The story revolves around a psychotic personality that developed because of a lack of ability to deal with sexual maturity. As is normal, this personality is exceptionally manipulative & willing to play things to the end to get what they want. A great scene showing this is when he "goes to Paris" & shows Hayley's mother the note he's written to gain entrance to the house. They originally refuse him & send him back into the rain so he walks slowly away giving the guilt he knows will bother them time to work all the while appearing to be a gentleman & unwilling to put them out.
This is a good suspense movie even though the director is careful to show the rising tide of evil & doesn't give any misdirection to fool the viewer. We know what is going to happen before it happens & it doesn't really matter. The tide of evil comes on almost like a gentle ocean tide; you're in it before you notice the beach is gone.
The term special needs, doesn't really play out here, as it didn't exist at that time. Special Ed. perhaps but this doesn't involve education. It is as the book title in the movie said, 'Psychopathia Sexualis' which doesn't necessarily require what we term today special needs as a spawning ground. It's the inability to deal with sexual maturation that drives this movie. Other movies that deal with this subject are Black Swan of 2010 & perhaps the best known, Repulsion by Roman Polanski (1965) from the UK also. Twisted Nerve is about the male end of the story while the other two deal with this psychosis & dual personality on the female end. Strangely or perhaps obviously the two female centered movies deal with the opposite ends of one mental health strata that being the "does harm to others" end the other is "does harm to self". Repulsion deals with "does harm to others" while Black Swan deals with "does harm to self".
Hywel Bennett is very good here as the troubled soul & Hayley Mills comes across as a full blown young adult (with boobs). I'm going to have to check on Hywel Bennett at IMDb as I'm totally unaware of him. While no role here is complicated except for Bennett's they are all competently portrayed. Heck I like this movie better as I type. It's not an Oscar contender but it is a couple of steps above the norm. I'll say "An enjoyable ride."
This is a good suspense movie even though the director is careful to show the rising tide of evil & doesn't give any misdirection to fool the viewer. We know what is going to happen before it happens & it doesn't really matter. The tide of evil comes on almost like a gentle ocean tide; you're in it before you notice the beach is gone.
The term special needs, doesn't really play out here, as it didn't exist at that time. Special Ed. perhaps but this doesn't involve education. It is as the book title in the movie said, 'Psychopathia Sexualis' which doesn't necessarily require what we term today special needs as a spawning ground. It's the inability to deal with sexual maturation that drives this movie. Other movies that deal with this subject are Black Swan of 2010 & perhaps the best known, Repulsion by Roman Polanski (1965) from the UK also. Twisted Nerve is about the male end of the story while the other two deal with this psychosis & dual personality on the female end. Strangely or perhaps obviously the two female centered movies deal with the opposite ends of one mental health strata that being the "does harm to others" end the other is "does harm to self". Repulsion deals with "does harm to others" while Black Swan deals with "does harm to self".
Hywel Bennett is very good here as the troubled soul & Hayley Mills comes across as a full blown young adult (with boobs). I'm going to have to check on Hywel Bennett at IMDb as I'm totally unaware of him. While no role here is complicated except for Bennett's they are all competently portrayed. Heck I like this movie better as I type. It's not an Oscar contender but it is a couple of steps above the norm. I'll say "An enjoyable ride."