User reviews

A Taste of Evil is a 1970's Made-For-TV film that had some very serious and dark themes for a movie at that time. It's plot revolves around the rape of a young child, and the discovery of who her assailant really was.

After being assaulted by someone she couldn't identify, Susan spent years in an institution trying to revere the trauma. We meet an adult version of her who is returning home for the first time since the attack many years prior. Her mother Miriam (played by Barbara Stanwyck) has since married a family friend that Susan used to call an uncle after the passing of Susan's father.

As soon as she settles in at home, she begins to think she is being stalked by someone she can't see. First she is chased by a man in the woods, and then she believes hears someone breathing in the darkness and the shadows in her large family house. The question is has the rapist come back to silence Susan or is she simply imagining someone coming after her. All is revealed in an explosive second half to the story.

A Taste of Evil is a VERY spooky and well done made for TV film from ABC. Terrific acting from legend Barbara Stanwyck and Barbara Parkins. She plays the trauma riddled Susan extremely well. We get all the beats of Susan's trauma of the rape and coming home. We also get the creepy mystery of who the assailant was years ago. There are some twists and turns throughout the film, and some eerie stalking scenes when the attacker comes for Susan. Overall, a great little horror gem from the 70's that deserves a proper DVD release.

7/10

Not a bad little late night chiller-mystery to keep me interesting throughout the entire film. Atmospheric, thrilling and with a couple of plot twists.

It's always nice to see Barbara Stanwyck grace the screen and she's good as usual. Roddy McDowell is a delight! I love these old made for TV films.

6.5/10

I was finally lucky enough to find an excellent copy of this film. I fell asleep watching this movie late one night and woke up assuming I would one day get the opportunity to see it again. Sure,they will show it again,it was a great movie. Eleven years later I found it. Very few people seem to know about this film,it is indeed one of the hardest to find. It was produced by Aaron Spelling,back when he was young and still had some good ideas. Barbra Stanwyck and Roddy McDowell star in this chilling sleeper about a woman who return home to a country estate after spending years in a mental institution after being abducted there as a child. Some truly scary scenes with some great plot twists that always keep you guessing. Atmospheric and very strong for television in those days,maybe thats why it has been forgotten but that's exactly why it should have a strong cult following but as you can see by the reviews(or lack thereof)it seems pretty lost. I'm pretty picky when it comes to movies and I would highly recommend it to any horror/suspense/mystery buff. Two scenes that stuck with me all those years were the shadowy figure entering the child's playhouse and the main character looking out a second story window and seeing someone standing on the lawn watching her on a dark and windy night. That's what it's all about! They were still as I remembered them all those years ago. Alot like a Kubrick image,these never left. GET A COPY IF YOU CAN!

In case you want to watch a horror movie for the first time and need to be sure from beforehand that you won't be disappointment with the outcome, it always helps to research the names that are involved. For example, in the case of "A Taste of Evil", I felt pretty comfortable thanks to the involvement of three reliable names (excluding the cast). The film comes from the nearly inexhaustible stable of producer Aaron Spelling. Long before he produced sappy TV- series like "Beverly Hills 90210" and "7th Heaven", Spelling was responsible for a large number of genuinely tense and spine-chilling TV-thrillers, including this one. The man in the director's chair is named John Llewellyn Moxey and his repertoire is also quite astounding, with legendary titles such as "Horror Hotel", "The Night Stalker", "Nightmare in Badham County" and about three dozen of other worthwhile titles. Then, last but certainly not least, the script was penned down by Jimmy Sangster. He was one of the creative masterminds behind the awesome British horror studios Hammer and wrote some of their greatest classics ("Horror of Dracula", "The Curse of Frankenstein") as well as some of their underrated but ingenious gems. How could "A Taste of Evil" possibly go wrong, especially if you also take into consideration that cast features a few impressive names like Barbara Stanwyck, Arthur O'Connell and Roddy McDowall?

