The Savage Curse

Robert Stone (George Chakiris) is an American private detective who has arrived in an English village.

He is on a case to find a missing person. Who just happens to be his brother. He listens to a tape recording that his brother sent him before he vanished.

He takes a room in a local pub, talks to some locals, a few clamp up. Robert's interest is Dominie Lanceford (Jenny Agutter) a pretty young woman that his brother got close to.

She is the niece of the wealthy Edgar Allen Poe fanatic Jonathan Lanceford (Anton Diffring.)

The local lord of the manor is overly protective of Dominie. Then Robert gets overly friendly with Dominie.

Maybe Robert should had taken Lanceford's advice. Read up on some Poe books.

This feels like a tribute to Roger Corman's The Masque Of The Red Death. The only thing missing was Vince Price.

A Gothic chiller as Robert finds himself over his head in trouble. The ending was a bit weak and cheap looking.

Quite a simple plot for this one, an American arrives in a small English village, hunting for his brother, the only clue being that he'd made the acquaintance of a beautiful, but reclusive woman, Dominie. It's a very interesting plot, and I loved the intrigue of the first half, it builds well, but I find it a wee bit slow in the middle, and the ending was a little bit obvious, cloaked figures, dungeons, all we needed was a curved dagger and a virgin dressed in white and it would have been straight out of a sixties horror. It is saved by the brilliance of Jenny Agutter who is sublime throughout, a superb performance, strong and sincere, but it's her sheer beauty that captivates. Stephen Greif is also great, so dark and handsome, very charismatic.

'Kiss Me And Die' is worth watching for the performance of Jenny Agutter alone. She plays a wonderful part - of Dominie Lanceford - a beautiful young lady who resides with her zealously protective guardian Jonathan (Anton Diffring does a good job here).

Enter Robert Stone: his mission - to locate his missing brother Jim. Stone is an American who immediately stands out in the village - full of 'Straw Dogs'esquire locals. Old Fred the ratcatcher is a joy to watch.

The trail leads to Dominie but she insists that Jim left her of his own free will. Stone is persistent however and during the course of his investigation gradually finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her. The upshot of this affair is that Stone gets his marching orders. Apparently all men who are smitten must go or be pushed. He is reluctant to do so and to complicate matters decides to attend a 'Masque of the Red Death' type of party in the Lanceford residence - which proves to be particularly haunting and unforgettable...

I've recently watched a dozen of the earlier episodes and they are certainly of a high standard. A minority view no doubt but so far I enjoyed this one the most.

Other reviewers have described the characters and story. It is also very easy on the eye, and not only Jenny Agutter, having attractive settings - the pub, Jonathan's mansion, and the masque ball. The others I most liked are The Eyes Have It which is nail bitingly tense, and the harrowing Ring Once for Death, but these dictated more restricted scenery.

Some interesting trivia. It's set in the picturesque village of Aldbury, used in the Murdersville episode of The Avengers. The pub landlord also looked familiar, John Sharp played the same role in Murdersville. It became apparent that Brian Clemens had deliberately reprised the pub details, both landlords having blonde daughters called Jenny and both owned a shotgun. Though sadly the pub no longer had any real ale.

Although this installment of "Thriller" is generally popular with fans I've never been keen on it and consider it one of the weaker ones. All the same it is a pretty professional job and does have its merits.

American Robert Stone comes to England searching for his brother who went missing shortly after arriving in a quaint village and meeting a beautiful young woman called Dominie. At the village pub he gets a warm welcome but when he visits Dominie's stately home he gets short shrift from the housekeeper. Fortunately for him Dominie is more welcoming.

An attraction develops between Robert and Dominie but it is uneasy. She has been hurt by what she sees as past rejections. It is also clear that her guardian, a German cum-English "gentleman", Jonathan Lanceford is not keen on the relationship at all. Robert gets the message from other quarters that his presence isn't wanted but he persists. He isn't frightened off even when Fred, a local rat-catcher who had given him some interesting information, dies in a mysterious accident. The signs are that Robert could be next...

The story premise is quite promising but somehow the result on screen doesn't really work. There is an Edgar Allan Poe theme running throughout, with Jonathan Lanceford obsessed with the writer. This is an interesting angle but doesn't make the impact expected.

The performances are, for the most part unremarkable, although quite competent. There are two major exceptions. Anton Diffring is very impressive, making Jonathan very sinister. Russell Hunter does a very good job as the permanently drunk but revealing Fred. The direction is quite good, particularly in some night shots and light and dark are well-handled in scenes in the dark recesses of the house and the accompanying party. At no point though was this as unsettling as it could have been.

An irritating aspect is the use of unconvincing rural accents in the village pub. This is an echo of the yokel scenes in the village store in "A Place To Die", an episode from the previous season also written by Terence Feely. On a more positive if trivial note it is refreshing to see a pub full of working class beer drinkers in a show otherwise dominated by privileged people downing spirits. "Thriller" was not noted for its humour but there is a rare joke here. Robert is asked how they deal with foxes in America. He dryly replies, "Well in our country the foxes shoot back"!

The final scene I find one of the worst endings to a story - it is horribly cheesy and out of keeping with the very serious action beforehand, in particular detracting from a fairly effective climax.

Overall then a mixed bag. I would recommend checking other installments of "Thriller" first but this is still worthy of attention.