Taste of Fear Movie Review

Trailer here.

Taste of Fear is a 1961 thriller directed by Seth Holt and starring Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd and Christopher Lee.

The film begins with a girl called Penny Appleby(Strasberg). She is an heiress and she is confined to a wheelchair. She is going to the French Riviera to stay with her father. When she arrives, she meets her stepmother, Jane(Todd), who tells her that her father isn't there. He is away on business. There is a doctor called Gerrard(Lee), staying there also. Penny's mother drowned. Penny sees lights on in the guest house. She thinks that she sees her father but he is dead. She ends up falling into the swimming pool. She wakes up in the house. Jane and Gerrard are there. She tells them about seeing her father but they don't believe her. Gerrard gives her a sedative.

Penny starts to wonder when her dad is coming home. She talks to Robert(Lewis), the chauffeur. He tells her that her father left late at night and it was unusual. They go into the guest house and look around. Penny receives a call from her dad, which confuses her even more. She feels like something isn't right.  She hears music playing but there is nobody there. She also sees her father's car in the garage but when she confronts Jane about it, she denies it. Robert and Penny talk about her father's will. If she is dead or insane, Jane inherits the lot. Robert thinks that Jane and Gerrard are in it together. He and Penny decide to look for some evidence. Gerrard wants her to see a specialist about her legs. He thinks that she might be stopping herself from walking because of trauma.

Robert and Penny kiss. Jane sees them and she is not happy about it. They look for the dad's body in the house. They can't find it. Robert searches the pool for a body and he finds one. They decide to go to the police. Jane meets them as they are on the way, She has the dead father in the car. it's driven into the sea with Penny in it. Robert and Jane are in it together. Robert killed the father. Jane and Robert go to the police. They say that Penny drove her and the father into the sea. Gerrard is listening to all of this.. The police take Robert to the scene of the crash to identify the car while Jane goes to see a solicitor. It turns out that Penny killed herself three weeks ago. There is no sign of Penny in the car. Jane sees her outside.

The girl is actually Penney's friend, Maggie. She wrote to Penny's father and he was worried about Jane. He asked Penny to come home. She told him that Penny was dead. She knew that something strange was going on and contacted Gerrard. Robert returns and he sees Jane in the chair. He pushes her into the sea, thinking that it was Penny. The cops bring him in. Maggie and Gerrard look at Jane's body below.

This was an entertaining film. There were plenty of twists and turns and it was tense throughout. I enjoyed the performances of the cast and it was a decent story. Christopher Lee has a supporting role here, which makes the film even better. I do recommend this as it is a good thriller from the Hammer studios. I had a good time with it so I will give it a 7/10.