Straight on Till Morning (1972) User Reviews

We're off to crazy, uncanny, disturbing Neverland!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 29 July 2014]

Just a couple of days ago, I narrated the Peter Pan fairytale to my five-year-old son before bedtime. Luckily I read him the sane and harmless Disney version, because this mentally depraved cult variation probably would have messed up his innocent little mind beyond repair… Just like his daddy's, yikes! We all know and worship the Hammer Studios for the outrageously vicious Grand Guignol horror movies they unleashed, but many people remain unaware that Hammer also produced several mysterious and experimental psycho-thrillers that don't feature their big stars, Victorian castle settings or entire buckets full of gore & bloodshed. The vast majority of these titles sadly ended up in obscurity, and that's a damn shame because most often these are extremely suspenseful, original and unorthodox thriller and/or film-noir beauties. "Straight on till Morning" is a terrific example of an atypical Hammer movie that nevertheless turned out to be a fascinating surprise and truly one of the most morbidly disturbing thrillers that I've seen in a very long time. It has to be said that the brief plot description here on the website is rather misleading. It says: "A timid, withdrawn woman meets a man she believes is finally the love of her life, unaware that he is a vicious serial killer". It makes you believe that this is a typical damsel-in-distress story, but the timid and withdrawn woman in question is actually quite troubled herself. Brenda Thompson lives with her meddlesome mother in Liverpool, but she dreams about meeting a handsome husband like the ones she describes in her self-written children's fairy tales. Brenda tells her mother that she's pregnant and heads off to London to find a father for her inexistent baby. In the swinging capital she tries hard to meet guys, but she's too obtrusive and desperate and it certainly also doesn't help that her much sexier roommate Caroline dives into bed with all of Brenda's potential boyfriends. One night Brenda kidnaps the hunky Peter's dog Tinkel, only to be able to bring him back the next day and properly makes his acquaintance. Peter knows what she did, but still offers Brenda to move into his house and live with him. He does insist that she changes her name to Wendy, and through previous flashbacks we also learned that he's a bit of a murderous psychopath.

Admittedly the first half hour of "Straight on till Morning" is dull, confusing and very hard to struggle through. There's far too much experimental editing going on and the script extendedly introduces too many characters that aren't really relevant. However, if you manage to sit through this, you'll be rewarded with an otherwise uniquely twisted thriller, full of dark themes, misogynist undertones and so-called "kitchen sink" trademarks. There are several uncanny references towards the Peter Pan story (the names and the title, but little plot details as well) and the eventual explanation of why our hunky protagonist is killing is incredibly vile and disturbing. On a side note, it actually also reminded me of the excellent Nick Cave song "Where the Wild Roses Grow". The climax is literally breathtaking and hugely depressing. The film is undeniably a prototypic "life in London during the early 70's" product, illustrated through a cast full of bleak and unsympathetic characters and hideous clothes & hairstyles. Rita Tushingham gives a stellar performance, which I figure wasn't easy since she's supposed to be unattractive, naive and pitiable. Shane Briant is excellent as well, with a performance that is simultaneously menacing and miserable. And supportive babe Katya Wyeth, well… she's simply one of the most ravishing girls I've ever seen. Peter Collinson, who died way too young, did a great job as the director, although he should have cut some scenes towards the beginning.

Hammer Horror meets Kitchen Sink,

[tim-764-291856 · 7/10 · 17 September 2012]

When this was up on The Horror Channel, it was Rita Tushingham's name that caught my eye, her brilliant acting and intensity laying down an intriguing gauntlet.

With Radio Times not even giving a review, or even a rating, I was worried that it might be dreadful and true, many could see some parts as such, especially if they had taken them out of context and not watched it all the way through. However, from its opening, it was obvious that this was a well-made and directed (by Peter Collinson) little movie.

Not only is it a good and interesting snapshot of swinging London, it is also a warped fairytale about a reclusive serial killer. Who's the beauty and who is the beast? Should we and can we be loved for beauty alone?

Describing the story is unnecessary; it is a shortish film and it's the issues involved, often psychological and deeply sinister plus the often imaginative directing that are the pluses. The acting of the leads Tushingham and Shane Briant are very good with just the right amount of every emotion going. The popular James Bolam also co-stars.

There is often a sense of unease, even during the less intense parts. Oddness also often takes a lead but never enough for us to dismiss them. The most intense, X-Rated (still certificate 18) scenes are disturbing rather than graphic but they still shock.

Unlike many Hammer Horror's, it remains memorable, the ordinariness mixing with the oddness plus the central characters making for an unusual and compelling mix. I enjoyed it.

