Terrore cieco

Sarah (Mia Farrow) is staying in the country with her aunt and uncle on their vast estate, far removed from the noise and chaos of the city. Unfortunately, these fine people have returned from a trip to said urban center, unaware that someone there has taken an unsavory interest in them.

Soon thereafter, Sarah returns from an outing, and goes about her usual routine, not knowing that her loved ones have met with a catastrophic end. Sarah is blind, and can't see the carnage as she navigates through the huge house. The dire circumstances become a nightmare, and Sarah finds herself hunted by a murderer, identified -to the viewer- only by his distinctive footwear.

Director Richard Fleischer keeps us in the dark with Sarah, using the camera to trick and jolt us along with her. SEE NO EVIL is another fantastic thriller for Ms. Farrow. This time, instead of the Devil, she must attempt to flee from an unknown psychopath. Her sightless journey is nerve-jangling and treacherous, loaded with a school of red herrings! This film is for lovers of mystery, suspense, and the cold touch of horror...

Yes, I am sure Dario Argento must have liked this movie, which was made in the early seventies, at the same he he began his career. I have watched this Dick Fleischer's film at least a dozen times and each time I love it more and more, I discover things I did not the previous time. For instance those camera movements near the floor, showing the feet whilst Mia Farrow walks barefoot - or in socks - through the living room and also the kitchen with the broken glass. This is suspense to me, when you know and see something that the character in the movie does not .. So terrifying. And the astounding Elmer Bernstein music score. It deserves to be seen by new generations of viewers, of audiences at all costs. A true masterpiece. Dick Fleischer was really a great and especially eclectic director, able to make thrillers, science fiction, adventures films as fantastic as for instance Bob Wise was. Maybe only the western genre was not really their cup of tea, although they both have made some, but not the best ever. I have always put both of them in the same basket. And both began their career at RKO pictures, as Mark Robson. And I am not surprised that the writing is from The AVENGERS series creator and best writer too: Brian Clemens.

AKA "Blind Terror", which I think is the better title. Mia Farrow plays Sarah, a young woman who has lost her sight. She is staying with relatives at their mansion in the English countryside but things go terribly wrong when an unknown maniac enters the house. A tense game of cat and mouse ensues when she is left alone with the killer after he has killed the other occupants. This is a bit of a slow burn but is worth the watch. Sarah really does suffer and Farrow delivers a fine performance, she is the best thing about this film. There are plenty of effective moments of terror on offer. Sarah is unaware that her family members have been murdered, unable to see the corpses scattered around the house but we can see them and it really is quite horrific. Great camera work, good cast - some very familiar faces to British audiences in particular - and plenty of groovy 70's fashions and tunes. The identity of the killer is not revealed until the end, with a red herring thrown in. My only criticisms are that the film is a bit slow at times and I could see no explanation as to why the events took place, but overall a good, tense chiller.

Mention Mia Farrow's name to horror fans and most of them will instantly (and understandably) think of Polanski's classic, Rosemary's Baby; my immediate thought, however, would be of Blind Terror, a lesser known thriller in which Ms. Farrow plays Sarah, a blind girl whose relatives become the target of a psycho killer after her uncle accidentally splashes the loony's precious cowboy boots. I first saw this film at a rather tender age and its macabre concept, senseless killing and shocking images have haunted me ever since.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, Blind Terror opens with our nutter leaving a cinema (having caught the amazing sounding double-bill of 'The Convent Murders' and 'Rapist Cult'). He then passes a newspaper stand displaying horrific headlines, a store with a display of toy guns, and a TV shop showing a bloodthirsty film; violence, it seems, is all around us, although often we choose not to see it. Poor blind Sarah, on the other hand, doesn't have much of a choice: after the soggy-footed psycho pays a visit to her Uncle's farmhouse (whilst she is out with her boyfriend), she returns home, and prepares for bed, all the while blissfully unaware that the bloody corpses of her nearest and dearest lay all around her.

Only when Sarah eventually tries to get into her bath does she realise that something is terribly wrong—because that's where her uncle's lifeless body has been dumped! Meanwhile, the killer discovers that he has left behind a vital clue that could reveal his identity, and returns to the farmhouse to find it...

Fleischer's deliberately paced and carefully considered direction (which makes brilliant use of imaginative camera angles and cleverly framed shots), combined with excellent cinematography from Gerry Fisher and a completely convincing central performance from Farrow, ensure that this film is a success despite a few rather contrived moments in an otherwise well-crafted script by Brian Clemens (a case of mistaken identity at the end of the film is rather far-fetched, and the fact that Sandy, Sarah's pretty cousin, would date a 'diddycoy' is also difficult to swallow).

Atmospheric, suspenseful, and packed with nerve-shredding moments, Blind Terror is an under-rated slice of 70s British cinema that, although not perfect, is still well worth seeking out.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

There's been quite a few rainy afternoons when I've dusted down my copy of Blind Terror and settled down to watch it again, and every time I'm left with the same feeling: something isn't quite right about this movie, despite obvious skill in places.

Brian Clemens is hardly an intellectual writer, but as a writer of simple television thrillers he's a legend. And like many of the best TV writers, his success as a screenwriter is varied. Both Blind Terror and And Soon The Darkness point the way forward to Clemens' THRILLER TV series of the Seventies, which effectively exploited the "girl in peril" situation. What makes these two movies different is their rather unpleasant, slightly depressing feel. "Darkness" is very slow and rather uneasy in its voyeurism, whilst Terror is a little too nasty to be a wholly enjoyable thriller.

Perhaps the most telling and interesting sequence is actually the opening credits, with Bernstein's enjoyable but somehow inappropriate music accompanying the faceless killer leaving a cinema that is showing "The Convent Murders" and "Rapist Cult", an only slightly exaggerated take on early Seventies exploitation movies in Britain. He then walks along a street where every shop seems to be selling violence: a TV shop has a set displaying a murder taking place, a toy shop sells toy guns and a newsagent displays grim headlines.

From there the movie is rather predictable, and unfolds at a slow pace (nothing really happens until about 50 minutes in) but is somehow pretty watchable all the same. Along the way there are some fascinating glimpses of Seventies Britain to be enjoyed. But from the inexplicable massacre at the house onwards things feel a little sluggish and the killer is so one-dimensional we do not have much interest in his actions. And why does he try and find the bracelet again at the end, as if Sarah would still have it! The ending is terribly abrupt and nothing is explained.

Fleisher's direction though is careful and he uses a fantastic trick of keeping the camera close on Farrow during her long escape sequence so that we cannot see where she is heading either.

There are also a couple of good moments of surprise but the movie is lacking a real scare and the overwhelming impression is one of gloom.