The first film made under Bryan Forbes' auspices at EMI Films was in theory a smart move - a low budget suspense thriller about two girls on a cycling holiday in France... they have a fight and separate and when the sensible one (Pamela Franklin) goes looking for the slutty one (Michele Dotrice... Betty from Some Mothers Do Have 'Em and its fun to imagine this is Betty) and she's missing.
It was made by TV talent, but highly experienced - director Robert Fuest, writers Terry Nation and Brian Clemens. It has a cult reputation and was even remade.
It's not that good. There's creepiness at the beginning when you're waiting for one of the girls to go missing. Pamela Franklin has a sweet factor, and watching her I thought "I bet you've got a cult following because you're in horror movies and went nude once in a while" and that's true, but she doesn't rise to the occasion in the last third when she has to carry it all herself - she's better when she has Dotrice (a superior actor) to bounce off.
Robert Fuest has some decent credits but he wasn't a major spooky stylist - like say Roman Polanski or even Freddie Francis - which hurts because not enough happens in the second half. Either the killer is the one weird guy or the second weird guy. It needed another twist or a subplot or something. The Jimmy Sangster written psycho thrillers for Hammer were better.
I can see why you'd like this if you discovered it, like the other Forbes-greenlit thriller from EMI, The Man Who Haunted Himself - but I was underwhelmed.
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