A Killer
In Every Corner
(ITC Movie title "A Killer In Every Corner")
Original UK transmission: 1st February 1975
Original US transmission: 19th November 1974
WRITTEN BY: Brian Clemens
DIRECTED BY: Malcolm Taylor
PRODUCED BY: John Cooper
MAIN CAST: Joanna Pettet (Sylvia), Patrick Magee (Professor
Carnaby), Max Wall (Kesselheim), Eric Flynn (Slattery), Don
Henderson (Boz), Petra Markham (Helga), Peter Settelen (Tim)
Teaser
Sequence
Late at night, a fox skulks in
the grounds of a large imposing residence. A tower bell chimes as
the camera pans up to a window; silhouetted in the frame is the
figure of a man talking. Inside, the man paces thoughtfully
across his study whilst talking into a hand-held tape recorder.
Sitting down, he reflects that there are still "a million
unanswered questions" on the subject of conditioned
behaviour, and presses a button on his desk. In the kitchen, a
manservant is chopping meat with a cleaver when an alarm bell on
the wall begins to blare. The servant turns dementedly towards
the sound, then races out of the kitchen with the meat cleaver
still in hand. When he reaches the study, he strikes from behind
at the head of the figure sitting in the chair - until soothing
music begins to play and he emerges from his madness in a
confused state. The other man is standing calmly nearby, and we
see that the mutilated figure in the chair is in fact a dummy.
Plot
Summary
Psychology students Sylvia,
Helga and Tim are invited to the home of the renowned Professor
Carnaby for a weekend seminar, but little suspect that they are
in fact to be the guinea pigs in a terrifying real life
experiment. Carnaby has been researching conditioned behaviour in
criminals, and is determined to test his 'cure' on live human
subjects. When the three undergraduates arrive at the house, they
are tended to by the Professor's servant Boz, who is in reality a
deranged psychopathic killer. Held in check only by his
conditioning, Boz reverts to his homicidal tendencies at the
sound of a bell. Dazzled by their host's charm and reputation,
the students remain oblivious to the danger they are in, even
after one of them seems to recognise a notorious escaped killer
in another of the house staff. Inevitably, two of them quickly
vanish and Sylvia must face the terrifying prospect that they
were murdered. Investigating more closely, she soon realises that
she is at the centre of Carnaby's bizarre and unethical
experiments, but even then doesn't suspect the full extent of the
danger she is in, or from where it might really stem.
Comments
This nerve-wracking piece of television contains some of the
series' most unforgettable images, such as Don Henderson as Boz
degenerating into a slavering maniac at the sound of a bell.
Patrick Magee is superbly cast as the dignified yet totally
amoral Carnaby, who experiments on his young guests as casually
as if they were specimens on slides. Joanna Pettet fared well
enough to be invited back in the final season's A
Midsummer Nightmare. One of the series' most terrifying and disturbing
episodes.
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