A bizarre combination of social realism and psychological thriller

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 23 November 2011]

Straight on Till Morning is certainly one of the most atypical films that Hammer Studios ever produced. It begins like a social realist kitchen-sink drama, replete with fragmented snapshot montage editing similar to Ken Loach's Up the Junction – incidentally, a film remade by Peter Collinson the director of this film. And for the first third of the film it seems like this is going to be another such gritty drama, however, it takes an unexpected detour when it suddenly turns into a psychological thriller. It's an extremely unusual combination that isn't entirely successful but definitely interesting. In actual fact it's one of Hammer's more intriguing efforts in my opinion because it's so weird.

The story is about a naive young girl called Brenda who moves to London to try and find a man. She winds up staying with a very strange foppish man called Peter who is in fact a serial killer of women.

The social realism and montage heavy editing is entirely at odds to anything else Hammer ever put out. This is a film that has way more in common with the British New Wave than it does with anything previously produced by the famous studio. None of the characters are particularly likable, with the men in particular very creepy and/or deeply unpleasant people with appalling haircuts. The central relationship between Brenda and Peter is, to put it mildly, bizarre. It's difficult to see what either of them sees in each other; while Peter's strange issues with beauty are a little hard to fathom. Nevertheless, I thought this one was not bad at all. It wasn't predictable in the way that most Hammer films tend to be. It was pretty bleak and overall a commendably uncommercial offering. Definitely worth a look if you like downbeat psychological dramas.

Not your usual Hammer - but a decent change of pace!

[The_Void · 7/10 · 15 January 2007]

If, like me, you like your Hammer films to feature vampires and things that go bump in the night, you're likely to be disappointed with this film. After the first few minutes, I wasn't expecting Straight on Till Morning to be any good, but things do pick up; and once they do, the film does become interesting and represents a more than decent seventies offering, even if it isn't what we've all come to expect from Hammer studios. The film is set and shot in London and features a typically British seventies style, as the fashions and set design are very true to the period. The film plays out more like films such as 10 Rillington Place than your average Hammer Horror fare, and focuses on Brenda; a shy, irritating and naive girl who goes to live in London after telling her mother that she's pregnant. She moves in with the pretty Caroline, but begins to feel lonely and while out walking one night, spots a dog that she decides to kidnap. Upon returning the dog to her owner, the rather odd looking Peter, and telling him why she did it; he asks her to move in and she accepts. However, she doesn't realise that her new housemate is actually a vicious psychopath...

Straight on Till Morning isn't particularly violent or bloody, but that isn't to say that the film isn't disturbing. Most of the film's nastiness is implied, and while I wouldn't have minded seeing Shane Briant's silly hairstyle psycho going on the rampage with a Stanley knife, the way that director Peter Collinson ('Fright', 'The Italian Job') goes about implementing these scenes does give the film more of a poignant edge. The lead role goes to Liverpudlian actress Rita Tushingham, and for me she's just a bit too irritating. She fits the film perfectly by the way she looks and acts, but I found it very difficult to care about what happens to her due to the fact that I had to cringe during her every scene. Shane Briant is the other side of the offbeat central duo, and the most memorable thing about his appearance in the film is his haircut - which is ridiculous to say the least! This does, however, make his role all the more intriguing...as I never thought that someone who looks so silly would be capable of murder! The ending is a bit forced, but its fun enough getting there; the atmosphere is claustrophobic and the relationship between the leads is never boring. Overall this isn't a great Hammer film - but it's a different one and I enjoyed it.

First Star to the Right...

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 17 July 2020]

A conventionally offbeat early seventies psycho-thriller alive with zooms the way today's are with steadicam in which Rita Tushingham is a waif from the provinces who is abused by a smoothly misogynistic control freak upon her arrival in the big city the way she was seven years earlier in 'The Knack'.

It's quickly obvious were all this is going, but the vivid location work around Earl's Court and a good cast (most of them - like a feral Annie Ross in huge hair and a tiny dress - actually seen only fleetingly) keeps you watching; despite rather than because of it's gimmick in constantly referencing Peter Pan.

Uncommonly bleak and disturbing Hammer entry, fascinating in some ways but not entirely effective as a whole.

[barnabyrudge · 5/10 · 3 July 2007]

Perhaps the least formulaic film ever released by Hammer, Straight On Till Morning is a bleak and unforgiving "kitchen-sink" horror flick that doesn't quite come off. It is undeniably refreshing to find the studio veering away from the usual period chillers with which it built (and then subsequently bludgeoned) its reputation. However, Straight On Till Morning has not dated particularly well and seems somewhat stuck in a time capsule of music, costumes and attitudes (other controversial movies of that era – Straw Dogs, Performance, Deliverance, Frenzy, etc - have all aged much better). Also, director Peter Collinson's busy and fragmented narrative style proves just a bit too wearisome for the film's own good.

