Sir Richard Fordyke (John Turner, THE POWER OF ONE) returns to Fordyke Hall with his new bride Lady Elizabeth (Heather Sears, Hammer's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) to a chilly reception from the locals after a village girl who had been raped died screaming his name. Although Sir Richard was a hundred miles away during the crime, his paralyzed father Sir Giles' (Joseph Tomelty, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER) steward Seymour (Peter Arne, STRAW DOGS) informs him of talk of witchcraft and deviltry among the villagers. Worse yet, the villagers have claimed to see Sir Richard on horseback at night being pursued by the specter of his first wife Anne - who supposedly committed suicide when she was unable to bear him an heir - crying "Murderer!" When Sir Richard himself starts seeing the apparition himself and his sleep is constantly disturbed by the banging of the window from which Anne leapt, the seasoned viewer will deduce that a bit of gaslighting. On the other hand, when the members of the household - including Elizabeth, Anne's sister/Sir Giles' caregiver Diane (Ann Lynn, SCREAMTIME) and jittery butler Harris (Norman Bird, HANDS OF THE RIPPER) - start encountering Sir Richard in different places simultaneously (and in extremely contrasting moods) and the chambermaids start disappearing, it becomes apparent that something more sinister (or even demonic) may be afoot.

Producers Tony Tenser's and Michael Klinger's (GET CARTER) Compton-Tekli would also give us Polanski's REPULSION and CUL-DE-SAC, but THE BLACK TORMENT is more indicative of the direction Tenser would take when he formed the company Tigon (WITCHFINDER GENERAL). While Terence Fisher's DRACULA and Roger Corman's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM are usually regarded as the heavy influences on Italian gothic horror, one can also see the influence of THE BLACK TORMENT on some later entries like the Spanish/Italian SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER and the Italian pseudo-supernatural THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE (the Amicus production AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS also seems to crib an aspect of the plot in which the recent break in the alternating naming tradition of the first born heir has sinister significance). The film is prettily photographed by Peter Newbrook (Freddie Young's assistant on LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) - who would go on to produce low budget British horror films like CRUCIBLE OF TERROR and Hartford-Davies' BLOODSUCKERS and direct the THE ASPHYX (gorgeously shot by Young) - nicely designed and acted but otherwise clunky like director Robert Hartford-Davies' other films (including the recently released CORRUPTION). DOCTOR WHO's Patrick Troughton appears as the stable groom and Francis de Wolff (Hammer's HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES) plays the surly blacksmith.