"Thriller" Spell of Evil (1973)

Director:

John Sichel

Writers:

Brian Clemens (story)
Terence Feely (writer)

TV Series:

"Thriller" (1973)

Original Air Date:

16 June 1973 (Season 1, Episode 10)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Businessman Tony Mansell hires a marriage bureau when his wife dies from a sudden illness, and is delighted...

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Fear | Surprise Ending

Cast

Diane Cilento	...	Clara
Edward de Souza	...	Tony Mansell
Jennifer Daniel	...	Liz
Jeremy Longhurst	...	George Mathews
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Anthony	...	Mr. Todd
David Belcher	...	Dr. Peterson
Linda Cunningham	...	Suzy
William Dexter	...	Mr. Pritchard
Patricia Kneale	...	Mrs. Mansell
Reg Lye	...	Caretaker
Iris Russell	...	Mrs. Roberts
Martin Wyldeck	...	Mr. Laker

Directed by
John Sichel

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Brian Clemens		story
Terence Feely		writer

Produced by
Cecil Clarke	....	executive producer
John Sichel	....	producer

Original Music by
Laurie Johnson

Film Editing by
Moyra Bird
John Crane

Casting by
Joan Brown

Production Design by
Stanley Mills

Costume Design by
Keith Sproull

Makeup Department
Dianne Joyce	....	makeup artist

Art Department
Terry Royce	....	stand-by props

Sound Department
Bob Woodhouse	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Roy Simper	....	camera operator
Dicky Stelp	....	lighting (as Dicke Stelp)

Other crew
Ron Brown	....	administrator
Madeleine Mann	....	production assistant
Geoffrey Sax	....	stage assistant (as Geoff Sax)
Brian Smith	....	floor manager

Production Companies

• Associated Television (ATV)

Distributors

• A&E Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)

Runtime:

USA:74 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Associated Television (ATV)

Witching time

'Spell Of Evil' brings Thriller's first series to an effective, if underwhelming, climax. A somewhat less successful venture into the supernatural, it nevertheless brings out reasonably good acting performances from the main leads Diana Cilento and Edward De Souza.

The story begins with the somewhat unsettling death of Tony Mansell's wife who seems to have taken the sudden vision of a black-clad figure as being absolutely terrifying in a 'let's scare her to death' fashion. After the obligatory mourning period Mansell decides to go down the personal ads route in an effort to find love. Enter Cilento's Gothic beauty Clara who makes sure he swallows the love potion bait without delay.

From then on Clara and her particular brand of witchcraft begins to exert a malignant influence over Mansell and he soon falls ill. He must then rely on the suspicious nature of others to save him from these evil clutches.

It pans out reasonably well but is hard to take seriously. A somewhat disappointing end to the opening series but at this point there have been enough highpoints throughout the previous episodes to ensure that overall, Thriller is something very special indeed.