Ugly duckling Brenda Thompson (Rita Tushingham) lives in a terraced house in Liverpool, where she spends hours writing children's' fairy stories and dreaming of a perfect life. She lies to her mother that she is pregnant and heads off to London, claiming that she wants to find a nice man to raise her baby (when, in reality, she thinks she will find her perfect prince with whom to live happily ever after). Brenda is incredibly naïve and inexperienced, and it isn't long before she is literally throwing herself at men in desperation. When she fails to woo a work colleague named Joey (James Bolam), losing him instead to her beautiful room-mate Caroline (Katya Wyeth), she runs off into the dark London streets in despair. Whilst out wandering, she comes across a stray dog and takes it back to her lodgings to clean it up and make it look pretty. Later Brenda returns the dog to its rightful owner, the handsome yet day-dreamy Peter (Shane Briant). He seems to like her and offers her the chance to move in with him, but later – while Brenda is away collecting her things – he stabs his dog to death with a knife. Seems that Peter is psychologically messed-up and has a real problem with "beauty"…. in fact, he is behind the disappearance of various beautiful girls in the Earl's Court area of London, all of them brutally murdered by him because of their good looks. Blindly, agonisingly, Brenda allows herself to walk into the life of this dangerous psychopath….

There are no characters in the film with whom we can empathise. They range from psychotic (Peter) to promiscuous (Caroline); from stupid (Brenda) to cruel and cold (Joey). To share an hour and a half with such mean-spirited people is fascinating in some respects, yet very unpleasant in others. (This is certainly not a film that encourages repeat viewings). The pacing is slow but deliberate, and the shocks are fairly infrequent (but powerful and disturbing when they come). The film ends on a typically bleak note – no great crescendo of action at the end with the villain getting his just desserts; instead a painfully realistic conclusion which cruelly refuses to play to genre expectations. Straight On Till Morning marks a major departure for Hammer and is interesting, challenging stuff. Sadly - having set up its grim tone, style and themes - it doesn't make a terribly good job of shaping them into a great film.

A kitchen sink psycho thriller.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 13 March 2009]

Although Hammer's output from the 60s and 70s was dominated by splendid Gothic horrors, their filmography from that period also contained a number of lesser known psychological thrillers—titles that were no doubt produced to cash in on the success of films such as Hitchcock's Psycho and French chiller Les Diaboliques.

One of the last such efforts to be produced by Hammer (before they turned their attention to making TV comedies into full-length features) was the intriguingly titled Straight on Till Morning, which somehow managed to combine murder with the more mundane elements of a 'kitchen sink' drama.

Rita Tushingham stars as Brenda, a desperate, dowdy young woman who leaves her home in Liverpool to try and find love and happiness in London. After finding herself a job in a trendy boutique, and a room to rent at a work colleague's groovy pad, Brenda begins her search for a man, but finds attracting the attention of the opposite sex much harder than she thought it would be.

When Joey (James Bolam)—the one man with whom Brenda might have had some luck with—winds up in bed with her blonde nympho flat-mate Caroline (the lovely Katya Wyeth), the distraught girl flees into the night where she chances upon a lost dog that belongs to Peter (Shane Briant), a wealthy young man who could be her Mr. Right. If only he didn't have homicidal tendencies, a bizarre hatred of beauty, and a very sharp Stanley knife...

With this interesting story, exploitative content, and talented cast, Straight on Till Morning could have been superb, but the film's iffy editing (which irritatingly intercuts rapidly between scenes), combined with director Peter Collinson's frustrating decision to suggest his nasty violence rather than show us the goods, ultimately means that the film doesn't fulfill its potential.

Still, even though the film isn't classic Hammer by any stretch of the imagination, it's worth checking out for the hilariously horrible 70s fashion and fun scenes of swinging London, Briant's incredible mop of blonde hair that steals every scene it's in, the hysterical moment when Tushingham goes into town to glam herself up only to return looking like a bad drag queen, and a couple of genuinely disturbing moments that include a surprisingly bleak finalé.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Really didn't do anything for me at all, Hammer's worst as far as I am concerned.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 9 September 2012]

Straight on Till Morning is set in England during the early 70's as socially awkward teenager named Brenda Thompson (Rita Tushingham) decides to leave her mother & home in Liverpool to live in London where she hopes to find a suitable male to make her pregnant. First things first though & Brenda finds a job at a modern boutique & a place to stay but soon realises that her naive ways gets her left behind. While out walking one night Brenda finds a Dog named Tinker & the hears it's owner calling for it, Brenda notices that the guy just happens to be a handsome blonde young man & decides to kidnap the Dog as it has it's address on it's collar. The next Dday Brenda returns the Dog to the address & finds the handsome man whose name is Peter Clive (Shane Briant) & she admits that all she wanted was to ask him to make her pregnant, despite the somewhat strange request Peter agrees but on the condition that Brenda moves in & cooks & cleans for him which Brenda says yes to. However both are mentally unstable & the bizarre relationship heads for tragedy...