Well, "A Taste of Evil" certainly doesn't disappoint and I won't hesitate for one second to recommend it to fellow horror fans, but still one of the aforementioned prominent names cheated a little bit… As the story slowly unfolded and tension mounted, I suddenly became more and more conscious that the plot felt familiar. Poor Susan Wilcox returns home to her mother Miriam and the parental house, after she spent seven long years in a Swiss mental hospital to recover from the trauma of getting assaulted in her garden playhouse at the tender age of 13. Although her mother and Susan herself are determined to get her life back on track, Susan's tangled nerves are soon put under pressure again since she repeatedly spots the corpse of Miriam's second husband Harold all around the estate. She must somehow suffer from hallucinations, as Harold is very much alive, although on a business trip and corresponding with his wife and stepdaughter via the phone. Now, where have I seen this plot before? Oh that's right… it's as good as identical to that of the unsung Hammer treasure "Taste of Fear / "Scream of Fear". Sneaky Jimmy Sangster must have thought that nobody in the United States ever saw or even heard about this film that already got released in 1961, so if he changed a few details left and right and gave different names to the main characters, he could cash a quick and easily earned paycheck!

And yet, I certainly don't blame Jimmy. The story is still solid as a rock and capable of evoking a handful of genuine scares and mild shocks. The build-up takes quite long and feels overly derivative, because you know of course that somebody is deliberately trying to push Susan into another mental breakdown and that her hallucinations are staged. But then the script offers not one but two twists that are surprisingly effective and quite unconventional for a made-for- TV flick. "A Taste of Evil" touches upon a few sensitive themes, like child molesting and family rivalry, and the extended climax (taking place during a good old-fashioned pouring rain thunderstorm) is action-packed and wild.

I just found a copy of this classic 1970's chiller on ebay. To my surprise, it is just as effective watching today as I remember seeing it as a child. There are many genuine thrills and chills as Barbara Parkins plays a young woman returning to the creepy mansion where she was traumatized as a child. Barbara Stanwyck plays her mother. Both actresses, fresh off their respective 1960's TV series' "Peyton Place" and "The Big Valley," give excellent performances. Parkins was an underrated actress and is truly memorable in her role of the terrorized girl. She is also very beautiful. Stanwyck is dignified and elegant and this film is a reminder of the great talent that was hers. This movie is a forgotten gem. It would be great to see it released on DVD someday.

Barbara Stanwyck was a rare beauty in her youth. She is beautiful here too, old and with white hair. Talented, no discussion, she was and remains one of the best actresses of all time. But, would have been better to not make this movie, it's a total failure. The other Barbara, Parkins, another great beauty and great love of mine from movies like "Valley of the Dolls" (1967), "The Kremlin Letter" (1970), and specially "Puppet on a Chain" (1971), is also a waste in a cheap scenario. One star for each Barbara, just for their presence, in fact, for their performances in other movies.

A Taste of Evil is a very interesting movie that tackles a pretty big issue for it's time. It involves the sexual assault of a young girl, and for 1971 I'm sure the topic was not as talked about as it is today. Anyways, the film starts with the young girl who is alone in her playhouse when a man (who we don't see) enters and attacks her off-screen. Fast forwards years later to when she is an adult. After spending years in a psychiatric institution, Susan travels home with her mother Miriam to tackle her demons. We meet some potential suspects of the rape; the mother's boyfriend Harold and a long time groundskeeper John. While at the family home, strange things start to happen. Susan sees someone lurking in the shadows, she feels someone following her in the woods, and a very dead looking Harold keeps popping up around the house.

The imagery of this movie is amazing. The usage of dark shadows in the house adds a very spooky feeling to it all. About halfway through the film we discover what/who is causing these strange occurrences, and I must say I was surprised by what it was and who assaulted Susan years ago. We then get another twist that leads us to a satisfying ending. It's a typical 1970's made for television thriller which I love, but this one adds a lot more such as the shocking storyline of the rape.

