Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD (1974). Director: Pete Walker.

Anne-Marie (Penny Irving) falls for a guy who calls himself "Mark E. DeSade" (Robert Tayman). Unfortunately, Anne-Marie doesn't get the reference, and she goes off with him to meet his parents. Said parents turn out to be a demented former judge (Patrick Barr) and his wife (Barbara Markham), who, with the assistance of two female prison guards, capture and punish "loose" and immoral women for their alleged betterment. House of Whipcord is not the super-sadistic, gruesome field day that one might imagine  -- and some might have preferred -- but it isn't badly acted and holds the attention, although it should have been trimmed of at least twenty minutes. The older actors make more of an impression, with Sheila Keith vivid as the somewhat butch matron, Walker. Director Pete Walker, in the meantime, also directed SchizoThe Comeback (in which Keith was also quite effective), and several other horror films.

Verdict: Not terrible, just kind of ho-hum. **.

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