Revenge [Inn of the Frightened People] ** (1971, Joan Collins, James Booth, Ray Barrett, Sinéad Cusack, Kenneth Griffith) – Classic Movie Review 9315

Revenge was issued as Terror from Under the House on video.

Joan Collins tops the bill as Carol Radford, in director Sidney Hayers’s unedifying but efficient country-set 1971 British revenge thriller Revenge [Inn of the Frightened People] about two men visiting the recluse they suspect has raped and murdered a little girl.

John Kruse’s plot, based on the novel There Was an Old Woman by Lou Ellen Davis, has a few surprises up its sleeve along the way, but overall it is familiar stuff, and it takes a lot for director Hayers to make it seem fresh.

Old troupers Joan Collins and James Booth (as Jim Radford), Sinéad Cusack (as Rose), Ray Barrett and Kenneth Griffith help to keep it going.

Booth and Collins play pub landlords Jim and Carol Radford grieving for their young daughter Jenny, who they believe was raped and murdered by Seely (Kenneth Griffith), released for lack of evidence. Jim’s friend Harry (Ray Barrett) and Jim’s son by his first marriage Lee urge Jim to kidnap Seely and keep him in the cellar of his pub for revenge.

Also in the cast are Tom Marshall, Zuleika Robson, Donald Morley, Barry Andrews, Patrick McAlinney, Angus MacKay, Geoffrey Hughes, Nicola Critcher, Basil Lord, Richard Holden, Ronald Clarke and Martin Carroll.

It is made by Peter Rogers Productions in a bid to widen their appeal as just more than Carry On producers.

Revenge [Inn of the Frightened People] follows Hayers’s Assault [In the Devil’s Garden] (1971) and All Coppers Are… (1972).

Revenge [Inn of the Frightened People] is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 89 minutes, is made by Peter Rogers Productions and George H Brown Productions, is released by J Arthur Rank Film Distributors (UK), is written by John Kruse (screenplay), based on the novel There Was an Old Woman by Lou Ellen Davis, is shot by Ken Hodges (Eastmancolor), is produced by Peter Rogers and George H Brown, is scored by Eric Rogers and is designed by Peter Howitt.

It is made at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

The pub in the movie is the same as the one in Carry On Abroad (1972), also produced by Peter Rogers.

It was retitled Inn of the Frightened People when it was released in the US in May 1976, then Terror from Under the House or Behind the Cellar Door on video.

Revenge was released on Blu-ray Region 2 in the UK by Network in July 2016. The Region 1 DVD is titled Revenge!

Tom Marshall, Zuleika Robson and Donald Morley were dubbed by Nicky Henson, Michele Dotrice and Garfield Morgan.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9315

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