The acting was alright, Barbara Stanwyck was the best part about it. Overall a very satisfying TV movie that is impossible to purchase on DVD or VHS. Best thing to do is search it out online or hope for it to pop up on TV one day.

8/10

Hot off her success on The Big Valley, Barbara Stanwyck acted in a couple of spooky television movies. In A Taste of Evil, she plays the overbearing, loving mother to Barbara Parkins, who was traumatized after being raped at a party when she was a little girl. Parkins has finally recovered enough to return home, and Stanwyck tries to protect her from anything that might trigger a remembrance of the incident. However, pretty much everything about her childhood home and the people who live there remind her of it, and soon she starts hallucinating!

No offense to Barbara Stanwyck, but this is a typical tv movie. It's cheesy, not very well-developed, and the plot points are telegraphed miles away. There are no surprises in this one, even though it tries very hard to give them to you. It reminds me of the spooky flick Reflections of Murder, which I liked better, so if you're in the mood for some 1970s scares, you're better off renting that one instead. The only good news is there's nothing wrong with Barbara Stanwyck's performance. She's always wonderful, and even given the campy surroundings, she doesn't scrimp on the tears, anger, and realism. Plus, she looks beautiful in her curly white locks!

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to implied rape and scary images, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

Although I've only seen this film once, it lingers in my memory: I saw it at age 1O in 1971 when it was originally broadcast on television. Although the rest of the cast, i.e. William Windom, Roddy McDowall & Barbara Perkins, etc. did fine jobs with their roles, it's Stanwyck's playing of Miriam Jennings which lingers in my memory: talk about an unsympathetic role for an older Hollywood star to take! If fans of Davis and Crawford doing their bits in the macabre thought Stanwyck stopped with THE NIGHT WALKER, think again! This is definitely her tour-de-force in the thriller genre. Although it probably looks a bit tired and dated today, I remember the diabolical twist as being memorably sadistic and cruel plus there was a helping of LES DIABOLIQUES in the plotline. The atmosphere was creepy - thunder and lightning and all - and I remember sinister Barbara dismissing her gardener (Arthur O'Connell) thusly: "You have until noon"...

Writer Jimmy Sangster revised his own "Scream of Fear" from 1961, but the results this time are ludicrous when they're not incoherent. A young woman returns to her family's home in San Francisco after spending several years in a Swiss institution; seems she was attacked by an unknown man when she was a child, and the familiar surroundings quickly begin playing tricks with her mind--or is someone trying to drive her insane? Lumbering TV-yarn at first features Barbara Parkins running around the opulent woodland grounds in a terrified state, then exchanges Parkins' screams for those of Barbara Stanwyck's, playing Parkins' mother. Both actresses are at the mercy of a teleplay so contrived, the plot twists are not so much surprising as they are confounding. There's no attention to detail (at least, not logical detail) in Sangster's scenario, and the story becomes so muddled that the final revelations are practically irrelevant. Parkins keeps shooing Stanwyck off to the store or away to the airport, while Arthur O'Connell shuffles around as a simpleton groundskeeper and William Windom pops up intermittently as a drunken stepfather (always with the same pained expression on his face). Dreadful!

"A Taste of Evil" focuses on a woman, Susan, who returns to her family estate after having been institutionalized following a sexual assault that she experienced as a young girl in the woods outside the home. Soon after arriving home, however, visions, flashbacks, and sinister occurrences galore begin to intrude on her life.

I was actually surprised by how darkly and disturbingly this film began—a young girl is sitting inside a playhouse built by her parents, isolated in the woods. As she draws a picture of her Raggedy Ann doll, a man enters the doorway, his features obscured by the sunlight. "Who are you?" she asks. The camera turns, the clatter of the table echoes through the scene, and the dolls are thrown across the room onto the bed as the girl screams bloody murder. Sound rough for a television film? I think so. Especially for being in the early seventies.