This English production was directed by Peter Collinson & is one of the more obscure film's to have been made by Hammer Studios who were far more famous for it's period Gothic horror Dracula & Frankenstein films rather than boring psychological thrillers such as Straight on Till Morning, I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that I hated this film & found it incomprehensible & throughly boring. At just over an hour & a half Straight on Till Morning felt to me like it lasted for days, I was on suicide watch by the end of it I was so bored & depressed! I just found the whole film impossible to get into, from the bizarre character's who act like aliens & are impossible to relate to from the odd Peter who seems to have no motives for anything he does & is given no back-story to Brenda who is just a walking robot showing no identifiable emotion at all, the whole concept of a teenage girl leaving home to travel to London to get pregnant is just difficult to take seriously & Straight on Till Morning is a deadly serious film with no humour whatsoever to lighten the gloom & dullness. Straight on Till Morning is incredibly slow & I mean slow, once the end credits an hour & a half after I started watching it I realised that next to nothing had happened & the abrupt & deeply unsatisfying climax which is ambiguous to say the very least doesn't help either in making you feel like you have seen a film with some meaning & substance. Straight on Till Morning never gets going as a psychological thriller, a character study, a contemporary drama or a horror film & I really disliked it & found nothing here that would pass for entertainment value as far as I am concerned.

Besides having a lousy script that offers nothing Straight on Till Morning has dated horribly, from the modern fashion boutiques to the hairstyles to the clothes to the cars to the interior decor this film looks like it was filmed on another planet & it's almost interesting to see the way society & tastes have changed in forty years (although I bet Straight on Till Morning looked horribly dated as early as the 80's it's such a product of it's time). The hilarious scene where Brenda goes out for a make-over & goes back to peter looking like a bad drag queen is probably the most memorable moment but for the wrong reasons. There's no on screen blood or gore, there's a bit of tame sex but no explicit nudity in what is a pretty uneventful film. There are various references to fairy tales & Peter is apparently obsessed with Peter Pan if that makes things any more exciting for you, the title Straight on Till Morning is actually a line of dialogue from Peter Pan not that most will be aware of it's significance & quite frankly I'm not sure of it either. Because of this crap title Straight on Till Morning has been retitled in various countries including Dressed for Death & Til Dawn Do Us Part in the US while Australia saw it under the title The Victim.

Filmed in London I suspect the budget for this was tiny & it show's, it's well made as far as it is but it's more of a history lesson than a film. I thought the acting was pretty bad all round, I don't know if it was just me but I thought everyone was terrible.

Straight on Till Morning is one of Hammer's least known films & it's no great surprise because it's crap & has zero entertainment value as far as I am concerned. I just couldn't find anything to relate to or hold my interest at all besides the 70's London decor & fashions which is bad if that's the only thing a film offers. I am trying to think of a worse Hammer film but I honestly can't right now.

Kitchen Sink Horror

[musicbymartin · 7/10 · 25 December 2007]

Many people cite "To The Devil, A Daughter" as being Hammer's attempt at modernising, but this title does a pretty good job of it, too. While watching it I was struck by the similarities with other kitchen sink dramas (most of which would have been made 5 years before this). Star Rita Tushingham was in a couple of those earlier films herself. Aspects of "Billy Liar", "Peeping Tom" and "Poor Cow" meld into this bleak, nihilistic morality tale for the early 70s.

Tushinghams character (she uses three different names throughout the movie) leaves humdrum Liverpool to find a father for her baby. Falling in with a trendy boutique crowd in London, she ends up moving in (very quickly) with a shady stranger. It turns out he hates beautiful things, and this is why he likes Rita (and he kills his own dog when Rita adds a pretty bow).

The movie is fast paced and low on gore (but has a lots of disturbing scenes of psychological intensity). It is very unlike the other, more famous Hammer films - it's set in modern times and plays on modern sensibilities; it does away with mythos and superstition and has a very real and very human "bad guy"; the villain in question will get away with it because of his looks and charm and - oh, yeah, this is definitely not a film with a happy ending . . .

A Love Story from Hammer

[Trebaby · 4/10 · 25 October 2006]

Fans of bleak, late 60s/early 70s British cinema might enjoy this sadistic psycho-thriller -- probably the most atypical release from Hammer ever. Rita Tushingham stars as an empty-headed Liverpudlian who escapes from the claustrophobia of her mother's flat only to land in the arms of psychotic Shane Briant who has an ugliness fixation. The DVD release from Anchor Bay looks great although the mono sound is a bit muddled. Downbeat ending doesn't really deliver the goods and I can't tell if Rita's makeover is supposed to be deliberately funny or not. Opening 10 minutes are great but director Collinson abandons the film's earlier, psychedelic editing style once Tushingham and Briant hook up. Still worth catching for the 70s period costumes and sets.

One of the most memorable Hammer films

[catherinekeohane · 9/10 · 20 February 2007]

I say it is one of the most memorable Hammer films for me because I remember watching this film as a child. However, I didn't know its title, the actors/actresses names nor remember that it was a Hammer film, only that it was a rather tragic tale of a plain girl seeking a partner.

