the audience applauded

As Good As It Gets

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Back in the early '60s, everyone was talking PSYCHO. Hitchcock's masterpiece had revived the genre of the psychological thriller and the imitators were being rushed out to take advantage of all the goodwill. Britain's Hammer Studios were no exception; in the '60s they released about half a dozen low budget, black and white, taut little thrillers that focused on small casts and psychological disturbance. TASTE OF FEAR is one of the first of these films and also one of the best.Although it's a PSYCHO imitator, this film has more in line with the French movie LES DIABOLIQUES. The heroine is a crippled young beauty – played well by Susan Strasberg – who keeps seeing her father's corpse popping up in the most bizarre locations. Despite supernatural undertones there's a logical explanation – someone is trying to drive Strasberg mad. But who, and perhaps more importantly, why? The film answers these questions in an intriguing way and with plenty of twists. Some of the final reveals might be a little implausible but I loved the explanations all the same – and they're pretty hard to guess beforehand. This is a film where people aren't who they seem to be, where red herrings abound, and where good people are bad and bad people just might be good. Jimmy Sangster's script is strong, well paced and expertly focused.The small cast all put in grand performances. There are a couple of dodgy accents – Christopher Lee's French accent is weak, as is Strasberg's British – but these can be ignored as the subtle acting is well portrayed. Ronald Lewis excels as the helpful chauffeur and Ann Todd is also fine as the sinister stepmother. Christopher Lee is also on hand as a somewhat dubious character and he has a ball with it. TASTE OF FEAR is only a little film but it's a little film done well. If you like good mysteries and plenty of suspense then you could do a lot worse than this movie.

Wonderful cast, atmosphere and story. Suspenseful, chilling and thrilling. This one has a air of sadness, mystery and horror that you do not see most modern horror-thrillers. This one is great for a late night thriller.I don't know how I missed this film earlier in my life but I'm glad to see it now. It's definitely worth watching.She is bound to a wheelchair and returns home to see her father after 10 years of not being able to see him. She sees his dead body and his ghost(?) - that leads others to believe she might have other problems outside of her physical state. But there is more going on that will leave the viewer guessing.8.5/10

Wheelchair-bound Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg) returns home after being away for ten years. Upon arriving at her father's estate, she meets her stepmother (Ann Todd), who tells Penny that her father is away for a few days on a trip. Soon, Penny begins to see her father's dead body around the estate. But no one but her sees it. She gets help from the chauffeur (Ronald Lewis) and together they investigate and begin to suspect Penny's stepmother may have murdered her father and is now trying to drive Penny insane in order to claim the inheritance.Effective thriller from Hammer, with a great script by Jimmy Sangster and some solid direction from Seth Holt. I believe this film was Hammer's first (but not last) attempt to capitalize off of the post-Psycho trend of twisty mystery thrillers. It's stylishly done, with some genuinely eerie moments and nice twists.

God bless the internet and god bless DVD. The reason I say that is because once hidden gems like this film are now being discovered by a bigger audience. Taste Of Fear (AKA:Scream Of Fear) is produced out of that bastion of British horror, Hammer Films, it's directed by Seth Holt (The Nanny), written by Jimmy Sangster (X:The Unknown/The Curse Of Frankenstein) and stars Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd & that cornerstone of Hammer Horror, Christopher Lee.Shot in moody black & white by Holt and cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, and eerily scored by Clifton Parker, the story sees a young paralysed woman return to her family home in France to visit her father who she hasn't seen for years; and to finally meet her new step-mother. Upon arrival she is informed that her father has had to go away on business, which becomes a problem as she starts to see his dead body, first in the summer house, then in the lounge! The mind can play tricks, especially to the traumatised, but she's convinced that what she is seeing is real. Even the family doctor (Lee in a suitably suspicious role) thinks there are mental issues here. Undaunted she enlists the help of friendly chauffeur Bob and sets about unravelling either her mind, or the mystery that lurks at the Appleby home.The film opens with an attention grabbing sequence as police drag a lake for a body, from there on the film becomes essentially a four character piece. Now it's been said in some quarters that this structure telegraphs where the film is going to end up. There's a tiny bit of truth in that but there are at least three twisty kickers here to steer this far away from charges of predictability. In fact the finale has a double whammy that is most rewarding. The whole film pulses with atmosphere and is cloaked in shadows and low tone conversations. The sound work here is also top quality, the constant jabber of the crickets gnaw away at the ears, while the swish of the nearby sea instills a calm that ultimately sets up a false sense of security. The acting is on the money too, be it Strasberg perfectly conveying a multitude of emotions from her wheelchair, or Todd doing a nice line in the "too good to be true?" wholesome step-mom routine. All parties ensure that the story is built up right and that the pay off provides maximum impact.Christopher Lee once said that this was one of the best Hammer Horror film's he was ever involved with, that's a fine selling point to be sure. A different kind of Hammer Horror, one that drips with dread and thrives on its mystery elements. Taste Of Fear is highly recommended to genre fans who prefer psychological chillers over blood letting and overkilled boo jump movies. 8/10