Stop Me Before I Kill! (1961)

Cash on Demand (1961)

 

The Icons of Suspense set opens the Hammer House of Horror vaults to reveal six rare films, which I will be reviewing in three installments. These are the movies you might not know about, ones without the famous "Hammer Glamour" girls in negligees and sleek vampires biting necks, but they're worth more than just a look.

 

First up is a gem I'd never heard of, but am sure glad I had the opportunity to watch, called Stop Me Before I Kill! (1961). It's based on the novel The Full Treatment by Ronald Scott Thorn, and the screenplay is a collaboration between the author and the film's director, Val Guest.

 

Stop Me Before I Kill! grabs the viewer's attention instantly with its gorgeous black and white cinematography, skillfully composed by DP Gilbert Taylor for the MegaScope format. It's an unhappy beginning as a cheerful couple zoom down a picturesque road on The Riviera in their zippy convertible, and BAM! they round a turn, hit a huge truck, and suffer the consequences. And keep on suffering them, as the racecar driver groom recovers at home in London only to find his mind significantly altered from the injuries. His beautiful blonde bride tries to cope, but there is only so much a woman can take.

 

Much like the less-adorned Hitchcock classics from the same era, Stop Me Before I Kill! is a very understated, little-populated story centering on three main characters and while there are dazzling locations, much of the action (and by action, I mean dialogue) takes place indoors. The confined quarters and limited cast notwithstanding, this movie manages to remain suspenseful and fascinating throughout.

 

The direction (Guest was a Hammer staple, with the Quatermass movies in the 50s), DP'ing (Taylor also did Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Polanski's Repulsion), editing and writing probably deserve the biggest props, but without these particular actors Stop Me Before I Kill! would not have been the same film. Ronald Lewis plays Alan, the once-reckless and carefree playboy reduced to a mass of murderous nerves; Diane Cilento plays his bride Denise with an amazing range bouncing between sweet, seductive, and scared; and while Claude Dauphin is given a pretty transparent character as the psychiatrist, he makes it work — and he's got a cool Siamese cat, too (which factors into the, er, plot quite nicely).

 

Having said all that, I will admit that occasionally my attention waned as the movie went on talking and talking. A flick like this probably wouldn't fly today, but for what it is and when it was, Stop Me Before I Kill! is pretty brilliant. Bonuses are the smart clothes, elegant décor, Cilento's classy coifs, and super-sweet cars (a convertible right-hand drive Jag is seen once or twice, in spite of the fact much of the movie does take place indoors, lying on the shrink's sofa).

 

Also on this disc is Cash on Demand (1961), a bank robbery cat-and-mouse suspenser starring Peter Cushing.

 

 

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From the Press Release "On April 6th Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) opens the doors to the Hammer vault with the release of six films making their DVD debuts in The Icons of Suspense Collection Presents Hammer Films. Hammer Films made their name with monsters and vampires, but this third compilation from SPHE proves they could frighten the public without them. Topping the set is the uncut version of the futuristic classic These Are The Damned (aka The Damned, 1963), directed by the legendary Joseph Loseygr. Peter Cushing and Andre Morell match wits in Cash on Demand (1961). Oscar®-winning cinematographer Guy Green directed The Snorkel (1958), about a young girl who can’t convince anyone her stepfather is a murderer. The renowned Val Guest directed the startling psychodrama Stop Me Before I Kill! (aka The Full Treatment, 1960). Kerwin Matthews finds himself in the middle of a strange mother/daughter threesome in the Jimmy Sangster-written Maniac (1963). Plus, this ultimate rarity: Cyril Frankel’s astounding Never Take Candy from a Stranger (aka Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, 1960), a serious, and still horrifyingly timely, chiller about a small town terrorized by an elderly child molester. You won’t do better than this impeccable collection from the darkest corners of the Hammer imagination, which will be available for $24.96 SRP."