Based on Jimmy Sangster's Hammer-produced "Scream of Fear," "A Taste of Evil" was also scripted by Sangster, an produced by Aaron Spelling. Like all of the glorious made-for-television films of the decade, "A Taste of Evil" is wonderfully atmospheric, with its obvious staged interiors, as well as the moody photography of the mansion exteriors (John Llewellyn Moxey, who later directed the phenomenal Christmas horror tele-flick, "Home for the Holidays," directs here with a keen eye on mood). There are some fantastic scenes in the woods post-Susan's return, as well as nightmarish sequences and appearances of her apparent assailant.

The film benefits greatly from having a phenomenal cast; Barbara Stanwyck leads as the matriarch, while Barbara Parkins is adequately emotive as the unstable woman. Neither performances are award-worthy by any means, but both manage to muster an appropriate chemistry. Roddy McDowall is a welcome presence as the psychiatrist, and William Windom is sleazy and sinister as Susan's drunken stepfather.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and at times legitimately suspenseful film. It is also daring enough to tackle such a topic as child rape, and the understated yet unflinchingly brusque opening sequence establishes a no-holds-barred attitude from the outset. The film's plot twists are also surprisingly wicked. An enjoyable watch for a rainy evening; recommended highly to fans of the made-for-television horror and thriller films of the 1970s. 8/10.

The plot of A TASTE OF EVIL is a pastiche of cliches. Stop me if you've heard this before: A young woman, raped as a child and just released after years in a mental institution, comes home only to find herself seeing and hearing things that prove elusive when she summons witnesses. Is she still mentally unfit? Cue heroine waking up to thumping noise, wandering through darkened mansion, finding open window with shutters banging against frame and curtains billowing in gale-force winds. In fact, thunder storms and billowing curtains are repeating motifs in this unimaginative film. Drag in dog-eared scenes involving rustling bushes, haunted voices calling, a dimwitted butler who may or may not have been the girl's rapist, shadowy figures standing in the yard, disappearing corpses, a treacherous relative's inheritance-lust, etc. Even a plot this hackneyed can be revived to a certain extent, but "A Taste of Evil" is just uninspired through-and-through. Director Moxey reused these hoary story elements to better effect a decade later in NO PLACE TO HIDE. Still achingly familiar, at least that film was considerably more suspenseful, and contained one or two surprises.

"A Taste of Evil" is efficient enough within its very limited aspirations, and Stanwick makes an impression in her role, but the film still several notches below the high standard of numerous made-for-TV suspensers of the seventies.

This movie is absolutely haunting! I have never forgotten it and am still feeling the slowly growing horror it produced back then when I remember it now. I first saw this film as a little girl.

I need to get a copy of this wonderful film for my own. I searched filmographies of Arthur O'Connell to actually get the title for this film. It was spooky and so memorable to me even as a child. I remember the playhouse, I remember the sound of Barbara Stanwyck's voice, especially with key lines. What a film! I remember all the nuances. Add this to your collection as well, it will stay with you for sure. I can't say that many movies have remained with me the way this one did.

When the film begins, a young girl, Susan, is attacked and raped. Suddenly the film jumps ahead many years and you learn, through some clumsy exposition, that for the intervening time Susan (Barbara Parkins) has been in a mental institution. During the first two years of this stay, she was catatonic and now she has suppressed the identity of her attacker. Through the course of the film, it's obviously folks are screwing with Susan's mind....and here is where the film gets VERY bad. She supposedly sees a dead person...and then conveniently faints. When she is awakened, the dead man is gone and no one else has seen him. A bit later, she sees another dead guy and runs away to tell others...and when she returns this one is gone as well. In fact, this sort of silly thing seemed to happen again and again. This is so clumsy and stupid and really took a decent story idea and relegated it to a sub-par made for TV film and nothing more.

