Writer Jimmy Sangster's revision of his own "Scream of Fear" from 1961 involves a young woman returning to her family's home in San Francisco after spending several years in a Swiss institution; seems she was attacked by an unknown man when she was a child, however the familiar surroundings quickly begin playing tricks with her mind--or is someone trying to drive her insane? Lumbering made-for-TV yarn at first features Barbara Parkins running around the opulent woodland grounds in a terrified state, then exchanges Parkins' screams for those of Barbara Stanwyck's, playing Parkins' mother. Both actresses are at the mercy of a teleplay so contrived, the plot twists are not so much surprising as they are confounding. There's no attention to detail (at least, not logical detail) in Sangster's scenario, and the story becomes so muddled that the final revelations are practically irrelevant. Parkins keeps shooing Stanwyck off to the store or away to the airport, while Arthur O'Connell shuffles around as a simpleton groundskeeper and William Windom keeps popping up as a drunken stepfather (always with the same pained expression on his face). None of it coheres for an instant.

When the film begins, a young girl, Susan, is attacked and raped. Suddenly the film jumps ahead many years and you learn, through some clumsy exposition, that for the intervening time Susan (Barbara Parkins) has been in a mental institution. During the first two years of this stay, she was catatonic and now she has suppressed the identity of her attacker. Through the course of the film, it's obviously folks are screwing with Susan's mind....and here is where the film gets VERY bad. She supposedly sees a dead person...and then conveniently faints. When she is awakened, the dead man is gone and no one else has seen him. A bit later, she sees another dead guy and runs away to tell others...and when she returns this one is gone as well. In fact, this sort of silly thing seemed to happen again and again. This is so clumsy and stupid and really took a decent story idea and relegated it to a sub-par made for TV film and nothing more. By the way, as a retired psychotherapist, the notion of anyone completely blocking out the identity of their attacker is a bit tenuous. It seems possible, at least temporarily, but it a plot device way overused in films. Also, if Barbara Parkins seems familiar, she's one of the folks who starred in "Valley of the Dolls"--a truly awful and stupid (but thoroughly enjoyable) bad movie of the late 60s.

Although I've only seen this film once, it lingers in my memory: I saw it at age 1O in 1971 when it was originally broadcast on television. Although the rest of the cast, i.e. William Windom, Roddy McDowall & Barbara Perkins, etc. did fine jobs with their roles, it's Stanwyck's playing of Miriam Jennings which lingers in my memory: talk about an unsympathetic role for an older Hollywood star to take! If fans of Davis and Crawford doing their bits in the macabre thought Stanwyck stopped with THE NIGHT WALKER, think again! This is definitely her tour-de-force in the thriller genre. Although it probably looks a bit tired and dated today, I remember the diabolical twist as being memorably sadistic and cruel plus there was a helping of LES DIABOLIQUES in the plotline. The atmosphere was creepy - thunder and lightning and all - and I remember sinister Barbara dismissing her gardener (Arthur O'Connell) thusly: "You have until noon"...

As this movie does not appear to have been released to video, you may not find it anywhere. If you do PLEASE contact me! There were some classic jump up and scare-you-silly scenes as only Barbara Stanwyck could do. I remember sitting in front of my T.V. and jumping backwards across the room! If anyone knows where I can get a copy of this movie, I'd be truly grateful. Thanks Terri (e-mail address) [email protected]