After a week or so searching via a movie guide book I stumbled upon the title and acquired the movie to watch it all over again.

It is an early 1970s film and not one that I would associate with Hammer, but is very good. I think of it as a tragic tale really. The serial killer, Peter (Shane Briant) is obviously a deeply troubled individual bothered by things of beauty which he feels he must kill. The "Plain Jane" tells her mother she is pregnant and goes off to London to search for the man who can make her pregnant, she finds him in Peter unfortunately for her. She's infatuated with him and both live in a fantasy world.

She kidnaps his dog in order to get to know him. In its time this film was quite different from all the other films I've seen and I suppose it still is. Shane Briant is a very good looking actor, extremely blonde and it is easy to see why "Wendy" would become besotted with him.

The ending is very sad and the tape recordings disturbing. The ending was probably a necessity to the film but nevertheless had Peter not decided to play the tape to her the ending wouldn't have had to be the way it turned out.

In short I found the film remains one of my most memorable childhood memories, but isn't in the usual Hammer Horror league. It's difference is what makes it unique.

Lucid NIghtmare.

[richardwworkman · 7/10 · 11 September 2021]

This is not your usual Hammer House film.

The Brenda character is perhaps one of the strangest in cinema. She's desperately naive to the point of delusion. Los in her own fantasy world of fairytale endings she struggles to engage in the realy of her new life in London. The dog kidnapping scene where Brenda transform into a fairytale character of her own creation is a perfect example of this.

The weirdness and disconnectedness of the characters of swinging early 70's party scene reflects the lucid dream like quality of the film. The film occasionally jumps to alternative scenes, sexual, ordinary, her mother back home, they all suggest that Brenda's decisions could have led her down a different path.

When it seems that Brenda's bizarre plan to find a husband is starting to pay off, she stumbles into another person's fairytale. Peter offers Brenda what she wants but in exchange he takes her personality, renaming her as a character in his own delusional fantasy.

What follows is a superbly sinister and uneasy relationship. The tension between Peter and Brenda moves between a kind of marriage of convenience, dark sexuality and childish fantasy.

A brilliant example of 70's British horror. Well worth a watch.

Average Hammer thriller

[russjones-80887 · 4/10 · 17 July 2020]

An ordinary, shy Liverpool girl leaves home and moves to London to find a father for the baby she desires. She becomes attracted to a stranger, unaware he is a serial killer.

Ineffective, bleak thriller based on a weak story and the result is a film which is lacking in suspense. Rita Tushingham stars as the girl who is unbelievably naive and Shane Briant as the killer who is not quite sinister enough.

Clap your hands to save Rita

[tomsview · 7/10 · 14 May 2021]

Despite the misgivings of her mum, shy, sheltered Brenda Thompson (Rita Tushingham) ventures into the wider world to find love and identity.

She leaves Liverpool and gets a job in a boutique in London, but with her plain looks and lack of worldliness, she doesn't fit into the swinging London scene. However she moves in with beautiful Caroline (Katya Wyeth) who is outgoing and proves surprisingly caring. When she returns a dog to androgynous looking Peter (Shane Briant), after a clumsy attempt to get to know him, she enters Norman Bates territory. Peter is a psychopath whose associations with women invariably end with their disappearance.

Nobody could play this kind of role better than Rita Tushingham, she's so believable, you feel for her character, but I don't like what happens to her, this is a nasty story.

Although you couldn't call it enjoyable, there is tension in the film. We know that Peter has issues. He hates beauty and destroys it whenever he gets the chance. His liking for Brenda is because she is plain. All the way through the film Brenda is described as plain and sexually unappealing. Rita Tushingham must have had a very grounded sense of self-awareness to play out this aspect of the story. She may not have had the classic prettiness of Katya Wyeth, but she had a unique look that made her a welcome presence in every film she was in.

"Straight On till Morning" is one of those quirky British thrillers of the late 60s and early 70s. It ends bleakly like so many others that seemed to fit a pattern around 1970, "Goodbye Gemini", "Permissive", "10 Rillington Place" and "Deep End" to name a few.

It's well made but there some lapses in logic. Peter uses a Stanley knife, a box cutter, on his victims long before 9/11 showed how lethal they could be. Peter works from home and while you would think he would have to redecorate after every rampage, there's not so much as a spot on a rug.

Hitchcock actually made a similar story in 1975, "Frenzy', and although it wasn't one of his best it showed what a film like "Straight On till Morning" lacks: a lighter touch and a villain with shadings; not just the one-note weirdness of Peter in this story.

Falls short

[shtove · 11 January 2013]

First 45 minutes are pretty flat, despite lots of jumpy editing.

The female character shows a strange contrast between her winsome imaginary world and the calculated deception she uses to get out of her mother's house and off to London. She uses submissiveness to get her way, but it's not all that interesting and I didn't sympathize with her.

