This is a perversion filled British horror film that has so many stretches of nothing going on, I'm surprised that I didn't fall asleep. As an evil ventriloquist, Bryant Halliday recites each line as if he was reading it from the script for the very first time. He uses his truly hideous looking dummy to manipulate audience members, especially the attractive and vulnerable women, into doing his bidding. His motivation? To get his hands on the estate of a wealthy innocent girl (Yvonne Romain) who has come to see the show, manipulating her boyfriend (William Sylvester) into nearly being killed, and plotting to marry her, escape to Italy then kill her and inherit her money. But the dummy seems to have a mind all of its own, and does its best to take control.
This hit the nadir of bad taste when Halliday manipulates a young audience member to strip down to her skivvies and bare her chest. The audience is forced to endure close-ups of her gyrating hips as she somehow goes from shy musician to vampy stripper, obviously having some knowledge of how a strip tease works in spite of her prim-and-proper demeanor. The pacing is flat and it really does not come alive until the last few minutes, having a conclusion that while ingenius can't overcome the truly rancid first 75 minutes.
This hit the nadir of bad taste when Halliday manipulates a young audience member to strip down to her skivvies and bare her chest. The audience is forced to endure close-ups of her gyrating hips as she somehow goes from shy musician to vampy stripper, obviously having some knowledge of how a strip tease works in spite of her prim-and-proper demeanor. The pacing is flat and it really does not come alive until the last few minutes, having a conclusion that while ingenius can't overcome the truly rancid first 75 minutes.