Exposé (1976)

Written and directed by James Kenelm Clarke, Exposé (released as House on Straw Hill in some markets) starred former Warhol actor Udo Kier as Paul Martin, a wealthy novelist who rents out a secluded cottage in the British countryside to finish his new book, a pretentious sex romp.

Paul has just split up with his girlfriend Suzanne (adult star Fiona Richmond in her movie debut) and is plagued by recurring paranoid nightmares and having trouble writing his book.

Anxious for Paul to deliver another big seller like his previous novel, Deadly Silence, his publishers arrange for a new secretary, Linda (Linda Hayden, best known for her role in Baby Love) to move into the house and speed up the typing of his manuscript.

When Paul meets Linda at the local railway station, she is intimidated by a couple of youths (Karl Howman and Vic Armstrong), prompting Paul to give them a battering.

After settling into the house (and a lot of masturbating!), Linda takes a walk in a field where she is raped by the youths whom she promptly – and messily – dispatches with a shotgun.

As Paul’s nightmares continue Linda insinuates herself into the household, displacing the housekeeper, Mrs Aston (Patsy Smart).

When the suspicious housekeeper returns to the house at night, she has her throat slashed with a knife.

When Paul asks Suzanne to come back, Linda seduces her and after a (prolonged) lesbian sex session, she stabs Suzanne to death in the shower.

She is about to finish off Paul when one of the rapists – badly wounded and barely alive – bursts in and kills her.

It transpires that the lovely Linda is actually a psychopath out to avenge her late husband, Simon, who was double-crossed by the author. Apparently, Paul hadn’t written Deadly Silence but stole it from Linda’s husband prior to his suicide.

The producers seemed unable to decide whether Exposé was a psychological thriller, a horror movie or a skin flick and so hedged their bets with a bit of each.

The British Board of Film Censors announced that the film “troubled” them (due to its linking of sex and violence) and insisted on several cuts, which had the fans queuing up to see what the fuss was all about.

The film was remade in 2010 as Stalker with former Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp making his feature debut as director.

The main character was now a female novelist named Paula (Anna Brecon) and Linda Hayden appeared in a cameo as the housekeeper.

Paul Martin
Udo Kier
Linda Hindstatt
Linda Hayden
Suzanne
Fiona Richmond
Mrs Aston
Patsy Smart
Big Youth
Karl Howman
Small Youth
Vic Armstrong
Smedley 
Sydney Knight
Simon
Brian Smedley-Aston

Director
James Kenelm Clarke