John Savage is the acting force driving this film. Just getting out of prison for rape, or forced rape, when you see the film in it's opening, Terry (Savage) turns up at his favorite aunts, unannounced. Aunt Thelma takes him under his wing, not forgetting how much he likes chocolate milk, (a favorite of mine too). After a nap, she fixes him a ripper meal of a cake which he downs hungrily. Every things hunky dory. But deep down in Terry's mind is a penchant for revenge. A few of the tenants die, plus a cat, at his violent hand, including a wannabe model (Cindy Williams before her Laverne and Shirley days) who Thelma doesn't consider to be attractive or like. Williams takes the compliment politely. After all, she just wanted a room. One scene has Savage, an acting great, in a truly believable performance, practically tearing off her clothes in the pool, although she was asking for it, a little, I guess. Another has him masturbating, after making a obscene phone call to a slutty girl, shacked up with another fella, the same girl he was forced to rape, years earlier, using some funny and effectively scary dialogue on her. Budding guitarist Savage is, as Williams is a model, (though Savage's character is more the quiet achiever) in one explosive scene he goes ballistic, flying out a door and diving into a pool, to cool himself, after Thelma rabbles with old memories. The following scene at the dry cleaners with another regular, who's really a babbling type is an amusing touch. Savage's psychotic moments where he loses it are frighteningly real, like when forcing his crappy woman lawyer to drink herself dry before he burns her place down with her in it. Another scene, like the pool one just mentioned, that stays with me, is when he runs this girl (no prizes for guessing who I'm talking about here) off a cliff, in his car, plummeting to her death below. Void of any remorse, he actually cracks up, making a cooky, laugh, that's quite chilling. This is a well formulated drama, the kind that made early seventies cinema good, with strong support from it's co stars, Savage walking away with honors here. It has a sad dramatic conclusion that just goes to prove, some people in this world just don't have a fighting chance. I've seen this seventy type horror film a few times, the first on the t.v, mainly because of Savage, an actor I love.
