There is really nothing wrong the atmosphere in this flick. It is really tense and the black-and-white cinematography really helps a lot. And even though it eventually leads to some surprises I thought it was rather strange the chauffeur wanting to help the wheel-bound chair girl. The body of the dead father disappearing so quickly as if it were a ghost while it clearly wasn't was really exaggerated. Also if the girl wasn't handicapped at all than the accident where the falls in the pool with wheelchair is rather dumb. I don't think if you are in such state of panic you are still going to use that wheelchair if you can walk anyway. And I pretty much was sure she wouldn't be dead when she fell from that cliff. The bad guys were not going to get away with that, my gut feeling was right. All in all an enjoyable experience with a clever story but not for a re-watch.

Coming to her father's home after an almost fatal accident, his wheel- chair bound daughter finds him away, but her most gracious step-mother present to welcome here. Obviously, something is amiss, and no sooner has she settled in then she begins to claim to see her father's supposed corpse all over the grounds of the estate. What seems to be a traditional "Get your hands on the inheritance" plot turns into something a lot more deadly, and there's a lot of fun along the way in what is a fun, if obvious thriller. You've seen this plot in films time and time again, from the original "The Cat and the Canary" onto today. Susan Strasberg gives a sincere performance as the endangered heroine. Ann Todd, as the step-mother of wheelchair bound Strasberg, is outstanding as her character is developed and the truth is revealed. A famous horror villain is nothing more than a red herring, given a dark presence to cast instant suspicion as the villain. There are some really creepy moments throughout this thriller, and the conclusion may have you shrieking in both shock and laughter. Columbia had some tiny gems in the horror genre in the 1950's and 60's, and this is one of the best.

Hammer made its name with colorful horror movies, but this early black-and-white classic shows that their stable of creative talent had some other tricks up their collective sleeves. Writer Sangster and director Roth proved that they could take some elements of "Gaslight" and "Le Diaboliques" and come up with a tight little suspense thriller that manages some excellent twists and turns.I've watched a bunch of movies like this one, and was basically able to determine early on what was going to have to happen for the movie to have a "happy" ending where the good guys win (because that was still a requirement back then).But the actors were so good and the scenes so well staged and managed that it was still great fun to see the plot events unfold. And I will admit - the movie did catch me by surprise a couple of times. That's pretty impressive for a screenplay that's over 50 years old!Even better, the movie manages to play reasonably fair with the audience - there was only one "oh sure" element in the plot *SPOILER ALERT* which asks me to believe that a person could jump from a car which was falling off a cliff into the ocean and still be OK; I hardly think so! *END SPOILER ALERT*I especially liked the actor who played the chauffeur - handsome in an interesting way, but with an enigmatic hardness to him. Is he a good guy, or is he in on whatever is going on? When you find out, you'll be happy.Really,really liked this film. Not great art but Hammer never aspired to "Art"; they just wanted to thrill their audiences. This film is easily one of their best.

Back in 1973 I had a Bell and Howell 16mm projector and used to hire films to show to family and others.This film was one of them and I can remember it scaring people back then.Yesterday I watched it again through a modern projector, as BBC 2 had shown it recently, and thought it was just as good now as back in 1973.It benefits from being shot in black and white, the acting is very good from all the cast, and there are some scary moments, the swimming pool being an obvious one.It is really good to see an old fashioned horror film with no over-the-top effects, just a genuinely chilling story, well worth waiting for it to be shown again as not sure if available on DVD or video.