Taste of Fear

A young woman who uses a wheelchair returns after years to her father's house on the French Riviera. He is said to be travelling, yet she keeps seeing his corpse around the property and can prove it to no one. Hammer made this outside its familiar monster territory, as pure psychological suspense. Jimmy Sangster wrote it, drawing openly on French thrillers of the period, the body in the bath included. Christopher Lee is deliberately kept out of the villain slot and plays the family doctor. The black and white photography and the night swimming pool sequences are the best things in it. It was released in the United States under a different title. Who it is for: viewers who like sixties psychological thrillers and classic misdirection. Who it is not for: anyone who dislikes seeing the twist coming, because this shape is now very familiar.