A Reflection of Fear

Weird! This is one of the most bizarre horror flicks I've ever seen. But weird can be good, and in this case, it's definitely good! The beautiful and sexy Sondra Locke is at her very best as the tormented teen. Mary Ure and Signe Hasso are appropriately sinister as Locke's overprotective mother and grandmother. Robert Shaw is the disturbed young girl's estranged father who returns home to announce he's going to marry lovely Sally Kellerman. Naturally, several strange and dastardly deeds occur before this event can take place. The film is by all means an effective suspense story(all right, so it borrowed here and there from PSYCHO), but does have its shortcomings. The movie was very severely cut to avoid an R rating and slide by with a PG. Bad editing makes it all too obvious where the missing footage should be. But, it's still a worthwhile thriller with genuine scares and great acting.

Haunting Gothic psychodrama (adapted by Lewis John Carlino whose THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA covers similarly torrid terrain) which, whilst undeniably owing a shade too much of a debt to PSYCHO (as previously noted by another IMDb commentator), whips up an unsettling and uneasy atmosphere of dread, not all of which is dissipated by apparently heavy censorship cuts made to secure a 'PG' for its original U.S. theatrical release in the early 70s. In fact, these often noticeable edits (scenes cut away before they've barely begun) lends the whole enterprise a greater sense of ambiguity by suggesting, rather than showing, the barely suppressed corruption and perversion. Possibly too low-key for popular tastes (which makes it all the more surprising that this was distributed by a major studio and roped in the likes of Robert Shaw) and, although I don't really go a bundle on films which seem to be bending over backwards to conceal their surprise ending (and, yes, I did see this one coming a mile off), this is still a one-off melodramatic curio worth seeking out and which certainly lingers in the mind. Now, how about a nice DVD transfer (my UK video copy is a nasty full-frame RCA Columbia release from the early 80s which doesn't do justice to what looks like impressive cinematography)?...

Underrated horror-thriller with an interesting cast, led capably by a young Sondra Locke as a reclusive girl, who yearns for the affections of her absent father (Shaw), as she struggles mentally with inner demons and a strained relationship with her mother (Ure) who she blames for her father's estrangement. When Shaw visits with new girlfriend in tow (Kellerman), Locke sets out to impress him with her superior intellect and creativity, but love her as he does, he's unwilling to 'rescue' her from her unhappy existence with her mother. As he prepares to leave again, he's confronted with a series of unexplained events including fatal accidents, murder and twisted sanity.

It's the stuff of nightmares; the haunting score, lighting, and especially Locke's performance contribute to a chilling, suspenseful tale that is at times, graphically violent and gruesome. Shaw delivers another watchable performance as the increasingly concerned father, while Kellerman (aside from being breathtakingly attractive) is equally effective as an innocent bystander and unwilling witness to the unfolding madness.

A first rate cast, professional production values and intelligent dialogue all deliver, but somehow, this minor thriller seems to go perpetually unnoticed. The plot might not be rock solid, and there's undoubtedly some narrative weaknesses, but invest a little time and latitude, and you should be repaid handsomely. Great fright night fare.

A beautiful but strange teenage girl is kept isolated by her mother and grandmother. Her long absent father arrives with a new fiancé in tow, and asks for a divorce. It's not long before all sorts of slightly perverted and typically violent seventies shenanigans kick off!

One of the oddest early seventies psycho-thrillers... as Marguerite, Locke is all bug eyes, long hair and mini-dresses as the disturbed teenager, wafting around, talking to a seemingly imagined friend and enduring alarming mood swings. Hasso and Ure (in her last film) are given rather thankless roles as her sinister guardians (and given the apparently Canadian setting - references to Charlottetown, Georgetown - there's no particular explanation for Marguerite having a Swedish grandmother and an Anglo-American mother... and why is the gardener British?). Robert Shaw was a fine actor (and he was married to Ure at the time), but here seems to sleepwalk throughout the movie, despite the slightly incestuous nature of his character, and Kellerman was a curious and strange choice for the 'straight' role of Anne, especially if you consider her other more wacky roles of this period (M*A*S*H, SLITHER, LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS and BREWSTER McCLOUD).

In keeping with a movie-making trend of the period, much is made of Locke's pubescent sexuality (see also BABY LOVE, TWINKY, Sally Tomsett's character in STRAW DOGS), and even with the apparent editing, the murder of at least one character has a grainy, improvised and rather nasty look to it.

Ultimately it doesn't really work, but it's still a fascinating and spooky failure with a striking cast and captivating central performance, all of which leaves it lingering long after the final credits fade.

I recently had the privilege to see a brand new (from the camera negative) 35mm print of this film at the American Cinematheque here in Los Angeles. It was a Friday night, there were probably only about 20 people in the theatre. Bill Fraker and Sondra Locke were there to talk about it. I really admire this film on many levels, visually it is quite amazing, filled with haunting pastel images and eerie dark shadowy lighting. It had look and feel [and content] of a film made around the 1970-71 period as opposed to '73, and sure enough that was indeed the case. (the film was shelved for 2 years before the studio did something with it) This is yet another interesting example of the kind of strange and bold and brilliant and unconventional film that could have ONLY been made in that time. (and surely the filmmakers of the time were not aware of it--as this was just the reality of the era)

In the same kind of haunting and lonely ambience this film created, I felt depressed that these works are still so overlooked. Even now, (as of late March 2003) there is only one other comment here on the IMDB. And this person (verna55) happens to a friend of mine I've corresponded with. It seems only too apparent there is simply no audience for movies like this, except for rare, intelligent, aware people like me. On one level I'm glad to know about and connect with films like this, on another it makes me morose with utter hopelessness knowing there is simply no market for films like this. Or chance anything like it could ever be made again, especially given the way people tend to overlook and ignore the most brilliant things. But gee, thats nothing new isn't it? I hold little hope for the future of humankind, and you know what? frankly I think some kind of armageddon would be the best thing that could happen to planet earth right now. (--D. Packard, director of "Reflections of Evil")