Taste Of Fear / Scream Of Fear (1961)

"You say my mind is affecting my legs. You're wrong. It's my legs that are affecting my mind."

Taste of Fear, released in 1961 and also known in some territories as Scream of Fear, is one of those wonderfully chilly British thrillers that shows just how much tension can be created without a drop of gore. Directed by Seth Holt for Hammer Films, it stands slightly apart from the studio's more famous horror output of the period. Instead of Gothic castles, vampires and lurid supernatural shocks, this is a sleek, sinister psychological suspense picture, elegant and unsettling in equal measure.

The story centres on Penny Appleby, a young woman confined to a wheelchair, who arrives at her estranged father's Riviera home only to discover that he is mysteriously absent. Waiting there are her father's new wife Jane, the family doctor, and a coolly attentive chauffeur, all of whom seem polite on the surface but quietly difficult to trust. Almost at once, Penny begins to experience strange and deeply unnerving sights, including apparent glimpses of her father's dead body. The trouble is that each terrifying vision vanishes before anyone else can confirm it, leaving both Penny and the audience unsure of what is real, what is manipulation, and what might be happening inside her own distressed mind.

What makes Taste of Fear so effective is its atmosphere. Holt directs with tremendous control, drawing suspense from silence, glances, footsteps, empty corridors and sudden appearances rather than noisy shocks. The black-and-white photography gives the film a sharp, polished look, all bright sunlight and dark shadows, which somehow makes everything feel even more threatening. Susan Strasberg gives Penny real vulnerability and determination, while Ann Todd brings an icy poise to Jane that keeps the nerves jangling.

It remains one of Hammer's smartest and most stylish thrillers: tense, clever, beautifully made, and full of quiet menace from the first frame to the last.

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