Paranoiac

Title: Paranoiac (1963)
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Psychological/Gothic Horror, Drama
Starring: Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, Alexander Davion
Director: Freddie Francis
Duration: 80 mins

It’s been 8 years since the suicide of son Antony Ashby, and 11 years since the death of the Ashby’s themselves. It is 2 weeks until the inheritance of the large estate is to be divided by the remaining siblings, Simon and Eleanor. Simon, a brat and alcoholic, and a faux French nurse he hired for Eleanor are conspiring to drive his sister insane so he can also take her share of the inheritance. However, their plans are thwarted when a man calling himself and resembling the late Tony Ashby appears. Simon and Aunt Harriet are not convinced, but Eleanor is head-over-heels overjoyed to see her lost brother and takes to him right away. Unfortunately for her, he is, in fact, an imposter paid by the scheming son of the executor of the family’s estate. What’s even more unfortunate is that Tony has fallen in love with his pretend sister. Plot twists, paranoia, madness, incest, suicide attempts, and murder follow soon thereafter. And what of the eerie organ music coming from the estate chapel and the masked, meat hook-wielding fiend who guards it?

Of the extensive catalog of films Hammer Productions has, Paranoiac, in my humble opinion, has to be the most impressive and underrated of the lot. This UK based studio is most notable for its Dracula series and Gothic period pieces featuring the talents of horror veterans Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Barbara Steele. Before helming one of these very Dracula films, director Freddie Francis shows his filmmaking capabilities early in his career with a dark, Gothic family drama that exhausts the viewer’s emotions and has more twists than a donut shop. Being a cinematographer himself, it is clear upon watching that the sleek, B&W photography is masterfully executed, playing on shadows much like a film noir (with the exception of a poorly photographed day-for-night sequence that leaves the audience confused on what time of day it really is).

Another treat we the viewers are subject to is Oliver Reed’s commanding performance as the sinister drunkard brother. While only in a supporting role, Reed absolutely steals the show with his superb acting skills and demonic charisma. It is no simple feat to play such a bipolar character, a character who may be humorously tipsy one moment and explode into violence the next. Simon is as villainous as he is sympathetic, and his dual persona makes for most of the unpredictable tension Paranoiac excels so well at. The leads, played by Scott and Davion, are an honorable mention, specifically the former who has just as many emotional obstacles to pass with her role as the poor sister who’s very sanity is played with like a ball of yarn to a cat.

And just when you think you’ve got everything straight with the Ashby family’s predicament, things turn very macabre. The chapel scenes can send shivers down the viewer’s spine as the creep factor appears suddenly and without warning. What’s even more unsettling is the knowledge that what’s happening is not supernatural, but either an evil plot to drive one of the character’s insane or a character’s insanity itself manifested. Jimmy Sangster’s wonderful, yet loose, adaptation of Josephine Tey’s novel Brat Farrar was written as well as any 80 minute adaptation of such an intricate, though generally common, tale can be. But this is just the thing that keeps Paranoiac from landing a perfect score. So many things could’ve been delved into further that it leaves the viewer wanting to know more. Nevertheless, the storytelling strives above its obvious time restrictions.

A little known gem from British film history, Paranoiac should not be missed by fans of the family saga, Southern Gothic, psychological horror, and mystery genres. While it may not be what’s hip by today’s standards, given the fact that it comes from ‘63 is has aged well.