I Start Counting

A 14-year old Catholic girl Wynne(Jenny Agutter)falls in love with her older adoptive brother.Her crush is growing stronger as she believes that he is the local sex killer of young girls."I Start Counting" is a subtle exploitation film which touches several taboo subject matters including incest,drugs,rape and teenage sexuality.The story is fascinating and often confusing and the film is full of symbolism.The purity and innocence of Wynne slowly becomes corrupted.The girl believes she sees the statue of Jesus in church weeping blood.The climax of "I Start Counting" is very powerful and memorable.Along with "Night After Night After Night" a forgotten genre essential from late 60's.8 out of 10.

It is a good few years since I last saw this movie but the memory lingers on. I first saw it as a teenager a couple of times but haven't been able to catch it since. Boy it sure was creepy. The whole cast are excellent throughout. Has British television forgotten about this fantastically creepy movie. With the proliferation of movie channels now available surely one of them can secure the rights to show it. It would be even better if it was released on DVD.

This movie is awesome. I don't know why it isn't more popular. the cinematography was fab and the lead actress who played Wynne had this real innocence about her, that was so believable. I thought the storyline was great, it was something unusual. the synopsis based it around Wynne's suspicious feelings towards her brother and the murders, but I found it was about something more than that, about the way different people perceive situations and how different peoples duties and commitments can be seen differently in others eyes.

The rest of the cast were great. I loved the few parts of humour in the film, that lifted from the somewhat dark and serious theme, and showed how unusual the film is. the theme song I Start Counting was awesome. It was an awesome name for the film

I'm totally raving about this film man. It freaking rules! I love it!

I saw this film when it was on General release, and was somewhat taken-a-back by the acting ability of its very young leading Lady. Jenny Agutter was superb in the role of Wynne, a teenager who thought her step brother to be involved in some killings, and left nothing about her character's thoughts to the imagination. "I start Counting" was, of course, very different from M/s. Agutter's later work; and, to my mind, the character had more punch than many of her later portrayals. Perhaps, only her portrayal of the eldest daughter in "The Railway Children" carried the same amount of convincing charm as her portrayal of Wynne in "I start Counting". For me, Jenny Agutter "shines" in this movie: the storyline is right for her, and she was the right person to play Wynne. I could gladly watch this movie over and over again.

I truly love those typical 'rural' British thrillers from the late 60's and early 70's! They practically always revolve on hugely controversial topics and feature heavy macabre undertones, and yet they remain very stylish, sophisticated and classy. A couple of notorious examples include "Unman, Wittering and Zigo", "Deadly Strangers", "Crescendo", "Girly", "Twisted Nerve" and some of Hammer's lesser promoted thrillers like "Never Take Candy from Strangers" and "Paranoia". David Greene's "I Start Counting" is also an excellent addition to this list. The principal coming-of-age story is basically already an anathema, but then this plot is simultaneously interwoven with a grim tale of a serial killer on the loose in a small picturesque British village. I was already a great fan of the lovely Jenny Agutter thanks to "An American Werewolf in London" and "Logan's Run", but after seeing this film she's truly immortal to me. Agutter gives away a stellar tour-de-force performance as the cherubic and curious 14 year old Wynne. The romantically inexperienced pubescent girl has a tremendous crush on her 32 year old foster brother and openly talks about her feelings with her school friend Corinne, who claims to have had sex with several boys already. During all her secretly observing and spying, Wynne begins to suspect, however, that her beloved brother George might be the maniac responsible for several gruesome yet unsolved murders. Where do the nail scratches on his back come from? Why are there bloodstains on the white sweater that Wynne made for him? Strangely enough, the more convinced Wynne gets regarding her brother's guilt, the more her feelings grow intense and obsessive. The young girl even convinces herself that she must rescue George, as the rest of the world won't understand him. "I Start Counting" is a slowly unfolding, captivating and often uncomfortable film that is made even more excellent thanks to the wondrous use of music like the title song (although some fans of the genre might not like this), beautiful images of the South-East British countryside and great work from the ensemble cast. The thriller elements surprisingly go well with the coming-of-age theme. The serial killer plot is occasionally very creepy, whereas Wynne's extreme devotion for her brother is also quite disturbing but in a completely different way. "I Start Counting" absolutely is a unique film; what they call a real gem of a great but sadly forgotten cinematic era. It pleases me to see that the film nevertheless has a few devoted fans here on this site.