly never shown) "I start counting"?

There is the same fashion, the similar colour technique which is surprising given this is Eastman and "I start" is De Luxe, an emphasis on short skirts, an unknown serial assailant who is revealed at the end but throughout most of the film the viewers attention is diverted to other suspects. There is also the woods where the events take place; the atmosphere in the woodland scenes is very similar. Finally, there is a young and good looking central character in both, Lesley-Anne Down and Jenny Agutter

Watch the film if you enjoy late 60's, early 70's Britain and a bit of suspense.

I haven't seen this film in years, but from what I remember of it, it was a pretty good movie. The only thing that I think might be a little politically incorrect is the fact that the a few of the girls are pretty much seen as teases, especially in the scene in which the headmistress' husband fondles one of the girls as she stands on top of a stool. This scene is a little disturbing, especially when you consider the film was made in 1971. No wonder this film was mainly shown very late at night when the kiddies were asleep.

Although any number of Italian gialli ("Nude Si Muore", "What Have You Done to Solange?", etc.) were set in Britain and/or were UK co-productions, this film is somewhat unique in that it seems to be a completely British giallo. We're definitely in giallo territory here: There's a vicious rapist-murderer on the loose at a girl's school. There are two witnesses to the murder--one who can't quite remember what she saw (a familiar plot-line in the Italian films)and a previous rape victim who is too traumatized to speak. The lead is Suzy Kendall, who two years earlier had starred in Dario Argento's seminal giallo "The Bird with Crystal Plumage." It's definitely a very British film, however. The cinematography is staid and workman-like compared to the more garish and stylistic Italian films. The plot is fairly linear and logical, at least until the end when the murderer-rapist goes to laughably ridiculous lengths to stop a psychiatrist from giving sodium pentathlon to the traumatized victim to help her recover her memory.

It's not surprising given the famed British aversion to violence (in movies that is)that most of the violence here takes place off-screen. Still it is pretty nasty violence, especially considering the rape angle and the age and gender of the victims. (It's interesting that these kinds of movies never take place at a MEN'S college or in an old age home). The sex and nudity is also pretty non-existent, but it doesn't exactly seem wholesome either the way they have cast sexy twenty year olds as fifteen year olds and dressed them in mini-skirts short enough to get any real schoolgirl expelled. The most lurid scene involves the headmistress's lecherous husband and a student librarian on a ladder. I don't know if it makes it more or less perverse that the "student" is played by Janet Lynn, a British sex star of the period (thus the obvious pseudonym)who had been featured the year before in Pete Walker's naked sex romp "Cool It, Carol". The only really recognizable star though, besides Suzy Kendall, is a young Leslie-Anne Down as the traumatized rape victim. (Despite what an earlier reviewer said, Jenny Agutter is NOT in this movie).

Still if you can get around the leering British hypocrisy, the relative lack of sex and violence, and the fairly low-wattage of the star power, this is actually a pretty entertaining little film, and, if nothing else, an interesting one.

I saw Saturn Productions Inc.'s video of this release, retitled The Creepers (the title doesn't make much sense).

It starts with young women leaving a school in uniforms of white shirts a short pinks skirts. One of them takes a shortcut through the woods, where she is chased and then raped underneath overhead electrical lines by someone we do not see. There are several shots from the stalker's point of view.

The woman is hospitalized, still ambulatory but mute and largely unresponsive. A doctor tries to nurse her back. A couple months later, another girl tries cutting through the woods, and she is chased, raped, and killed. A group of girls and an art teacher drive into the woods to look for her. They get stuck in the mud, and when the teacher looks out the back window, she catches a glimpse of someone in the red taillights. She then finds the body of the dead woman.

The teacher thinks the man she caught a glimpse of looked like the devil! She paints a picture of how she saw him. She works with the police to try to identify the man. Meanwhile, the first victim is becoming more responsive, but is still mute. A plan is concocted to flush out the killer...

This was an OK movie. It was hurt by the music. The action scenes all use the same piece of music, which is so inappropriate it almost makes those scenes comical, which is just wrong. While the version I saw was probably cut, I can't imagine what would have led to this movie getting an NC-17 rating. Perhaps the assaults were more graphic; little is shown of them on the video I watched.

After the movie on the video, there's a listing of Saturn Productions' videos, showing the boxcovers for this one and: Circle of Fear, Castle of the Walking Dead AKA Schlangengrube und das Pendel, Die (1967), Demon of the Lake AKA Creature from Black Lake (1976), Night of Horrors (1978), Sinner's Blood (1969), Blade of the Ripper AKA Strano vizio della Signora Wardh, Lo (1970), The Devil Walks at Midnight AKA Plus longue nuit du diable, La (1971), Christmas Evil AKA You Better Watch Out (1980). Several of these are little seen today! Curiously, the illustrated cover for Blade of the Ripper is the same used for the VHS for it still available from another distributor, Alpha. I'm not sure what movie Circle of Fear is; the cover shows a few women standing around a pentagram inside a circle chalked on a floor.