Sunday, March 02, 2014

Movie review - "What Became of Jack and Jill?" (1972) *

Awful psycho thriller which ranks among the worst movies Amicus ever made. It's a about a young man who lives with his grandmother and schemes with his trashy girlfriend to knock off grandma. They eventually shock her into an early demise Les Diaboliques style, but can't enjoy the inheritance.

I can't recall a film  which hated young people so much - the two leads are mean and nasty and it's full of talk about youth wanting change and who will look after the old people. Now there's nothing wrong with making a film about fear of the young and being overlooked - it's a basic primeval emotion, which is a solid basis for any thriller - but the depiction of the younger generation here is so relentlessly simplistic and one eyed. Also the old lady is such a whiny old crone, constantly whimpering about her fear of the young and asking her grandson to get her cups of tea, that after a while you start to wish they'd knock her off.

As it, they take almost an hour to do it. The time before then is padded with chats about the youth in revolt, and what a drag the old lady is - no interesting plot twists, or atmosphere, or character, or anything worth watching. After they kill her the young people have some fantasies about spending the money but nothing much else happens then either apart from the fact the old lady has left behind one of those movie wills where someone can't inherit money if they marry someone else. This might be okay if that someone else became another character, but they don't... we're stuck with two dull leads.

Vanessa Howard, as the femme fetale, is at least pretty but not much of an actor. It's patronising, poorly made, dull and stupid.

Directed by Aussie Bill Bain.

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