Frightmare (BLU-RAY)

Throughout his career, director Pete Walker (House of Whipcord) was no stranger to controversy, but his 1974 film Frightmare sparked a firestome of criticism from the protectors of public morals, who deemed it “despicable” (London Observer), “horrendous” (Evening News), and “a moral obscenity” (Daily Telegraph). In spite of the condemnation—or more likely, because of it—Frightmare has achieved an almost legendary status in British horror history. Sheila Keith (House of the Long Shadows) stars as a former patient of a mental institution, who has settled down in a remote farmhouse, where she tells fortunes in her spare time. But the kind, maternal exterior conceals a dreadful monster, which the asylum, it seems, was unable to cure.