A Reflection of Fear

source: A Reflection of Fear

The very least you can say about "A Reflection of Fear" is that it is a moody and atmospheric thriller! The story might feel familiar (especially when you watch a lot of obscure cult/horror movies) and somewhat predictable, but the tone of the film remains unsettling throughout thanks to the slow pacing and extremely integer acting performances. However, what this movie clearly suffers from the most are all the oppressed controversial and unethical themes that were supposed to be processed into the script but then abruptly cut in order to obtain a PG rating. Always a shame when that happens… Marguerite Sterling is an isolated and quite eccentric teenage girl that lives with her mother and grandmother in a remote land house. She has long and embittered conversations with a doll named Aaron and gets ecstatic when she finds out that her estranged father Michael is coming to visit. Officially he's coming to ask his ex- wife for a divorce, so that he can marry with his new fiancée Anne that he brought along, but when he notices how socially incapable his daughter Marguerite is, he wants to stay. And then a mysterious killer dressed in black visits the premises… Like I said already, it's a shame about the (not-so-) subtly camouflaged taboo themes. The most disturbing yet simultaneously powerful sequences in "A Reflection of Fear" are those in which young Marguerite tenderly embraces and kisses her daddy while his new fiancée jealously observes. The film is kind of reminiscent in atmosphere and events to a handful of great classics, including "Psycho" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", but director William A. Fraker nevertheless succeeds in giving it an own style and personality. Fraker primarily built his career as an eminent cinematographer and that he clearly demonstrates in several beautiful shots and camera compositions. With her rather odd facial structure and pale skin, Sondra Locke is ideally cast as the naturally uncanny Marguerite, but also Robert Shaw is exquisite as Michael. Shaw usually depicts robust and macho characters, like in "Jaws" for example, but here he impresses as the calm father figure. In fact, literally everyone in the cast – including supportive characters like the fiancée and even the investigating police detective – behaves like he/she is under the constant influence of Xanax or any other tranquilizing medicine! They all talk slowly and practically nothing seems to upset them, not even double murder. The integer performances give an extra dimension of creepy to already uncanny – but flawed – thriller.

I was never a Sondra Locke fan. In fact, like many others, she will always be remembered as Clint Eastwood's long time fling. From what I gathered from a few movies I have seen her in (mainly Malpaso Productions) is that she was always this strange and odd actress that had a very off-putting demeanor and attitude. Pale, fragile and appearing like a waif in almost everything, in this mystery thriller, she is given the role she was born to play. She's a schizophrenic teenager who has been sheltered by her mother all her life. She hears voices and is always frantic about her imaginary relationships with her stuffed animals and dolls. We understand early on that this is an extremely disturbed individual. Her mother keeps a tight lid on her whereabouts, actions and her whole life which pretty much takes place on the household estate. In comes her estranged father and fiancée played by Robert Shaw and Sally Kellerman. He tries to mend a relationship he never had while asking the mother for a divorce in the most frank, blunt and unemotional way I have ever seen in a movie. I will not give away the climax for it's quite predictable, but in this case we want to see how it gets there. Save your time, because this is a slow paced mystery with lethargic acting, elliptic dialogue and a lead character who never seems to break out of that zombie like gaze while uttering poetic lines with that lilting voice. Sondra Locke is definitely unique, She can look beautiful, putrid, sickly, freakish and sometimes too nubile to be taken seriously. Robert Shaw gets caught between the jealousy of his fiancée and his daughter which limits his already stiff and anal performance. Reflections of Fear takes too long to tell us what happens what we already knew all along.

A Reflection In Fear tells the story of a wealthy man (Robert Shaw), returning home for the first time in 15 years to see his daughter and to divorce his ex wife so he can marry his fiancé He's devastated to learn his daughter is treated like a prisoner on the estate, locked away from society by a vindictive wife (Mary Ure) and mother-in-law (Signe Hasso). Marguerite lives in a fantasy world, with imaginary friends named Aaron who seems to come real and gets very jealous of Marguerite. I must say I watched this a while back and I was pleasantly surprised, it was a really interesting watch and I can see that this being from the early 70's has influenced many later slashers such as "Sleepaway Camp" and "Unhinged" I'd like to go into greater detail about this "debt" but doing so would ruin the surprise ending. Sondra Locke who plays the daughter Marguerite gave a mesmerising performance She looks so fragile and vulnerable in her Alice in Wonderland dresses, she really steals the scenes from the other cast members. Robert Shaw's performance is restrained but it's because his character is supposed to be oblivious to his daughter's sexual advances. He's still the best male actor in the cast and his larger than life qualities shine through. Mary Ure, Shaw's real wife at the time, has little dialogue but is able to convey evil and hatred with just a glance. Sally Kellerman also gives a strong performance as Anne, a woman who realises her future is crumbling before her eyes. All in all Reflection may be a forgotten gem, but I really liked it and has the presence of a strong cast and a strong story line, I would definitely recommend tracking this down.

