SYMPTOMS

Review: A masculine woman invites another woman to stay at her remote country mansion. The estate, however, isn’t quite what is seems and events soon take a disturbing turn.
Director: Jose Ramon Larraz
Actors: Angela Pleasence, Peter Vaughan, Lorna Heilbron, Nancy Nevinson, Mike Grady and Raymond Huntley
Year: 1974
Genre: Horror
Conclusion: 4/5
This is a film which played to great applause at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974. Strangely, it disappeared from distribution and was only available through grainy VHS copies passed between cult horror fans. It was included in BFI’s “most wanted” list of missing feature films in 2008. The negatives mysteriously showed up in 2014. I do think that this film has a very similar atmosphere to The Falling (2014). The musical score is very well composed and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. I very much enjoyed the performances which were very underplayed by the two main girls. When this film came out it opened to rave reviews, but quickly became a cult oddity.