By the way, as a retired psychotherapist, the notion of anyone completely blocking out the identity of their attacker is a bit tenuous. It seems possible, at least temporarily, but it a plot device way overused in films. Also, if Barbara Parkins seems familiar, she's one of the folks who starred in "Valley of the Dolls"--a truly awful and stupid (but thoroughly enjoyable) bad movie of the late 60s.

This is basically a reworking of the classic Hammer thriller TASTE OF FEAR aka SCREAM OF FEAR (1961; a re-acquaintance with which will follow presently) – from the same scriptwriter, the late Jimmy Sangster – with the setting changed from the French Riviera to a San Francisco estate. Apart from the fact that the same plot had been done to death – by Hammer and Sangster themselves – in the intervening decade and its being a TV-movie, the results here are still mediocre when compared to the classy original (even if that had owed a good deal to the French suspense masterpiece DIABOLIQUE {1954} to begin with), largely because the frissons appear entirely telegraphed in this case!

This is somewhat surprising given that many of the people behind it were cinema veterans and, what is more, hardly new to the genre: director Moxey had made the splendid occult horror THE CITY OF THE DEAD aka HORROR HOTEL (1960), leading lady Barbara Parkins would do THE MEPHISTO WALTZ in the same year as this, star Barbara Stanwyck had been in William Castle's superior THE NIGHT WALKER (1964) and Roddy McDowall was a staple of the PLANET OF THE APES franchise; incidentally, Moxey and Stanwyck previously collaborated on THE HOUSE THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1970; also made for TV, and which I own as well but have yet to watch). Anyway, the narrative centers around a girl who is raped at age 13 during a family party by an unknown assailant; this episode sends her to an 8 year spell in an institution but, when she returns home, begins to display alarming signs of being far from cured! She continually sees her alcoholic stepfather's corpse all over the place when he is actually supposed to be away on business – her mother (Stanwyck) is obviously concerned and calls in doctor McDowall to review her condition; also involved in all of this is simpleton handy-man Arthur O'Connell.

However, while the original kept piling on the twists at the climax so that one had little time to ask himself whether they were plausible or not, this one demonstrates only mild ingenuity throughout. Incidentally, since the shadowy figure of the rapist keeps turning up to haunt and generally frighten her, there are really only two suspects who it could have been. That said, the ultimate reason behind the whole attempt to drive the girl mad anew and the choice of conspirators does not ring true…while the alliance to uncover the culprits between the victim herself, the Police and another unlikely associate is virtually ported over wholesale from TASTE OF FEAR!

TASTE OF EVIL is a wonderful suspense film from two horror masters. The director John Llewellyn Moxey, who directed such great horrors as: Desire the Vampire, Killjoy, No Place to Hide, Home For the Holidays, and the famous TV film The Night Stalker, all made-for-TV movies. The other horror master, writer Jimmy Sangster, who wrote excellent horror for: the TV film GOOD AGAINST EVIL, TV film SCREAM PRETTY PEGGY, many Hammer Horror films and the most famous and scariest KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER episode, HORROR IN THE HEIGHTS. I'm glad I have this film, it is fantastic!

SUMMARY: At a young age, Susan Wilcox (Barbara Parkins), is traumatically raped and goes into shock. She is taken to a mental institution. Many years later, her mother Miriam Jennings (Barbara Stanwyck) takes her home to their gigantic mansion. While home, Susan sees her stepfather, Harold Jennings (William Windom), dead and his dead body floating around the house. However, Harold seems to be on a business trip and phones home everyday. Is Susan going crazy and why are there more dead bodies piling up? What is the secret of Susan's homecoming?

I love the setting in the creepy old mansion. The dead bodies give me the creeps. I really love this movie. The acting is so-so, Barbara Parkins does the best. RECOMMENDATION: Scream, Pretty Peggy. *** 1/2 stars, 9/10. SEE THIS MOVIE IF THE CHANCE COMES UP!!!!!!

