Review by Gary Tooze

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Description: In this psychological thriller touching upon obsession, a successful author's (Hardy Kruger) new wife (Britt Ekland) begins to suspect her 12-year old stepson (Mark Lester) may have have had a hand in murdering his mother whom mysteriously died while bathing. What results is a sexual cat-and-mouse game that escalates the wife's paranoia to dangerous levels.

 

 

The Film:

When twenty-two year old Elise (Britt Ekland, THE WICKER MAN) meets her husband Paul's (Hardy Krüger,THE WILD GEESE) young son from a previous marriage, it does not take long for her to feel uncomfortable around him since Marcus (Mark Lester, OLIVER!), it turns out, is not only intellectually precocious but also sexually.  Investigating a series of mounting little deceptions on the tyke's part, Elise discovers that he has been expelled from school for "unnatural behavior" including peeping on courting couples, nude drawings that demonstrate rather advanced sexuality, and murdering a cat.  When the headmaster (Harry Andrews, THEATRE OF BLOOD) also informs her that he has attempted to address these issues many times in the past with Paul, Elise starts to realize that she cannot count on her husband to take her concerns seriously.  Paul accuses her of being determined not to like his son from the start and believes that his behavior is a reaction to discovering the body of his mother who died of a heart attack two years before.  Elise, however, discovers from Marcus that he did not particularly like his mother (who seems to have been as much an outsider in the father-son relationship as Elise is beginning to feel herself).  When she learns from Sophie (Conchita Montes) that Marcus' mother Sarah did indeed die of a heart attack but one triggered by an electric shock in her bath, Elise starts to suspect that Paul may have been behind the death until Marcus takes credit for engineering it.  By this point, Elise is uncertain whether Marcus is telling her the truth or merely toying with her, or if she should fear for her life when a frustrated Paul tells her "You're even beginning to act and sound like Sarah."

The salaciously-titled WHAT THE PEEPER SAW – originally nonsensically titled NIGHT HAIR CHILD or DIABOLICAL MALICE – courts controversy with the sexualized nature of the battle of wills between Elise and Marcus (the more graphic moments of which were pruned from the American version which runs about five minutes shorter), but the dramatics are so embarrassingly performed by the central trio that the viewer is more interested in when Ekland will take off her clothes than how much if any of her fears are a projection or if Marcus did kill his mother and is planning to kill Elise as well.  The only time the film really engages the audience is during the extended session between Elise and Marcus' therapist Dr. Viore (Lilli Palmer, BODY AND SOUL) in which her line of questioning calls Elise's motives and perception into question more successfully than any of her arguments with Paul.  The final scene seems to be moving towards in a boldly perverse direction until one of those blunt seventies resolutions capped off by a freeze frame.  A Spanish co-production, the Latin backdrop looks rather drab thanks to the lensing of Harry Waxman (VAMPYRES) – although Luis Cuadrado (SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE is also credited – and the direction of James Kelly whose earlier THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR for Tigon failed to wring much perversity out of its ARSENIC AND OLD LACE-esque set up of two sweet old ladies hiding a dark secret.  Even the scoring of Stelvio Cipriani (BARON BLOOD) feels more than usual like a taffy pull of cues from his other works or library albums (the Italian version was reportedly prepared by Andrea Bianchi [STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER] who some sources also list as one of the writers, although the English version only credits TV writer Trevor Preston).  The scenes of eroticism will have most viewers feeling as awkward as Elise in the early scene when she is speaking to Paul on the phone while a bathing Marcus is groping her breasts.

Eric Cotenas

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Only original trailer and 30-second 'teaser'. Too bad - there is surely some discussion by worthy film fans possible.