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Taste of Fear

Taste of Fear
UK film poster
Directed bySeth Holt[1]
Screenplay byJimmy Sangster[2]
Produced byJimmy Sangster[1]
Michael Carreras[3]
Starring
CinematographyDouglas Slocombe[1]
Desmond Davis
Edited byEric Boyd-Perkins[1]
Music byClifton Parker[1]
John Hollingsworth
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures[2]
Release dates
  • 19 April 1961 (1961-04-19) (UK)
  • 22 August 1961 (1961-08-22) (US)
[4]
Running time
90 minutes (UK)
81 minutes (US)[5]
CountryUnited Kingdom[2]
LanguageEnglish
Box office$800,000 (Europe)[6]

Taste of Fear (U.S. title: Scream of Fear) is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt.[7][8] The film stars Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, and Christopher Lee in a supporting role. It was written and produced by Jimmy Sangster.[9] Bernard Robinson was Production Designer and Stuart Lyons and Bill Constable were the Art Directors.[10]

Plot

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After the suicide of her best friend, wheelchair-user heiress Penny Appleby arrives at her estranged father's estate on the French Riviera. Her stepmother, whom Penny has only just met, informs her that the father has been called away on business. She cannot say when he will return or why he left when he was expecting Penny's arrival. Although the stepmother has made the place comfortable for Penny, the young woman does not trust her. That night she believes she sees her father's corpse in the guest cottage. When others respond to her hysterical screams, the corpse is not there. The stepmother tries to convince Penny that her recent tragedy is causing her to hallucinate, and the family doctor cites Penny's history of neurotic behaviour to support that view.

The family chauffeur meets Penny privately to say he believes Penny did see something unusual, even if not a corpse. He offers to help her investigate. As they proceed, Penny begins to wonder if he is really an ally or if he is leading her away from the truth. When a police detective begins his own investigation, he suspects that Penny may have secrets of her own.

Cast

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Production

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Advertisement from 1961 for Scream of Fear and co-feature, The Trunk.

Jimmy Sangster stated that he originally wrote the film for Sidney Box who assigned him to produce it.[11] The film was going to be part of a group of films from Sydney Box Associates for Rank called See No Evil.[12][13] According to Sangster, Box "had a heart attack" and stopped working temporarily, leading his projects to be taken over by his brother-in-law Peter Rogers, who was busy working on the Carry On series.[11] Sangster then bought the film back from Peter Rogers and sold it to Michael Carreras on the condition that Sangster would be allowed to produce it[11]. It became the first of five Hammer thrillers Sangster would make, including Maniac, Paranoiac, Nightmare and Hysteria[14].

Filming began at Elstree[15] on 24 October 1960, and wrapped on December 7, 1960. Parts of the film were shot on location in France as well. It was the first film Sangster ever produced. The film was released in April, 1961 in the UK during Easter week. It became a top grosser for Columbia Pictures, and even the poster design won an award for originality. Sangster traveled personally to the US on March 15, 1961 to deliver the print to Columbia's New York office, where Michael Carreras joined him the following day. [16]

It was the first of three films that Holt directed for Hammer[17] and the second of three films Ronald Lewis starred in for the studio.[18]

Release

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Taste of Fear was distributed in the UK on 19 April 1961, and US on 22 August 1961, but retitled Scream of Fear for the US[19] The film was a success in both countries and very popular in Europe, becoming one of Hammer's most profitable productions and leading to a cycle of similar psychological thrillers.[6]

In March 2013, Sony announced plans for a remake directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, whose previous credits include the acclaimed 2007 Spanish horror film, The Orphanage.[20]

Reception

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Box office

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Kinematograph Weekly said the film "got comfortably by here and has done a-burster in the States." [21]

Critical

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Variety called it "contrived but expertly executed."[22]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Taste of Fear suggests the work of a scriptwriter dangerously overstimulated by Psycho and Les Diaboliques and determined to find even more variations to play on the theme of the peripatetic corpse. Jimmy Sangster is too deep in the Hammer tradition to achieve much finesse. ...The plot, although it twists like a cork-screw in its final sequences, is a good deal less impenetrable than its creator might like to think; and even the final images, of Ann Todd (who has played with a nice neurotic edge) smashed on the rocks, and Susan Strasberg rather smugly triumphant on the clifftop, achieve no great surprise. But, within the limitations of material which is frankly tosh, Seth Holt has done a professional job. All those creaking shutters, flickering candles, wavering shadows and pianos playing in empty rooms still yield a tiny frisson. The director has gone all out to make Taste of Fear work on its own level – and the result is no less silly than usual, but a good deal more watchable"[23]

Legacy

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Christopher Lee stated that the film "was the best film that I was in that Hammer ever made... [...] It had the best director, the best cast and the best story."[24] Ann Todd contradicted him, saying that she thought "it was a terrible film. I didn't like my part, and I found Susan Strasberg impossible to work with – all that 'Method' stuff."[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Fellner 2019, p. 441.
  2. ^ a b c d P.H. (May 1961). "Taste of Fear". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 28, no. 328. British Film Institute. p. 63.
  3. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  4. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  5. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  6. ^ a b Hearn, Marcus (2011). The Hammer Vault. Titan Books. p. 61.
  7. ^ "Taste of Fear". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  8. ^ Butler, Craig. "Scream of Fear". AllMovie. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  9. ^ Lê, Paul (27 August 2021). "Gaslighting Thriller 'Taste of Fear' is One of Hammer's Best [Horrors Elsewhere]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  10. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  11. ^ a b c d Fellner 2019, p. 443.
  12. ^ Edwards, Bill (17 December 1959). "A significant year". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 99.
  13. ^ Vagg, Stephen (4 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1960". Filmink. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  14. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 202. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  15. ^ Howard Maxford (8 November 2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
  16. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 202-203. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  17. ^ Vagg, Stephen (26 December 2024). "The Curse of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb". Filmink. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  18. ^ Vagg, Stephen (22 March 2025). "Not Quite Movie Stars: Ronald Lewis". Filmink. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  19. ^ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 202. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
  20. ^ Waltz, Amanda (26 March 2013). "'The Impossible' Director Juan Antonio Bayona To Remake 'Scream of Fear' For Sony". Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  21. ^ Billings, Josh (14 December 1961). "Family fare triumphs at box office". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.
  22. ^ "Scream of Fear". Variety. 9 August 1961. p. 6.
  23. ^ "Taste of Fear". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (324): 63. 1 January 1961. ProQuest 1305829513.
  24. ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 61.

Sources

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