For a really minor film from the 70's, for some reason this one sticks with me - even this long after I saw it at a horror festival in the late 80's. Why? Maybe it's the idea that we all have secret urges and thoughts that could manifest themselves in the world, if we give them a vehicle. Sondra Locke does a great job of being a too-mousy-for-reality girl who has a BIG secret, of which I'm not sure even SHE'S aware. Cool ending, as well, with enough still remaining from the cuts for the viewer to get the idea. Catch this one, if you can. You won't be sorry.

Haunting Gothic psychodrama (adapted by Lewis John Carlino whose THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA covers similarly torrid terrain) which, whilst undeniably owing a shade too much of a debt to PSYCHO (as previously noted by another IMDb commentator), whips up an unsettling and uneasy atmosphere of dread, not all of which is dissipated by apparently heavy censorship cuts made to secure a 'PG' for its original U.S. theatrical release in the early 70s. In fact, these often noticeable edits (scenes cut away before they've barely begun) lends the whole enterprise a greater sense of ambiguity by suggesting, rather than showing, the barely suppressed corruption and perversion. Possibly too low-key for popular tastes (which makes it all the more surprising that this was distributed by a major studio and roped in the likes of Robert Shaw) and, although I don't really go a bundle on films which seem to be bending over backwards to conceal their surprise ending (and, yes, I did see this one coming a mile off), this is still a one-off melodramatic curio worth seeking out and which certainly lingers in the mind. Now, how about a nice DVD transfer (my UK video copy is a nasty full-frame RCA Columbia release from the early 80s which doesn't do justice to what looks like impressive cinematography)?...

Weird! This is one of the most bizarre horror flicks I've ever seen. But weird can be good, and in this case, it's definitely good! The beautiful and sexy Sondra Locke is at her very best as the tormented teen. Mary Ure and Signe Hasso are appropriately sinister as Locke's overprotective mother and grandmother. Robert Shaw is the disturbed young girl's estranged father who returns home to announce he's going to marry lovely Sally Kellerman. Naturally, several strange and dastardly deeds occur before this event can take place. The film is by all means an effective suspense story(all right, so it borrowed here and there from PSYCHO), but does have its shortcomings. The movie was very severely cut to avoid an R rating and slide by with a PG. Bad editing makes it all too obvious where the missing footage should be. But, it's still a worthwhile thriller with genuine scares and great acting.

One of those films that rarely gets mentioned, A REFLECTION OF FEAR (1972) is a slow-burning psychological horror story with a maximum of creepy scenes. It stars a young Sondra Locke - best known for her Eastwood thrillers - as a maladjusted and mentally ill young woman who gets reunited with her estranged father, only for calamity to arise. This felt to me like a cross between Hammer's psycho-thrillers and the likes of WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, so if you're in the mood for slow-building mood and a thorough exploration of warped psychology, this is the place. The film belongs to Locke, who has never between creepier and more unsettling than she is here, with the great Robert Shaw in support playing her dad. The first part is nicely done and builds to a shocking set-piece, while the second part is a little slower, almost tedious at times, eventually leading to a genuinely surprising twist ending. The second half takes the edge off the first but for me this is still worth a look, with some unsettling hinted-at incestuous moments taking it to the edge.

When I saw this film it was a on the double bill with Columbia's THE CREEPING FLESH, back in about 1973.A FLECTION OF FEAR is a lot like Paramount pictures sadly never released on tape, LETS SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH, and the Canadian picture: THE PYX. All three were made within a year or so of each other, and were very moody, dark and scary. The plot of A FEFLECTION OF FEAR is pretty convoluted. Who is the deranged killer, a boy grounds keeper, a emotionally disturbed girl, her father (Robert Shaw in a pre-jaws role)or a weird sinister doll. Or none of the above? It will keep you guessing till the unexpected climax. A lot of pretty frightening films were released in the early 70's and I was afraid to walk around in the dark alone for years after seeing this film. The reason I felt that this film was so scary was that it was a dark and misty looking film. filmed in low light and in many scenes,also with a possible gel filter on. Also the scenes in the house were very dark and creepy. This was especially true in the scenes of Sondra Locke's doll filled room. When the camera panned around the room showing (dark) close ups of all her dolls somewhat weird looking faces in various states of disrepair or use from age...brr. And most of all the one life-sized doll sitting silently in a rocking chair with a black cape and grim reaper like hood masking its features.....exactly as the killer is garbed. Is the doll alive? This is a horror film after all! Or is it really a person not a doll? THIS is the central mystery to the entire film. Since I saw This film at a pretty young age,I was for years frightened to walk downstairs in the dark in our house. I kept thinking I saw that weird deaths-head doll in every shadow, and we also had the same type of rocking chair as in the movie and sometimes as I was moving around in the dark the cat would get startled and leap from the rocking chair causing it to rock back and forth! I would go running back upstairs! All in all despite its cut released version this was a very creepy movie!

"A Reflection of Fear" is an unknown gem, a film with an amazing script about drama, suspense and horror. The direction is fantastic and the performances are wonderful, mainly Sondra Locke's one. The script is twisted and the feminine characters are mysterious. The cinematography is beautiful and creepy, one of the best I've ever seen. The end is shocking and even subsequent films have copied it (as "Deadly Blessing" and "Sleepaway Camp"), but "A Reflection of Fear" end is superior in many ways. A cult classic!