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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - F 2 Mins Read

    Frightmare (1974)

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    In the 1950s, Dorothy Yates (an iconic performance from Sheila Keith) tempts lonely people to her caravan for fortune-telling. But she isn’t looking to get rich from it; she’s looking to feed off them – killing them, then eating their body parts.

    Devoted husband Edmund (Rupert Davies) aids her in her cannibal nastiness before they’re found out after killing Barry Nichols (Andrew Sachs).

    Escaping the death penalty and sent to a mental institution, the pair are eventually allowed back into society in the 1970s – when it is deemed they are no longer a danger to society – and take up residence on a remote farm.

    Back in London, Edmund’s daughter Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) struggles to have a social life while looking after her delinquent 15-year-old half-sister Debbie (Kim Butcher) and secretly visiting her parents, dropping off animal brains bought from the butcher’s shop to keep her stepmother’s urges at bay.

    It all seems to be working until Dorothy suddenly starts to tempt lonely people to the house for readings. Has she really been cured, and has Debbie developed the same urges as her mother?

    Critics bashed Frightmare in early reviews, citing not only the violent content – a drilling, a pitch-forking, a hot poker impalement and a dead guy with an eye missing from the socket – but also seeing the film as a harsh statement against the justice system’s failures.

    Rupert Davies (in his final film appearance) was singled out for special attention by outraged critics, appalled by his involvement in such ‘lowbrow’ material. The controversy only helped the film to become a bigger success.

    Brilliantly made and cleverly written, Frightmare is a true British exploitation classic.

    Edmund Yates
    Rupert Davies
    Dorothy Yates
    Sheila Keith
    Jackie
    Deborah Fairfax
    Graham
    Paul Greenwood
    Debbie
    Kim Butcher
    Merle
    Fiona Curzon
    Robin
    John Yule
    Lillian
    Trisha Mortimer
    Delia
    Victoria Fairbrother
    Alec
    Edward Kalinski
    Detective Inspector
    Victor Winding
    Detective Sergeant
    Anthony Hennessey
    The Judge
    Noel Johnson
    Barman
    Michael Sharvell-Martin
    Nightclub Manager
    Tommy Wright

    Director
    Pete Walker

    Video

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