Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A Taste of Evil (1971) ** (out of 4) Disappointing made-for-TV movie is pretty much a remake of Hammer's SCREAM OF FEAR. In this film, a young girl is raped and years later she (Barbara Parkins) returns home only to fear that someone is trying to drive her crazy. Her mother (Barbara Stanwyck) is trying to figure out if her daughter is crazy or perhaps there's someone really after her (and especially since the rapist was never caught). A TASTE OF EVIL comes from writer Jimmy Sangster who also wrote the previously mentioned Hammer movie so it's clear that he knew what he was doing. The biggest difference in the two films is that the original was actually quite eerie and that's certainly far from the case here because this entire film is just downright boring and doesn't feature a single character that you really care for. Director John Llewellyn Moxey had previously made THE CITY OF THE DEAD but he doesn't bring any of the same style or beauty to this thing. The entire movie has a very slow pace as if the director wasn't sure what he wanted to do with the material or perhaps he just knew the material wasn't all that good. Parkins is pretty good in the role of the daughter but the screenplay doesn't give her much to do outside of screaming and running around. Stanwyck is always watchable but this here certainly wasn't among her best work. Roddy McDowall was fun to see in his supporting role as was William Windom. Another problem with the film is that there's simply nothing going on that ever really keeps the viewer interested. The story is decent but nothing much is done with it and this is especially true if you've seen the original version, which was one of the best thrillers from the studio.

A Taste of Evil is an unintentional funny movie. As mentioned before, story revolves around a daughter who comes home to an estate on the outskirts of San Francisco. Movie has an excellent lovely Barbara Parkins, underrated legend Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowell, and Arthur O'Connell, most notably for "Bus Stop" with Marilyn Monroe. It is interesting because the first half of the movie is focused on Barbara Parkins and then the 2nd half is focused on Barbara Stanwyck. Movie has unintentional funny moments. Here are some of them. Barbaba Parkins calls the caretaker to see what is for dinner because the mother is out all night shopping, cold cuts and salad. However, the camp award goes to Barbara Stanwyck. The funniest scene, which my friend and I keep laughing at, is when Barbara Stanwyck is cooking. Barbara acts so bi-polar with a manic look on her face, she yells at Barbara Parkins as they leave to hunt, "Work up a healthy appetite, I'll have hamburgers piled right up to the ceiling." You have to see the scene to see what I am referring too. As the movie progresses, you see funny scenes as a Raggedy Ann doll floating in the bathtub. All the humor is on Barbara Stanwyck's facial expressions in the 2nd half. There is a surprise twist but guidelines won't allow me to tell you what it is. Enjoy and this is a must to keep your video collection. I am glad I taped this off t.v. 15 years ago.

This movie is absolutely haunting! I have never forgotten it and am still feeling the slowly growing horror it produced back then when I remember it now. I first saw this film as a little girl.I need to get a copy of this wonderful film for my own. I searched filmographies of Arthur O'Connell to actually get the title for this film. It was spooky and so memorable to me even as a child. I remember the playhouse, I remember the sound of Barbara Stanwyck's voice, especially with key lines. What a film! I remember all the nuances. Add this to your collection as well, it will stay with you for sure. I can't say that many movies have remained with me the way this one did.

The plot of A TASTE OF EVIL is a pastiche of cliches. Stop me if you've heard this before: A young woman, raped as a child and just released after years in a mental institution, comes home only to find herself seeing and hearing things that prove elusive when she summons witnesses. Is she still mentally unfit? Cue heroine waking up to thumping noise, wandering through darkened mansion, finding open window with shutters banging against frame and curtains billowing in gale-force winds. In fact, thunder storms and billowing curtains are repeating motifs in this unimaginative film. Drag in dog-eared scenes involving rustling bushes, haunted voices calling, a dimwitted butler who may or may not have been the girl's rapist, shadowy figures standing in the yard, disappearing corpses, a treacherous relative's inheritance-lust, etc. Even a plot this hackneyed can be revived to a certain extent, but "A Taste of Evil" is just uninspired through-and-through. Director Moxey reused these hoary story elements to better effect a decade later in NO PLACE TO HIDE. Still achingly familiar, at least that film was considerably more suspenseful, and contained one or two surprises."A Taste of Evil" is efficient enough within its very limited aspirations, and Stanwick makes an impression in her role, but the film still several notches below the high standard of numerous made-for-TV suspensers of the seventies.