The first film from the short-lived Tyburn film company (that later gave us THE GHOUL and LEGEND OF THE WEERWOLF, two of my favourites) is a lot different from what you might expect. Here we have an extremely slow-moving, long, and yet compelling drama about the volatile relationship between two people, namely David Masters (Ralph Bates) and his domineering mother Carrie (Lana Turner).There are many things to recommend in this film, which may be too subtle and understated for some modern viewers who have an over-reliance on action/gore. From the odd opening - in which we see a young boy killing his pet cat in a bowl of milk - to the circular ending, in which that boy (now grown up) does the same thing, my eyes never left the screen. Top quality acting from an interesting cast and attention to detail make this film one to watch. Here we have fully fleshed-out, three dimensional characters who act and talk like real people. The story is rooted in reality for a change, and there are no physical horror aspects - except those of a cat, which may or may not be evil.Ralph Bates (who made his horror debut in TASTE THE BLOOD OF Dracula and who may not have been the best of actors, but was always enjoyable) gives what is, in my mind, his best performance as the tormented son of Lana Turner, forever a weak-willed victim. He always seemed to play the same kind of role throughout his short-lived horror career (his characteristics: quiet voice, floppy hair, handsome yet feminine) and here he reaches his highlight, the most in-depth role he played. His is a journey into complete madness, brought about by extreme cruelty and sheer wickedness from his parent over a period of thirty years. He is the son his mother never wanted, the son who will never be able to do anything right or make any decisions of his own. He has grown up to depend on his mother so that, even as an adult, he cannot bring himself to leave her and go to live with his wife.Lana Turner is the wicked mother, putting in a subtle performance of evil. Turner is very unlikeable and actually quite convincing in the role, and is never anything but serious: you can believe that she's capable of plotting devastation and murder in the back of her mind. Seasoned veterans Trevor Howard and Patrick Allen pop up for brief cameos, while Suzan Farmer and Olga Georges-Picot provide some pathos and sympathy as women caught up in the feud between mother and son.Although the film is slow-moving, the plot is a good one, and events gradually build up until they culminate in mass murder and total insanity. I definitely feel that this film is an underrated classic, simply as it tries something different from usual and succeeds in being original. I love the ending which has Ralph Bates saying - in a child's voice, to make it extra creepy - "Mother, I just killed a cat." PERSECUTION is a film that essays the total mental breakdown of an odd family - and does it in such a way to make it gripping, haunting viewing.

I found a copy of this movie in a thrift store, and since it only cost fifty cents, I figured what the heck? Probably I should mention that I'm not a die hard fan of British horror films, though I've seen a few that I've liked. I found this one unusual in several aspects. There's the casting of Lana Turner, of course, and she manages to be appropriately (and convincingly) hateful. But two other things struck me most about the movie, the first being was how effectively bleak the movie's atmosphere was; every scene felt grim and dark. Another thing was that the core story could have fit nicely in one of those notorious EC horror comic books. Note that I said, "the core" - as it is, the story in this movie is much too drawn out. While it never gets to be boring, it won't take viewers long to start asking the movie to simply get on with it, which it never does. This story may have worked as one of the stories in a horror anthology movie, but as it is, viewers will lose patience long before the movie reaches the end.

Persecution starts as a young David Masters (Mark Weavers) drowns his deranged mother's (Lana Turner) cat Sheba in it's own milk claiming she loved it more than him, as a Christms present his bitter mum Carrie gives him a small coffin with Sheba's body inside which she makes him go outside & bury in her cat graveyard all of whom seem to have had the same name. Jump forward several years & David (Ralph Bates) is now a young man married to Janie (Suzan Farmer) & together they have a baby son called Paul who on David's birthday is suffocated by his mother's latest cat who she has again called Sheba, distraught Janie becomes a nervous wreck while David sinks deeper & deeper into some sort of depression until all the tension in the house finally comes to a shocking conclusion...This British production was directed by Don Chaffey for the short lived Tyburn Films, this was the first of only three films they ever produced which was followed by their best effort Legend of the Werewolf (1975) & then came the alright The Ghoul (1975) although both of which are far superior to Persecution which is a pretty bad psychological horror. The script by Robert Hutton, Frederick Warner & Rosemary Wootten has some absolutely hilarious melodramatics between Carrie & David, the relationships between the character's in Persecution are badly written & thought out, I mean no one behaves like this, no one. Some of the dialogue is just as embarrassing, it has be to heard to be believed. Then of course there's the supposed shock twist ending which is obviously meant to mirror & parallel the events that have happened previously in a 'wasn't that neat, ironic & clever' sort of way but again it's just so overblown, unintentionally funny & downright silly that I couldn't take it seriously & I actually started to laugh when David made Carrie drink milk out of the bowl on the floor. The whole film is played totally straight & is utterly serious in tone which just kills the whole thing because it's so bad & stupid you can't take it seriously. This could have been an effective little Anglo horror but instead it tries to be clever & in the end it doesn't really know what it wants to be & I'm not sure who Persecution will appeal too as it's not a horror, it's not a thriller & it's too silly to be a proper attempt at drama, the pace is slow, not that much really happens & there's nothing to retain ones interest.Director Chaffey does OK, there' one or two nice moments here but they're few & far between. When he does go for out-and-horror it just doesn't work, fat ugly cats aren't scary & the scene when Carrie gets lost in the maze is terrible. Forget about any gore as there isn't any.It's quite well made with the usual high production standards you would expect from a British film from this period although the film has badly dated with the fashions & in particular Ralph Bates hairdo. The acting is pretty awful & together with the material they have to work with they come across as plank's.Persecution is a pretty bad film, it's so bad some parts are hilariously watchable but overall this is definitely one to give a miss.

Halloween is upon us so the TV companies dust off a few horror films for late night showing . Last night saw the BBC broadcast THE WOLFMAN while tonight ITV transmitted a clichéd horror movie called LONG TIME DEAD with BBC 1 showing PERSECUTION As a horror film / psychological thriller totally fails because it uses something ridiculous as the focus of fear . The bringers of terror areCATS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That's right . Cats . You know these fluffy cute mammals that sit in your lap making purring noises when you tickle their chin ? Well that's what the creatures of horror are in this movie . I'm not making this up and I also wish to point out that they're not ten foot tall mutant demon possessed killer cats , they're the type of moggy you see sitting out on window ledges in the summer . I know some people have an instinctive fear of felines , it's to do with the way they look at you , almost like the cats are planning something when you're back is turned . I don't know how anyone can believe this because I find cats the most affectionate type of pet and no matter how hard the director tries he just can't make moggies appear menacing in any wayI feel rather sorry for the late Ralph Bates since he also appeared in an awful horror movie shown on BBC 1 a few nights ago called I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN and looking at the actor's resume he has appeared in a lot of crap early 70s Brit horror movies . To give you a taste of how bad PERSECUTION is check out this sample of dialogue " You killed your mothers cat " " Yes I drowned it . In milk " " Oh darling " Believe it or not the above lines weren't meant to induce a laugh , though inevitably they did