Early '70s London is good to see - grotty and groovy at the same time.

The male character is well acted. But a lot of the dialog between the leads is Q&A, which I thought was unnecessary. Less is more, and I bet the actors thought a few more silences or unspoken thoughts would have conveyed the meaning better. The seduction is patchy - "give me your hands" is a perfect line, but what is she wearing when she knocks on his door at night? Didn't even make an effort.

The two-hander psychological drama picked up when he confronted her over stealing the dog, and the possibilities multiply, but the story didn't exploit them. Both these characters are shallow and manipulative, but in the end we get a bleak good v bad showdown where he's evil and she's innocent.

I was hoping they'd make the perfect couple - psychotic and psychopath settle down and live happily ever after. Toward the end there's a police hunt that could have ended in black humor if they'd turned up on the doorstep only to be told by the woman they're looking for to get lost.

Couple of absurdities: the carpet knife is not much good for stabbing and that awful wig she wears to "look pretty" - it was the fashion back then, but I cheered when he removed it from her head.

At the beginning I was expecting a cross between Looking For Mr Goodbar and Performance, but this falls in between and way short because of a weak script.

Blow Up. The kitchen sink, that is.....

[FlashCallahan · 6/10 · 7 September 2014]

Brenda leaves Liverpool, telling her mum she's pregnant, and gets a job in a boutique in London.

She moves in with Caroline, but her set shuns her, because of her plain looks. She kidnaps a young man's dog, so as to get to know him while returning it.

The young man turns out to be a psychopath with a penchant for killing beautiful things.

He renames Brenda, and they start a strange relationship.....

On first viewing its so reminiscent of Collinsons' Up The Junction, the way it's filmed, and the attitude of supporting characters, and Brenda's personality, so its familiar ground, quite strangely comforting, when you watch the opening act.

But then during the second act, its changes rapidly, with some wonderful editing and camera-work, it's as if someone has given the camera to Ken Russell and said, 'off you go Ken, give us Blow Up mixed with Vertigo'.

For a Hammer movie, its miles away from anything you'd expect them to do. Its as if your watching Henry: Portrait Of A Kitchen Sink Killer, and just added the working class element into a thriller.

The main character of Peter is interesting, but its so reminiscent of David Hemmings you cannot but help to compare it to Blow Up.

Its a curioso piece, very psychedelic in nature, but just loses its way toward the end.

Tiresome morality play

[simon_sparrow · 3/10 · 16 August 2001]

Rita Tushingham is an intensely vulnerable actress. In her early classics, such as The Trap and A Taste Of Honey, directors used these distinctive qualities to capture cinematic eloquence. In this Hammer film, these traits become parodies of themselves, and as a result, Rita and those around her, are merely grotesque. This is especially true of the strikingly pretty psychotic for whom she falls, played indifferently by Shane Briant. For all its faults, the film does have two remarkably clever scenes, but they are no so good as to warrant exposing yourself to 90 minutes of this sewage.

Unusual Hammer fare offers strong leads in Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 22 December 2020]

1972's "Straight On Till Morning" is one of the more obscure efforts during Hammer's final period where US distribution was no longer a certainty, paired stateside with cofeature "Fear in the Night" from International Coproductions. This modern 'Women in Fear' double bill did nothing at the box office and rang down the curtain on a decade of what were described as 'mini Hitchcocks' that drew less inspiration from "Psycho" as from Jimmy Sangster's penchant for unexpected twists and turns in the manner of 1955's "Les Diaboliques" (its most frequent VHS title was "Till Dawn Do Us Part"). While "Fear" was indeed a Sangster rewrite of an old, tired storyline, this was quite different, the title evoking Peter Pan with the focus shifting between its psychotic pretty boy killer Shane Briant and a young girl whose naivete leads to dire consequences. The enchanting Rita Tushingham, award winning actress from "A Taste of Honey" and "Doctor Zhivago," signed on for the role of Brenda Thompson, scripted for her by John Peacock, again cast to type as the Plain Jane living in a fantasy world of her own creation, a kingdom of handsome princes and beautiful princesses, adopting the name Rosalba for herself. Topping her list of aspirations is finding a certain Mr. Right to father her child, leaving her mother in Liverpool for a better life in London, her eagerness an overbearing turnoff. Briant's Peter is introduced by quick cuts that flash back to his previous mistress Liza (Annie Ross), the 6th in a succession of lovers who made the fatal mistake of clinging to a self absorbed narcissist with a tendency to destroy beauty in others while obsessing about his own. We learn from his self told fairy story that his actual name is Clive, his father deceased and mother perhaps the first woman to feel his homicidal wrath, shacked up in a flat belonging to a previous victim, in possession of all the money and jewels accrued through his lengthy murder spree. Brenda decides to make Peter's acquaintance by borrowing his dog and sprucing him up with a bath to present to his master, named Tinker after another character out of Peter Pan. The nervous girl is brought to tears by Peter's accusatory attitude, but accepts his offer to live with him and keep the place clean (becoming his new 'Wendy'), alluding to the title in telling her about his room: "you go up these stairs, you take the first star on the right, and go straight on till morning." Brenda's frantic mother (Clare Kelly) arrives to search for her daughter, which leads Brenda's former coworker Caroline (Katya Wyeth) to find Peter's flat, then a place in his bed, brutally murdered during a tape recording to reveal the extent of his dangerous mania (previously, he had used the same knife to snuff out the life of his defenseless dog in a particularly grueling sequence). With headlines showing both Brenda and Caroline missing, Peter forbids his charge from leaving before deciding to reveal all to the unknowing girl, increasingly distraught as the sounds of death reverberate all around her while the killer sheds tears on the staircase outside. There is a method to his madness but in the end he remains alone in Never Never Land while the Princess Rosalba disappears, only a voice on his most recent recording for an unbearably downbeat finale. Director Peter Collinson had a difficult time with his earlier effort "Fright," allowing the performances to falter in comic hysteria, but here he keeps a commendably tight rein, the often annoying quick edits eventually giving way to an absorbing character study pitting two mismatched people who see what they wish to see in the other but lack the foresight to prevent tragedy. Shane Briant's debut in "Demons of the Mind" led to this one true Hammer lead, supporting roles to follow in "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter" and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" before winding down his acting career for one as a prolific author. Annie Ross was also an accomplished jazz singer, her quavering of the title theme song saved for the half hour mark and closing credits, adding just the right haunting touch for the picture to linger long in one's memory.

