Experiment in Terror
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Movie Reviews of Experiment in Terror
Movie Review: A Young Girl's Inner Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
For those of you who are anxiously awaiting Eric Rohmer's next movie, or who have complained that the girls in Eric Rohmer's films aren't pretty enough, let me recommend Blake Edwards' EXPERIMENT IN TERROR, which stars Stefanie Powers (from HART TO HART) as a 16 year old American high school student in San Francisco around the time of the Kennedy administration. Stefanie's character is Toby Sherwood, an androgynous sort of name for her isn't it, considering she's extremely feminine, sweet, and obedient, and without too many thoughts in her head. The camera loves her as it follows her into the school swimming pool, on a date with her anonymous teen boyfriend, and fast asleep in her twin bed in her beautifully appointed home on Twin Peaks, the lovers' leap that towers above the Castro and the Mission here in San Francisco. Hope you're getting the "twin" references, for the movie is all about how many ways Blake Edwards can show mindless little Toby, as sensual and dumbed down as a fish, just being alive in her own female universe in perfect counterpart to her older, more neurotic sister Kelly (second-billed Lee Remick, in her second Blake Edwards part within a year), a bank teller. Anyone watching Stefanie Powers in this part will wonder if the screenwriters took her unusual name, "Toby," from Tobey Heydon, the heroine of a popular series of young adult books for girls by Rosamund du Jardin and extremely popular in the 1950s.
Toby's boy-and-girl love affair with Dave is fun enough, but nothing special, though Harvey Rvans plays him with a nice dancer's grace. Audiences in the 1960s would have recognized Evans from his parts in the screen musicals WEST SIDE STORY, THE PAJAMA GAME, and THE GIRL MOST LIKELY, and they would have wondered that all of a sudden he's supposed to be a heterosexual high school student? Only in San Francisco! Toby's not all sweetness and light, and somewhere out there in the noirish shadows is a man who's made it his mission to kidnap and torment her. Played by greasy screen genius Ross Martin, Garland "Red" Lynch is totally weird and perverted, like Sal Mineo in the somewhat later WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? We see him wake in the morning, his asthmatic hiccups scaring himself awake, extremely closeup of the underside of his jaw, then the hair in his underarm, the long muscles of his ribcage, bare to the waist where his white, tight pajame pants, slick with sweat, are knotted in a crazy, ascetic way, as though he's been mortifying his flesh. When he finally meets up with sweet, virginal, confused Toby, the screen explodes into a lubricious madness. They couldn't film such a scene today and get away with it--well, maybe Rohmer could.
Movie Review: It's about time for this movie to get it's due.
Summary: 5 Stars
I consider this to be one of my faith movies. I just buy it on faith that it's good, and it hasn't disappointed me. It's very effective in the black and white. The music scores are stellar too, and to choose the Twin Peaks section of San Francisco as the beginning of the movie is asking for thrills, and chills. Go potty before watching the movie, and gauruntees to make boy/girlfriends to cuddle close, or your money back. Stars a very foxy Lee Remick who is accosted by a psycho with asthma who threatens her with her life if she doesn't steal money from the bank she works at; and HE'S NOT FOLLOWING AROUND!!! Right after he leaves her she calls the FBI, and speaks with Glenn Ford, but the killer hasn't gone far, and he grabs the phone which is now the serious of the situation, and it's going to get more juicy as Lee now wants to cooperate with FBI, and her bank, and at the same time protect her sister played by 19 year old Stephanie Powers. She's harassed by many people who may be this killer, but Lee doesn't know, so she has no choice, but to play this psycho's game, and is drug all over San Francisco. This guy is just dedicated to getting his way, and he pulls all the stops to do the job even dressing as an old lady to kidnap Stephanie, and I can't help if this is where Nelly got the inspiration for the song "Hot In Herre" as he makes her take off her clothes. The climax comes at the end as Lee ends up making the meeting with the money at Candlestick Park. It's hard-fisted in your face till you smell the garlic on the breath action until the very end, and reeks of sinister thrills. Reminder: Go To Potty Before The Movie Starts. It may be dated, but it's still a heart pounding thriller, and one of my all time favorites. If Hollywood has any brains don't remake this. Nothing will ever hold a candle to this 1962 version.Movie Review: TENSE, EXCITING THRILLER.....
Summary: 5 Stars
Take an early, lean Blake Edwards, a tension filled script, a cast of fine actors, great San Francisco location shooting and a suspenseful score by Henry Mancini and you have "Experiment in Terror"---one of the best suspense thrillers ever made. Adapted by the story's authors, it pits innocent bank clerk Lee Remick against asthmatic madman Ross Martin who terrorizes her in an extortion plot to rob her bank. His threats include harming her kid sister Stefanie Powers. When Remick contacts the FBI, agent Glenn Ford and his associates barrel into action. The result is a bizarre cat & mouse game between Remick, Martin and Ford. Martin is slick and murderous. But he manages to finance expensive hip surgery for a 6 yr.old Asian boy whose mother he's seeing. His heavy breathing is some of the most realistic I've ever heard in a film. Edwards directs "Experiment" in a fast paced style that keeps you glued to the screen all the way to the Giants game finale. Again, his on location shooting is superb. He never goes for the cheap shot in this film. Some scenes are just down right creepy. "Experiment in Terror" gets my vote as one of the best DVD finds around and deserves collector's status. It's wonderful b&w photography is preserved in a nice crisp print and the sound is fine. This is a first rate keeper all the way. Enjoy.Movie Review: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME
Summary: 5 Stars
From the moment this movie starts, with Henry Mancini's simply outstanding main theme, EXPERIMENT IN TERROR is a marvelously crafted thriller. By now, we're so used to non-stop action, gunplay, screaming, fx, etc., we forget that the key to a good thriller is to thrill by suggesting rather than showing the violence. This one kicks in right away as lovely and talented Lee Remick is confronted by an asthmatic maniac (Ross Martin, best known for Wild Wild West) who wants her to rob the bank where she works, or he'll kill her and her lovely sister (Stefanie Powers in one of her first roles). Glenn Ford, one of our most overlooked actors, plays the FBI agent who struggles to help Lee catch this crook. Anita Loos as Martin's current snooze is also very good in showing the conflict she feels toward the benefactor of her ailing son.Blake Edwards, who will receive an honorary Oscar this year, directs with a haunting malevolence, and then again, there's that Mancini theme...still gives me chills!
Movie Review: A good scare and a great score.
Summary: 5 Stars
The first thing you hear is the well written soundtrack by Henry Mancini. It sets the pace and continues on to embellish every scene. Glenn Ford, as the FBI guy, has the ability to bring realism to any role he plays and here he holds the whole thing together. Ross Martin gives us a villain that literally sends chills up your spine.
Many have categorized this as Film Noir or at least an attempt at it and that's fine. Where it strays is in the dialogue given the two sisters played by the georgeous Lee Remick and the very young Stephanie Powers. There is no viable difference between the older and younger sister and there should be. It's not their fault. You can't project with inferior scripting.
There are many little gem segments including Popcorn, the pickup, and the final at Candlestick. And yes, there's the mannequins. A sroke of genius. Now that's Noir.