SPOILERS INCLUDED In 1972 sex and horror movie magazine Cinema X ran an article entitled 'How do you like your screen dollies? A-lively or..dead'. The article juxtaposed stills from Ray Selfe's Sweet and Sexy to represent 'A-lively' and stills from The Fiend to represent 'dead'. The Fiend press pack sent to Cinema X evidently consisting of little more than stills of dead, topless actresses either drowned, buried in cement or in one grisly case hung up on a meat hook. The article was subheaded 'one thing director Robert Hartford-Davis can do. He can sure make a corpse look sexy'.
In fact Hartford-Davis was no stranger to sex and death cinema, having directed what's believed to be Britain's first story-driven sexploitation film (The Yellow Teddybears-1963). In the horror film arena he'd directed the infamous Corruption(1967), in which you get to see Peter Cushing butchering a prostitute and Carry On-starlet Alexandra Dane discovering a severed head in a fridge. Although dated today Corruption was the first sign (or warning if you will) of a grittier strain of horror films that would come into force in the 1970's. Hartford-Davis' final horror film The Fiend concerns the Brethren an evangelical movement under the command of 'The Minister' (Patrick Magee). Birdy (Ann Todd) a spinster has dedicated her life to the Brethren which includes handing her house over to the minister for his meetings (and what a motley crew the Brethren are). Her son Kenny (Tony Beckley) ups the ante by murdering women in an attempt to save their souls. Kenny also records his killings on audio-tape, later playing them back while having introspective conversations with his victim's bras. Supporting his mother by having duel jobs as a lifeguard and a security officer Kenny also uses these two occupations to further his third career as a serial killer. Outraged when a girl takes her top off at the pool Kenny follows her home with murder on his mind 'the day of retribution is at hand'. His security officer getup also comes in handy when terrorizing Hammersmith prostitutes. In one brutal sequence, Kenny disrupts one such woman servicing some old geezer, and before beating her around the head with a truncheon the 'nutcase bloody bible thumper' jams a torch into the girl's mouth. Which given the way we're introduced to the prostitute character in the film leaves little to the imagination as to what that torch is perversely symbolic of. Birdy takes an instant dislike to Brigitte a local nurse hired to care for the fail old woman. Brigitte is genuinely troubled by the Brethren, particularly the minister's rule forbidding the use of medicine since Birdy is a diabetic and closet insulin user. Brigitte's sister Paddy a chain-smoking journalist encouraged by her kin to write an expose of the Brethren, poses as an unwed mother-to-be in order to join the fold. Her appearance seems to bring out long repressed desire in Birdy and when the minister finds out she's been having 'foul thoughts' he orders Birdy to fast effectively issuing a death sentence to the diabetic. A desperate rush to administer her an insulin shot ensues, Paddy tries but is inadvertently stopped by Kenny, who locks her in the cellar. Finally standing up to the bullying minister Kenny storms upstairs to administer the shot, but he's too late to save her and literally exerts some biblical vengeance on the minister. Hartford-Davis was apparently driven to make The Fiend after being upset by reports of religious fanatics who forbid their followers the use of blood transfusions and medicine. The resulting film spares you none of his anger, but is also evidence of his exploiteer's eye for a good story milked for all its topical and sensationist worth. Brigitte seems to act as Hartford-Davis' mouthpiece when upon being told religion isn't that cool a subject in the Seventies she replies 'but this is different its so sick something ought to be done about those crank religions'. Inevitably today the film is usually spoken about in the same breath as the films of Pete Walker, particularly The House of Mortal Sin(1975) which similarly works religious iconology into its death scenes. Even though it was made at a time when Walker was just emerging from his School For Sex/nudie-cutie era, The Fiend anticipates Walker's heavy handed use of 'messages' and even his nuances for a headstrong heroine and an ineffectual male hero (amusingly played here by Ronald 'Uncle Quentin' Allen). Censor cuts inflicted on the film largely eliminated the angle the Cinema X article was written from. However in the uncensored print (surprisingly shown recently on UK TV!) the female nudity from actresses pretending to be dead, adds another unhealthy layer to the film. Tony Beckley (who died of cancer in 1980) is hard to fault as Kenny, Beckley also looks the part and his gaunt, sickly features would result in some memorable character bits in the period like the alcoholic in The Lost Continent(1968) and one of the gangsters in Get Carter(1971). It seems likely Beckley was cast here on account of his turn in 'british roughie' The Penthouse(1968) where he played a similar loose screw (who could forget his five minute rant about baby alligators). Another much missed actor Patrick Magee is equally memorable, relishing the minister's fire and brimstone monologues as only Magee could. And The Fiend sits alongside the varied likes of A Clockwork Orange, Dr Jekyll and the Women and Sir Henry at Rawlinson End as film's benefiting greatly from the work of this eccentric, intense actor. Although not without its fair share of tedium, The Fiend stands as one of the more interesting films in Hartford-Davis' hot and cold filmography. Wildly out of place musical numbers from one of the Brethren ('sing sister') recorded in an echo chamber, as well as the idea that Ann Todd on a church organ could produce the funky track 'wash me in his blood' are rare funny moments in another wise dark and bleak piece of work indeed.
