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The Psychopath is a 1966 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and written by Robert Bloch in Techniscope. It stars Patrick Wymark and Margaret Johnston and was an Amicus production.[1]

The Psychopath
German poster
Directed by	Freddie Francis
Written by	Robert Bloch
Produced by	Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky
Starring	Patrick Wymark
Cinematography	John Wilcox
Edited by	Oswald Hafenrichter
Music by	Elisabeth Lutyens
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Amicus Productions
Distributed by	Paramount British Pictures
Release date	May 20, 1966 (1966-05-20)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Police inspector Holloway (Patrick Wymark) investigates a string of murders where the victims have dolls attached to their bodies. The trail soon leads to a disabled German woman named Mrs. Von Sturm (Margaret Johnston), who knows a set of dark secrets that may hold the key to the murders.

Cast

• Patrick Wymark as Inspector Holloway
• Margaret Johnston as Mrs. Von Sturm
• John Standing as Mark Von Sturm
• Alexander Knox as Frank Saville
• Judy Huxtable as Louise Saville
• Don Borisenko as Donald Loftis
• Thorley Walters as Martin Roth
• Robert Crewdson as Victor Ledoux
• Colin Gordon as Dr. Glyn
• Tim Barrett as Morgan
• John Harvey as Reinhardt Klermer
• Harold Lang as Briggs

Production

The film was originally known as Schizo. Shooting started September 1965.[2]

The Psychopath was an attempt to capitalize on the success of Hammer Films' recent series of psychological thrillers, including Taste of Fear.[3]

Robert Bloch recalls in his autobiography being taken with his wife to the country in England by Ronald Kirkbride, and "the next morning a limo took us to Shepperton Studios, where we lunched after watching Freddy Francis helm a scene for The Psychopath. The scene that morning was one I had indicated as taking place at the bottom of a staircase leading to the upper floor of a house. But everything they actually shot now took place at the top of a staircase which descended to the cellar. What I wrote up they put down. And when I took director Francis aside and questioned him about the change he pointed out that building a set with a stairway was expensive. Shooting from a high angle into the redressed recess beneath a soundstage trapdoor saved money. In other words, I was right back on The Couch with The Night Walker. A low-budget film always operates on the same principle, that is to say, no principle whatsoever except saving a buck, even if it means losing the potential of the picture".[4]

Reception

The film was very popular in Europe, particularly Italy.[3]

Michael Weldon writes of the film as "a good shocker".[5]

References

External links

• The Psychopath at IMDb
• The Psychopath at TCMDB
• The Psychopath at AllMovie
• The Psychopath at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Psychopath by TCM Underground

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