This was a typical 70's TV movie, which says something right there. While no one can fault Barbara Stanwyck's performance, the role was a waste of her iconic talent, and the same goes for Barbara Perkins, Roddy McDowell, and William Windom. The moments of suspense came off as forced, and later redundant, and I guessed almost from the start who the rapist was. I also figured out halfway through who the other evil person was, though I had hoped I was wrong about that.

The motivation for it all was too over-the-top and didn't ring true. Also (and here was the real problem) you just can't care one way or the other what happens. When you can't even root for the good guys, you know something's wrong.

Skip this one.

A Taste of Evil is an unintentional funny movie. As mentioned before, story revolves around a daughter who comes home to an estate on the outskirts of San Francisco. Movie has an excellent lovely Barbara Parkins, underrated legend Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowell, and Arthur O'Connell, most notably for "Bus Stop" with Marilyn Monroe. It is interesting because the first half of the movie is focused on Barbara Parkins and then the 2nd half is focused on Barbara Stanwyck. Movie has unintentional funny moments. Here are some of them. Barbaba Parkins calls the caretaker to see what is for dinner because the mother is out all night shopping, cold cuts and salad. However, the camp award goes to Barbara Stanwyck. The funniest scene, which my friend and I keep laughing at, is when Barbara Stanwyck is cooking. Barbara acts so bi-polar with a manic look on her face, she yells at Barbara Parkins as they leave to hunt, "Work up a healthy appetite, I'll have hamburgers piled right up to the ceiling." You have to see the scene to see what I am referring too. As the movie progresses, you see funny scenes as a Raggedy Ann doll floating in the bathtub. All the humor is on Barbara Stanwyck's facial expressions in the 2nd half. There is a surprise twist but guidelines won't allow me to tell you what it is. Enjoy and this is a must to keep your video collection. I am glad I taped this off t.v. 15 years ago.

As this movie does not appear to have been released to video, you may not find it anywhere. If you do PLEASE contact me! There were some classic jump up and scare-you-silly scenes as only Barbara Stanwyck could do. I remember sitting in front of my T.V. and jumping backwards across the room! If anyone knows where I can get a copy of this movie, I'd be truly grateful. Thanks Terri (e-mail address) longer1@home.com

A young heiress returning from a mental institution following a childhood trauma, finds herself the target of someone trying to drive her insane. She hears heavy breathing, sees a shadowy figure, leaves in the forest rustling and things come to a head when she shoots at the shadowy figure.

From the onset this is one tense, tautly-drawn thriller which boasts some great claustrophobic atmosphere, haunting and harrowing scenes and some meaty performances. You got the two Barbaras here boosting up their acting abilities to a superior degree. Barbara Parkins captures the fragility of her character superbly and Barbara Stanwyck is her usual brilliant self. The rest of the meagre cast is great, too. Of course, there's a few killer twists, and though the explanation at the end could've been elaborated a bit more, it all ended satisfactorily.

Barbara Stanwyck still going strong at 64 makes a great impression here, haunting her own house in search for phantoms or intruders or whatever in a flaming red dress in the darkness, where someone constantly switches off the electricity. The story makes a cheap impression to begin with, a young girl gets ravaged and hospitalized but returns as an adult to deal with her ghosts, which she on the spot feels still are haunting her, or is someone playing cruel tricks with her? It looks constantly worse as she and others eventually bring our their rifles to shoot at whoever appears from nowhere as a disturbing nuisance, never worrying about who it might be, so they just shoot anyone, with consequences. The plot gets muddled, but Barbara Stanwyck is still alive in the end and so are her victims, even those she thought she had killed. Roddy MacDowell makes the only decent part except Barbara Parkins with her dolls, and eventually the whole situation is saved, with the right person finally getting taken care of. Without Barbara Stanwyck my rate would have been lower.