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best movie i've ever seen.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It should be said from the outset that the title Death Scream is not really very appropriate in describing this film. It's a much more low-key thriller than that pulpy title suggests. It was directed by the French film-maker René Clément, who had made a name for himself with Purple Noon (1960). It seems that the success with that film – the first screen version of Patricia Highsmith's character Ripley – led him to be called the French Hitchcock and resulted in him making a series of thrillers from then up until his final film in 1975. It seems the critics weren't very kind about his latter films, an opinion I disagree with. His final film Wanted: Babysitter (1975) is a very under-rated and effective film, while Death Scream is another that can hardly be described as terrible either. In fairness, it's the least successful Clément film I have seen but it still has something to offer.It's an English language French movie starring Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella. They play an American married couple living in Paris. They are in the midst of martial problems; he is highly secretive, while she is going through a nervous breakdown. To complicate matters, Langella is an industrial spy who retires from his job to the annoyance of his paymasters. Meanwhile, Dunaway's fragile psychological temperament leads to various problems, culminating with the couple's children mysteriously disappearing while out with her in the city. All the time in the background, there is talk of an enigmatic group called 'the organisation' who threatens the family.It's not the most dynamic of thrillers in truth and it is a little slow-paced. It could also have ramped up the suspense a bit as well. But Dunaway and Langella are good actors and the Parisian setting does offer an attractive backdrop to events. The story has just enough intrigue to keep the viewer engaged and it ultimately amounts to a good enough film, if a relatively minor one.

This is a neat little thriller, quite forgotten but now available on DVD. I'm glad to have seen it as it has been hard to find. It's set in France with American leads and it's quite low key and atmospheric. It's a stylish vehicle for the then red hot actress Faye Dunaway and it's nice to see her in a European setting, sometimes uttering things i french. She is absolutely drop dead stunning and there are several loving close ups of that magnificent face. It's nice to see her playing a mother and interacting with kids. She's playful, loving and laid back. In the film she shares a family life with Frank Langella, who also has an interesting face and is believable as an ambitious writer devoted to his scatter brained wife Faye. The cosy bohemian apartment and the misty views of Paris in the autumn is a big part of what makes this rare film a gem. The story is suspenseful and will keep wondering what will happen next, all though there are some questions left unanswered at the end. The film does seem built around showing how sensual and gorgeous Faye is and she is at the height of her beauty. With so many scenes she is often shown staring deeply at other peoples faces or into the distance with her wonderful soulful eyes. She is a wonderful actress and a joy to watch but I did feel at times that she held back a bit when she could have gone for stronger emotions. At the police office, when she is accused of a big crime, she reacts as if she had merely been caught shop lifting. She stares at the accuser, stutters and (what is classic Faye) opens her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by the other actor (perhaps impatient to say the lines and get the plot moving). In this situation she should have screamed hysterically at the awful predicament she's in but instead she throws some objects across the desk in annoyance. In another scene, when she witnesses a death, she could have screamed or acted shocked but instead she just stares. Aside from these small scenes, she is so entrancing to watch that this thriller is a pleasure to see!

The one-line summary of this review is French, translates itself as "I don't understand" and actually refers to several aspects of this film… I read several articles where acclaimed critics and fellow directors reward Réné Clément with the title of "the French Hitchcock". I sincerely hope they didn't base this recognition on seeing "The Deadly Trap" and, if so, I don't understand. I also don't understand half of what's going on this movie and I most certainly don't understand (or better yet: refuse to accept) how anyone dares to deliver such a completely incoherent and deceptively pretentious mess of a film! "The Deadly Trap" revolves on – believe it or not – absolutely NOTHING! At least until very late into the second half of the film, it doesn't. Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella star as a married couple living in Paris with their two children. He behaves increasingly suspicious and secretive regarding his employment (and I do mean secretive, as we never get told what exactly he does for a living) and she portrays the good housewife slowly but surely descending in a downwards spiral of paranoia and insanity. Jill continuously fears that the children will become the target of malignant individuals, but Philippe hardly ever listens to a word she's saying. Then, of course, the children do get kidnapped by an organization that wants 'something' from Philippe in exchange for the children's lives. Even during this crucial point in the movie, we still haven't got a clue what it is they want (except for 'information') and the supposedly worldwide and dangerous organization imprisons the children in a nearby house with only one female babysitter to guard them. That's just totally retarded. Réné Clément's direction is flat and uninspired and he doesn't even make full use of the wondrously picturesque Parisian filming locations. The original French title means "The House under the Trees" and refers to the organization's hideout, but the beautiful house only features in the film for approximately 2,5 minutes. Faye Dunaway, at the top of her ravishing beauty around that time, is the only positive note I can bring myself to write about this unimaginably disappointing movie. She's quite convincing in her role, even though she probably didn't know what it was about, neither.

Playing a woman of slowly deteriorating mental health, Faye Dunaway dominates this movie. She graces it with her beauty and just about manages to keep us watching a story that's flawed and filled with implausibilities (SPOILER: for example, how come an organization as powerful and sinister as the one the movie supposedly presents has left ONLY ONE person - and a foolish one at that - guarding the kidnapped kids?). It's flatly directed, too. (**)