The most brutally misanthropic film I have ever seen.

[aromatic-2 · 1/10 · 28 November 1999]

This story of an ugly duckling whose life is a living hell until she meets her prince charming is absolutely agonizing to watch. If you have zero faith and love for your fellow women and men, and even less hope for the future, then this film will vividly reinforce your beliefs. Shane Briant is beautiful but lifeless as her would-be Prince Charming. That the title line is from Peter Pan is only note of wry artfulness that works in the entire fiasco. All in all, this is an excellent companion piece for I Spit On Your Grave!

Post-Modern "fairy tale"

[margaretbrodhead · 6/10 · 24 March 2024]

I wonder if Shane Briant's gender-defying beauty was the inspiration for writers & producers of this Peter Pan-themed thriller. It's post-modern in that the fairy tale character is introduced quite early on as woman-hating killer. RIta Tushingham's suppressed fantasist -- writing and hoping to live fairly tales while seeking sex -- is the right partner for him, and it's his cruelty towards her that actually opens her to revealing herself. Tom Bell as the swinging boutique owner sure looks different than he did in Prime Suspect and I kept thinking he was trying (and somewhat succeeding) in looking like John Lennon. If you're able to tolerate this obvious example of misogyny as spectacle, you may find it interesting in spite of itself.

Easy to see that Hammer was on its last legs by 1972

[Coffee_in_the_Clink · 1/10 · 6 May 2021]

"Straight on Till Morning" was released the same year by Hammer as "Demons of the Mind" and both films undoubtedly shocked fans as they completely deviated from the standard Hammer Horror formula of gothic horror in rural settings. While "Demons of the Mind" had a lot going for it, this thriller, which also stars the dreadful Shane Briant, is a travesty from start to finish. Hammer was on its last legs as it struggled to maintain its lead in the horror market, with a new film revolution taking place in the US with the likes of Romero and Peckinpah and films such as "Rosemary's Baby" and "Night of the Living Dead" revitalising the horror genre across the the Atlantic. That is why "Demons of the Mind" and "Straight on Till Morning" represent two very different changes of direction for Hammer. They knew that they had to adapt to the changing times, but unfortunately, as it the 70s went on, it failed. Just as a sidenote, "Fear in the Night" was another Hammer film released that year that sought a change in style and that was a solid film, with Ralph Bates, Peter Cushing and Judy Gleeson leading and with the well-capable Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster at the helm.

This strange and boring film sees a naive and shy young woman move to London so that she can find a man to impregnate her. While wandering the streets one night she spots a handsome looking man up on a bridge walking his dog (Shane Briant). She does what any self-respecting young woman would do in that situation - she kidnaps the dog so that she has an excuse to return it to him. She enters this strange man's apartment and after some back and forth he invites her to move in. Of course, she accepts, but she soon finds out that this man is far from the prince she dreamed him to be.

