Sorry, this movie sucks

Admirable film.

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

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

This is a complex, involving thriller which requires immediate attention from mystery fans. The clues and puzzles build up thick and fast in this disturbing masterpiece which will have you hooked right from the beginning. The tension builds slowly to breaking point at the film's conclusion. Then comes one of those twist endings which totally changes your perception of the rest of the film.As you might have guessed, I absolutely loved this film. It has the same style and atmosphere as many Italian-made gialli which is somewhat surprising, seeing as it's a British film. The Italian links are even stronger seeing as it shares the hero of one of Argento's best films, DEEP RED, namely David Hemmings. There's a definite feeling of the "swinging sixties" in the jazzy, upbeat music which plays frequently and the crisp colour photography really brings the surroundings and characters to life.David Hemmings is a charismatic and talented actor who conveys well the haunting expressions and outbursts of a disturbed man. He is supported by a good cast of British stalwarts, popping up in minor roles are the seemingly-omnipotent Wilfrid Hyde-White, plus Daniel Massey, Arthur Lowe and others. Fans of recent conspiracy thrillers will enjoy the conspiracy and paranoia surrounding Hemmings in this film, and it's one of those movies in which you aren't really sure what's happening, so needs to be seen at least twice. This is a thoroughly entertaining, intelligent thriller which remains riveting from start to finish.

I felt this could have been so much better and began to temporarily tire of it somewhere around the halfway mark and then it lifted and ran pretty well to the end. David Hemmings seemed a bit limp and Gayle Hunnicutt almost asleep but then maybe it was the erratic script. I guess there is also the problem where a film is going to have different levels of reality that not all can be made too transparently clear. There is a wonderful cameo from Wilfred Hyde-White and things certainly pick up with the appearance of Daniel Massey and Arthur Lowe. Apart from the dialogue being rather lacklustre at times and some scenes going on a tad too long, the music is completely wrong. I have seen the score by Johnny Harris highly praised and possibly outside of the film the jazzy music is fine but here it is too loud, too obvious and basically, bloody annoying. Despite all this, the film remains likable enough and certainly worth a look.

Fragment of Fear is a film that has somehow slipped under the radar since its release in 1970 and that's a real shame as while the film does have a few narrative problems; this is excellently produced and well worked mystery thriller that really does deserve to be more seen. The film is halfway between a murder mystery and a psychological thriller and director Richard C. Sarafian gives both halves of the film equal credence as the focus is stretched across the central character's questionable mental health and the murder of his aunt that he is investigating. The central character is Tim Brett; he's a reformed drug addict living in Italy. He returns to London when his aunt is found murdered and begins asking people who knew his aunt questions. It's not long before strange things start happening to him; his flat is broken into, he receives a letter that was written on his own typewriter and gets strange phone calls. It soon transpires that someone doesn't want Tim investigating. But naturally, considering he was a drug user, nobody will believe him...Some have labelled this film as a British Giallo; I don't agree that such a thing exists personally, but Fragment of Fear does feature some staples of Italy's finest type of film. The murder mystery is a given, but we also have an unseen killer and adding to that is the fact that many Giallo's feature a lead character with a fractured state of mind. The film is lead by the great David Hemmings who puts in a good performance. I was unsure of how he would across as a former drug user given his debonair screen presence, but he actually fits into this role really well and is not hard to believe. Director Richard C. Sarafian keeps the film streamlined and the action focused on the mystery which ensures that Fragment of Fear is always interesting and entertaining. The film gets more exciting as it goes along and it all boils down to a good ending that provides a nice twist and also manages a bit of ambiguity. Overall, it's a real shame that this film is so obscure as it deserves a wider audience and hopefully it will soon be picked up for a DVD release. Recommended if you can find it!

SPOILER WARNINGThis is a little known gem from the underrated director of the cult road movie Vanishing Point which plays with audience expectations - before undermining them completely in an audacious and unexpected twist.Fans of David Hemmings, who appreciate his work at this time in Blow Up and Deep Red ( to name two of his most famous cult collaborations) will be delighted to discover this performance. Minor characters are also well drawn and much of the location work in London and elsewhere is atmospheric and excellent.The central concern of the film is Hemmings' suspicion that there is a conspiracy afoot attempting, amongst other things, to undermine his sanity. Some of the elements here recall Polanski's work on creating an effect of mental instability in his Repulsion.His increasingly frantic and neurotic attempts to unravel the mystery leads the viewers to expect a tidy denouement, when the true facts are revealed and Hemmings' self esteem and position is restored. Hemmings is too likeable and too much a central figure upon whom the viewer depends to make judgements to *really* be at fault...When in the last moments of the film there is no tidy conclusion to the matter, save the idea that Hemmings is actually unbalanced, and that what has happened has been the result of his delusions, it is far more shocking than a more conventional 'tidy' explanation.. the plot lines, the unexplained elements of the film, are left trailing, just as Hemming's character's sanity is left in shreds. Hemming's final collapsed journey in a wheelchair, both crippled by his experiences and mentally exhausted, is very disturbing. It is as if the viewer is staring into a bottomless pit of madness, where all certainty is stripped away, and ranks with the great moments of horror film.