In fact Hartford-Davis was no stranger to sex and death cinema, having directed what's believed to be Britain's first story-driven sexploitation film (The Yellow Teddybears-1963). In the horror film arena he'd directed the infamous Corruption(1967), in which you get to see Peter Cushing butchering a prostitute and Carry On-starlet Alexandra Dane discovering a severed head in a fridge. Although dated today Corruption was the first sign (or warning if you will) of a grittier strain of horror films that would come into force in the 1970's. Hartford-Davis' final horror film The Fiend concerns the Brethren an evangelical movement under the command of 'The Minister' (Patrick Magee). Birdy (Ann Todd) a spinster has dedicated her life to the Brethren which includes handing her house over to the minister for his meetings (and what a motley crew the Brethren are). Her son Kenny (Tony Beckley) ups the ante by murdering women in an attempt to save their souls. Kenny also records his killings on audio-tape, later playing them back while having introspective conversations with his victim's bras. Supporting his mother by having duel jobs as a lifeguard and a security officer Kenny also uses these two occupations to further his third career as a serial killer. Outraged when a girl takes her top off at the pool Kenny follows her home with murder on his mind 'the day of retribution is at hand'. His security officer getup also comes in handy when terrorizing Hammersmith prostitutes. In one brutal sequence, Kenny disrupts one such woman servicing some old geezer, and before beating her around the head with a truncheon the 'nutcase bloody bible thumper' jams a torch into the girl's mouth. Which given the way we're introduced to the prostitute character in the film leaves little to the imagination as to what that torch is perversely symbolic of. Birdy takes an instant dislike to Brigitte a local nurse hired to care for the fail old woman. Brigitte is genuinely troubled by the Brethren, particularly the minister's rule forbidding the use of medicine since Birdy is a diabetic and closet insulin user. Brigitte's sister Paddy a chain-smoking journalist encouraged by her kin to write an expose of the Brethren, poses as an unwed mother-to-be in order to join the fold. Her appearance seems to bring out long repressed desire in Birdy and when the minister finds out she's been having 'foul thoughts' he orders Birdy to fast effectively issuing a death sentence to the diabetic. A desperate rush to administer her an insulin shot ensues, Paddy tries but is inadvertently stopped by Kenny, who locks her in the cellar. Finally standing up to the bullying minister Kenny storms upstairs to administer the shot, but he's too late to save her and literally exerts some biblical vengeance on the minister. Hartford-Davis was apparently driven to make The Fiend after being upset by reports of religious fanatics who forbid their followers the use of blood transfusions and medicine. The resulting film spares you none of his anger, but is also evidence of his exploiteer's eye for a good story milked for all its topical and sensationist worth. Brigitte seems to act as Hartford-Davis' mouthpiece when upon being told religion isn't that cool a subject in the Seventies she replies 'but this is different its so sick something ought to be done about those crank religions'. Inevitably today the film is usually spoken about in the same breath as the films of Pete Walker, particularly The House of Mortal Sin(1975) which similarly works religious iconology into its death scenes. Even though it was made at a time when Walker was just emerging from his School For Sex/nudie-cutie era, The Fiend anticipates Walker's heavy handed use of 'messages' and even his nuances for a headstrong heroine and an ineffectual male hero (amusingly played here by Ronald 'Uncle Quentin' Allen). Censor cuts inflicted on the film largely eliminated the angle the Cinema X article was written from. However in the uncensored print (surprisingly shown recently on UK TV!) the female nudity from actresses pretending to be dead, adds another unhealthy layer to the film. Tony Beckley (who died of cancer in 1980) is hard to fault as Kenny, Beckley also looks the part and his gaunt, sickly features would result in some memorable character bits in the period like the alcoholic in The Lost Continent(1968) and one of the gangsters in Get Carter(1971). It seems likely Beckley was cast here on account of his turn in 'british roughie' The Penthouse(1968) where he played a similar loose screw (who could forget his five minute rant about baby alligators). Another much missed actor Patrick Magee is equally memorable, relishing the minister's fire and brimstone monologues as only Magee could. And The Fiend sits alongside the varied likes of A Clockwork Orange, Dr Jekyll and the Women and Sir Henry at Rawlinson End as film's benefiting greatly from the work of this eccentric, intense actor. Although not without its fair share of tedium, The Fiend stands as one of the more interesting films in Hartford-Davis' hot and cold filmography. Wildly out of place musical numbers from one of the Brethren ('sing sister') recorded in an echo chamber, as well as the idea that Ann Todd on a church organ could produce the funky track 'wash me in his blood' are rare funny moments in another wise dark and bleak piece of work indeed.