Briant looks like a oversized and evil cherub with his hairstyle and Rita Tushingham is completely bonkers, so they make a very odd pairing in the film and it only serves to further hinder it. This was a party that I wanted to leave very early on. I noticed in the first half of the film that they were dabbling in some experimental editing. It was dreadful; scenes were cutting back and forth and intersecting with headache-inducing clarity. Very little actually happens in this film; essentially, we have a very annoying and gullible young woman being tormented by a psychopath for the duration. This was part of a Hammer Collection boxset that I have and I think that I would be best removing it. They managed to make a worse film than "Rasputin: The Mad Monk"...

moody stuff around the then recently completed South Bank complex

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 21 March 2010]

The swinging sixties are coming to an end in swinging London but there are still some hang overs from the 1950s and still plenty of odd ball characters. Pregnancy outside of marriage was still much looked down upon and under the guise of the 'flower children' it was perfectly possible for even homicidal maniacs to not seem out of place. Rita Tushingham is as great as ever and this much under rated actress puts in one of her more endearing performances. Shane Briant is eerily convincing as the psycho and the rest of the cast including James Bolam are all fine. Some decent location shooting is always appreciated around this time and here we get a couple of boutiques and some very moody stuff around the then recently completed South Bank complex. Plenty of surprises and well worth catching as one of the most unusual hammer movies.

STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING (Peter Collinson, 1972) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 18 May 2007]

This one is perhaps Hammer's most incongruous film - a flashily-directed modern suspenser with pretensions; actually, the horror brand-name is only displayed at the very end (even if the credits themselves are unmistakable) - whereas the trailer proudly advertises it as "A Love Story From Hammer"! While the film features gratuitous nudity (virtually a Hammer mandate by this stage), in spite of a number of murders occurring throughout, it's surprisingly bloodless for this studio.

Director Collinson's fragmentary style is appropriately disorienting at times and actually proves quite economical - for instance, in the course of the first couple of minutes, we get to know practically the entire back-story of the two protagonists - but it also becomes irritating very quickly! Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant are quite good in their roles, the former typically kooky and the latter effectively disturbed; lovely Katya Wyeth appears as Tushingham's colleague/room-mate, an unfortunate association which ends in her brutal murder.

The title (and title tune) are inspired by "Peter Pan" and, in fact, the script makes several references to J.M. Barrie's popular tale: the leading characters call one another Peter and Wendy when their names are really Clive and Brenda; Briant is a bit the boy who never grew up, whereas Tushingham's relocation from humdrum Liverpool to Swinging London (cue some horrid 70s fashions and hairstyles) can be seen as the equivalent of the journey to Neverland. The film ends rather abruptly on a downbeat note.

The Rita Tushingham Audio Commentary (moderated by Jonathan Sothcott), unsurprisingly, is not up to the level of tracks I've heard for other Hammer films - given the star's limited connection with the company. However, she displays a winning sense of humor throughout and her recollections prove engaging enough to make it a worthwhile listen nonetheless. Incidentally, here it's mentioned that STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING was released as the A feature in a double-bill with another Hammer thriller - FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972) - which I also recently watched for the first time and is, ironically, the superior effort!

Dullest

[leavymusic-2 · 3/10 · 7 August 2021]

Possibly one of the dullest films of the 70's.

It's slow and pretty much makes little sense, it's editing makes it confusing.

Much.better 70's films around.

Stupid Woman with A Pointy Nose Goes to London

[thalassafischer · 4/10 · 18 June 2023]

Okay, so the woman in this film doesn't seem normal at all, like she's got a below-average IQ. I mean, perhaps she might be on "the spectrum" but she's definitely not simply naive or inexperienced, she's abnormally childlike and easily manipulated.

Predictably, she gets pushed around by selfish swinging city people and her feelings are hurt because she cannot comprehend why she's not making friends or getting dates.

So ...she STEALS A DOG so that she can meet a good looking young man. Brenda carefully bathes the dog, ties a bow in his hair, and returns him to the handsome Peter where she reveals herself to be even more damaged by telling him SHE WANTS HIM TO GIVE HER A BABY. This is a woman, not a little girl, mind you. She steals a dog so she can tell a total stranger that she wants to have a baby with him. Then she immediately moves in, being the weak minded individual she is, like literally the day she meets him.

Even more stupidly, she tells no one at all where she is or what she's doing. THEN (oh then) she discovers Peter has a huge drawer full of money and he won't tell her where he got it from, and he's already revealed he doesn't work (he's hiding a past as a male escort with a string of alcoholic sugar mommas he's murdered in cold blood).

You'd think that even a woman who was a little slow would get suspicious, especially since he's moved Brenda in his house, insisted on calling her WENDY, and won't even let her sleep with him in his bed. Now there's a big drawer full of big bills ....so, she gets up the next morning, writes Peter what appears to be a "Dear John" letter and the viewer can imagine that suddenly Brenda/Wendy has wised up and is going home to her mom.

Nope, not Brenda! Instead she goes on a shopping spree and gets a make-over that manages to make her look twenty times uglier than she was to begin with. Brenda chooses an outfit and a hair style that make her look 50 years old and somehow her nose is EVEN POINTIER THAN EVER. Brenda thinks she's looking good.

This movie is so weird and preposterous, it is definitely the kind of thing you can watch once and just be like...what?