Watch Paranoiac For Free

Sorry, this movie sucks

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I have a soft spot for this Hammer psycho-thriller – at 12 years old it was the first film I'd seen which I noted down as being worth watching again, and which over the following decades I dutifully have. It was shown on UK ITV's long-running Appointment With Fear on Friday night 15th October 1971, before the ATV Midlands linkman Peter Tomlinson started devaluing the experience with toy panda's et al. Looking back through rose tinted spectacles at this rather nasty film it obviously made a huge impression on me, but what of now?A dysfunctional household sitting on a half million pound fortune seem to have plenty of problems: a suspiciously sympathetic nurse who could have a few screws loose looking after a feeble minded girl apparently on the verge of madness while her madly impetuous arrogant brother drinks himself to death (Oliver Reed of course), all overseen by a bizarre aunt. Even the family lawyer and his son have axes to grind; then at last along comes someone who seems open and likable, the only trouble being he's supposed to have committed suicide 8 years before. Which of them is honest, crooked or both? Good acting captured by atmospheric black and white filming, with exceptional production values when you remember it was made on Hammer's usual shoestring budget. It holds the attention well until the climax when with 3 minutes left it unfortunately veers into contrived melodrama - as you watch more movies you lose count of the number of times you see story resolution in this flame - sorry, lame manner. Reed put the Ham in Hammer in those last minutes, even if he was performing a unique Danse Macabre with his ultimate skeleton in the closet!However, still excellent admirable stuff with many plot twists and turns to savour and enjoy, and still on my Watch Again list.

Writer Jimmy Sangster, the man behind Hammer films such as Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein, also penned this gem. Sangster, sadly, departed our presence last month, but his legacy of films lives on.Fans of Oliver Reed, Proximo in The Gladiator, will enjoy this early look at his talent. He was brilliant as he changed from his normal obnoxious self to a psychotic.Little sister Eleanor (Janette Scott) keeps seeing her dead brother Tony (Alexander Davion). Is she mad, or is he an impostor?I came across this film while watching 100 Years of Horror: Maniacs. It is a good film for Hammer Horror lovers, and those who like classic horror. It won't do much for those who are into modern horror.Terrific ending.

Paranoiac (1963) *** (out of 4)A brother (Oliver Reed) tries to drive his sister insane so that he can collect their full inheritance but he's in for a shock when their dead brother returns. I wasn't expecting too much out of this film but I found myself quickly caught up in the rather interesting story, although I wish they had kept the secret hidden a tad bit longer. The second secret didn't work as well but it's still a nice little film with elements borrowed from Vertigo. Reed's horribly over the top performance doesn't help matters.

The first of Hammer's psycho thrillers but not one it's best. Maybe I shouldn't have watched it so soon after the excellent 'Nightmare', or indeed before it but there you go. Similar to 'Nightmare' in that it was scripted by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Freddie Francis, and again a plot revolving around who is mad, and who isn't, the film is only effective occasionally. There's cash to be inherited and Oliver Reed wants it, and he doesn't want to share it with his sister, Jeanette Scott. When Scott apparently sees her long-dead brother at a memorial service for her parents, Reed sees this as the excuse he needs to declare her insane and keep all the cash for himself. But to throw a spanner in the works, the dead brother turns up...... This is a competent film but needed a bit more. Francis makes the film look too bright, a few more dark corners and shadows would have helped build the atmosphere some. Reed's acting doesn't shift from 'intense' mode, which is fine but a bit more ambiguity would have helped in this type of film. The plot plods along at times and could have done with being tightened; there's also plot lines that simply disappear as if Sangster had forgotten about them. At the end of the day a mediocre Hammer. Watch Nightmare to see how it should have been done.